Define jerk
Posted on | September 24, 2009 | 6 Comments
“ADD City Councilman Greig Smith to the list of scofflaws violating Los Angeles’ water conservation restrictions,” reports the LA Daily News. “In a direct challenge to the Department of Water and Power, Smith announced Wednesday he is violating the twice-weekly watering limitations …” to keep reading, click here. Via LA Observed.
Note: it has been politely pointed out to me that Councilman Smith is probably not a jerk. The headline was a not-so-subtle editorial on a subject that deserves more civil and serious treatment. The councilman may be right that his lawn looks better when watered on days of his choosing. If he believes so strongly in that lawn regimen, he owes it to his conscience and perhaps even this City to say so, and even to flout the law. But he also owes it to this City to quit his job before taking action that mocks the lawmaking ability of the Council on which he is a lawmaker.
Comments
6 Responses to “Define jerk”
Leave a Reply
North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
Garden blogs
September 24th, 2009 @ 4:50 pm
I don’t think he’s a jerk. I think he’s objecting to a superficial and ill-conceived rule that negatively promotes conservation (but not efficient water use) and criminalizes thoughtful attempts to reduce water consumption, turns neighbors against each other, and wastes water agency funds on “enforcement cops.” Why don’t the agencies get to work on figuring out a reasonable water budget for households and other water users based on available supply and set prices to further encourage conservation? Could it be they just don’t want to spend time thinking about it?
September 24th, 2009 @ 5:37 pm
Thanks for your thoughtful response. I agree with your comments about conservation and the considerable room for improvement in LA’s conservation policy. The headline, which may be regrettable and certainly was impulsive, was directed at his duty as a lawmaker to follow the law. In that regard, I find his action truly jerk-like.
September 24th, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
Just want to add that I didn’t intend to single out LA’s policy. Pretty much all water agencies down here in San Diego do it too.
October 22nd, 2009 @ 9:23 am
There is someone one Facebook plagerizing your post as her own. ,
October 22nd, 2009 @ 10:15 am
How flattering! Thank you for letting me know. It’s made my day.
October 23rd, 2009 @ 6:37 am
OECD sub’sample as it is in the rest of the sample. ,