[sustran] Re: U.S. Mayors Respond to Washington Leadership Vacuum
on Climate Change
Eric Bruun
ericbruun at earthlink.net
Thu May 4 03:37:19 JST 2006
Todd E
As a Seattle native and one who has been following developments there closely, allow me to express
my skepticism.
Seattle is a faux green city. Lots of talk. little action. The car remains king with few places that bus transit
gets preferential treatment. Bus headways are also longer than average for a city of its size and density due to excessive use of articulated buses in a misguided attempt to save money. The corridor that actually needed rail transit the most - University District to Downtown -- is still many years from completion. Politicians insisted on an extremely expensive, deep, and long tunnel instead of street running because they didn't want to take any lanes from cars.
I note that there have been numerous struggles for years to improve transit there, with anti-tax groups, futurists who claim rail transit is obsolete, and the state's own gag laws against public officials in the runup to elections all helping torpedo almost every important proposal. The futurists and anti-tax people said to improve buses instead, but this was probably insincere. They knew that bus lanes were very unlikely given the car-is-king attitude of most politicians. Support for transit from these "environmentalist" politicians in the face of these groups has been lukewarm, but efforts by the same politicians to reopen the one pedestrian area in downtown to cars and to build two expensive stadiums has been strong.
The transit investment package that would actually have made a dent in the transportation problems of the three county region and that the public ultimately voted on in 1995 won in King County where Seattle is located. It lost by small margins in the counties to the north and south, so the politicians decided to not build any of it. Meanwhile most politicians didn't want people to vote on the stadiums. One of them got forced on to the ballot and it got voted down. It was built anyway. Meanwhile the City and State claim poverty when it comes to keeping school buildings in good repair. (The truncated project approved in 1996 is nothing but a minor start on a huge, utterly unsustainable transportation mess involving horrendous automobile traffic, huge volumes of trucks, and a congested freight railroad network due to the huge container port. It is also taking a pathetic 13 years to be completed.)
One more thing. Paul Allen, the third richest person in the world got his new football stadium at public expense. He could have built it with pocket change. He bought a personal yacht for $200 Million! Can it be coincidence that most polticians are actually enthusiastic about one particular transit project? It is a streetcar that will connect downtown with Paul Allen's new real estate developments. The only green that most politicians in Washington State are concerned about is the paper that is died green.
Eric Bruun
-----Original Message-----
>From: Todd Edelman <edelman at greenidea.info>
>Sent: May 3, 2006 1:00 PM
>To: Asia and the Pacific sustainable transport <sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
>Subject: [sustran] U.S. Mayors Respond to Washington Leadership Vacuum on Climate Change
>
>Hey! Check this out!
>
>My only (predictable) comment: Just imagine if Seattle actually did retire
>148,000 cars a year and all the positive effects that would have besides
>just less carbon emissions:
>+ More space for no parking
>+ More quiet places to sit next to un-cars
>+ Better visibility of ground because of no cars
>+ Save concrete for other things
>+ Active people instantly created
>+ PT moves easier
>... and so on.
>
>
>Eco-Economy Update 2006-3
>For Immediate Release
>May 3, 2006
>
>
>U.S. Mayors Respond to Washington Leadership Vacuum on Climate Change
>
>http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2006/Update53.htm
>
>
>Janet Larsen
>
>
>Recognizing that global warming may fast be approaching the point of no
>return and that the world cannot wait for the U.S. government to act,
>hundreds of U.S. city mayors have pledged to cut emissions of greenhouse
>gases. By signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, these
>mayors�representing some 44 million Americans�have committed
>their cities
>to meet or beat the U.S. emissions reduction target in the Kyoto Protocol,
>despite the federal government�s refusal to ratify that treaty.
>
>This grassroots political revolution, spearheaded by Greg Nickels, Mayor
>of Seattle, Washington, and endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors,
>responds to the mounting concerns of the American people. It calls for
>reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
>As Burlington, Vermont, Mayor Peter Clavelle noted: �We can't wait for
>this vacuum of leadership to fill.�
>
>Since February 16, 2005, the date the Kyoto Protocol came into effect for
>the 141 countries that ratified it, 227 U.S. cities have joined the
>mayors� agreement, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago,
>the three
>largest cities. The Northeast, the Great Lakes Region, and the West Coast
>are particularly well represented, and the list keeps growing. (See map
>and additional data at
>www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2006/Update53_data.htm.)
>
>The group includes both communities with an eye on global problems and
>those concerned about climate-related impacts closer to home. For example,
>a dozen coastal Florida cities that risk destruction from storms and
>rising seas have signed on. Mayor Ray Nagin noted a similar concern when
>adding New Orleans to the agreement, stating that �the rise of the
>Earth's
>temperature, causing sea level increases that could add up to one foot
>[30.5 centimeters] over the next 30 years, threatens the very existence of
>New Orleans��and this was before Hurricane Katrina.
>
>The cities� action plans vary in both content and completeness, but
>the
>common refrains include increasing automobile efficiency, improving public
>transportation systems, curbing sprawl, and encouraging walking and
>cycling. The plans emphasize using and generating electricity more
>efficiently, with renewable energy sources playing a prominent role.
