Tag: city
Colorado City Vows To Be Carbon Neutral, Defying Partisan Politics

Colorado City Vows To Be Carbon Neutral, Defying Partisan Politics

By Naveena Sadasivam, InsideClimate News (TNS)

Copenhagen and Melbourne have committed to the most aggressive carbon reduction goals on the planet.

Now those two cities — homes to 4.5 million people — have been joined by a perhaps unlikely companion on the fast track to carbon neutrality: the Colorado college town of Fort Collins, home to 150,000.

This month, the city approved new targets to reduce emissions 80 percent by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2050. Those goals place Fort Collins among a handful of cities playing a prominent role on the world stage in combating climate change.

“In terms of their level of ambition, they’re among the leading cities trying to tackle climate change,” said Paula Kirk, an associate in the energy consulting group at Arup, a firm that routinely advises business and government on sustainability issues.

At least 228 cities have voluntarily set goals to reduce emissions, according to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, an organization that encourages cities to confront climate change. These cities vary widely in the targets that they’ve set — from a ten percent reduction over five years to carbon neutrality over 35 years.

Fort Collins’ six city council members, who are chosen in nonpartisan elections, voted unanimously to approve the revised goals. Although the council members don’t have an official party affiliation, at least three of them identify as Republicans. The city’s mayor, Karen Weitkunat, is also Republican.

“It’s very positive that the council determined it’s appropriate to strive for this. It will get us farther than we otherwise would,” said Lucinda Smith, the city’s sustainability director.

Smith, who is in charge of proposing and carrying out a plan to reach the emission goals, said wildfires and floods that caused catastrophic damage in recent years pushed climate change into the public consciousness. In 2013, floodwaters along the Big Thompson River carried away homes and roads, causing more than $2 billion in damages. The same year, the Black Forest Fire, the most destructive in Colorado’s history, raged for nine days, destroying more than 500 homes and killing two people.

She also said Mayor Weitkunat played an “important role” in raising the issue of climate change to the public.

Weitkunat, who has been mayor since 2011, served on the 26-member President’s Climate Preparedness and Resilience Task Force to assess how the federal government can support communities in preparing for the worst effects of climate change.

“Overall, it’s a progressive city,” said Scott Denning, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. “But, to be a little more cynical, several of the council members who might have been inclined to say ‘no’ didn’t, because all they were committing to was a goal.”

Another reason the proposal sailed through with few objections is that Fort Collins is primarily a college town. Colorado State is the city’s largest employer, with a payroll of about 6,725. The fossil fuel industry, which typically objects to carbon cuts, does not have a stake in the city’s economy.

The city has had strategies to reduce carbon emissions in place since 1999. In 2008, Fort Collins adopted a 20 percent emission reduction by 2030, and 80 percent reduction by 2050.

In 2012, the Rocky Mountain Institute, one of the city’s partners on sustainability initiatives, studied the costs and benefits of raising emission goals and recommended accelerating them. This led the city to put the new goals to a vote and formally adopt them.

More than half of the city’s emissions come from power production. The Platte River Power Authority, which powers Fort Collins, relies on coal for almost 75 percent of the electricity it produces.

However, the city is in the unusual position of owning the Platte River Power Authority with three nearby cities, Estes Park, Longmont, and Loveland. As a result, the utility is free from financial obligations to shareholders and is beholden only to the four cities that own it.

“In the states, that’s rare and that’s a great thing to have,” said Adam Friedburg, an associate sustainability consultant at Arup. “If you have that control, you can do a lot that aligns with the city’s goals as opposed to the utility’s goals.”

Vehicles are responsible for another 25 percent of emissions. Burning natural gas to heat homes and buildings, and its use in industries, account for an additional 20 percent.

Before the new goals were put to a vote, city staff presented the council with a broad-strokes plan to decrease emissions 80 percent by 2030. The plan includes a number of strategies: retrofitting buildings and homes to make them energy efficient; investing in renewable sources such as solar and wind energy; and promoting public transportation.

Smith, the city’s sustainability director, said her staff plans to submit a complete implementation plan to the city council early next year.

Smith and the city’s staff have many hurdles to overcome if they are to hit their targets.

One significant challenge will be to convince the three other cities with a stake in Platte River Power Authority that switching to a cleaner energy portfolio will work for all. So far, the utility has modeled scenarios to transition to renewable energy but has not made any commitments.

“The plan is wonderful, but the real challenge is implementing it,” said Denning, who represented CSU on a citizen advisory committee that worked on updating the city’s climate action plan. “It will require constant vigilance.”

Another major obstacle will be to find a way to finance investments in cleaner technology and infrastructure upgrades, most of which are expensive. For instance, the city is considering a plan to upgrade homes to make them more energy efficient at no upfront cost to the owners. The costs would be paid back through electricity bills over time.

