This post marks the final time our pun-filled rants will grace this hallowed page.  But wipe away those tears blog-dwellers – a new dawn, a rebirth of sorts, lays before us.  Hella Bus now lives on the Bus’ new website – bigger, better, and more pun-heavy than ever.

We let you decide how to get to the newest iteration of Hella Bus – choose your favorite death/rebirth narrative!

The Biggie Version

The Bus Version

Philosophically, we should say it’s better for the planet.. But it’s about the money. We’re so short on money anyway, we don’t want to pay any more on utility bills than we have to.

Although we may be passionate going green, we always gotta remember the other green; keep the wise words of the Wu in mind (CREAM). This week I wanted to share some stories where energy-retrofits, just like the ones that will come with R-52, have helped schools save some dolla dolla bills, while cleaning up the environment at the same time.

Kiona-Benton School District

The district was not even thinking about energy retrofits until they spotted energy efficiency grants being dished out by the state. This inspired them to hire a company called Quantum to give their K-8 building the once-over. Quantum laid out what would be the most cost effective, and the state  bit into their suggestions like the juicy locally grown apple you gave your kindergarten teacher. Lighting, heating, and cooling systems were updated to be more modern and energy efficient. The cost? $380,000 total. This is important, because this sort of money is virtually impossible for local school districts to get their hands on (the district paid $150,000 in this case), which is why we need the force and funding of R52 to make it happen. We need not worry about R52 emptying the state’s wallet either, because repairing school buildings is expected to save the state $610,000 in new construction costs over 8 years, or more than $75,000/year on average. But back to the local – the Kiona-Benton school district will now be saving $20,000 annually, from repairing just one school building.

Burlington-Edison School District

In 2002 the district retrofitted lighting, water and ventilation systems at two schools and the district office building. The project cost $323,000, $278 thousand of which was paid by the district. Now the district is saving an estimated $35,500 each year. They’ll be counting stacks beyond their costs in only 8 years. And wait.. I think that means we’re using less energy too. Gettin’ paid to save the world… sounds kind of like working for the Bus.

Aberdeen School District

What about our buddy Mr. Laufman? How did he fare in his sustainable quest for cash-money? Well, retrofitting a school heater alone saves about $30,000 every freakin’ year. They also decided to switch out to more efficient lighting in the school gym. We are still waiting on numbers for energy savings, but students and faculty are already diggin it.

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You don't even want to know what I can do with a trowel.

There you have it. Schools are already making it happen. Imagine what they could do with R-52 in place! Thanks for joining me for another Bustastic R-52uesday. I love having you all <3

Shout out to the Sightline Institute for hooking up so much good info on the Referendum 52. The Bus will drive over soon for a many-handed-high-five. For those who haven’t checked them out yet, clickity clickity.

See the previous posts on R-52: Introduction, Kids Getting Smarter, Saving the Future

And for the sake of less clicking on your part here is the prequel – the Baby -

Thanks to the Trick or Treats series on Consequence of Sound.  Similar to our Trick or Votes series going on everyday.

Well – my troubled friend -  you are in for a treat! They’re psychological manifestations of a scarring childhood fishing accident Mascots!  Indeed, the UK just unveiled the 2012 Olympic mascots: Mandeville and Wenlock (good god what were they smoking?). This is not a joke.  This is real.  This is terrifyingly real.

ENJOY!

Please do not poke them in the eye

The Bus and the Talking Heads usually get along great, but we differ on one minor point.  That is, we think Auburnin’ down the house makes so much sense.  That’s why the real live Washington Bus is rolling out for the final time this year for Auburn, Washington’s legislative champion – one Claudia Kauffman.  For convenience sake, let’s make a checklist.  Claudia is:

-       The highest ranking female Native American in the country – Check

-       Vice chair of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee – Check

-       Recipient of the Governor’s Award for Excellence – Check

-       Your new best friend – potential check

Makes so much sense in the legislature

Come join us for a great party and a great cause. RSVP to Bust a Move for Claudia!

Where are you Luke? I am your father! You come back here!

700 hot air balloons, five green chili breakfast burritos, four cute puppies, two days in Santa Fe, and one British indie rock band.

