On Dec. 8, Fox News on its website [www.foxnews.com] published an article regarding Port Angeles’ new, crowd-pleasing wind turbines [“Report: Costly Wind Turbines Projected To Yield $1.39 In Daily Savings”].
[The report referred to the article in Peninsula Daily News at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-WindTurbines].
Port Angeles City Councilwoman Sissi Bruch spoke with Fox News, and she offered candid insight into the city’s somewhat curious motive for the purchase of the turbines, which cost $107,516.
Fox reports that, when asked “if the intent of the project was to provide a cost-efficient means of electricity, she [Bruch] said it was not the primary reason.”
Fox News states that “Bruch said the purpose of the ‘designers was to let people see how wind works.’”
Bruch continued, “It is a piece of art.”
Curious, yes?
Now, Port Angeles, pause and consider this: Children’s multi-hued, hand-held pinwheels also “let people see how wind works.”
These pinwheels are available online from Shanghai Pioneer Effort Arts and Crafts Co. for the economical price of 25 cents to 35 cents apiece.
Port Angeles is home to approximately 20,000 residents.
So, 20,000 multiplied by the top rate of 35 cents per pinwheel equals a meager $7,000. (See, math is fun — and even useful — sometimes.)
So, for significantly less cost, the city of Port Angeles could have given every resident a piece of art that would have provided delightfully colorful, refreshingly simple, self-directed instruction on how wind works.
You’re welcome, Port Angeles!
Susan Phillips Blevins,
Port Angeles