. . . the distance from power distribution to flower distribution along highways is pretty far
Update, Thursday May 6 – PEC General Manager Juan Garza responds, below, to Mr. Hawkins' critical view of PEC's financial contributions to the Wildflower Center. We've just gotta say that if Mr. Garza wants to help directly offset PEC's 3 million tons of carbon emissions annually into the atmosphere he should be very interested in making financial contributions towards home solar PV system conversions. Maybe one day we can have a PEC solar map like this one (http://solarmap.lacounty.gov/) that we can point to with pride.
Juan Garza: Since I started the recent flap over charitable "giving" with my decision to have PEC participate with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center fund raiser, allow me to give my reasons.
It starts with the 10 million tons of carbon that the LCRA puts into the atmosphere every year. (We are responsible at PEC for 30 percent of that). It continues with all the trees we cut down every year to keep our lines clear so that we can have reliable service. And I guess we can include all the carbon our trucks put into the atmosphere as we go about doing our work. I feel some sense of responsibility for this. Every little bit that we do to save the environment helps. Take shorter showers every day, car pool, water your lawns less, and use less energy!So I don't consider our partnership with the Wildflower Center to be charity. I consider it good business as they are in the business of saving our environment. j
Note: Milton Hawkins, proverbial watchdog, critic, member and sometimes chum of the PEC, provided this commentary about PEC's generous support of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's Green Gala held April 30. PEC4U watchdog member Bill Christensen adds these two questions: "How does the attendance of whomever Cox and Landaker entertained at our $5000 (+?) table help PEC, if at all?" and "How many other as yet unreported similar expenses have the Board racked up this year?" The RoundUp has been poking PEC Board President Larry Landaker and Board member Patrick Cox in the ribs lately about offering rebates to PEC members who want to install home solar systems. Hays County, where we have a lot of sunshine, is home to both Landaker and Cox. PEC already gives out rebates to customers who convert to heat pump systems. So we're thinking $5,000 would be a great start – at $1,000 apiece – for five solar pioneers.
Send your comments and news tips to roundup.editor@gmail.com, to Mr. Hawkins at milton.hawkins@gmail.com, to Mr. Christensen at billc_lists@greenbuilder.com, or click on the "comments" button at the bottom of the story
You can also see a PEC 2010 board of directors candidates forum at the pec4u website, pec4u.org
Landaker and Cox at Wildflower Center Green Gala
From Milton Hawkins:
Candidates and Friends,
I have nothing against flowers, or the Johnson family, or the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, or charitable giving. As a matter of fact, my wife and I have been members and supporters of the Wildflower Center ever since it opened several years ago.
But that was a personal decision we made, using our own money.
I do object to our directors’ using the owner-members’ money to support whatever charitable organization or activity strikes their fancy, however remote the connection may be to the business of the cooperative. And the distance from power distribution to flower distribution along highways is pretty far.
This is not PEC’s first venture into the flower business, either. With or without the Board’s approval (I haven’t been able to discover who actually made the decision or who approved it, if anyone did.) Mr. Garza (General Manager Juan Garza) has committed PEC to four yearly payments of $2,500 each, for a total of $10,000, to buy seeds. (You may have read about it in the Austin American-Statesman some time back.) And I believe there was a $5,000 donation before that. And for all I know, there could have been more donations.
To his credit, Director James Williams raised questions when the matter of donating to the Wildflower Center first came to the Board. I recall his asking where this support might lead, and at what final cost. And I believe he cast the lone vote against the resolution.
The Board’s “community giving,” as the directors like to call it now, is clearly out of hand. I’m sure it makes the directors feel good to accommodate their friends’ requests for funds, and I’m sure the affairs are entertaining and the company interesting. But I fail to see why I and the rest of the owner-members should have to pick up the tab. It’s not as though these people are poorly compensated, or without means of their own.
An outfit that’s $720 million in debt ought to begin to pinch a few dollars, and the directors ought to learn to support their favorite charities with their own personal funds.
Oh, yes, I nearly forgot! You (members) might have paid for this whether you got to enjoy it or not. The list below indicates that PEC sponsored a table. That’s $5,000.
Perhaps our directors reached into their own pockets for this one, as they should have. What would you wager that they did, given their giveaway record? I’ll bet they went on our dime. (Make that our $5,000.)
http://www.wildflower.org/gala_host/
Balcones Recycling, Inc.
Melanie and Ben Barnes
Becky Beaver/Nancy Scanlan
Blue Sage Capital
Catellus - A ProLogis Company
Susan Conway and Jack Howell/Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody
Eleanor Butt Crook
Hester J. Currens
Carolyn and Tom Curtis
Tara and Stacy Eastland
Tyrrell Flawn and John P. Howe III, MD
Frost Bank
Nancy and Dan Garrison
H-E-B
Minnie and Burnes Hollyman/Mary and Roger Wallace
Jeffrey F. Howell and William Press
Inman Foundation/Peter and Priscilla Flawn
Tom and Edwina Johnson Family Foundation
Melissa Jones
Jim McDonald, State Farm Agent
John P. McGovern Foundation
Dr. Mary O'Boyle II/Carole Bond Jordan
Osborne, Helman, Knebel & Deleery, LLP
Overland Partners
Carrin M. Patman
Pedernales Electric (PEC)
Sarah and Ross Perot, Jr.