Just another weekend in Albuqurque, New Mexico for yours truly.

And I lied about the green chili breakfast burritos.  There were at least 10.

Read on for what to eat, where to be seen, and where..umm…you might not want to be seen in the land of the Lobos. Onwards!!! 

Scenario -

Setting: It is 12:45 am on a Sunday.

Situation: You are hungry.  Very hungry and craving a giant melted butter-covered cinnamon roll.

Solution: The Frontier Restaurant located on Central Street right across the street from the UNM campus. They serve freshly squeezed orange juice, roasted green chili, and homemade flour tortillas. All served from 5am until 1am, seven days a week. It earned a prestigious top pick by restaurant blog Roadfood woot woot.  And make sure to note all the paintings of Duke Wayne staring down at you while you chow down. Yummy.

Space coffee

Sit back, relax, grab a magazine and surf the inter webs. You are at Flying Star cafe. There is an eclectic crowd waiting in line: from yuppies to guppies, from young pediatrics to geriatrics, and from hippies to hipsters all wanting Flying Star’s famous Californian Sandwich or Greek Goddess Salad. Get yourself a Frequent Flier card to get $5 off every $50 you spend at either Satellite Coffee shop or Flying Star Cafe.

Up, Up, and Away!

If you plan on visiting Albuquerque in early October, you CANNOT miss the world’s largest hot air balloon festival. No, literally, you cannot miss it because the balloons are visible from all over the city. Over 750 balloons are showcased including the Wells Fargo Chariot, bumblebees, and, yes, a giant bunny.

Sandia Mountain trail

Albuquerque has all the perks of an urban city and the added bonus of being located in the shadow of 10,000-foot Sandia Peak. Take a hike, grab a horse, and climb a large boulder. Or just sleep in a tent and take photos of yourself for Myspace. You can do all of those things in Albuquerque’s surrounding camp grounds.

And as I take your leave, a gift for our loyal readers…….

………

Do it for the children

They don't just give those belts away

When the general election ballots make it to your door, you will find the usual alphabet soup (do they make numeric soup?) of ballot measures. It can definitely get confusing, and those little blurbs on the actual ballot are usually just enough to remind you that you don’t know what the heck it’s all about. Ten ninety who? R fifty cent? Never fear, the Bus has got wheels so we’ve got a head start towards the whole initiative circus, and its looking much clearer now. We’ve already given a nod, a nudge and a wink to Referendum 52, one of this year’s ballot heroes. Now meet its best friend, the awe-inspiring Initiative 1098, who is here to save Washington’s future in a big big way.

I-1098 will set up a trust fund for education (BOOM), health care (BAM), and middle class tax relief (KAPOW), a true investment in the future of Washington. And the investment is substantial – over $2 billion is expected to be accrued to the fund every year. Our state education system would be seeing an extra billion dollars every year, health care would benefit from roughly a half-billion, and the remaining would allow for tax relief for property owners and nearly 90% of businesses. These aren’t numbers I pulled out of a hat (that was indeed a rabbit); local experts such as the Economic Opportunity Institute, Sightline Institute, Our American Generation, and the Washington State Budget and Policy Center have all done their homework. Follow each link to see what those folks have got to say about 1098; the Economic Opportunity Institute in particular is on their shizznat. You can also check out the measure with your own spectacles here.

The “Education, Health Care, and Middle Class Tax Relief Fund” will get its cash flow from a modest-income tax on the wealthiest 1.2% of Washingtonians. Individuals will still have zilch income tax until they make at least $200,000/year, or $400,000 for couples filing jointly. The income tax will be a marginal tax rate set at 5%, which means only income above and beyond that mark is taxed (so if you make $200,001 in a year, your annual income tax will add up to a whopping one nickel). The marginal rate increases to 9% for incomes above $500,000/year, or $1 million for couples. Predictably, this concept of creating a new tax has sparked quite a bit of debate around the fairness of this measure (someone should hide those barrels of tea at the port). However, the idea that 1098 will hurt entrepreneurship or punish rich people is way-dumbed-down way of looking at it. 1098 is about fixing an unfair tax system, not piling on the taxes. Not to mention Washington State is currently ranked dead last in tax fairness in the whole country.

