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Source: The BridgeportNews.com
Mayor Bill Finch signed an executive order last week requiring the city to emphasize “sustainability planning” in all its actions as a way to better protect the environment.
“We all have to participate in this,” Finch said.
The measure, being called “B-Green 2020,” mandates municipal departments focus on reducing the city’s energy use and carbon footprint in their decisions.
This will range from buying only “green” cleaning products to purchasing municipal vehicles powered by hydrogen, bio-diesels and electricity. It also will involve conducting a comprehensive energy audit of all city buildings, trying to lure fuel cell manufacturers to the city, and perhaps using wind and solar power to create energy within Bridgeport.
The actions could be as simple as always turning off lights when not in use. “This will lead to a new set of behaviors,” Finch said. “We’re changing the very way we do business as a city on a day-to-day basis.”
Finch, long known for his strong environmental views, said the policy was a way to make Bridgeport a leader in the environmental movement while also attracting new businesses and improving its image.
“This is about jobs,” he said. “This is about the planet. This is about our taxes.”
Although the United States has only 6 percent of the world’s population, it uses 30 percent of the world’s resources. “This can’t continue,” Finch said.
The mayor signed the executive order in a packed City Hall Annex conference room. He announced the formation of a 37-member Sustainability Community Advisory Committee to oversee the measure. The committee is made up of representatives from business, government, academia, the nonprofit sector and environmental organizations.
The Bridgeport Regional Business Council (BRBC), where Finch previously worked, will seek private grants and hire a consultant to work with the committee on drawing up a formal sustainability plan.
Paul S. Timpanelli, BRBC president, said a more ecologically-inclined approach would be good for business as well as the environment. “This will be a place businesses want to locate, including future growth industries,” Timpanelli said of Bridgeport.
One push will be to create a fuel cell manufacturing cluster in the West End, near the former Bryant Electric plant. This idea first surfaced a few years ago as part of a state government goal to support producers of fuel cells — still considered an emerging technology with an uncertain market — in Connecticut.
“We should be the fuel cell capital of the world,” Finch said of Bridgeport and Connecticut.
The Bryant site is considered a brownfield because its past industrial use left environmental contamination, and cleaning and developing brownfields is a major goal in Finch’s plan. Much of the land in the city available for development has environmental problems from prior use. The sustainability plan will include a thorough inventory of brownfields.
Finch said American and Bridgeport ingenuity could be used to find ways to maintain the country’s high standard of living while fighting climate change.
“There are things we haven’t even dreamed of yet,” he said.
Potential marketing tool
Going green could even become a marketing tool for the city, Finch said. “Green is a superior commodity in our society,” he said.
“We’re going to wear this as a badge of honor and change the impression of Bridgeport,” Finch said.
[Brownfield jobs training program graduates Jorge Cruz, left, and Brian Loehn proudly show off their diplomas during the mayoral event at City Hall Annex.]
Brownfield jobs training program graduates Jorge Cruz, left, and Brian Loehn proudly show off their diplomas during the mayoral event at City Hall Annex.
Gina McCarthy, state environmental protection commissioner, said going green could be a way to revitalize Bridgeport and other Connecticut cities by creating economic opportunities.
McCarthy said this should be combined with developing brownfields and making smart land-use decisions to push development back to cities, where the needed infrastructure already exists.
“Cities aren’t the problem, they are the solution,” she said. “If we didn’t have cities, we’d have to create them so people could live near where they work and shop.”
McCarthy also praised Finch for supporting environmental issues since he was a middle school student in Trumbull, when she said he started an ecology club, created a nature trail and tried to stop the construction of the Route 25 highway.
City Council member James Holloway said national organizations are available to offer Bridgeport guidance on enacting more environmental-friendly practices.
Holloway said he’s seen what other cities are doing through his involvement with the National League of Cities. For instance, most municipal vehicles in the Tucson, Ariz., fleet use compressed natural gas (CNG), he said. Bridgeport owns a few city vehicles that use CNG for fuel.
The city’s congressman, U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, said he was proud to live in Bridgeport on such a momentous day.
Shays predicted the federal government would focus more on promoting sustainability issues with a change in presidential administrations, and begin funding more worthwhile projects. “There will be lots of federal dollars coming into the city,” he said.
No budgetary concerns
Finch insisted environmental-friendly products and approaches don’t have to cost more, and many improvements would only involve spending existing funds differently.
“There will be some things that require investment, but the city is investing money all the time,” he said.
He said the new approach is possible despite the city’s current financial problems, which have led to city employee layoffs and large tax increase three months ago.
Finch also said greening programs could provide environmental justice for those who have been wronged by hurtful practices. “This isn’t just about saving the polar bears,” he said. “It’s about saving children.”
Martin L. Mador of the Connecticut Sierra Club insisted ecological-friendly products and approaches make financial sense. “There is no longer any cost-differential in using clean and green,” Mador said.
Mador said Finch’s plan shows long-range vision. “The mayor is looking beyond the issues on his desk, which are the crises of the next 24 hours,” he said.
The push toward energy sustainability, Mador said, should be viewed as a way to improve the city’s quality of life and boost its economy. “It’s an investment for us and our children,” he said.
Finch said jobs involving sustainability won’t be lost overseas. “Every job we create to retro-fit a building is a job that won’t be shipped overseas,” he said.
Some people already are being trained to work in related businesses, such as two recent graduates of a brownfields training program who attended the mayoral event.
Bridgeport residents Jorge Cruz and Brian Loehn just completed their training in asbestos, lead and hazardous waste cleanup activities. With the help of their program certificates, they now are preparing to go out on job interviews. Many positions in the field begin in the $20-an-hour range.
“The job potential gives us a brighter outlook on our own lives,” Loehn said, “while knowing what we will be doing should create a better future for all children.”
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