>
>Seattle�s pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions translates into an
>annual cut of 683,000 tons, the equivalent of retiring some 148,000 cars
>each year. In March 2006, the Mayor�s Green Ribbon Commission made
>numerous recommendations on how to achieve this goal. The local role model
>is the municipal government, which has already slashed carbon emissions
>from city operations to more than 60 percent below 1990 levels. This was
>achieved in part by switching a share of the government fleet to
>hybrid-electric vehicles. By cutting fleet fuel use by 7 percent between
>1999 and 2005, the city saved at least $300,000 a year.
>
>Seattle City Light became the nation�s first major electric utility to
>achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions in 2005 through a combination of
>energy conservation, renewable energy (principally hydropower), and
>offsets for the remaining emissions. To capitalize on this success, the
>Green Ribbon Commission recommends improving energy efficiency in
>buildings and requiring new housing to be energy-efficient.
>
>For Seattle as a whole, the city�s 400,000 registered vehicles are the
>number one local producer of greenhouse gases. The commission suggests a
>number of ways to reduce automobile dependence: Broaden the availability
>of �frequent, reliable, and convenient public
>transportation,� which could
>be funded in part by new regional toll roads and a new commercial parking
>tax. Encourage car sharing. Add bike lanes and trails, improve sidewalks
>and crossings, and develop �compact, green, urban
>neighborhoods� built for
>people, not cars. With the average Seattleite spending more than one work
>week sitting in traffic each year, such measures have the benefit of
>greatly enhancing residents� quality of life.
>
>To reduce carbon emissions from vehicles still on the road, the commission
>supports tailpipe limits on car pollution (as now required under the
>California �clean car standards� adopted by Washington State
>in 2005) and
>greater use of biofuels. Cutting emissions from diesel trucks, trains, and
>ships also improves local air quality, leading to fewer cases of asthma
>and respiratory disease.
>
>Suggestions to move beyond the Kyoto goals include using rooftop solar
>energy systems and heat pump water heaters. Other innovations that make
>the Seattle commission�s list are pay-as-you-drive insurance to
>discourage
>unnecessary driving, and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles that for short
>trips can run on electricity, preferably produced by renewable
>sources�virtually an 80+ mile-per-gallon car.
>
>Of the other cities signed on to the Mayors Agreement, Portland, Oregon,
>has one of the most advanced plans for change. In 1993 Portland became the
>first U.S. city to develop a global warming action plan. Now, together
>with the rest of Multnomah County, Portland aims to cut greenhouse gas
>emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2010. Had Multnomah County
>continued with business as usual, today it would be emitting more than 12
>million tons of carbon dioxide; because of its deliberate action to reduce
>greenhouse gases, however, the latest tally shows emissions have fallen to
>9.7 million tons�just 1 percent above 1990 levels.
>
>Portland has managed to increase public transit use by 75 percent since
>1990. This was aided in part by the addition of new major light rail lines
>and the 2001 reinstatement of a central city streetcar, a throwback to the
>old trolley system that had been supplanted by polluting diesel buses and
>personal automobiles. City workers receive monthly bus passes or free car
>pool parking, and businesses that subsidize employee parking are
>encouraged to subsidize public transit commutes as well. Portland also has
>267 miles (430 kilometers) of bikeways, which it hopes to double within 10
>years.
>
>In 2002, Multnomah County established energy efficiency standards for
>�lighting, heating and cooling, appliances, and personal
>computers.�
>Throughout Portland, traffic signals have been converted to LED
>(light-emitting diode) bulbs that cut energy use by a whopping 80 percent,
>saving the city more than $500,000 each year in energy and maintenance
>costs. And the city is investigating the possibility of powering all its
>facilities completely with wind energy.
>
>Elsewhere, city and county office buildings in Salt Lake City, Utah, have
>removed inefficient incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact
>fluorescents that use a third of the energy and last up to 10 times
>longer. In chilly St. Paul, Minnesota, an efficient combined heat and
>power system warms most downtown buildings. In Washington, DC, 414 diesel
>buses have been replaced with ones that burn cleaner compressed natural
>gas. And Austin, Texas, is quickly turning to wind and solar power to
>reach its goal of meeting 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable
>sources and 15 percent through energy efficiency improvements by 2020.
>
>Response to the Washington climate action void is not limited to cities.
>States and businesses also are taking part. The challenge now is to
>multiply these initiatives and take them farther. With the U.S. making up
>5 percent of the global population but responsible for a quarter of the
>world�s greenhouse gas emissions, there is no substitute for
>leadership
>from the top.
>
>
># # #
>
>Additional data and information sources at www.earthpolicy.org or contact
>jlarsen (at) earthpolicy.org
>
>For reprint permission contact rjkauffman (at) earthpolicy.org
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------
>
>Todd Edelman
>International Coordinator
>On the Train Towards the Future!
>
>Green Idea Factory
>Laubova 5
>CZ-13000 Praha 3
>
>++420 605 915 970
>
>edelman at greenidea.info
>http://www.worldcarfree.net/onthetrain
>
>Green Idea Factory,
>a member of World Carfree Network
>
>
>
>================================================================
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