elephant car wash

Trying to remember where they put that car wash list?

The San Diego Water Department wants you to go to car washes that recycle - it says so in their brochure, 24 Ways to Save Water, that they've been handing out for nearly five years.

http://www.sandiego.gov/water/pdf/conservation/waystosavewater.pdf

One problem: They didn't seem to know which car washes do recycle.

A casual request for the information on July 2 turned into a roiling wave of delay and extra work while the city put together a list, sent out inspectors to check and finally delivered a list with the message that:

"The list has not been updated, may not be accurate, and is not complete.

Furthermore, UCAN should be responsible for maintaining the list and is encouraged to provide a mechanism whereby carwashes not on the list can be confirmed as recycling facilities and added."

This seems to be part of the city's policy of making the public fight and wait and fight for public records - granted, a minor battle compared with what Voice of San Diego and the Union Tribune have been fighting to get city - public - records. Our records.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/07/10/environment/muck/861pweleven070909.txt

This isn't about the Mayor's personal emails. If the city is going to ask people to go to recycling car washes, they should be able to tell you which ones do - especially since the city is supposed to be inspecting them for stormwater and wastewater compliance any way.

My heart is especially warmed by the instruction that we "should be responsible for maintaining the list." Is this a new out-sourcing initiative? I wonder if the city wants us to take over the wastewater inspections too?

We'll be posting the carwash list shortly.

Photo by Leff http://www.flickr.com/photos/leff/448059038/

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