“How it’s going to be financed is the first big hurdle,” said Kevin Cross, a member of the Fort Collins Sustainability Group, a community organization that for years has been pushing the city to take more aggressive action on climate change.

The city estimates that it will need to spend $600 million by 2020 and between $3.4 billion and $4.6 billion by 2050. In the first few years, the city does not expect any significant savings. But, by 2050, the city estimates energy and fuel savings of $5 to $10.8 billion, a figure that far exceeds the costs.

Cross also said that he hopes that in spite of the challenges, the city will meet the goals and provide a model for other communities.

“We’re a tiny piece of the world puzzle,” he said. “What we also need to consider is that if small communities and cities can show the path forward, then we have a chance of addressing the global problem.”

Photo: The Neenan Company via Flickr

Hong Kong Officials, Democracy Protesters Hold First Talks

Hong Kong Officials, Democracy Protesters Hold First Talks

Hong Kong– Hong Kong authorities and pro-democracy protesters Tuesday held their first talks aimed at ending weeks of rallies that have paralyzed parts of the city, after its leader ruled out major reforms.

Chief executive Leung Chun-ying, in an interview late Monday, said open elections for his successor as demanded by demonstrators would result in the largest sector of society — the city’s poor — dominating the electoral process.

But hours before the talks began, he raised the prospect of limited reforms — offering protesters an olive branch after more than three weeks of rallies and roadblocks in the financial hub.

Several major intersections in the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city have been paralyzed since September 28 by mass rallies demanding free elections, in one of the biggest challenges to Beijing’s authority since the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests of 1989.

“I hope this dialogue can calm the relatively tense atmosphere in society,” said Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, Leung’s deputy, in her opening remarks Tuesday as the talks got under way at a medical college.

As part of promised constitutional reforms China has offered Hong Kongers the chance to vote — for the first time — for their next chief executive in 2017.

But only those vetted by a 1,200-strong committee loyal to Beijing will be allowed to stand for election — a proposal activists have labelled a “fake” democracy.

Under the current system the committee directly elects the leader.

“When five million eligible voters directly vote for the chief executive through one-person-one-vote, no matter which way you look at it, it is much more democratic than having the leader chosen by a 1,200-strong committee,” Lam added.

“The government’s direction of development…is not democratic, equal, open and is not an improvement,” said Alex Chow, secretary general of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups leading the protests.

Chow, wearing a black T-shirt with the words “Freedom now” and accompanied by four other student leaders, demanded that the public should have the right to nominate candidates for the 2017 chief executive election.

“The Hong Kong people’s demands for the city’s future constitutional development are very simple — civil nominations. We don’t want pre-selected candidates,” Chow said.

But Lam said the city must work within the framework provided by Beijing.

“Hong Kong is not an independent country, it cannot decide its political system on its own,” she said.

Leung, in an interview Tuesday afternoon with AFP and other media, said he was open to creating a more democratic committee to vet candidates for his successor.

– ‘All concerns and opinions’ –

He said that while Beijing would not back down on vetting his successor, the committee tasked with selecting those candidates could become “more democratic”.

The offer is still a long way from meeting the core demands of protesters. But Leung’s comments were the first indication of a potential negotiating point.

Lam also said the government will consider whether to prepare a report for mainland Chinese authorities on events in the city after Beijing’s decision at the end of August on Hong Kong’s political reforms.

Analysts have suggested such a move to appease protesters.

Leung in the interview Tuesday afternoon insisted his administration remains in charge of dealing with the ongoing protests, after repeated speculation Beijing was really calling the shots.

“We don’t have any instructions from Beijing, or suggestions, as to when or who we clear the streets,” he said, adding he did not feel the need to speak to his political masters on the mainland on a daily basis.

He warned police could move on the barricades at any time — even with talks going on — because patience among many locals was running out and some were “taking the law into their own hands”.

Five representatives from each side faced each other across a large rectangular table for the two hours of talks.

Protests have been largely peaceful until recent days, when police trying to reopen some roads and armed with pepper spray and batons clashed with demonstrators.

There are fears of further violence should the talks make no progress.

Joy Lam, a 36-year-old social worker, was watching the talks on a small screen at a protest site behind the government headquarters, away from the bigger crowds in Admiralty.

As student leaders made fiery speeches, many of those watching alongside her erupted into cheers and applause. But she said she was not optimistic.

“It’s not good, the government is still telling us what to do. I don’t think we will get any agreement because this government is still ignoring the people’s hopes and wishes,” she said.

AFP Photo/Anthony Wallace

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For L.A. Skid Row Residents And Advocates, Mural Is A Sign Of Survival

For L.A. Skid Row Residents And Advocates, Mural Is A Sign Of Survival

By Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times

Skid Row is the place that dares not speak its name.

