Editor,

Months ago residents asked the Langley City Council to explore a generator-powered shelter in downtown Langley. At first the council seemed genuinely interested in doing so, but I wonder if I was naive about that.

Why do I think so?

• For months, the council’s has been citing the Catholic church’s generator as a possible solution. When I called the church last week, the woman laughed and said they were wondering if anyone would ever actually call and ask them about their generator. And the answer is… no, their generator is too small for that purpose. Why didn’t the city call them?
• Another example is that council members keep saying Langley has few outages, but the point of emergency preparation efforts is to prepare for rare events. Puget Sound Energy recently bought Senior Services a generator for just this purpose. Does the council think the utility wasted its money?
• The subject of the generator keeps coming up in meetings yet is never on the agenda where interested people might come. Recently, electrician Jerry Beck spoke on installing a generator at Island Church. This presentation was planned in advance but listed on the agenda only as “Presentation”.

We all know what a real project looks like. You appoint someone in charge. They gather interested stakeholders from all viewpoints and assign tasks. They monitor progress and report back on a regular basis announced in advance. This investigation lacks all of those characteristics. It doesn’t look like the council intends to make a sincere effort to explore this issue in an open, unbiased and inclusive way.

The city prides itself on a fat book of disaster procedures, but a fat book won’t keep us warm when it’s 30 degrees and the power goes out for a week after an earthquake.

SHARON EMERSON

Langley