Building and Energy - full report

Nine people were in the first discussion and ten in the second with a total of thirteen different participants. In addition to the specific comments below, a number of important themes emerged:

• The group felt strongly that the 2030 objectives are set too low and that the Plan needed to be strengthened as set forth below.

• Use the creativity of the citizens, both individually and in groups, to solve some of the energy issues by permitting and encouraging citizen experimentation. In some cases, citizens have already experimented and have come up with solutions. Support these efforts by removing obstacles and providing measurement of energy savings

• Encourage entrepreneurs to do self-financed experimental energy efficiency projects. As businesses are engaged, it will spread into the rest of the community.

• Research other countries’ models. Germany, Denmark, Japan, Brazil and China are a few of the countries that have solved some of these efficiency problems. (Germany has a flywheel battery technology. What if they put a battery in the bottom of the wind turbine?) If you “build the metrics” into the experiments and evaluate, people will adapt them and innovations will happen.

• Experiment with pilot programs.

• Partner with existing voluntary groups, e.g., ReCode Oregon. By partnering with local groups, we do not necessarily mean providing financial support, although help with publicity, printing costs, etc. can enable these groups to be more effective. Setting up a coordinator or advisory group for each action area would be one way of doing this.

• Re-examine the emergency plans at the City, County and state levels to verify the ability to cope with the likelihood of more frequent, highly disruptive storms, large scale disruptions of supply lines and large scale disruptions of liquid fuel supply.

• Ensure that plans include how to manage disruption of gas or electricity in the event of a severe earthquake or other emergency.

• In the event of a short term supply disruption, we need a plan for prioritization of users of available fuel, and of for potentially rationing any supply beyond what is needed by priority users such as hospitals, ambulances and fire departments.

• As part of the 20 minute neighborhood model, designate public buildings within a 20 minute walk that can serve as aid, communication and rest stations, specifically including volunteer emergency responders from the NET and Neighborhood Watch. Solar panels on these buildings would create islands of electricity for use at these facilities, and would also provide an opportunity to teach people about solar power.

• In order to meet the emissions targets in this Climate Action Plan, the City/County needs to generate or purchase enough renewable electricity to close the Boardman plant. Pass a resolution that states that we will only buy clean, renewable energy from PGE as of x date, which should be well before 2030. (See Objective 16, Action 5, for details.)

• The City should be more active in state climate legislation. There was a bill in the Legislature to send teams out to evaluate energy use and provide a financing mechanism. Portland did not weigh in on this bill, which Sen. Merkley and Rep. Blumenauer are using as a model for federal legislation. In future we would like to see the City Council weigh in on issues like this.

All recommendations were unanimous, except as noted.

2030 Objective 1. Reduce the total energy use of all buildings built before 2010 by 25 percent.

• Increase the targets to 50% by 2020 and 80% by 2030.

• Conservation should be the first priority.

2012 Action 1. Establish an investment fund with public and private capital to provide easy access to $10 million annually in low-cost financing to residents and businesses for energy performance improvements.

• Establish a policy of giving out many small grants rather than a a smaller number of large ones.

• Have a policy of preferring small local business within neighborhoods (the 20-minute neighborhood concept) as recipients of City/County funds.

• Encourage banks to follow the lead of Umpqua Bank or Shore Bank in financing projects, allowing subsequent property owners to assume the loans.

• In considering sources of financing, use local credit unions and co-ops that keep their own paper, e.g., Advantis Credit Union.

• Have a policy of incentivizing smart energy use and penalizing heavy energy users, so that the heavy users pay for the programs to reduce energy use.

• Invest in “smart grid’ technology.

• Partner with citizens and existing not-for-profits to create a clearinghouse of information and consumer feedback on new technologies. If an organization’s mission aligns with one of the City’s or County’s energy goals, they should partner with them. Work with not-for-profits who have existing libraries, resource lists and links, and blogs. Partnering with multiple not-for-profits will result in information on multiple web sites. This would provide transparency and informal auditing of the City/County’s efforts and would build on the credibility of the not-for-profits. Blogs would provide citizen input.

Action 2. Require energy performance ratings and consumption disclosures for all homes so that owners, tenants and prospective buyers can make informed decisions.

• The City or County should be responsible for benchmarking energy usage, and goals should be stated in measurable terms so that progress can be monitored.

• Employ “smart grid” technology for baseline establishment.

Action 3. Require energy performance benchmarking for all commercial and multi-family buildings.

• See comments under Action 2.

• Require businesses over a certain size to publish their energy and water usage. Publish successful reductions in energy or water usage for restaurants and other businesses. Citizens may reward low energy users with their patronage.

Action 4. Provide resources and incentives to residents and businesses on energy-reduction actions on existing buildings.

• Support the implementation of the Renewable Energy Payment Plan (REP), which involves a feed-in tariff (FIT) for investor-owned utility customers. It requires the utility to purchase from the consumer any solar energy produced and pay enough to cover costs plus a reasonable amount of return on investment.

• Because they can get a return from the feed-in tariff, neighbors can then invest together in producing energy, and act as a local improvement district. The Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) uses a feed-in tariff. Consider a pilot program, using the EWEB system as an example, and involve PGE and PPL as well. (Germany recently opened the market for entrepreneurs to produce energy.)

• Use geospatial tools such as the LIDAR dataset and Google Earth to determine roof top solar access and vegetable garden placement and to optimize placement of urban trees so they throw shadows in preferred locations (on the south side of a house, not on the garden).

