Citizens should encourage the Traverse City Light and Power board to invest in citywide high-speed fiber Internet, which is critical to the economic development of the region and will help attract talented workers.

Citizens should encourage the Traverse City Light and Power board to invest in citywide high-speed fiber Internet, which is critical to the economic development of the region and will help attract talented workers.
Last week was a good one for clean, renewable energy in our town. Traverse City Light & Power signed a contract for more power from a planned wind farm in the Thumb. The contract adds 3.6 megawatts of wind power to the public utility’s energy supply-enough to power about 1,000 homes for a year.
Sparked by strong initial success, Traverse City’s residential efficiency program, TCSaves, is again offering city residents a path to a more comfortable home that uses less energy. The communitywide effort, dormant since last spring, has a new goal, a new partner, and special borrowing options.
Energy efficiency puts our contractors to work; boosts local retail sales; keeps more of residents’ hard-earned dollars in town; increases property values; makes the community more attractive; and by lowering overall energy demand, slows the rise of everyone’s energy costs.
Our message is clear: TCL&P board members should look far and wide for a new director, attract the best candidates possible, and interview them with wide-open minds and complete transparency. Like every utility today, Traverse City’s is at a crossroads. It must choose between its business-as-usual model and the new, even revolutionary 21st-century models now emerging around the world.
Watch Peter Garforth’s message that Traverse City could become a national leader in conserving energy and creating jobs.