News of the Arroyo
Title: | City to join climate-protection accord |
Subtitle: | Pasadena will adopt enviroment-friendly policies |
Date: | 2006-09-16 |
Summary: | September 16, 2006 - Pasadena appears poised to sign on the UN Urban Environmental Accords and a US Mayor's Statement on Global Warming this Monday evening. |
Author: | Kenneth Todd Ruiz, Staff Writer |
Publication: | Pasadena Star-News |
Content: | PASADENA - A campaign to slow climate change is gathering momentum among cities in the United States, nine years after it began in Kyoto, Japan. Instead of waiting for the federal government to ratify the Kyoto Protocol\'s call for curbing greenhouse gases, nearly 300 cities throughout the United States have adopted its standards. On Monday, Pasadena is expected to join that list. Not only is the City Council expected to adopt the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement during a green-heavy session, it also will consider the United Nations Green Cities Declaration and Urban Environmental Accords. \"The whole thing is kind of inverted,\" said Councilman Steve Madison, who serves on the Economic Development and Technology Committee, also known as EdTech. \"The leadership should really be coming from our federal government on this ... instead it\'s upside down with the cities taking the initiative.\" Signing onto the initiatives - the overlapping goals of which include sustainability, energy, transportation, waste reduction and water quality - would bring changes to nearly every aspect of city operations. \"This will be a broad mandate across the whole city,\" Madison said. Given that Pasadena isn\'t in the rust belt and holds few resident smokestacks, the business community hasn\'t bristled at the changes. Lynne Hess, president of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, said she has studied the proposals and doesn\'t count them among any business-unfriendly actions by the council. \"We think it\'s great, as long as it\'s not another tool to try to stop someone from doing business,\" she said. For several months, eco-champions such as Don Bremner and David Czamanske of the Sierra Club have been prodding the council to take the plunge and sign onto both agreements. Taking action on a city level, Councilman Paul Little hopes, will prompt a trickle-up effect and lead to more action on the federal level. \"We\'re seeing temperatures rising,\" he said. \"At this point, all but the most die-hard are having a hard time ignoring global warming.\" Madison said Pasadena can play a unique role as a midsized city, particularly by virtue of its ownership Pasadena Water and Power company. Although PWP has been trending toward green practices for years, there is still a long way to go, including addressing some of its dirty habits, such as the importation of electricity from coal-belching facilities in Utah. But adopting the accords and the agreement is just the first step. Both proposals identify a series of milestones and objectives stretching into the next decade. That\'s where Councilman Steve Haderlein, who supports both proposals and serves on the EdTech committee, admits he\'s skeptical. \"It\'s easy to vote yes on the accords on Sept. 18, but it\'s hard to follow through on the 19th,\" he said. \"This council doesn\'t have the discipline necessary to implement them.\" City policy in the past has run counter to many of the goals outlined in the U.N. accords, Haderlein said, such as expanding parks and improving transportation. \"It will be a feel-good resolution,\" he said. \"We\'ve built one park in the last 30 years, and this calls for building parks?\" Under the U.N. accords, cities are graded based on how many of the 21 areas they have made progress. Pasadena hopes to address eight or more by the end of 2007. Mayor Bill Bogaard, whose name will be appear alongside those of hundreds of other mayors, said it is part of the city\'s obligation to do its part. \"The world\'s coming to realize the way we\'ve lived the last 50 to 75 years isn\'t really sustainable, and everyone\'s best interest is served by changing our patterns of consumption and figuring out how we can have a less adverse impact,\" he said. City Hall\'s actions coincide with a proposal in Sacramento to curtail emissions that, in the short term at least, is expected to have economic repercussions. Jack Kyser, Los Angeles County\'s economist-in-chief, said an exodus of business from California could be among the immediate consequences. \"The state law is certainly well-intended, but the question is, will other states follow California? Or will they lag behind and try to snag some of our businesses?\" he said. Even if the current buzz over global warming and fossil fuel fades, Kyser said, California\'s role as national trendsetter could see a big return on its green investments. In Pasadena, businesses such as engineering giant Parsons, he said, could reap the benefits of developing greener operations as other regions look to do the same. \"Trends start in California,\" he said. \"Sooner or later, \\[other states will say why don\'t we do this?\" The cost of implementing the U.N. accords depends on what actions are ultimately taken, according to a report by City Manager Cynthia Kurtz. Adopting the mayors agreement, however, will require City Hall to hire an additional assistant planner to be paid nearly $100,000 each year. todd.ruiz@sgvn.com (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4444 |
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