Given the recently established reality in the previous answer, it’s easy to see how we may very well offset much of our cost with incentivized volunteer labor. In a city of roughly 1,000,000 people, we will likely find
10,000 people (0.01%of population) who want to get free electricity somehow. If each one of these people only donates 3 hours of their time per week, we could have 1,428 people volunteering each day, which breaks down to 285 people contributing each hour, if we work from 6am to 9pm. Of course, we will organize this in any configuration as per the immediate needs of Austin’s parks. We will establish an appropriate & decentralized accountability mechanism to ensure our objectives are met with all contributing fairly, in the best way they are able. Everyone is valuable and deserves the maximum respect! When we cover the Austin
Energy bill for 10,000 customers as appreciation for their consistent contribution (plus public gratitude, respect and recognition), this will “cost” us roughly $18,000,000 per year, based on an average monthly bill amount of $150. It may be higher or lower, but given the lessening of electricity costs, and the counterbalance of the return we get, this could save us a massive chunk of that $125,000,000, perhaps drop it dramatically (or eliminate most of it altogether). We could incentivize 50,000 people (0.05%), and spend $90,000,000, while having 7,142 people contributing DAILY value across our entire city. Frankly folks, this is an investment we can easily make, and we will ALL share in the benefits, because we are joining in union to work together for the greater good of everyone. It helps us build a sense of shared equity stewardship of the land, so we feel
connected and deserving of enjoying it with each other. There are no limits to what we can accomplish together!