November 1, 2007

San Jose turns green

By Carol Rosen
Editor

If it hadn’t been for a 5.6-magnitude earthquake on the Calaveras fault Tuesday night, the big news out of northern California would have been the San Jose City Council’s unanimous vote to be the first green city in the country.

At the meeting held earlier on Oct. 30, Mayor Chuck Reed and all 10 council members voted to adopt the 15-year plan designed to solve environmental problems and grow the city’s economy. The legislation centers around three projects—clean technology innovation, sustainability and green mobility.

“The people of San Jose and Silicon Valley have changed the world,” said Reed. “With our history of innovation and environmental stewardship as a foundation, San Jose will become the world’s center of innovation in clean, green technologies. Our goals for innovation, sustainability and green mobility are bold and comprehensive. I believe that in 15 years, we can succeed and build a better future for our children, our residents, and the world.”

The plan, which began at a breakfast last February between Reed and U.S. Rep. Mike Honda, has grown to 10 major goals to be implemented over the next 15 years. Among them are the creation of 25,000 clean tech jobs making San Jose the world center of clean tech innovation, reducing per capita energy use by 50 percent and providing 100 percent of electrical power from clean renewable sources. The other seven goals are:

n Building or retrofitting 50 million square feet of green buildings

n Diverting 100 percent of landfill waste and converting it to energy

n Recycling or beneficially reusing 100 percent of wastewater (currently this equals 200 million gallons per day)

n Adopting a general plan with measurable standards for sustainable development

n Ensuring 100 percent of public fleet vehicles run on alternative fuels

n Planting 100,000 new trees and replacing 100 percent of streetlights with smart, zero-emission lighting

n Creating 100 miles of interconnected trails.

In addition, the measure calls for the city staff to work with council committees to implement the strategies for clean tech, sustainability and green mobility.

Following the groundbreaking vote, council members went on to unanimously adopt three related issues to start the ball rolling. The first expands the city’s clean air vehicle program to allow all autos with zero emissions that are registered in the city to obtain permits allowing free parking at city facilities and parking meters.

The second adopts an interim zero waste goal of 75 percent waste diversion by 2013, which is in addition to the goal of zero waste by 2022.

The third contains two points. It first adopts a goal to achieve global sustainable city status by putting into practice the actions making up the urban environmental accords covering energy/climate change, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health and water. It also adopts a five-year implementation work plan with specific tasks and activities including the zero waste goal, a water conservation plan, greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and the Las Plumas Master Plan.

“As we have in the past, San Jose can do the research and development necessary to show the cities of the world how to become clean and green,” Reed said. “Over the next 15 years, we can cut our per capita electricity usage in half and get 100 percent of our electrical power from clean renewable sources. We will demonstrate that energy efficiency saves money and is worth the upfront investment,” he added.

“With a focus on creating clean tech jobs, we will help solve the climate crisis while creating a new economic base for our region,” Reed said. “San Jose will show the world that environmental responsibility makes financial sense. Not only will we help our innovators create new businesses and new jobs, we will use these technologies to reduce the city’s own operating and maintenance costs.”

California politicians from both sides of the aisle applauded the measures. For example, earlier this month, when Reed unveiled the plan, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called Reed “California’s green mayor.”

“I am very pleased that the city of San Jose is leading the way toward a cleaner, greener future…I congratulate you on your clean energy goals,” said California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Business and environmental leaders lauded the Green Vision for its scope and ambition when it was first announced and again at Tuesday’s meeting. Without exception, about 25 members of the public stood up to congratulate the mayor and council on the groundbreaking measures including representatives from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, SunPower, Nanosolar, SoloPower, Pacific Gas & Electric, ASL recycling, the Sierra Club, The Tech Museum of Innovation and others.

The Green Vision incorporates and builds on previous council action. Earlier this year, the council adopted some of the nation’s most aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals for municipal operations. Some of those earlier measures were recommended by Councilmembers Judy Chirco and Nancy Pyle.
Senate visit by Alquist

Later in the session, State Sen. Elaine Alquist spoke to the council, bringing them up to date on legislative priorities and asking them to “let me know early and let me know often” about any assistance she can provide to the council members for the city.

“Let me know if you need legislation NOW,” she told the council, because by December she will know what she will be seeking in 2008. “Once in awhile, a bill comes up that the city council doesn’t like,” she said. When that is the case, she asked to be called as early as possible. “Once I got a call two hours before the vote. That gives me no time to change a bill. Let me know early and often, it’s much easier to change at the front end.”

Alquist also asked council members for support in budget reform at the state level. Only three states, Rhode Island, Arkansas and California require a two-thirds vote to change legislation,” she said, requesting their help to change that to a simple majority.

She also cautioned that state funding doesn’t appear to be real strong for cities. “If you thought this year was tough [getting state funding], next year will be worse, and I don’t see a turnaround until 2010 or 2012,” Alquist said.

Other items
There were few other items on the agenda. One, which was also unanimously approved concerns adoption of a new council policy on grants to outside entities. It also will adopt a new policy for emergency financial assistance to nonprofits and direct the city manager’s staff to post standard terms and conditions for grants and operating subsidy agreements.

The resolutions, which nonprofits helped city staff to develop, include criteria that limit nonprofits from applying for grants to once every three years. In addition, those seeking $200,000 or more must post their most recent yearly audited financial statement on their Web site within 30 days.