Letter to the Editor: Time to Get City Council Meetings Back on Track

Dear Editor:

My name is Cathy Fucinari. I have lived in Troy since 1976.

I have some serious concerns about the speakers that are addressing our council meetings. I see many people coming from out of town (Novi, Ferndale, Auburn Hills, Farmington, Shelby, etc), who have no stake in Troy, taking up a significant amount of time at each meeting promoting a personal agenda (65 percent of public comments at the ). I think the podium is being used to advance paranoia and personal ideology by people who are not Troy residents.

For example, the makes no sense. These people may very well have health issues. However, people had heart attacks, suffered from cancer, developed asthma, and even evidenced ADD prior to the advent of smart meters. Just because these people have legitimate health issues doesn’t mean it was caused by the meters. 

I would ask each of these people if they use a microwave, a remote control, a cell phone, live near a power line, or shop at Walmart (RF inventory control system), use WiFi or visit locations that provide WiFi? Do you have a wireless router? The idea that DTE is forcing smart chips in our appliances is ludicrous:  DTE doesn’t sell Frigidaire’s. 

An electric meter doesn’t differentiate between a fridge and a TV set, the furnace or the AC, or identify what room of the house you are in – only how many KW are being used. If you pay a lower rate on a separate meter for interruptible service, don’t be surprised when your AC gets interrupted. One of the women who addressed council recommended a device (available for purchase) that would neutralize the forces of evil emitted by the smart meters and prevent the “sky from falling”.  That commercial suggests a profit motive. 

I would also suggest that, similar to using a credit card to buy gas causes you to pay more, requiring DTE to send a meter reader to your individual home to read a meter should require you to pay more for that service. Why should the cost of one person’s individual service be shared by all customers? DTE is attempting to limit their costs of doing business while costs of producing the energy continue to increase.

Each of these people is promoting the personal agenda of someone who (I expect that it is Janice Daniels, since she put forward the resolution) is inviting them to address council during public comment. Several council members have professed a philosophy of limited government. We already have a regulatory agency in place to evaluate consumer issues with public utilities, the Michigan Public Service Commission. I would suggest that they are much better equipped to evaluate the “evidence” given that they have more access to scientific knowledge than does the Troy City Council or Janice Daniels.

I believe that the council, and in particular Ms. Daniels, should define what is actually city business and what is not. City Council meetings are not the appropriate venue to solve state or federal issues. Each of you was elected to address city issues, not state (electric meters, transportation) or federal (national debt) issues. We have other officials to do that. I would appreciate listening to city issues when I attend or listen to the Troy City Council meetings.

I do not appreciate being subjected to someone’s ideology or the promotion of paranoia in what should be an intelligent, nonpartisan environment.

Cathy Fucinari

Troy Patch accepts letters to the editor. Send yours to jen.anesi@patch.com; please include your full name and hometown. Letters may be edited for clarity.