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# Better ways to soak up funds
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/better-ways-to-soak-up-funds-editor/
- Published: 2007-01-09T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:41:36.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Joe Bates Venice*

When I read the article (“City Hall looks to soak up sun,” Jan. 4, page 1), I had to check to make certain that it wasn’t some sort of sly joke. Is the city of Santa Monica really paying a consultant almost half a million dollars to find 50 Santa Monicans who want to install solar equipment on their roofs? Why not just give the first 50 people $10,000 apiece to install solar equipment? Maybe 100 people at $5,000 each? Maybe $5,000 tax rebates to the first 1,000 property owners? How about 20,000 subscriptions to “Home Power” magazine and let their residents figure out their own path to saving energy and replacing fossil fuels with sun power?

A cursory check of available resources (online, library, vendors both local and national) would have revealed that there is an abundance of information available on this subject. There are dozens of solar equipment sellers and contractors more than willing to give free consultations and recommend equipment or full systems to fit any budget. The industry has an ongoing certification process to educate installers (usually qualified electricians) in the proper methods to calculate the equipment sizes needed and to install the equipment within the applicable building codes.

A city engineer could have easily used these resources to propose a few budgeted sample systems to give Santa Monicans an idea of what they might spend and how they might save on their electric and gas bills. There is plenty of help available from commercial sources and at the county, state and federal level to accomplish this without wasting money on outside consultants.

Whoever OK’d this consulting contract was obviously out in the sun way too long.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 9, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010907.pdf?ref=smdp.com)