PMB Helin Donovan, LLP
Dean Mary Ann Rankin, College of Natural Sciences, UT Austin
Deedie and Rusty Rose
Smith, Robertson, Elliot, Glen, Klein & Bell, LLP
Ellen and Buddy Temple
Thompson & Knight, LLP
Deacon and Piper Turner/Greg and Contessa Skelton
U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management
O.J. and Ann Weber Family Foundation Fund
Peggy and Matt Winkler
10 comments:
I guess my invitation to sit at the table I helped pay for got lost in the mail.
I was supposed to feel better after the old guard started leaving the PEC board. Strange thing. I don't feel any better. In fact, I have this nervous vacuum in my stomach after reading this piece.
Larry Landaker and Pat Cox have told us, after the fact, that we are now in the elite group of "Benefactor" (yes, that is the name of our contributory level).
We now get to be in the same group as the H-E-B family, the Frost Bank family, Advanced Micro Devices, Temple Inland, B of A Wealth Management,Silicon Labs, and eleven major corporate law firms. Oh, and Bill Barnes and Ross Perot, too.
Yes, we have just leapfrogged from the "Sunflower Society" level- passing the "Leader" level, into the top-flight group called the "Benefactor" group.
Do you see any other utility companies on the W.C. major contributors' list?
So when we have approx. 37 days of 100 degree plus days in a row; your house is 80 degrees -and the a/c can't catch up; the attic is 140- 150 degrees and the roof's shingles are blazing- we can think seeds, yes seeds, instead of a possible solar initiative for PEC customers.
A local woman former candidate for the PEC board tried to warn us about these two men, and we did not take heed.
Joe says: These two men are frauds.
Joe says: I want my money back.
"How does the attendance of whomever Cox and Landaker entertained at our $5000 (+?) table help PEC, if at all?"
I highly doubt they attended the gala with the notion of helping PEC, but instead attended with the notion of helping their individual careers.
If a meal came with the $5,000, it looks like the two gentlemen at least were amply nourished. I'd put the money and a bunch more into supporting home solar. I am amazed at the complete scarcity of roof solar panels everywhere I drive around here. Germany, China and other places in the states are eating our lunch in renewable solar systems. What's the hold up?
They could have at least worn a shirt and jacket that matched. What an embarrassment...both fashionably and fiscally.
I'm happy that an organization I contribute to supports such a wonderful cause as the Wildflower Center. I see no reason why PEC shouldn't be involved in philanthropy on some level.
To Sun Surfer:
One of the biggest holdups is HOA corporations that burden the lots of most residents in the area - particularly the developer-controlled subdivisions.
There is a trade lobby group of HOA management companies and HOA attorneys known as Community Associations Institute that lobbies very hard against homeowners being permitted to do anything with their property including installing solar devices. Mostly the laws in this arena are drafted by attorneys who earn a living threatening homeowners for alleged violations of restrictive covenants. Accordingly the legislation tends to give the attorneys/management companies ample opportunity to create chaos.
Juan Garza, your wacky comments defending this $10-15K are embarassing, insulting, and indicate once again you are not fit for your position. We remember you were the only one interviewed for your position by the old guard, and you have shown nothing to indicate you are forward thinking.
The fact that PEC is so far behind the curve on wind and solar power is astounding.
You and the board approved this "seed business", and we know who the drivers of the board are- Larry Landacre and Pat Cox. Why this "seed business" was even broached in the first place needs to be explained. It was not, repeat not for the reason Garza gives. His explanation was obviously made up and spun after the fact.
Landacre and Cox, with their huge, inflated egos, must feel very powerful controlling all our money.
If we decide to stick around this place long term, we're going to install solar panels on our roof. Juan, with your imaginitive mind, and Landacre and Cox (if you can break away from your hobnobbing with powerbrokers)- are welcome to come see one home, in one neighborhood harnessing power, saving energy, saving money, and making a difference.
Juan, and Larry, and Cox- you are very foolish men if you think you can fool us. Again, again, we are going to have some accountability for your actions.
I've never seen so many natural, native wildflowers here this Spring. Beautiful. Everywhere.
Thank you Sun Surfer, Thank you Joe a Plumber, for your insightful comments.
HOA lobby groups are becoming a huge problem. We live in a neighborhood controlled by Alliance Association Management, which I believe is actually owned by a Texas congressman. Talk about a huge conflict of interest there. We we definitely not buy again in an HOA neighborhood because of the inability to modify our home to be more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Our newest neighbors who built their own home were told they can't do xeriscaping (this was during last year's drought) and had huge problems getting approval to do their heat reducing metal roof.
And you're right, Joe, that "landacre" and cox are running the show now at PEC. Sometimes it seems like Bennie and Bud never left.
If Mr. Garza wants to provide contributions to the Wild Flower Center or to any other entity, perhaps he should do so with his own money and NOT with the money of PEC members, who are trying to make ends meet and are feeling the crunch of difficult economic times.
It is unbelievable that Garza and others believe it is their right to determine expenditures outside the PEC box. He can believe whatever he wants to, but he has no right to spend our hard-earned dollars on whatever whims he may have.
"With great power comes great responsibility." What part of that doesn't Mr. Garza and others like him comprehend? You cannot justify spending the money of PEC members on your whim. At the least, Mr. Garza should have polled the members whether they wanted money to go to the Wildflower Center, but the reality is that the money of our member should go towards actual PEC business.
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