The neighborhood of 10,000 people on the eastern end of downtown Los Angeles — with the largest concentration of homeless people in the country — is generally not listed on municipal signs or maps. The local firehouse was ordered years ago to take “Skid Row” off its ambulances and rigs.

As bars, lofts, and restaurants started to pop up in Skid Row’s traditional territory, the city — prodded by business groups — began using names like Old Bank District, Historic Core, Central City East, or Industrial District to describe parts of the 50-block area.

This month, a group of residents sought to reclaim their turf, at least symbolically. They put the final touches on an 18-by-50-foot mural with a detailed street map of the area and a clear message: Skid Row is a legitimate Los Angeles neighborhood, and should not be erased.

Organizers call “Skid Row Super Mural” a show of pride and self-determination by a community sick of being defined by its most unfortunate citizens. Detractors say the mural is a misguided attempt to paper over the misery of the homeless enclave.

City Councilman Jose Huizar says it is the kind of art he envisioned when he pushed in October to lift the city’s 11-year-old mural ban.

“It’s community pride on the one hand, it’s cleverly done, and it creates conversation and debate, which often great public art does,” said Huizar spokesman Rick Coca.

The San Julian Street project, which was registered under the city’s mural ordinance, is on the wall of a property known as Bob’s Bakery owned by businessman Peter Ta, according to city records.

The first phase, which went up in February, depicts the city seal and the words “Skid Row City Limit” in the familiar white-on-green lettering of official signs. In a jab at the city’s failure on the homelessness front, the population is listed as “Too Many.”

In another quietly subversive touch, the map text states that its boundaries are taken from Jones v. City of Los Angeles, a court case that barred nighttime homeless sweeps by police.

“The mural is the history of the community,” said Isabel Rojas-Williams, executive director of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles. “It’s very cleverly done.”

General Jeff Page, a formerly homeless activist who created the project, said he is as appalled as anyone that people languish in the streets. But Skid Row is not just people lying on sidewalks getting high, he said.

While City Hall was sleeping, he said, thousands of Skid Row residents — whose rehabbed flophouses and apartment projects are protected by covenants for a generation — have been bettering the community.

“A lot of success going on Skid Row is overlooked,” Page said, adding that business owners “think it’s going to be so cool, so brave to open a business here, but they don’t say it was Skid Row that led the way.”

The mural was designed by Stephen Zeigler and painted by street artists calling themselves the Winston Death Squad, among them a man known as Wild Life, whose work often spoofs official signs.

“I was impressed by the variety of race and income brackets. It was dirty and gritty,” said Zeigler, a commercial photographer who opened a Skid Row art gallery after moving from Manhattan Beach. “Some of the people I call friends live in tents.”

The optimistic picture of the Skid Row community is not shared by everyone.

Raquel Beard, who heads the Central City East Association., the local business group, said the Skid Row she sees everyday is a place of pain, misery, and degradation.

“Maybe in 10 years it will be … urban and edgy,” she said, “but before I can jump to Skid Row chic we have bigger issues to deal with. Let’s heal, then they can think about it as jazzy.”

Izek Shomof, a pioneering downtown loft developer, said he sees nothing to celebrate in the name Skid Row.

Shomof, whose partnership bought three aging Skid Row hotels in 2013 to make over for struggling artists, actors, and musicians, said some people who claim Skid Row as their turf are in favor of letting homeless people live in the streets.

“Whatever they name it, something needs to be done,” said Shomof, who describes his properties as “just outside” Skid Row, although they are well within the mural’s boundaries. “It’s absolutely inhumane to have somebody lying on the street.”

Page, however, foresees a day when the Skid Row mural will join the Hollywood and Rodeo Drive signs as L.A. icons.

That day may be far off. Directly across from the mural, men and a few women were splayed out on the sidewalk, smoking a street drug called spice, or chanting in languages known only to themselves.

Passersby seemed more baffled than bowled over by the artwork.

“It’s like a prison, with walls where the cops keep them in certain areas,” said Richard Kelly, a law clerk, pointing to the map’s street grid.

Said a homeless man who calls himself White Boy: “I love the General and I wish him well, but society’s not ready for Skid Row. It’s a 20-year plan for Skid Row and when it ends no way we’re in it.”

Photo: Los Angeles Times/MCT/Mel Melcon

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Cities On The Cheap

Cities On The Cheap

Visiting the major cities of the U.S. is great fun, and a patriotic way to spend your travel bucks. But many cities such as New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago can be very pricey options compared to some other vacation ideas. Kiplinger’s has some good tips to follow when visiting any major metro area and breaks them down into accommodations, transportation, entertainment, and dining.  For example, “taking advantage of a city’s bike-rental program” can be a fun way to get a more intimate look at neighborhoods, and of course it’s great exercise. And what with the trend in food trucks, good, cheap, local grub is the perfect way to keep tabs on your budget and hang with locals at the same time.

Photo: Teresa Boardman via Flickr