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A 7-Year-Plan for Hartford?
by Ken Krayeske
Hartford, CT
T he United Nation's World Environment Day, hosted by San Francisco, ended Sunday, June 5 with a declaration by the 50 invited mayors calling for sustainable urban policymaking.
The Mayors hailed from the most progressive and sustainable cities across the planet. Only six U.S. cities earned attendance, and no, Hartford's own Mayor Eddie Perez was not among them. But 27-year-old New Paltz, NY mayor Jason West was.
In the spirit of international cooperation and local activism, the assembled delegates forged 21 Urban Environmental Accords. Each of the seven major categories - Energy, Waste Reduction, Urban Design, Urban Nature, Transportation, Environmental Health, and Water Ð features three policy Actions.
At the end of seven years, municipalities will be judged by how many of these 21 standards they have met. Oddly enough, unless Mayor Perez decides to run for Congress or the Senate, he is likely our guy for the next seven years. This coincidence offers us a fresh stick by which we can measure Mayor Perez's leadership.
As it stands, Hartford is taking tiny steps towards some of the benchmarks, like the Urban Design Green Building Accord. Action 7 states: "Adopt a policy that mandates a green building rating system standard that applies to all new municipal buildings."
City Councilman Bob Painter recently told the 40-Year Plan that all new city schools (not counting current construction projects like the Hartford Public renovations) will be built using LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - specifications.
Not to break my arm patting myself on the back, but astute 40-Year Plan fans will recall that last summer, in a column about the Mark Twain Museum's new building, I suggested that the city take the LEED leap.
Some of the Accords require cooperation from sources outside of Hartford. The state is already helping us with Action 14, "Pass a law or implement a program that phases down sulfur levels in diesel and gasoline fuels." Gov. M. Jodi Rell recently signed into law the second most stringent diesel emissions policy in the country.
To meet Action 14, why not invest in a cottage industry that recycles vegetable oil from restaurants and manufactures that into biodiesel, and sells it to school buses? Some cities, like Chicago, already utilize biodiesel for school buses. The state Department of Environmental Protection might assist with this concept.
A biodiesel plan would be a symbiotic step towards fulfilling other actions, like the ones calling for investment in renewable energy (Action 1), reduction of greenhouse gasses (Action 3), and creation of environmentally beneficial jobs in slums and/or low-income neighborhoods (Action 9).
Cooperation from groups like the Capital Region Council of Governments and the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance (of which I am now a board member) can help with accords like Action 15 "Implement a policy to reduce the percentage of commute trips by single occupancy vehicles by ten percent in seven years."
During the coming months, I will explore how Hartford can deal with these 21 accords. Hartford must eschew the failed policies of big-box silver-bullet economic development and investigate the possibilities of the U.N.'s Urban Environmental Accords.
Sustainlane.com this week ranked the 25 most environmentally conscious cities in America. The website judged cities using similar criteria to the U.N. ones, and included others like zoning, city innovation, and knowledge base. Sadly, Hartford didn't make Sustainlane.com's chart. It's time we work towards that.
6/8/05