• Some people are resisting alternative energy by saying solar panels in higher income neighborhoods will cause low-income residents to pay more. A good place for a demonstration project would be a public housing project.

• Incentivize reduced water and electricity usage. Reduce base charges for under-users while penalize heavier users by increasing their rate. Other incentives include recognition, contests, prizes for greenest business, worst violators.

• Facilitate revising deeds involved in experimental projects to indicate easements, etc., and issue regulations requiring financing companies to recognize these experimental easements.

Behavior Changes

• Emphasize and sponsor programs to educate citizens on lifestyle changes and home energy management.

• Support home and business owners in maintaining and repairing existing buildings to make them last.

• Many older houses have common heating for the entire house. Zone heating and electric heaters in some rooms can help, as was done with small fireplaces for individual rooms before houses had central heating. Most older houses and some pre-1950’s have passive heat circulation and cooling by use of louvered vents between floors; rooms that can be closed off or opened into larger spaces by pocket doors; window, door and stairway placement that allow heat to escape through attic windows and cool the rest of the house when needed without mechanical means; etc. Education for homeowners could include how to use and maintain these passive design features (not remove them by changing walls, doors, windows, etc.).

Embedded Energy

• Buildings contain significant amounts of embedded energy. We need incentives to maintain and adapt existing buildings and disincentives to remove them. When buildings must be removed, there should be mandatory deconstruction. Too many buildings are taken down, not because they are not functioning, but just because of preference.

This was the majority recommendation; a minority opposed interference with removing or destroying unwanted buildings.

Tracking Energy Use

• Lyons, Colorado has been doing a tracking and monitoring program, resulting in 16% carbon emissions reduction. Their model is cheaper than using smart meters because it uses people’s energy bills. It is an easier first step than the smart grid. The City/County could do an online tracking process, educating citizens by households or neighborhoods in making simple changes in their house or behavior and in using the online tracking system.

• Smart meters work with monitors that can be placed behind any appliance. They even track ghost energy, the power consumed when devices are plugged in but not turned on. It would not be that expensive for the City and County to give or rent to twenty homes enough smart meters for about six devices each. They could make them available to be checked out from the library. Information could be readily used by homeowners to make changes in their house or modify their behavior – e.g., knowing that your coffee maker uses 1200 watts would encourage keeping coffee warm in an insulated carafe.

• People need to be aware of the loss in transmission of electricity from a utility versus using natural gas to generate heat onsite. When using electric heat pumps, one-third of the energy used to heat the house comes from the utility and much energy is lost in transmission. It can be more energy efficient to use the gas furnace to supplement heating than suffer the transmission loss.

• Time of day rates for utilities should be advertised to make them better known to consumers.

Incentives

• Use low-cost positive reinforcement rather than paying citizens to do the right thing, such as social recognition in awards, contests, and publicity that money can’t buy. Neighborhoods could compete to be the ‘greenest neighborhood’.

Action 5. Work with partner organizations to promote improved operation and maintenance practices in all commercial buildings.

• The City and County can partner with the business and building owners by removing barriers to new ideas and technologies.

2030 Objective 2. Achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions in all new buildings and homes.

2012 Action 1. Adopt green building incentives for high performance new construction.

• Encourage new developments to put in tracking and monitoring systems to determine how much energy will be required for a development and how much will be produced on site. Developments could be made self-sufficient. Include public housing.

• Facilitate cross-jurisdictional licensing. Contractors have to have separate licenses to operate in different jurisdictions. A solution may be common business licensing across jurisdictions. In some fields, such as geothermal drilling, there are very few people who will do it and the equipment is expensive. Cross licensing may be a good solution for the short term; but in the long term it would be good to see people work more locally.

• Although the City has very high energy efficient building standards, these standards should be raised for new buildings every several years.

• The issue of thin film vs. solar panels needs to be addressed. Whereas panels have a track record of durability, newer solar collection systems, e.g., thin film, do not. The newer systems may be cheaper to install but they do not last and are not efficient. Also, their production is less efficient because semiconductors are expensive to produce and use significant amounts of energy. While thin film can be produced in large quantity, it suffers from dust abrasion in city environments as well as from dampness and mold.

Financial Barriers

• Finance companies have an interest in most properties. They are reluctant to have any encumbrances put on the deeds without being paid for it, as it requires more paperwork and legal exposure. Regulations should support deed revisions, in particular with regard to adding energy easements.

Action 2. Participate actively in the process to revise the Oregon building code to codify the performance targets of Architecture 2030.

No comment.

Action 3. Accelerate existing efforts to provide green building design assistance, education and technical resources to residents, developers, designers and builders.

• Add a section in the building code that addresses experimental projects so people can try grey water systems, etc., with supervision and monitoring by the City or County. The projects would be used as demonstration projects and may be later adopted by the City/County. This is currently being done by ATAC (Alternative Technology Advisory Committee) as part of the permit process through the Bureau of Development Services, where if a citizen has an innovative product or strategy they can submit it to a committee of experts to review it. ATAC should be continued and expanded. An “experimental building permit” may be useful.

Objective 3. Produce 10 percent of the total energy used within Multnomah County from on-site renewable sources and clean district energy systems.

• Goal is set too low. Increase the portion of total renewable energy produced within Multnomah County to 50%.

• Employing geospatial modeling (where information is gathered on a geo-coordinate system) could provide baseline information, a clearinghouse for projects, and tracking of resources, including food, etc., on an ongoing basis at a greater level than they do currently, for projects at the City or County level and to support neighbors’/ neighborhoods’ systems. Performance modeling would allow evaluation of productivity of each project.

