Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-02-07 Cities for Climate Protection MinutesFebruary 7, 2007 Reading Advisory Committee on Cities for Climate Protection Program Committee Notes for February 7, 2007 (Next Meeting - Feb 14`" at Town Hall) Committee Meeting 7:00 PM, present were Tracy Sopchak, Stephanie Anderberg, Michele Benson, Ron D'Addario, Gina Snyder and Joan Boegel. Chair Gina Snyder opened the meeting and welcomed all present. A motion was made and seconded to approve the meeting minutes of the January 24, 2007 meeting, amended with a change on the time of the W event at Parker from 8:30 to 10:30. The motion passed 5-0. As the meeting was ahead of schedule, a brief time was taken to go over details for getting to the Cambridge Home & Energy Fair event on Saturday. Ron presented ideas from his reading of the climate plans from Ann Arbor, Toronto, and Somerville: • Creating an award program for municipal employees who make energy saving suggestions • Having an energy resources databank at the library • An energy-efficient procurement policy • Look into methane capture at the landfill • Look into encouraging a solar/wind power manufacturer to locate at Addison-Wesley site • Bike racks, travel facility, rehabilitation and media promotions • Bike to work week • Rideshare matching program • Increase parking costs • Encourage energy audits for home owners • Purchase 25% of electricity from green sources by 2010, 50% by 2015 • New construction projects should file an energy plan & info • Free downtown bus zone (Ann Arbor) • Anti-idling enforcement (Somerville) • Building permits prioritized and discounted based on LEED ratings (Toronto) • Provide green bldg practices info to builders (Toronto) • LEDs on stoplights Michele presented ideas from the climate plans that she reviewed- Brookline, Amherst & Brattleboro Vermont: • Traffic Calming Program - Light cycle timing longer for pedestrians (Brookline) • Bike programs, cops on bikes (all 3) • Anti-idling enforcement (all 3) • Safe routes to school program, walking school bus (all 3) • Municipal fleet size & efficiency policies (all 3) • $100 in parking meter tokens to hybrid owners • work at home 1 day per month for municipal employees (Brookline) • town buys & provides bikes and hybrid cars for employee use (Brookline) • Improve vehicle maintenance program (Amherst) • BeeLine shuttle (Brattleboro) Joan added an item from her list last week: • Shared parking arrangements The committee worked on a multi-voting system to prioritize measures which might work in Reading (including ideas from the 1/24/07 meeting). The measures are being typed up with respect to priority, and will be emailed from person to person around the committee, with each person adding text descriptions of the items they read about in their plan reviews. The text will form the beginnings of a draft on transportation measures to include in our own climate plan. Committee members will also reread their selected climate plans, looking for the top 5 non-transportation ideas from each. Write each idea on a separate sticky note, and bring all of the sticky notes to the 2/14 meeting. Michele will lead an exercise on grouping and prioritizing the ideas using "TQM".