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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-10-24 Cities for Climate Protection MinutesOctober 24, 2007 Reading Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection Program Committee Notes for October 24, 2007 (Next Meeting - November 14th at Town Hall) Committee Meeting 7:00 PM, present were Tracy Sopchak, Gina Snyder, Ron D'Addario, Ray Porter, Joan Boegel, Sophie Gellot and Stephanie Anderberg. Welcome - Chair Gina Snyder opened the meeting, welcoming all present. Minutes - Approval of minutes postponed to next meeting as not all members had received the notes. Green Sense Articles - Reading back through old notes showed that when the Green Sense idea was voted on about 1 year ago, here were not really any concrete guidelines for what the articles would cover. We also never sent anything to Peter on the idea. As an example, the committee discussed how Cape Wind would be a local issue, while nuclear power is a national issue. Is there an action for people to take after reading the nuclear power article? Can we keep our articles impartial? For example, we could end the nuclear power article with a summary of both positions, and then saying the choice is up to the readers. Overriding questions are: Should topics be local or national? Do we always want to suggest an action, or do we want to allow for some more broad-based, informational articles? Questions on the use of a disclaimer. Questions on the use of political names. Should potentially questionable articles go out to the committee first? There was a discussion on whether it's ok to have non-local info in articles - it could be ok if there is some kind of step(s) for the reader to take after reading the article, even if it's just suggestions on other materials to read to better understand the issues involved. There was also a discussion on how to write out rules for the articles. Tracy will summarize the discussion and draft guidelines for the committee to review. Then we can discuss and vote on the guidelines at the next meeting. To consider between meetings is whether to cut back article frequency, or can we find another partner for Ron. Schools & recycling - Pat Schettini will send out "please don't idle" information to committee members, "administration council" and possibly the school committee. As a follow-up to the Climate Conversation, Peter sent Gina some questions on recycling. DPW would really like to get some help from the schools. Joan had asked Mary DeLai about a survey of recycling that had been conducted at schools, but Joan has not yet received any specific info back. It sounds like paper recycling programs are in good shape at all schools, but not for other materials. Cardboard is a particular problem, and there are also no collection bins for recyclable containers (cans, bottles, etc). Jane, at DPW, is working to get contacts at schools to try and implement the Green Team program. Events & Important Dates - There is a ribbon cutting on Franklin Street and then at the Log Cabin, this weekend. Log Cabin connects conservation land and gives the town a building for the Northern Area Greenway. On December 11th, Northern Area Greenway task force will be at the Selectmen's meeting. Committee members could speak in favor of the NAG, and possibly say that it would be nice to allow bikes on the greenway. On November 11th, AMC will do a presentation on what would need to be done to adopt trails in Reading. RMLB Presentation - Michele forwarded a date for us to present at the RMLB Meeting Michele was not at this evening's meeting to expand on this. There was, instead, a side discussion in which the committee talked about the possibility of having a table at the tree-lighting event again this year. The committee was interested and will talk in more detail at our next meeting. Action Plan items - Tracy provided a summary table with some fine-tuning of the rankings. Excluding those top-priority items that are worked on by others, the remaining top-priority items for the committee are the no-idling school/community programs, looped bus service (if grant money is available), local & regional trails, and municipal/community shade tree programs. Again, removing the items which others may be working on, the medium priorities are school climate-change education programs, residential energy-efficiency program, mixed use/TOD, LED light replacement program, community fuel efficient vehicle choice program, municipal/community vehicle maintenance programs. We also agreed to move "Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling Program" from medium to top priority. The committee decided to make subcommittees to work on each of the top-priority items as follows: No idling programs - Sophie & Stephanie Looped Bus - Ron & Tracy Trails - Tracy, Ray & Joan Shade Trees - Michele & Gina Solid Waste - Joan & Sophie And to keep informed on "maintenance programs" the following assignments were agreed upon: Municipal no-idling - Stephanie Municipal green purchasing - Gina Non motorized school transport - Stephanie Municipal energy-efficient buildings - Michele Municipal renewable energy - Michele Residential water conservation - Stephanie Walkable Reading - Gina Police on Bikes - Michele Next steps - Get feedback to Tracy on webpage edits. r'