Three cheers for Watsonville!

I'm excited to brag about my city. Country Home Magazine ranks Watsonville in the TOP 10 Best Green Places to Live in America. How about that? Clap! Clap! Clap! Our city leaders have focused on energy issues such as solid waste management, land use, water conservation, recycling programs and green building practices. My husband Charles and I and everyone in our new development live in 'green' houses, which include recycled wood, energy-efficient appliances, solar panels on our roofs, and hot water panels instead of hot water tanks. We push a button in the bathrooms and kitchen before we need hot water. Within a minute or two the cold water passes over the panel and comes out of the faucet or shower nice and hot.

City traffic lights were converted to LED units, thereby reducing energy usage by 60%. And all city diesel-powered vehicles are using biodiesel. Our local Ramsay Park has the only environmentally friendly car wash facility in the city. We now have a 1500-gallon water retention tank that slows down the water and allows the dirty water to settle and the oils and grease to be separated out. From there the water is sent to the sanitary sewer lines where the water is treated at the waste water treatment plant.

And equally important to me, a writer, is our brand new (as of April, 2008) city library with state-of-the-art everything!