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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGTF Minutes 09-1-09 GREEN TASK FORCE MINUTES SEPTEMBER 1, 2009 Roll Call Members Present: Chair Mario Guerra Mike Finn Vice Chair Luis Marquez Sally Flowers Desi Alvarez Bill Kalpakoff Bob Ciatti Janet Molinaro Lars Clutterham Robert Rubio Tom Davidson Sylvia Southerland Julia Emerson Nancy Swenson Also Present: Bob Phillips Dan Pruitt Absent: Calvin Davis Jesse Kalashyan The meeting was called to order at 12:10 pm by Chair Guerra. Minutes to approve the It was moved by Robert Rubio, seconded by Sally Flowers and unanimously carried Minutes from the August 4, 2009 Green Task Force meeting. Chair Guerra provided opening comments, mentioning the City’s pursuit to have Tesla Electric Motors set up their production facility in Downey at the Downey Studios site, noting CEO, Elon Musk, is the former owner of e-Bay and the current owner of the company Space X. Vice Chair Marquez noted the electric car facility would still leave approximately one half of the site available for other venues, such as restaurants, and will bring 1,000-1,200 new jobs. He said Tesla originally considered seven sites but it is now down to two, Downey and Long Beach. Chair Guerra also mentioned the downtown development of Nance Street across from where the new Porto’s Bakery will be located near Downey Avenue and Firestone Boulevard and noted there are a lot of exciting things happening in the City, such as Kaiser’s new Hospital opening on September 15 and the new park, Discovery Sports Complex, opening. Chair Guerra mentioned his recent health issue and surgery and said he is glad to be back but can only do so for a couple of hours per day. - 1 - Education Working Group Lars Clutterham referred to the Agenda for last week’s meeting of the Education Working Group and to his research. He advised about 30 cities are affiliated with the Central Basin Municipal Water District and presented a Power Point program noting he went into member city websites to see what they were doing that was Green. He found some had items and some did not and said the winning city, Lakewood, had water conservation links to Central Basin. He also mentioned the City of Bell Gardens advertised an after-school program called the Green Squad. Lars said he called the recreation coordinator and was informed the program was a total bust, as no one showed up. He said he also discovered a couple of organizations coordinating efforts regarding sustainability between cities. One such organization is ICLEI Int’l Organization and another is Green Cities California. He advised the City of Pasadena was one of the cities in Green Cities California, which consists of eight cities, such as Berkley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. One thing this group did was to eliminate bottled water, both glass and plastic. Mr. Alvarez explained the reason for the elimination of bottled water was the cost of the movement of the water, in trucks, etc., which takes a tremendous amount of energy and is the green effect issue. Mr. Clutterham noted the Education Group decided this was too aggressive for Downey. Lars said there is a link on Central Basin’s site to the ICLEI Int’l site, Local Governments for Sustainability and noted the cost for membership is $1,750. He said there are about 300 member cities in the U.S.A. but said the Education Working Group feels there are things closer to home to focus on. He mentioned a recommendation from GTF member Bob Ciatti and asked Bob to speak. Bob recommended a shelf topper organizer for pamphlets from Southern California Edison, the Gas Co., etc., where people can access pamphlets at City Hall and at the Library. Mr. Alvarez noted each department in City Hall does have various pamphlets displayed and said there is also information displayed by the front doors. Lars referred to the August Minutes where Tom Davidson stated, “they tried to narrow the focus to more realistically prioritize towards the most achievable and cost wise ideas” and said the Education Group will focus on the grass roots of what is best for the community at its next meeting, such as how to reach people who could care less and how to tie in green living sustainability to its economic benefits. He reaffirmed the responsibility to begin the education process in our schools and said the Mission Statement has the comment “support comprehensive publication effort.” He felt one of the directions we may want to go is to see what our schools have and said Downey Unified School District has a website with links to all schools. He noted the most progressive school he found is Unsworth Elementary where they have a good garden club program going, are actively involved in recycling and have raised over $800. He suggested this be one aspect of their next meeting. Chair Guerra said it would be great to recognize this school at a Council Meeting in an effort to encourage other schools and Vice Chair Marquez mentioned having a Green contest. Tom Davidson mentioned discussing the fact that you have to be looking to find this information and the average person would not find it and felt it might be the same thing with pamphlets. He felt displaying pamphlets at City Hall would not reach a large number of people but at the schools and possibly Stonewood Mall would reach more. - 2 - Chair Guerra felt these were great ideas and mentioned talking to Downey Patriot columnist Eric Pierce who will publish a column of weekly green tips. He said we need to get to what we want to recommend. Janet Molinaro said, “I want to give away free stuff!” She explained that one city offers a free evaluation like a water audit to show where you can save money and also low flow shower heads. She felt some people could care less but will go pick up something for free. Julia Emerson said to call the Gas Company for a free low flow shower kit and noted they give a free furnace check every year. Vice Chair Marquez said we could put this information on our website. Robert Rubio also noted we could put educational tips in the City’s fall Communicator booklet. Chair Guerra advised the City has hired a company to update its website. He said it will have different links and could have a blog area for sharing ideas. Bob Ciatti asked if we should make recommendations now or at the end and, after discussion by the members, it was agreed to present ideas as they came up. It was mentioned that the process of bringing ideas to the Council seemed complicated and Chair Guerra said if the committee makes recommendations, it is put on the Agenda. Chair Guerra noted the solar issue was continued and staff will bring it back. Mr. Alvarez mentioned recommendations so far that have gone to the Council. 1. Gardening Workshop – next Council meeting. 2. Solar went to Council within 2 weeks. It was adopted in two Council cycles. Ordinances take 30 days to go into effect. 