Green Jobs Fit Valley

[irishbobcat]

TownTalk:

I can remember the live radio broadcasts when the blimp factory was coming, then the car company, and the indoor race track. I can appreciate the skeptics about renewable energy. Can it replace fossil fuel tomorrow? No. But down the road it could ease our energy burdens.

Green manufacturing is working in other parts of Ohio. One company in Athens, Ohio has now recorded over 1 million dollars in sales in just 7 years. I am starting to see solar panels light billboards for the Ohio lottery on I-680. We can and should be making these products here.

If you ask anyone who attends Struthers Board of Education meetings, i give monthly state legistlative reports in depth regarding education, which is the main reason I seek a state house seat. When I sit and read the information each month about the non-productivity that goes on in Columbus, I often ask myself why do we need state representation? When the house is only in session 8 days between January and March of this year, how much work can get done. Plus the house will be taking summer vacation then fall vacation to run for re-election, how much work can get done?

I would provide weekly updates on any and all media outlets that wanted them.
I have lived in this valley too long to see the same old politicians play musicial chairs with term limits and our region get nothing from Old Mother Strickland's and Old Mother Taft's cupboards.

Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative=60th district

campaign site: Http:votespisak.tripod.com

[Towntalk]

Dennis:

I’m certain that you will do your level best to serve the needs of this district, and certainly I want to see Bob back behind the throttle on a train running down the tracks into the sunset.

I guess I’ve spent too many years following the politics of the Mahoning Valley, and certainly too many years sifting through the news to be too optimistic about anything political whether its here I the Valley, the state, or the nation.

We here in Youngstown have been promised the Sun, Moon, Stars and Planets by politicians, promises that were never kept.

We’ve seen dozens of people rolling into our city with grand schemes that they said would bring Youngstown back to the forefront … breweries, car manufacturing plants, blimp factories, a major air cargo hub, to name a few, but after they got their bags of money out of us, they went their way, and left nothing behind.

At this point all I want to see is a politician that will not make grand promises about anything … no wild eyed schemes that he knows in his heart of hearts he can’t deliver, but who will go to Columbus and fight for this valley realizing that for his first few terms that there is little that he can accomplish, and that he will keep us informed about what’s happening in Columbus through regular appearances on the local talk shows where he can take questions, particularly on WKBN’s talk shows, which have not only the highest ratings, but can be heard all over the state.

The only time that Hagen appears on talk radio is when it benefits him and around election time when he’s after our votes, and other than that there is little that he can actually point to as a real accomplishment. This is totally unacceptable.

In this respect he’s no better than the fly-by-night schemers that have come here to bilk us our of our money leaving behind nothing but disillusion, and little more.

[irishbobcat]

Towntalk:

I do have kids who come to school without breakfast and go home to houses where no dinner is served. I worked a year in the state juvenile prison where I saw inmates create crimes on purpose in order to get extended sentences because they knew if they went home they would have no food or clothing, and they get 3,200 calorie meals in prison and new clothes and shoes every few weeks.

Folks in the Mahoning County should care what is happpening around them in regards to what other communities are doing with green jobs. They are jobs that require blue collar skills. and the father sitting at home trying to figure out how to pay bills might be able to land a skills job building solar panels or wind turbines. In addition, as we get better at producing renewable energy sources, our costs of paying bills to heat, cool, and light our homes will get cheaper.

Folks in Germany pay 8 dollars a gallon of gas. But, because they are heavy into solar and wind power, they pay very lttle
for home heating and if they don't want to pay 8 bucks for a gallon of gas, they ride mass transit for pennies.

Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th district

campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com

[ytowner]

I'm sick of this Congress, and I'm sick of the Republicans in it. The Congressional Approval Rating is 17%.... and Bush is to blame for all of the countries problems, no it is this Congress.

We need an overhaul on the entire system. We need to vote out every Congressmen against drilling in America.

And Democrats, you will lose the White House if you do not let us drill. Oil Prices may be $150 a barrel if these idiotic speculators continue to drive oil to record highs. Your party is against drilling, and drilling is the only way to increase supply. Drill in America NOW!

