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From: Diane Sweet <br />To: Council -Ian Bain; Council -Diane Howard; Council-Giselle Hale; Council -Alicia Aguirre; Council -Janet Borgens; <br />Council -Shelly Masur; Council -Diana Reddy <br />Cc: MGR -Melissa Stevenson Diaz; CLK-Pamela Aguilar; PWS -Vicki Sherman; Eric Sweet <br />Subject: (supporting Redwood City Reach Codes and Electrification) <br />Date: Sunday, September 20, 2020 12:38:25 PM <br />Dear Council Members, <br />As a resident of Redwood City, a parent of children in Redwood City schools (High School, <br />Middle School and Elementary School!), and as a small business owner in Redwood City, I <br />implore you to have the courage to stay the course with the reach codes and electrification of <br />our community. I recognize that making decisions that not everyone in the community may <br />support is not always easy, but I firmly believe we need to be thinking about a sustainable <br />future and clean environment for our community. We absolutely need to reduce our <br />dependence on fossil fuels and instead rely on renewable sources of energy for the betterment <br />of our community. There is no good way to 'transition' and frankly, delaying the move to <br />renewables means continuing to spew more greenhouse gases into our atmosphere and we all <br />just got a heavy dose of what that really means to us trying to live through it. <br />I also believe that there is a great deal of *misunderstanding* around what methane (natural <br />gas) is: it is a super pollutant, it is 80x more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas AND it is <br />terrible for our health. It is a leading cause of pet and childhood leukemia and it triggers <br />asthma for those who have it and it emits formaldehyde, nitrous oxides as well as carbon <br />monoxide when it burns; the reason cities mandate carbon monoxide detectors in our homes <br />is because we are pumping a highly combustible, volatile, odorless gas into our homes all day <br />long (in earthquake country)! We cannot pretend that natural gas is in any way natural or <br />good for the community. <br />There is another important misunderstanding: electric induction cooktops are NOT the old, <br />electric coil stoves of yesteryear and many, many people think they are. Induction cooktops <br />for any busy individual trying to cook are *amazing* - allowing for precise control with no <br />fire or burn risk. I really do encourage each of you to try one (sincerely, you will never go <br />back:) if you have not already. <br />Please make Redwood City a place that we can be proud of, where we can be leaders among <br />the other Bay Area cities and where our leaders have the courage to make difficult decisions <br />knowing that these decisions will lead to a much better future for all of us and that we all need <br />to take responsibility for the greater good. <br />Thank you for taking the time to read my request. <br />Warm regards, <br />Diane Sweet <br />