2012 Action 1. Make the investment fund referenced in Objective 1, above, available to finance distributed generation and district energy systems.

No comment.

Action 2. Establish at least one district heating and cooling system.

• Instead of limiting projects to individual property owners, it makes sense for government to enable aggregates of neighbors or neighborhoods to act when that scale is the most effective. For example, four properties could share a corner of their lots to install a geothermal heat pump. Drilling deep enough can be too expensive for an individual. The City and County should provide enabling zoning.

• At another level of scale, there could be aggregations that are larger than just a few neighbors. Entrepreneurs could be encouraged to take on installing and maintaining the systems as a business. The ability to site in common back yards would make it easy to put in the distribution lines without digging up the public right-of-way, as well as saving costs for households.

• Regulations do not support switching or exchanging energy sources. Many hospitals, schools and other large buildings have emergency energy devices. These usually are fueled by natural gas or diesel. It could be cheaper to buy your electricity from one of these co-gen plants at a large facility in your neighborhood when their energy efficiency exceeds that of the utility. While we don’t want to encourage carbon-produced sources, if the utility is generating electricity from a carbon source, get it locally.

Action 3. Facilitate the installation of at least five megawatts of on-site renewable energy, such as solar energy. 0

• Support the feed-in tariff and facilitate selling power back to the grid.

• Investigate using plug-in hybrid electric vehicles as leveling devices. Plug-in hybrids can help eliminate the need for maintaining a base load of power, which would open the way for renewable energy.

• Vacant lands can be inventoried for energy or food production. Cleveland, Ohio did a guidebook that surveyed vacant properties for storm water management and energy production. They have available the information of how much land is needed for a project, and also how to use a property for the benefit of the community.

Related Items from Action Area 8 LOCAL GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

2030 Objective 16. Reduce carbon emissions from City and County operations 50 percent from 1990 levels.

• Goal is set too low. Reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2030.

• Use smart meters to monitor energy use; employ geospatial modeling to make energy projects more productive; build projects to the most efficient scale; and consider smart grid technology.

2012 Action 1. Issue capital improvement bonds or identify other funding sources to finance energy-efficiency upgrades in City and County facilities.

No comment.

Action 2. Require that all new City and County buildings achieve Architecture 2030 performance targets

No comment.

Action 3. Convert street lighting, water pumps, water treatment and other energy intensive operations to more efficient technologies.

• Minimize light pollution in converting street and other lighting. Use shades to aim lighting downward to avoid harming birds' navigation sensors.

Action 4. Adopt and implement green building policies that include third-party certification of energy, water and waste conservation strategies.

No comment.

Action 5. Purchase or generate 100 percent of all electricity required for City and County operations from renewable sources, with at least 15 percent from on-site or district renewable energy sources such as solar and biogas.

• The City is the biggest purchaser of power from utilities. It can use its clout with the investor-owned utilities to remove carbon-based fuels from its long-range plan. The City/County needs to generate or purchase enough renewable electricity to close the Boardman plant. The City should use its power and influence as the main purchaser of PGE’s power to demand that they move off of coal-fired power. Pass a resolution that states that we will only buy clean, renewable energy from PGE as of x date, which should be well before 2030. Pass the resolution in the next year and work with PGE to come up with a way to shift the power source so that we can meet the emissions targets laid out in the plan. As long as the City is using power from coal we won’t be able to meet the emissions targets in this Climate Action Plan.

Full notes from the Land Use and Mobility

11 people attended the first session. Seven attended the second.

The major theme of our discussion was the inseparability of transit and efficient land use. Without sufficient density, you cannot build a transit system that can compete with cars on timeliness and proximity. Without an effective transit system, you cannot achieve the needed density due to the need to accommodate cars. Transit planning is land use planning. Land use planning is transit planning. Yet we know of no body that incorporates both aspects in our civic planning. TriMet, City and County all operate separately, plan separately, obtain grants from separate sources with separate criteria, and build separately. As far as we know, for example, sewers, water lines and utility lines under the streets are not even considered for maintenance when streetcar tracks are being planned and laid.

We concluded that Portland must build a transit system that is a true alternative to owning a car. We focused on building a grid of frequent (10 minute headways or better) service every half mile or so both east-west and north-south. We also suggested that TriMet observe which lines have greatest ridership, and electrify those lines.

To accomplish this, TriMet's present system is vastly inadequate. To persuade people that transit is a workable alternative to owning a car, service must be frequent, reliable, nearby and integrated with housing and shopping; also integrated must be the various modes of transit – feeder lines, trunk lines and MAX, along with inter-city services. Service must be available 24/7 because people need to get to and from work at all hours of the day and night. They are also unwilling to shape their leisure activities or nighttime working hours to a last bus at 12:30. While late night/ early morning buses may be less frequent, they must run. Since our ability to create vital and viable neighborhoods depends on our transportation system, we suggest that our whole vision of what TriMet should be, do, and hope for should expand and should be brought into the same context as the rest of the city – financially, operationally and culturally.

In order to create neighborhoods dense enough (and safe enough) to support adequate transit, the basis of our zoning must also change. Instead of use-based zoning Portland should adopt other, more flexible, standards. Encourage mixed use, for example, and increased density within a block or two of frequent service transit lines. Build the transit and the density will come. Instead of focusing on a single mode, such as the streetcar, focus on creating a network. Look at Toronto for a good example of an effective network. If there is good service, people will find it. The market will develop. Look at the areas of Portland that have gentrified and become very dynamic neighborhoods: N. Mississippi, Alberta, etc. They all have frequent transit service. We also noted the relationship between the primitive basis for zoning along the East Side MAX line and crime that is endemic on that line.

