SCV Off The Grid - Calendar Update!

CALENDAR UPDATE

2nd Tuesday of the Month @ 7pm
· FREE Public Team MeetingNewhall, CA—Please call to RSVP (661) 259-3704Light Refreshments to be served


SCV EVENTS and CLASSES
¨ April 17—Santa Clarita Valley—Arbor/Earth Day @ Newhall Park
· Learn More
¨ April 26— GREEN INCENTIVE GRANT—Information Session
· Learn More


¨ To have YOUR EVENT posted here, go to http://www.SCVoffTheGrid.com

Team Project Meeting Roundup 2009-03

Great Meeting!

Thanks to Steve Kassel for the use of his office!

We covered the following:

• Business Plan
• Board of Directors and Advisory Council Candidates (please continue to submit names)
• Vendor/Partners and future bid process (please continue to give us names of potential vendors)
• Press Update (Southern Sierran article submitted keep your eyes out!
• Website Update (new grid-vids in production -stand by!)

GREEN ARTS & EVENTS
18th Street Arts Center - Santa Monica, CA
Till Dec 11
Diana Meyer's "Without a car in the world - 100 car-less Angelinos tell stories of living in LA.
http://www.18thstreet.org/currentexhibitions.html#EchoPark


VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
CPA, Attorney, Web Designer and any other professional to help get SCV OFF THE GRID!!!
Contact Steve Kassel at 661-259-3704 or email s@kassel.us


NEXT MEETING
December 1st 7pm
@ the office of Steve Kassel RSVP
please to Steve directly 661-259-3704 or email s@kassel.us


Team, keep up the great work!
- The SCV OTG Team

SCV Off The Grid - Project Update

Hello Team!
The summer was filled with great progress with SCV Off The Grid group!
Here is the update and see you at the next event!

MEETING PLACE REMINDER
Our meeting place has changed to the Office of Steve Kassell, so make sure you RSVP for the address.

Next Meeting OCT 27 @ 7pm
RSVP to Steve Kassel s@kassel.us or call (661) 259 - 3704


BUSINESS PLAN
We are almost done with our Business Plan to ensure we can continue to bring you high quality information and achieve the level of savings for bulk purchases for each homeowner and the community. A big thank you to the SBDC for all of their continued support.

HOMEOWNER EDUCATION PLAN & SURVEYS
We are fleshing out content for educational presentations and surveys for homeowners. We need your input so if you interested in helping out, call Steve Kassel directly at (661) 259 - 3704.

VENDOR MEETINGS PACKAGES
We are continuing to meet with vendors and working to develop package offerings. Do you have a vendor you would like us to meet? Call Steve Kassel directly at (661) 259 - 3704.

WEBSITE & VIDEOS! http://www.scvoffthegrid.com/
We are continuing to work on updating the website. Share your feedback!
Call Leah Pollack 661-309-3195.

YOU TUBE CHANNEL
Welcome to Grid Vids! Video Interviews with Residents of the Santa Clarita Valley on what they are doing to make their valley more Energy Efficient. Want to share your story? Call Leah Pollack 661-309-3195.









NEXT STEPS
Get involved! Share your interest! call Steve Kassel at (661) 259 - 3704


Thank you all for your continued support!
-Team SCV Off the Grid!

Stevenson Ranch Town Council Meeting - Round-up

On July 1, 2009 The SCV Off the Grid Team was grateful to be given the opportunity to address the distinguished West Ranch Town Council http://westranchtowncouncil.com/

Our presentation went well. Thank you to all of you for your input on the powerpoint, as it is truly concise in format. But what was the BEST part of this presentation was the COMMENTS, the INPUT, the ENTHUSIASM of the meeting's participants.

The council serves as a communication portal to the homeowners and the community. They have agreed to put our meeting times on their website calendar and requested us to submit our progress and keep them posted as we accomplish our goal of retro-fit implementations of energy-conscious projects as Solar, Wind and drought resistant planting and conservation education within existing neighborhoods here in the Santa Clarita Valley.

For those who have not attended a Town Council Meeting, I highly encourage your participation. The TPC venue http://www.tpcvalencia.com/ is always a treat, with gracious staff and terrific views of the area. The agenda of the meeting has reports provided by all aspects of the community, Parks, Safety, etc. and really make this a worthy trip for any resident of the area.

Helpful Links to connect you to this neighborhood:
http://westranchtowncouncil.com/
http://www.tpcvalencia.com/

Project Update

Hello Team!
Thank you so much for your emails. Many great advancements with the team. Below you will find the Aggregate Team Meeting Notes; 2nd Quarter 2009, let us know if we left anything out.

Thank you to the Saturn of Santa Clarita http://www.santaclaritasaturn.com/ for the use of their Conference Room!

WELCOME!
We want to welcome all the new folks who have tuned into our group endeavors. We appreciate your continued participation in making Santa Clarita Valley the best GREEN city through this great grass-roots effort.

JUL 1 - NEXT HOA PRESO
We are working dilligently on our presentation to the Stevenson Ranch Town Council for JUL 1.Let us know if you would like to attend with us. Call Steve Kassell to RSVP.

ENTITY STRUCTURE:
We are still researching the best way to ensure our overall goals are met with the correct structure. Let us know if you are interested in helping with this effort..

INFO BROCHURE:
Mock-Ups of the graphic design of an 'homeowner interest brochure'. This will include some sample pricing for the tiered-offerings we are working on, as well as some sample financing options we are aggregating for the initial rollout.
Current Volunteers: Arlyne Szerman, Leah Pollack, How about you? Let us know if you would like to help!

We can utilize existing distribution mechanisms to get this in the hands of homeowners and get the initial project underway!