BTW, our unemployment rate is 5.5%, it may rise to 6% by years end but it is not there now. .5% is a significant number of people unemployed, and we are not there now.

[Towntalk]

My point is that according to the Labor Department, we have an unemployment rate of almost 6%, and that does not include those who are no longer on the record, and I don't need to tell you about all the problems this country is facing economically.

Yesterday Congress gave itself another pay raise ...refused to pass a bill that would extend unemployment benefits and refused to allow American Oil Companies to drill for oil here in America, or build modern state of the art refineries.

Our people here in the Mahoning Valley are hurting here and now, and as you yourself have pointed out that none of our state or federal representatives have lifted a finger to bring jobs back to the valley, but they have worked mightily to chase jobs out of the country.

Given these realities, how are we suppose to take anything politicians tell us seriously.

Talk will not put a single slice of bread on my table, or pay any of my bills, yet they keep shoving their hands into my pocket and soon they will have taxes so high that we will be spending more on taxes that food, clothing, shelter and health care combined.

Why, Dennis should folks here in the Mahoning Valley give a darn about what a hand full of folks are doing in California when we have our hands full just trying to keep our heads above water?

I don't know what the economic conditions are in your school district are, or how many students are coming to school hungry because their fathers are out of work, but I do know that a desperate father struggling to keep his family together isn't thinking about solar panels or windmills as he sits at his kitchen table trying to pay his bills.

By the same token, he's not listening to all the pie in the sky dreams that pour out of the mouths of politicians every election cycle, he's heard it over and over again ever since we lost our major industries.

[ytowner]

They may fit but I don't see many coming... We can say green fits Youngstown, but as of right now green technologies in America has been a bunch of hype. Maybe 5 years down the road I will change my opinion on it!

[irishbobcat]

TownTalk:

I will be happy to answer questions 1 through 6: Green jobs all across America and Ohio are already putting food on tables,
paying morgages, clothing children, paying health care bills, paying taxes, and help paying utility bills.

If you go to my campaign site, Http://votespisak.tripod.com and visit my "Latest News" page I have listed since December places all over America and Ohio where Green Jobs are already inplace putting people to work. This week I talked about how much work PA. has gotten out of wind and solar energy. I also posted months ago how Governor Strickland visited the new solar
panels put on the Toledo Museum of Art, and I asked the question why no solar panels on the Butler?

As  a member of Green Energy Ohio (GEO), the not-for-profit orhaganization dedicated to promoting environmentally and
economically sustainable energy policies and practices in Ohio, i can tell you in their  latest magazine which featured their Ohio Green Enery Review, there are over 80 coroporate members who belong to their directory.

Why is there no growth in Youngstown? Ask your local, state, and federal officials. That is why I am running for state representative. When have you heard Bob Hagan, Gerberry, Bocceri, Cafaro, and Ryan talk about bringing Green Energy jobs to Ohio?

They talk about passing sperm throwing bills, banning puppy mills, and putting Scooter Libby in jail. Never about bringing green  jobs to the valley.

That is why I am running as an independent Green Party candidate. To help bring jobs to the poor, working, and middle class of Ohio. Your current politicians are controlled by lobbyists and corporate PACS. Today's Democrats are no different than
your Republican Party.

Dennis Spisak

[Towntalk]

Dennis:

Please tell us:

[1] How are these "Green" jobs which are years away from reality going to put food on the table of our people today?
[2] How are these "Green" jobs that are years away from reality going to pay the mortgages of homeowners today?
[3] How are these "Green" jobs that are years away going to put cloths on the backs of today's children?
[4] How are these "Green" jobs that are years away going to pay today's health care needs?
[5] How are these "Green" jobs going to pay today's local, state and federal tax bills.
[6] How are these "Green" jobs going to pay today's rapidly increasing utility bills?

Two articles that you should read lead today's front page at my web site http://farrell-report.tripod.com as well as other articles that I've put up about the state of today's American economy.