Finally, sooner or later all four bodies – County, City, TriMet, and Metro -must address head-on the issue of the limitations on uses of the fuel tax, and begin efforts to educate the public to encourage amendment of the Constitution. In the absence of sources for funding, especially if we anticipate a reduction in use of vehicles and therefore of fuel consumption overall, no funding schedule (as mentioned in Objective 5, Action 2) can be reliable.

2030 Objective 4. Create vibrant neighborhoods where 90 percent of Portland residents and 80 percent of Multnomah County residents can easily walk or bicycle to meet all basic daily, non-work needs.

• Also integrate employment opportunities into neighborhoods.
• Provide quality, walkable schools for all neighborhoods. Schools play a major part in people's choice of neighborhood and in their transportation choices.
• Curtail the selling off of school properties, and instead keep them available to public/government use. School buildings that no longer meet current needs should be redeveloped with flexible uses in mind.
• Planning and actions of school districts and local governments – traffic, zoning, building codes, sewers, and utilities, for example –should be coordinated much more closely.

2012 Action 1. Accommodate all population and business growth within the existing Urban Growth Boundary.

• Under no circumstances should Metro expand the Urban Growth Boundary, and, in fact, the boundary should be retracted to exclude some outlying regions such as Damascus, where the cost of extending urban infrastructure is prohibitive.
• Anticipate an influx of people, many perhaps climate refugees, and start planning now to fund neighborhood investments within the Urban Growth Boundary to accommodate what may be a vastly increased population.

Action 2. For each type of urban neighborhood, identify the land use planning changes, infrastructure investments, including public-private partnerships that are needed to achieve a highly walkable neighborhood and develop an implementation action plan.

• Create more flexible zoning and building codes, allowing for mixed use of land. Consider a form-based code, under which most uses would be allowed, so long as it was built to a desirable standard of urban design in keeping with the surrounding community.
• Emphasize replacement of single-family homes on transit corridors with mid-rise (3-7 stories) mixed use and multi-family units, allowing for greater density along transit corridors. Mid-rise should be emphasized (as opposed to hi-rise) so that buildings remain functional in the event of prolonged utility outages (manageable stairs, enough water pressure to reach upper floors without electric pumping, etc.).
• Integrate urban neighborhood land use planning changes with citywide development patterns, rather than continue to rely exclusively on the current patchwork of neighborhood plans.
• Foster energy efficient development for new construction. Encourage row houses, row house "three-flats" (three stories, one flat per floor) and other energy efficient building forms in residential development.
• Reduce the number of curb cuts to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment. Encourage new development to place garages or parking pads at the rear of homes, with access via a shared driveway or alley.
• Start now building the frequent service transit and the mixed use developments – neighborhood retail, office, compatible light manufacturing (i.e., nothing that goes bang on a regular basis) below, housing above. Build housing with dependable, frequent service transit and it will be occupied in short order.
• Develop more focused incentives to encourage densification and diversification, especially along transit routes. Given that houses last 75 to 100 years or more, zoning for densification is unlikely to yield the desired result in a timeframe sufficient to make meaningful impact on climate change.
• Ban construction of new drive-thru businesses, and if new business occupies an existing building with drive-thru facilities, prohibit their use.

Action 3. Require evaluations of planning scenarios and individual land use decisions to include estimates of carbon emissions.

• Expand to include estimates of the effects of fuel consumption by passenger cars, commercial transportation, and public transit.
• Discourage construction of new surface parking within the Urban Growth Boundary since surface parking prevents desirable uses of land.

Action 4. Adopt a schedule of funding for public investments to make neighborhoods highly walkable. Coordinate complimentary land use developments.

• Marry the transit system to land use planning, residential design standards, design and uses of school district property, and bicycle transportation. The Congress on New Urbanism has developed observations about successful communities that, if integrated with transit, would yield satisfying places to live.
• Coordinate complementary land use developments, difficult as that may be to accomplish. This will require the City, County, Metro, Tri-Met, Portland Public Schools and all the other local jurisdictions to form joint land use development bodies. This Action probably will require some very creative thought by some ad hoc inter-governmental task forces.

Action 5. Complete the Streetcar Master Plan and fund the next eight miles of streetcar lines.

• Create the important thing: a grid of frequent service transit to get people out of cars – see Toronto for an example. The Streetcar Master Plan is one tiny component of the transit system. We need to move past fixation on a single mode. See next Objective.

2030 Objective 5. Reduce per capita daily vehicle miles traveled by 50 percent from 2008 levels.

• State this objective as a reduction in total vehicle miles traveled, regardless of population growth.

2012 Action 1. Update the Transportation System Plan to incorporate mode-share goals that will result in a 50 percent reduction in transportation-related emissions by 2030.

• Establish a public transportation grid network so that every resident can walk to both a north-south and an east-west bus or rail line within a quarter mile of her house. Include plans for

• Frequent daytime service and some all-night service on every route
• Dedicated lanes and waiting platforms that allow traffic to flow around them (as in Curitiba, Brazil)
• Feeder routes, perhaps of smaller, less-costly vehicles, to main lines with a timed transfer plan (as in Curitiba and Toronto)
• Integrating residential access and other transportation modes into MAX station designs (to avoid errors like the Clackamas Line transit stations that crowded out dense housing development and distanced access by buses in favor of parking structures)
• Increased use by bicycle riders – carrying capacity on buses, bike parking facilities, etc.