If 1098 is better than Robin Hood I'm definitely voting YES!

The two-thirds of Washingtonians who are home owners will all benefit from state-owned property taxes being reduced 20%, and I would bet my next-month’s rent that more rich people than poor people own their houses. Even better, the benefit of these property tax reductions will likely be passed on to home renters via reduction in rents. An even greater positive effect on our economy will come from eliminating the Business and Occupation Tax for 89.6% of businesses (a B&O tax is style of tax that has largely disappeared in the U.S. because of its unequal and unintelligent burden on small businesses; it is usually replaced by a business income tax). Now I’ll put November’s rent on the line to claim that probably more rich people own business than poor people, allowing them most of the benefit of eliminating the B&O tax.  Calling I1098 the “Robin Hood tax” as some have playfully put it, “robbing the rich to feed the poor” is actually the harshest way one could describe it, and to a great extent that comparison is plain wrong. In reality, Initiative 1098 is a smart reworking of Washington State’s unfair tax system. It removes undue burdens upon poorer families, while imposing a modest-to-nonexistent burden on our wealthiest 1.2%.

To recap, the benefits of 1098 from Washington State’s first, yet modest, income tax will be spread widely amongst our population via four mechanisms:

1. Education Investment
2. Health Care Investment
3. Eliminating the B&O tax for almost 90% of businesses
4. Reducing the state portion of property taxes by 20%

The Washington Bus and YOU both know that hating taxes for the sake of hating taxes is not what its all about. Let us leave our unfair tax system behind. Let us reduce the burden of taxes on our poorest citizens, so they don’t have to spend all their money on taxes. The families among the lowest 20% of incomes end up paying 17% of their income in state and local taxes, while the top 1% of earners fork over less than 3%. Let us make it easier for small business to enter a market and compete. Most of all, let us invest in our future, by saving money every year that will be dedicated explicitly to improving education and health care. We can do it Bus people! Let’s all get out and say a loud YES on 1098!

R-52 enjoying a day in nature. Still in pose.

Last time I rapped at ya, I mentioned that Referendum 52 is all different sorts of awesome for our student’s learning environment.  Well, it turns out it is equally awesome for Washington’s natural environment – predominately by reducing energy use. When we pass R-52, hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians will be gainfully employed to retrofit our state’s public schools. This means: new-fangled lighting, appliances, water-fixtures in schools, perpetually requiring less energy than their rusty old predecessors. Energy efficiency also stands to be improved simply from modernizing air circulation and insulation within our schools, 45% of which haven’t been updated since 1969.

Saving energy is a direct benefit to the environment at large because 17% our electricity in Washington is produced by our one remaining coal plant in Centralia. Factoring the potential energy savings from R-52 into the reality of coal production, we will be reducing our State’s CO2 output the equivalent of taking 130,000 cars off the road (meanwhile reducing other nasty byproducts of coal plants as well). The referendum explicitly prioritizes projects with the highest projected energy savings over the following 10 years.

For a more localized picture, we can also look to health benefits within our own urban/suburban environments. For the same reasons we will see students learning easier, retrofitting schools also improves the condition of the school-environment. Studies have repeatedly shown that energy efficient schools reduce the incidence of the flu and asthma attacks. This is a direct environmental benefit for Washington’s young folks and teachers.

One could also judge the benefit of reducing energy-related pollution by the reduction of energy costs to our schools. For some taking this monetary outlook is a necessity. Aberdeen School District’s business manager, Tom Laufmann, admits that counting bills is most important to him:

Philosophically, we should say it’s better for the planet.. But it’s about the money. We’re so short on money anyway, we don’t want to pay any more on utility bills than we have to.

Although we may be passionate about the importance of environmental improvements, Laufmann’s outlook is still effective for saving energy.  It’s always great when economic and environmental benefits go hand in hand.  Every dollar saved on energy via retrofits translates to less energy use and a cleaner environment. Tune in next week to hear stories from the Evergreen state where schools are already saving cash and saving the future at the same time.

See the other posts on R-52: Introduction, Kids Getting Smarter, Saving Scrilla