In all of the articles you've referenced, none of them answer the key question of what we are to do in the right here and now.

One "Green" organization calls for controls over how many children a couple can have ... another "Green" organization calls for voluntary suicide in the name of saving our planet ... another wants us to live simply on grass ... another wants rights equal to humans granted to plants ... another wants us to stop breathing to cut back on CO2 emissions ... another wants us to live in caves so that we can save the trees ... another calls for cutting back on farming because it takes land away from the growth of trees.  The list is endless, so how are we suppose to take any of it seriously?

Recycling is good ... economically budgeting fuel consumption is good ... sound diets are good ... but for once, just once I'd like to hear how these "Green" folks plan to deal with the immediate here and now.

By the way, I can agree that green jobs are in our future, and the more folks that can be put to work the better for us all, but I fail to see any "Green" company saying, "Look there a the Mahoning Valley, lets open up operations there and put those hard working people back to work."

There are one or two businesses here now that fill the bill, but how many new jobs have they created?

[irishbobcat]

Green Careers Can Reinvent the Mahoning Valley

June 12, 2008

This week I read an article by Marilyn Gardner from the Christian Science Monitor that reported Americans were putting themselves on the path to green careers and job openings grow in a variety of eco-friendly fields. After reading this article it did become clearer to me that Green careers can help reinvent the Mahoning Valley.

"It’s an exploding field,” says Matthew Wheeland, managing director of GreenBiz.com. “It can be anything from a very technical job of manufacturing solar panels to the sustainability officer of a Fortune 500 company.”

Yet defining just what constitutes a green job remains a challenge.

“A lot of groups around the country are thinking about green jobs, but there's no clear consensus about what they are,” says Julian Alssid, executive director of the Workforce Strategy Center in New York.

Some eco-friendly jobs are newly created. Others require new skills for existing jobs. “I kind of chuckle when people talk about green jobs,” says Richard Stuebi, a fellow at The Cleveland Foundation in Ohio. “In many ways they look like traditional jobs, just repositioned to sustainable products and services.”

As one example, he points to the burgeoning demand for machinists, fabricators, and welders associated with wind turbines. “That’s now being called a green job,” Mr. Stuebi says. “But the job itself doesn’t look a whole lot different from those in the auto industry 20 years ago. Solar-panel installers are doing a lot of the same things electricians and roofers have done â€" running wire, drilling holes in roofs. And people who can operate cranes and do onsite pouring of concrete can erect and install wind turbines.”

Some eco-friendly positions deal with energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings and in transportation. Others involve energy generation, such as wind turbines and solar power. Industries offering green careers range from utilities and construction to manufacturing.

Energy auditors and air-quality auditors represent key emerging occupations. Energy auditors identify cost-effective investments that owners and tenants can make to reduce heating and air-conditioning bills.

Legal services offer other green opportunities. These range from helping companies create voluntary carbon programs to assisting with contracts for green real estate developments, says Larry Ostema, an attorney with Horack Talley in Charlotte, N.C.

“In the last 12 months, there has been an explosion of firms advertising the abilities of their lawyers to assist clients with issues associated with climate change,” says Mr. Ostema, who heads his firm’s Green Initiatives group.

Universities, business schools, law schools, and technical institutes offer degrees with green components. “Our goal is to develop graduates who can bring creative solutions to environmental problems,” says Robert Krueger, director of environmental studies at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.

As the Independent Green Party Candidate for state representative for the 60th district, I see the future in making renewable energy manufacturing jobs and green careers the solutions to mega-problems. We are already seeing growth in this industry, there is no end to this. It's going to affect everything. It's the work of our time and the future.

That's why we need to send a new state representative to Columbus this November to bring green careers back to the 60th district. We can not afford to send Bob Hagan back to Columbus with his dinosaur economic and work plan that has failed to produce any jobs in the last 20 years.

Dennis Spisak-Independent Green Party Candidate for State Representative-60th District

campaign site: Http://votespisak.tripod.com

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