• Incorporate connections with suburbs and even other cities in the local transit plan to create a seamless system that can replace private automobiles for large numbers of trips.
• TriMet needs to focus on the big picture in coordination with urban planning; get away from basing transit planning solely on availability of funding from the Federal Government and the State.
• Make sure it is understood on all sides that transportation leads development so that integrated planning is required.
• TriMet should observe which lines have greatest ridership and electrify those lines.
• Learn from other transit systems what would work to change the flat ridership on buses over the last decade. Make that knowledge widely available to the public.

Action 2. Together with Metro and TriMet, develop a joint funding schedule for infrastructure improvements such as sidewalks and improved access to destinations beyond a reasonable walking distance.

• Form a joint design group made up of all four bodies with authority to reach strategic decisions and write a joint plan seeking to find ways to overcome this limitation on funding.

•  Consider establishing a bicycle license fee

  to provide funding for bike infrastructure, particularly as gas tax revenue declines, and to encourage responsible bicycling behavior.

One member of the group felt strongly about this. Others opposed this on the basis of impact on the homeless (how do you register when you have no cash and no address?), and the civil liberties issue of restricting yet another mode of transportation to those who can present the proper papers when demanded by authorities.

 

 

Action 3. Allocate transportation expenditures among maintenance and infrastructure projects to improve the target mode shares.

• For clarity, make clear that you mean construction as well as maintenance. Substitute “among infrastructure maintenance and construction projects” for “among maintenance and infrastructure projects.” Also clarify the meaning of “target mode shares” and what improvement would mean for them.
• Mount a concentrated lobbying effort in state and federal legislatures to allow gas taxes to be used for funding any transportation investment, not just roads.
• Shift toward taxes that encourage behavior that we do want and discouraging the behavior that we do not want. For example, tax auto travel to pay for accessible, useful and convenient public transportation, and its maintenance, which is what we do want.

•  

   

  Remove the State Legislature’s control of speed limits on surface streets in Portland. Eliminate the Speed Board, and give local governments control of speed, access and positioning of traffic lights and crosswalks for ALL surface streets within the local jurisdiction. This would include local control of state highways when those they are overlaid on surface streets (i.e., 82nd, Powell Blvd, others).

Action 4. Identify the steps necessary to create a world-class bicycle system throughout Portland and Multnomah County.

• Create neighborhood bike parking. In most neighborhoods, much of every block face is available to park cars. If a person rides a bike to visit friends, they must either hope there is a solidly mounted sign pole where the bike will not block access to the sidewalk, or bring the bike inside the friend's home. We recommend installing at least two staple racks per block face, in the parking strip throughout residential neighborhoods.
• Give priority to bicycles on direct routes. Examples:

• Cyclists use Sandy Blvd because it is the most direct route downtown from many parts of northeast Portland. Currently designated bike routes add extra distance, extra stops and extra time to cycle trips.
• Cyclists also use 39th Avenue between Division and Holgate (and points south) because 39th includes a single hill. The designated cycle routes on 42nd/43rd or on 33rd require cyclists to climb an extra hill, so those riding for transportation must do extra work to reach their destinations, while the easier route, 39th, is preserved for cars.

• Increase capacity for bicycles on public transit on all modes: MAX, WES, Streetcar and buses.
• Increase bicycle parking at transit centers and provide parking for cyclists traveling from one government building to another. Decrease car parking.
• Include secure bike parking at proportional charge at public parking garages.

Action 5. Fund the first tier of improvements identified in the City of Portland Bicycle Master Plan and adopt a schedule of funding to address subsequent improvements.

• No discussion required.

Action 6. Expand the Smart Trips program to a county-wide effort to reach each resident at least once every five years.

• We support this effort and encourage the City to reallocate funds from auto infrastructure support to expand public education on how to use alternative modes of transportation.
• Look at ways to explain to people whose focus is economic growth how they can continue to profit if they change high-carbon behaviors. Smart Trips is one such way. All aspects of government need to engage in a continuous education effort to explain to people what is going on with climate change and peak oil to help them develop new stories about their lives. Engage the public in the search for solutions, and help them understand the reasons for new regulations.

 

 

 

Action 7. Invest in advanced telecommunications infrastructure to enable widespread e-commerce and telecommuting.

• Make high speed Internet affordable to all. Developed countries such as Japan, South Korea and Sweden have Internet speeds 8 to 30 times faster, at lower cost. We need to move to break the Qwest/ Comcast duopoly on high-speed connectivity and pricing.

Action 8. Implement appropriate pricing mechanisms on driving such as congestion pricing, tolls and parking pricing and direct these funds to infrastructure for non-automobile transportation modes and programs to promote their use.

• Cease funding the Columbia River Crossing as planned. Nearly all participants felt that its plans fail at every turn, including climate and peak oil preparedness. Who will take this Plan seriously if the City preaches climate action but plans to double the auto capacity of the bridge? Alternatively, plan for peak hour tolls on the Columbia River Crossing closer to $10/ single-occupancy vehicle each way, less at off-peak times. The proposed CRC tolls are far too low to put a serious dent in driving.
• Lobby for the state to implement a revenue neutral carbon tax similar to the one in British Columbia to discourage auto usage and encourage other forms of transportation. We need to tax what we do not want.
• Set a nominal fee for parking along the new Green Line, with the price equal to or greater than the cost of an extra fare zone. The present design appears to provide lots of free parking, at the expense of easy connection to the transit lines by people not in cars.
• Always consider how much further $1 million goes on bike infrastructure than on auto or streetcar.