3. Water Conservation Ordinance is on the Agenda for tonight. Sally Flowers asked if the Water Ordinance makes things mandatory and was advised it does. There are penalties but the City has chosen not to pursue them in the past. Sally noted her team, the Sustainability Working Group, was brought in to bring information and did a survey of 24 cities and found that not 1 was mandatory. The issue was procedural and now 20 cities out of 24 are adopting an Ordinance making it mandatory. Chair Guerra mentioned Section 1200 of the City’s Water Ordinance, Violations, Penalties. Mr. Alvarez explained that when he was speaking with Ms. Flowers initially it was from his memory but when he proceeded to put the item on the Agenda and processed the staff report he saw that every point was already covered. He referred to Ordinance, Section 7350 (d) (3), where it states that restaurants should not serve water to customers unless requested. He noted this is not enforced. He mentioned specific components on how to set up your garden are noted in Section 7350 (b) (4), reiterating the ordinance is mandatory and does have enforcement provisions. Chair Guerra pointed out that the ordinance is actually tougher than what the Task Force recommended. Robert Rubio asked if Code Enforcement is over staffed or under staffed and felt enforcing the Water Ordinance might require additional staff. Chair Guerra mentioned Code Enforcement statistics, advising most cases come from calls from citizens. Sally Flowers said she will go back and review the Ordinance and will comment at the next meeting. She advised when a City adopts an ordinance it goes out so in Downey’s case we could congratulate - 3 - the City for already having an ordinance in place. Chair Guerra said he wants to bring it up at a Council Meeting that the Green Task Force recommended certain things and our current ordinance presently incorporates these recommendations. Sally advised one component is how the City is letting people know and a press release was suggested. Chair Guerra advised the City has 6 or 7 publications and we can target water bills. Bob Ciatti said, “if a small percent of people start conserving, we have done our job.” Chair Guerra said we are about educating our citizens and asked for opinions about bringing up one thing at a time. Mr. Clutterham stated he would like to put together a sequence of achievable goals and start with those. Bob Phillips mentioned discussing the Working Groups issue, stating we would be better served to develop a strategy of picking one major change and focus on that instead of awaiting recommendations. We need significant long term impact and need to look at the bigger picture and to do something more impactful. Mr. Alvarez suggested choosing a bunch of little things but at the same time there should be a bigger over-arching type of goal. He used solar panels as an example stating this is green building and we are really addressing building codes. Sustainability Working Group Bob Ciatti recapped the groups last meeting held at Coca Cola Bottling Company on August 18. He mentioned topics discussed were: 1. City Council action. 2. Garden Workshop sponsored by the Sustainability Group, Coca Cola and Central Basin on September 23 from 6-9 pm. 3. Solar permit fee reductions 4. Water Ordinance He referred to the possibility of a sign that shows pride for being a “green house” and a certificate or decal to be presented at a Council meeting. He mentioned they discussed a green building code, traffic light synchronization, increasing recycling awareness and noted they did the solar permit part already. He noted it was felt the entire Building Code needs to be reviewed. The education part is to have education programs and how we can partner with the School District and businesses. Dan Pruitt mentioned an environmental award to identify houses within different categories. We can ask staff to begin working on this. Vice Chair Marquez suggested connecting with Keep Downey Beautiful and Mr. Alvarez added that Keep Downey Beautiful invites submissions for beautification awards for houses and businesses with a committee that goes out and evaluates nominees and ranks and prioritizes them. He asked, if the group wants to have a green award, who would be the judging panel and Bob Ciatti responded that an extension of the GTF could be on the committee. Chair Guerra advised we currently have 45 neighborhood watch groups and we could have the same sign made with a green background. He said he will recommend that the City continue to have a Green Task Force Sustainability Group, as things and technology change. Status of Actions Recommended to Council Chair Guerra asked if we want the GTF subcommittees to come to the next Council Meeting, stating he is impressed with the level of recommendations from the groups. Chair Guerra said he hoped the Education Committee would ask the City to review its recycling policies and put in recycling bins and would also talk to the School District regarding education at the schools. - 4 - Sylvia Southerland stated the other thing is the issue with solar fees. Vice Chair Marquez recommended reviewing or adopting a city policy whereby if they meet certain criteria they may receive lower fees. Bob Ciatti asked once we get a recommendation approved, how do we get the public notified. We need to have press releases. Mr. Alvarez noted there was a story in the Downey Patriot. Mr. Ciatti suggested a Green Corner that people can look at. Robert Rubio suggested a page in the quarterly City Communicator publication. Bob Ciatti mentioned inviting Eric Pierce to their meetings but he has not shown up. Julia Emerson noted on September 28 the Education Advisory Committee met at the Energy Resource Center for a lunch meeting. The group toured the new solar technology equipment. She pointed out Bob Phillips had a green quote in the L.A. Times and will participate this Friday in an interview with Fox News. Discussion of Future Agenda Items Sylvia Southerland mentioned that Keep Downey Beautiful is meeting on Saturday, September 19 from 9-12 to sponsor a cleanup at the river bed at Rio San Gabriel Park as part of the Heal the Bay program and said to call her if you want a Gas Co. t-shirt. Bill Kalpakoff advised that Calmet will haul the trash picked up for free. rd Chair Guerra announced that October 15 is his 3 annual Town Hall Meeting at 6:30 pm at the Barbara Riley Center at Apollo Park. Bob Ciatti mentioned a fundraiser at the Portofino Italian Restaurant at Paramount and Third Street on October 9 from 8-1:30. All proceeds will go to DUSD. Chair Guerra thanked both groups for their efforts. The meeting was adjourned at 1:46 p.m. to Tuesday, October 6, at 12:00 pm in the Cormack room at the Downey City Library. _____________________________ ______________________________ Shirley Conte Chair, Dn. Mario A. Guerra - 5 -