Green Leaders will be needed to reinvent Youngstown. & Ohio

[irishbobcat]

Green Leaders will be needed to reinvent Youngstown. & Ohio


November 7, 2008


Whether we are talking about Youngstown or as the following news article talks about Omaha, Nebraska, Green Leaders will need to step forward to help make Youngstown and every town and city in America a progressive place to live in the 21st Century:

Nov. 6, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Imagine an Omaha where city buses are full, cyclists share the road amiably with motorists and kids head outdoors to play rather than anchor themselves to their computers.
That's the kind of town civic leaders say they would like to see. So they have established a common environmental vision as the next major goal of the collaborative effort between the City of Omaha and the private group Omaha By Design. (OTCBB:BYDE)
A public meeting Dec. 4 will kick off the process -- which could last up to two years -- of writing an environmental vision for Omaha. The ideas, once finalized, will be incorporated into the city's master plan.
"This is the beginning of a process that moves the city in a direction that focuses on the environment," said Michael McMeekin, president of Lamp Rynearson and Associate Inc., a co-chairman of the initiative.
Mike Fahey sees the effort as part of his responsibility as mayor, spokesman Joe Gudenrath said.
"When you are in his office, you want to leave the city in better shape than it was when you got here," Gudenrath said. "He sees one way of doing that is to address sustainability and green aspects."
Prospective businesses and young professionals have cited Omaha's approach to sustainability as a factor when they consider locating here, said Connie Spellman, director of Omaha By Design.
Sustainability is generally defined as promoting economic growth and a quality of life that doesn't jeopardize resources needed by future generations.
Cecil Steward, president of the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities, based in Lincoln, said Omaha has its work cut out for it.
"Omaha is not very sustainable," he said. He cited suburban sprawl, deteriorating urban neighborhoods and an inadequate public transit system as areas where Omaha falls short.
"But it's not too late, and they're not as far behind as many cities," he said.
In addition, he said the city and Omaha By Design have a good track record with urban design standards. Those guidelines, which were developed over the past several years, have been incorporated into city ordinances.
The proposed environmental plan will establish guidelines for five areas: the natural environment, building construction, resource conservation, community health and urban form/transportation. Urban form is the city's layout, how it functions and what it looks like.
In one way or another, the guidelines will "touch everybody in the city," Spellman said.
Among other possibilities, the plan could look for ways to make public transit more popular and encourage energy efficient construction.
Ernest Yanarella, co-director of the Center for Sustainable Cities at the University of Kentucky, said Omaha's effort has a few things going for it: the willingness to give the process time -- a couple of years; committed leadership by the City Planning Department and Omaha By Design; and an apparent effort to draw in the public.
The "absolutely crucial element" for successful sustainability initiatives, he said, has been top-down leadership and bottom-up commitment.
Kent Portney, a professor at Tufts University who has studied the politics of sustainable cities for about 10 years, said a number of communities have undertaken aspects of sustainability. Those cities and some of what they have done include:
--Seattle and Portland encourage extensive use of alternative-fuel vehicles in areas such as city fleets, buses and taxis.
--Chattanooga, Tenn., began building its own electric buses after it couldn't find a U.S. manufacturer.
--Austin, Texas, generates its electricity from wind power and waives some fees for green building practices.
--New York City requires that renovated buildings and new buildings meet green standards.
Much of Omaha's work will be paid for within the existing budgets of the City Planning Department and Omaha By Design and through the help of local volunteers. However, $75,000 has been raised to pay for a facilitator from the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado and for some of Omaha By Design's expenses.
That money is coming from a federal storm-water grant awarded to the City of Omaha and from grants from the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District and the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency.
While declining to be specific because he said he didn't want to prejudice the process, Steve Jensen, city planner and co-chairman, said he anticipates a mix of changes.
Some new ordinances are likely, he said, although he didn't anticipate anything as extensive as the new design standards created with Omaha By Design. Those design standards affect everything from the materials that can be used on a building's facade to landscaping around parking lots.
"We can make relatively simple changes that could make dramatic improvements," Jensen said. "There are some other things where we are going to have to make dramatic improvements."
--Contact the writer: 444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com
Newstex ID: KRTB-0149-29291273

We are not alone. The passage of the WRTA levy was the first step in the right direction for the valley. Now who will be the Green Leaders to step forward and keep the ball rolling?

Thinking Green,

Dennis Spisak


http://www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/