Action 9. Protect existing intermodal freight facilities.

• Protect and improve existing rail facilities and inter-modal yards. Avoid regulating freight transfer points out of existence.
• Incorporate the importance of keeping good rail and water transportation into all City, County and Metro transportation planning
• Preserve freight facilities on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. Ocean transport is the most fuel-efficient method of moving goods long distances. Preserve the Columbia River channel to allow continued access for ocean freight. Do not replace any more freight facilities with riverfront condos.
• Anticipate, in zoning and building permitting decisions that affect terminals, less interstate and intercity truck transportation in future as fuel prices and climate regulations increase

 

2030 Objective 6. Increase the average fuel efficiency of passenger vehicles to 40 miles per gallon.

 

2012 Action 1. Support implementation of state tailpipe emission standards that are more aggressive than federal standards.

• The Obama administration's agreement with US automakers on increased CAFE standards renders this moot. It is now against federal law for states to set their own standards beyond California's, which were adopted as federal standards.

Action 2. Provide educational opportunities to residents and businesses to drive the most efficient vehicle that meets their needs.

• Reduce freeway speed limits and provide signed accommodation for slower moving vehicles.
• Provide accommodations for new smaller, lighter, more efficient vehicles to use the highways. People who want to drive a lightweight electric car (with a top speed of 35 mph) to Vancouver cannot legally drive on the freeway.
• Address safety perception of small cars. Education should focus on changing the attitude that you need a big vehicle to be safe. Also helpful would be enforcement of parking regulations with regard to tall vehicles at corners (vehicle over a certain height are not supposed to park within 25' of an intersection). The law exists, but is seldom, if ever enforced in Portland.
• Bear in mind that cost of the vehicle is a consideration for many people. While the most efficient vehicle might be $30,000, if the budget is $5,000, educate people about the most efficient vehicles available in that price range.

 

2030 Objective 7. Reduce the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of transportation fuels by 20 percent.

• Adopt and enforce an anti-idling law in Portland so that idling by passenger cars longer than 3 minutes is punishable by ticket/ fine. Vancouver BC has a successful anti-idling law.
• Require Portland and Multnomah County truck stops to install electrical service for parked trucks so that they do not need to idle to generate power.
• Encourage ODOT to install electrical service in truck parking areas of rest stops for the same reason. Lobby Salem to require that electrical service be provided at truck stops statewide. Include metering or nominal charge for service to pay for power and service. The State should be able to team with trucking interests on this, as they will save money on fuel.

 

2012 Action 1. Implement the second phase of the City’s renewable fuels standard to require that diesel fuel sold in Portland include at least 10 percent biodiesel, half of which must be made from sources that can be produced in Oregon.

• The City and County should not tie themselves to any specific fuel or fuel additive, as we don't know what will be appropriate in three years, much less twenty. We all remember the ethanol balloon. Our first priority is to feed people, and automotive fuel is secondary to that.
• Consider changing the City’s renewable fuels standard to express a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in other ways, using other measurements.

 

Action 2. Accelerate the transition to plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles by supporting the installation of a network of electric car charging stations.

• Consider how the electricity is generated and the energy-efficiency of electric cars. Include an analysis of the efficiency of electric propulsion and the lifecycle costs of electricity production in purchasing decisions, and focus on conservation first, new generation second. Maintain a continuous design process to address unforeseen consequences and adjust requirements as they show up.
• Add power outlets to on-street parking meters and reserve car charging spaces wherever there are reserved carpool or rideshare spaces.

 

 

Related Items from Action Area 8 LOCAL GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

 

2030 Objective 16. Reduce carbon emissions from City and County operations 50 percent from 1990 levels.

• Require enforceable efficiency standards on all projects and upgrades as well as maintenance operations. Any project that does not meet those standards and does not result in greenhouse gas reductions does not get funded.
• Double the bike parking capacity at public buildings. Make bike parking accessible to persons working at one public building and visiting another.

 

2012 Action 6. Require that local government fleets, regulated fleets (e.g., taxis and waste/recycling haulers), and the fleets of local government contractors meet minimum fleet fuel efficiency standards and use low-carbon fuels.

• Include all fleets: TriMet, school buses, trucks and delivery vehicle fleets.
• Ban the use of two stroke engines, including leaf blowers, lawn mowers, snow blowers, chainsaws, etc. by government or government contractors.

 

Action 7. Buy electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles for City and County fleets as they become commercially available.

• No comment.

Full notes from the Consumption and Soild Waste group

Eight people attended the first session and five attended the second.  In addition to the specific comments below, four overall themes emerged:

• The group felt strongly that the Plan needed to be strengthened to get us to 80% emissions reduction by 2050.
• Though most Actions in this area involve centralized City, County and/or Metro actions, the group strongly felt that the City should also support and enable decentralized solutions at a neighborhood level, including education efforts.  Under Objective 9, see new Action 6, which recommends among other things integrating carbon reduction education efforts at neighborhood levels.  The City or County is not always the ideal scale for some solutions and for reaching citizens.
• All levels of government need to recognize and eliminate the numerous legal barriers to developing creative local solutions that will fulfill the goals of the Climate Action Plan.  See below under Objective 8 (Actions 1 and 2) and Objective 9 (introduction).  

All recommendations were unanimous.

2030 Objective 8.  Reduce total solid waste generated by 25 percent.

• Increase the target to 50%.  A 25% reduction by 2030 does not seem to be a goal that will produce much momentum.  The group felt 50% to be a more appropriate intermediate goal to reach toward in these extraordinary times, and that we are capable of it.

