@IndyMike: Sorry for the quick second post, but I have specific question. I hope you can shed some light with a local view.

The blog post says:

    > A city-run water utility with lower rates and no drought restrictions.

Can you provide any details on this? Usually setting up a city-run utility is political hell because the incumbent utilities do not want to let go of good business! There are so many stories on HN of cities trying to setup their own electrical utilities and tele-comm utils, but fail due to lobby and political B/S (not economics).