Dear Editor:"Green Task Force is here to stay." Cue spooky music. Never was there so menacing a title on the front page of The Downey Patriot! With global warming hysteria quickly becoming a fad of the 2000's and the "green movement" ranking at the bottom of the list of concerns for Americans, this article, as well as the promotional piece for the Green is Greater Festival, seem to be desperate attempts to remind everyone that environmental fanatics aren't going to go away quietly, and they mean to continue to do some damage. I say let's pray that the job-killing AB 32, to which the task force has modeled their guidelines, gets thrown in the paper-recycling Dumpster when Meg Whitman wins the governor's race. The icing on the cake, though, was the United Nations as the inspiration for this committee. Hah! The same United Nations who had multiple errors in their IPCC report? Some, perhaps, purposely falsified? Give me a break! Some of the suggestions for things like recycle bins in parks sound innocent enough. Replacing vehicles with more expensive electric cars or hybrids doesn't make much sense in this economy, and I have complained bitterly before about environmental propaganda in the schools - a place where it absolutely does not belong. But I had to laugh out loud at the "reduction in solar installation permit fees." Come on Green Task Force and Councilman Guerra! If you care so much about the environment, get rid of the fees altogether! Alas, we may be saying goodbye to good old, dependable Styrofoam, but unfortunately city permit fees, like the task force, are here to stay. -- Alaina Niemann, Downey

********** Published: September 23, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 23