 

2012 Action 1.  Encourage businesses and residents to purchase new and reused goods with minimal packaging that are durable, repairable and reusable. 

• Ban plastic bags.  This is already in place in other jurisdictions, and the issue is being considered by the UN.
• Discourage other single use products.  Change health code requirements that prevent retailers like New Seasons and Whole Foods from filling customers’ containers at their deli counters.  Allow customers to return plastic containers to the retailer so they can be washed and reused
• Work toward establishing a deposit system (or advance disposal system) for containers with the long term goal of eliminating single use containers.  

 

Action 2.  Participate actively in the process to develop state and federal product stewardship legislation.

• Propose state legislation providing incentives for bottlers to standardize bottle sizes and shapes and to reuse them.
• Propose state legislation providing for more container deposits.
• Expand product takeback legislation to cover batteries, CFLs, and other electronics in addition to TVs and monitors.

ADD NEW ACTION 3.   Establish a zero waste policy or strategy. 

• Zero waste is implicit in a truly sustainable society.  Other jurisdictions such as San Francisco and Seattle have done this. 
• A zero waste policy acknowledges that the reduction and recycling goals are only interim.  It also encourages design of products for reuse and greater separation of recyclable products to preclude the landfilling of residuals. 

2030 Objective 9.  Recover 75 percent of all waste generated.

·      Target is too weak; it should be 90%. 

• We understand recovery is currently around 63%.  Make the baseline clear so people understand what kind of effort is required, i.e. “Increase recovery of all waste generated from 63% to x%.”
• Actively reduce legal barriers to households reducing waste, e.g., placing composting systems in the parking strip.  Allow variances if intent is to reduce carbon emissions.
• Give priority to recycling of materials over incinerating them for energy production (saves more energy and resources).

 

2012 Action 1.  Complete the implementation of mandatory commercial food waste collection in Portland and begin collection of residential food waste.

• Encourage community composting.  Help neighborhood groups locate suitable sites.  (See new Action 6 below.) 
• Require commercial haulers and multifamily building owners to provide for yard waste to go to composting as currently done in curbside pickup for homeowners.
• Hire a commercial composting expert to establish a local composting facility or facilities.  Many other cities have done this.
• Inventory public sites (including community gardens) that can be used for composting as part of a multi-site approach, which can supplement any major facility established. 
• Provide grants and technical assistance for on-site composting facilities to institutions such as colleges, schools and medical facilities.
• Appropriately scaled composting can help remediate brownfields contaminated by petroleum.
• Ban garbage disposals in new construction as other cities have done.

  

Action 2.  Assist 1,000 businesses per year to improve compliance with Portland’s requirement of paper, metal and glass recycling.

• Language is too weak.  Substitute the following:  “Assist and give incentives to 1,000 businesses per year that have a plan and are moving toward zero waste.”   Going forward to 2016, zero waste should become the new concept, evolving from simply recycling.

• Support innovation.  Assist and reward pilot projects.  Find ways for businesses to publicize their progress toward zero waste.

Action 3.  Together with Metro create a regional hierarchy of materials disposal to guide decisions on technologies such as commercial composting, digesters, plasmafication and waste-to-energy systems. 

• Include lower-tech, small scale, neighborhood models and other decentralized models (see new Action 6 below).  See Action 1 re community composting.

 

Action 4.  Regulate solid waste collection for unincorporated Multnomah County.

No comment.

 

Action 5.  Provide technical assistance to contractors and construction firms to meet Portland’s new requirement to recycle 75 percent of construction and demolition debris.

No comment.

 

ADD NEW ACTION 6.  Support local community waste reduction and related education efforts.

• Offer grants to neighborhood and other community groups (such as theater groups) for local projects such as neighborhood composting, tool libraries, community freecycling, and other approaches to developing local infrastructure and sharing resources.
• Similarly, offer grants to local groups for educational efforts in their communities.  This could be applicable to all carbon reduction efforts, illuminating the connections between healthier lifestyles, increased social relationships from sharing resources with neighbors, and less emphasis on shopping and consumption.  Also related are buying local food (and buying more products in bulk) with the impact in reduced packaging.  Community groups are better positioned than government to experiment with more engaging and far-reaching approaches to reach both adults and children (who will grow up to be citizens and consumers between now and 2050). 

• Try a pilot project such as in a charter school to implement a zero waste goal on a small scale.

 

2030 Objective 10.  Maximize the efficiency of the waste collection system.

 

2012 Action 1.  Provide weekly curbside collection of food waste, other compostable materials and recycling.  Shift residential garbage collection to every other week.

• Add the following:  “as a step toward even less frequent collection.  By 2016, residential garbage collection should be every three weeks.”  The group noted that less frequent collection reduces the frequency of street repairs as well as fuel use. 

• See education item above.   Many people don’t know that their bill can be reduced based on size of can or frequency of pickup.
• Offer incentives for pickup every two months; alternatively, try pilots.

Related Items from Action Area 8 LOCAL GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS 

2030 Objective 16.  Reduce carbon emissions from City and County operations 50 percent from 1990 levels.

 

ADD NEW ACTION (before Action 8).   Reduce total waste produced in City/County operations by 50%.

·      This is to correspond with our recommendation under Objective 8 (Reduce total solid waste generated by 50 percent).

 

2012 Action 8.  Recover 85 percent of all waste generated in City and County operations.

·      i.e., waste remaining after the reduction recommended in the previous new Action.

 

2012 Action 9.  In City and County purchasing decisions, consider carbon emissions from the production, transportation, use and disposal of goods as a criterion.