WEBSITE:
A straw-website is in the works. To start, we will have an intro page, meeting notes, video snippets, resource directory. The Team thanks Leah Pollack for her generous donation of hosting the site http://www.scvoffthegrid.com/ We need a developer to help with the meaty-stuff! Do you want to help out with this site creation? Let us know!

VIDEO SNIPPETS:
In an effort to empower SCV folks with what is already going on, we are on the scene with local homeowners who want to share their SCV-GREEN with the world!
JUNE: Mark Figeroa and Drew Neumann
Do you want to be on the video-snippets? Let us know!

GREEN EDUCATION:
At each meeting we continue to knowledgeshare on all parts of the SCV-GREEN experience. Here are the highlights:

> Mark Figeroa of http://www.greenconvergence.com/ shared on the newest solar tiles and roofing considerations and the permit process with the City as well as the County.
> Drew Neumann of http://www.droomusic.com/ shared his travels to the pacific northwest and discussed his SCV-GREEN experience with retro-fitting his home including back-up battery technology.
> Leah Pollack http://www.eliteprosre.com/ shared the growing concern of Sacramento initiatives to tie energy audits and other energy efficiency retro-fits point-of-sale (point-of-sale means retrofits or other items must be completed prior to the completion of the sale of the home or building).
> Josh Newland of http://www.goodnewsplumbing.com/ shared about the newest GREEN-tech in the plumbing world.
> Bill Lambert of Sylmar High School http://www.sylmarhs.org/shared his accomplishment for his school curriculum for future energy auditors, installers, planners, etc. Way to go Bill!
REGIONAL EVENTS

• JUL 13 SOLAR TOURS
  Thank you to Lynne Palmbeck for recommending the team check into the following events:
  
  >SEAL BEACH SOLAR TOUR>June. 13, 9 AM TO 4 PM ON THE BOEING LOT, WALK FROM STARBUCKS OR SUBWAY, LOTS OF FREE PARKING>>Those interested in solar electric can come to the Boeing parking lot at Westminster and Seal Beach Blvd. for information about residential and commercial solar power. There will be a self-contained solar system on view, and plug-in all-electric cars.> >Visitors can participate in a docent-led Tour of local solar homes, examining actual solar systems and talking to the solar homeowner about their system and how solar actually works in practice. Sign up for the Tour by 11 AM on the Boeing lot. > >The Tour, partiall self-guided, will spend a few minutes at each of six homes and one business in Seal Beach, where a docent will explain the size and hardware used in the system, and the Solar Homeowner will be available to answer questions about cost, power production, any issues or benefits, etc.> >The event, and literature, is entirely without charge.> >For more information, http://sealbeach.org/ or call 562-430-2495> >------------------------------------------------> >TORRANCE ENERGY FAIR AT MADRONA MARSH>June. 13, 10 AM TO 3 PM AT MADRONA MARSH, 3201 PLAZA DEL AMO, TORRANCE> >The city of Torrance has taken over the sponsorship of the Energy Fair that had been run by the Environmental Priorities Network for the last three years. You are all invited to attend the Torrance Environmental Fair on Saturday, June 13th, from 10 AM to 3 PM, at the Madrona Marsh Nature Center, 3201 Plaza Del Amo, in Torrance. The street will be closed off to accommodate the large number of booths and displays that are being planned. > >Information on green home improvements, solar installations, hybrid cars, electric vehicles, scooters, and bicycles will be available.> >You will find out about water conservation, how to plant drought-resistant landscaping, and how to get rebates on energy-saving appliances. Attending this fair will enable you to reduce energy consumption, save money, gain personal convenience, and reduce the dangers of global warming. > >Visitors will be invited to take the "Torrance Green Pledge" to encourage them to "go green" in order to help the survival of people and animals everywhere on our planet. Children's activities are also being planned. For more information, check out the new EPN website: >http://www.environmentalprioritiesnetwork.org/>or contact Lillian Light at>lklight@verizon.net 310-545-1384 or call 310-6180-5929

***

Team, once again thank you for all your good works on the 'SCV Off the Grid' Project. We look forward to your continued input.

In The Press!!!

In the Press Today!!!! - Go Team! http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/11224/

WANTED
We are STILL - - - IN SEARCH OF an enthusiastic Local Santa Clarita Valley volunteer web designer. If you are interested, please call Steve Kassel 661-259-3704.We will incorporate Video, Filled-Out Letters to the HOAs for easy printing and submission for Homeowners who want to have their area participate, Share your story Section, Video Streaming our meetings, On-line Survey, Resource List, Team member directory, and much, much more!

HOA VISITS
Want us to come visit with your HOA? Please call Leah Pollack 661-309-3195 to get on the schedule to get the ball rolling.

ALL
Keep the feedback coming! We truly appreciate your continued support.

1st HOA meeting - Stevenson Ranch - 2009-03-17

This post was contributed by Steven Kassel. To learn more about Steven, please visit www.kassel.us

**
Tonight, March 17, 2009 was SCV's 1st presentation to a HOA. Though I am not sure what the response was, Leah Pollack's Powerpoint presentation held the attention of the board members of the Stevenson Ranch Homeowner's Assn and the 12 or so homeowners in attendance. She did an excellent job! We hope to have a HOA board member meet with us as an official liaison and develop project of 100-500 homes.
**
This post was contributed by Steven Kassel. To learn more about Steven, please visit www.kassel.us


Steven, thanks for the update!

All, Please keep your eyes to The Signal for our Article... (we will post the actual article link once we see it), but for now... to check into The Signal, please visit www.the-signal.com


As always, we will keep you posted right here as progress develops. Keep the feedback coming!