Posted by Kate, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on May 3, 2012 at 5:22 pm

How it REALLY IS!! So 29,000 envelopes were mailed out and technically that is 29,000 'customers'. To protest the increases and get one or more overturned - according to State law, there must be 50%_+1 customers or 14,501 individual letter writers who send in a WRITTEN (not e-mail) letter to the city) and there must be one letter for EACH utility. Fair? Realistic? Of course not, but the State Legislature stacked the deck against residents. That would be more than voters in any civic election, if I remember correctly. Can those who cannot vote because they are not citizens vote on this? I don't know. Can Stanford students who are customers and live in Palo Alto vote? I don't know that either,but I hope some civic guru does.. (Students used to be able to vote in school board elections and once were recruited to do so as long as registered here.) Talk about civic scams. This is a big one that needs to be overturned. But how to do it? This should be on our list along with ABAG.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on May 3, 2012 at 6:23 pm

Since I did receive a letter inside my envelope, can I know insist that the road sweeper sweeps outside my home when there are often neighbors cars parked there and since I don't put out hazardous waste can I reclaim money back?

No, I didn't think so.

Posted by Nayeli, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 3, 2012 at 8:35 pm

The rate increase is TOO HIGH. It just isn't justifiable to the extent of what is proposed.

Posted by Confused no more, a resident of another community, on May 3, 2012 at 10:32 pm

wait a second, there is another article saying that the gas rates were lowered for citizens, and this one says rates are going to increase for all other utilities? LOLOLOL, a blind man could have seen this TOO HIGH increase coming.

[Portion removed by Palo Alto Online staff.]

Posted by SNAFU, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on May 4, 2012 at 8:20 am

Why has the definition of Snafu been removed? It is exactly what you have in your headline and there is nothing wrong with making sure readers here know exactly what it means. If you don't like it, why did you use it?

Posted by I, a resident of the South of Midtown neighborhood, on May 4, 2012 at 8:47 am

In any case, please do not send us another utility notice about gas rate adjustment. It's like the nonsense utilty report - a 100% waste.

Posted by moi, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on May 4, 2012 at 9:44 am

When I opened my empty envelope, I thought the non-existant enclosure was an invitation to a psychics convention.