·      Substitute stronger language:  “In City and County purchasing decisions, make an active effort to select suitable products that are the least carbon-intensive in their production, packaging, transportation, use and disposal.  Establish thresholds that products must meet to be considered.”

Full notes from the Urban Forestry group

Four people attended the first forum, and four the second.

At the second forum we had a Subject Matter Expert, Scott Fogarty, Executive Director of Friends of Trees. He spoke at length about the work they are doing, work that is addressing the CAP Urban Forestry Objectives, with positive results in carbon sequestering and in other areas such as stormwater runoff reduction, heat island effect reduction, community building, wildlife corridor creation and improvement, increasing home values, minority green jobs creation, and health improvement.

• The work being done by Friends of Trees is directly in line with the goals in the CAP, and the group feels that supporting their work is one of the most effective ways to further CAP Urban Forestry and other goals.

• It will be advantageous to coordinate planning for Forestry projects with those in the Buildings/Energy and the Food/Agriculture Action Areas to ensure that actions do not conflict or compete, and fulfill multiple needs wherever possible (i.e., planting trees that generate food but don’t shade food gardens, and ensuring that solar projects and forestry projects are appropriately sited and do not compete or interfere with each other). This begins to resemble the permaculture idea of interlocking, mutually supportive systems – i.e., considering the entire city (or county) as a permaculture. See new Action 5 regarding development and use of the LIDAR database, which shows solar potential of areas.

2030 Objective 11. Expand the forest canopy to cover one-third of Portland.

• Currently, 26% of Portland/Multnomah County is covered with the Urban Forest, the objective is to increase that to 33%. The baseline should be stated in the plan.

2012 Action 1. Expand public and private programs to encourage planting and preserving trees.

• Provide multiple sources for discounted/subsidized prices for trees. Friends of Trees already discounts their trees heavily.

• Expand the Urban Forestry Program with expert staff, emphasizing staff that can help citizens better take care of their trees and protect them from the stress of expected climate change, i.e., from insects and disease.

• Convert some streets to forest corridors from automobile corridors. This and the following item would have stormwater control benefits as well.

• Reclaim streets to make more room for trees, bikes and pedestrians (they are much wider than will be needed when there are fewer automobiles). Fund/support research into effects on present forest of climate change. What types of trees that thrive locally are able to withstand the vicissitudes of climate change? Toronto is planting trees that are more resistant to severe climate events.

• Plant fruit and nut trees and thereby fulfill two needs – carbon sequestering AND local food production. Eliminate prohibition against planting them on parking strips.

• Identify existing fruit and nut trees in the City and County and create a GIS database accessible to people and groups interested in gleaning from them. Partner with the Portland Fruit Tree Project and other gleaner groups on this.

• Introduce some urban predators that can help reduce squirrels harvesting of nuts in the city, possibly developing roosting and nesting habitat for predator raptors around nut tree concentrations.

• Increase the City and County budgets for tree planting, including grants to nonprofits working in this area.

• Require developers to retain and plant more trees. In some areas developers are required to plant two trees for every one taken out.

• Utility workers need to be better trained to be guided by the mindset of protecting tree roots and limbs as they do their work.

Action 2. Acquire, restore and protect open spaces to promote functional forest ecosystems with high potential to sequester carbon dioxide.

• Convert forest stands from short-lived and/or susceptible trees (e.g., cottonwoods that splinter in ice or wind storms) to longer-lived and more resistant varieties.

• Promote uneven age tree management (stands in parks, etc. are often a single age).

• Develop denser tree plantings in available areas (ball fields, parks, golf courses). Possibly require a minimum percentage of tree cover on golf courses. This might also create wildlife habitat.

• For open spaces that are brownfields awaiting remediation, perhaps this can be accomplished through planting forests and also fungi to ameliorate the toxicity within the brownfields.

• Set up an indicator program marking certain trees to monitor the health of forests in the City and County and the effects of climate change.

• Continue improving forest health through efforts to promote healthy soil regimes in forested areas by planting nitrogen-fixing plants (alders, legumes).

Action 3. Develop and implement an outreach campaign to provide educational resources to residents about the benefits of trees, tree care and tree regulations.

• Give more resources to the Urban Forestry Division for educational outreach programs. Educate regarding the benefits of trees. Develop curricula to teach children and other citizens on how critical trees are for the health of the climate, the air and society.

• Explore more stringent rules against cutting down trees. Institute a program where homeowners can swap a tree you want to take out for a new tree planted.

• Explore the idea that trees have become valuable enough to the environment and climate stabilization that they should have rights as a part of the commons.

Action 4. Recognize trees as a capital asset to City and County infrastructure.

What is a capital asset? Is it a line on a balance sheet, or something a community can use in promoting its quality of life? Or both?

• We value clean air as an asset, so we can find a way to value trees – “33% of our city is covered in beautiful trees!” Create a sense of the sacred nature of trees.

• Have schools adopt (watch, monitor, measure, water….) trees in their neighborhood.

• Create a Special Trees Program within the City, with some designation or sign (a distinctive cord?) that anyone can use to say ”this tree is special?.

• Employ managed harvests where appropriate to generate funds, in cases where stands need thinning or replacement in case of disease.

• Create value through growing food for the Food Bank. Develop some of the existing parks as food forests – a community resource for food.

 

ADD NEW ACTION 5. The City/County/Metro should expedite the development and use of the LIDAR inventory to determine solar potential within the City/County/Metro area.

This inventory will allow the assessment of the solar potential of areas by measuring the tree canopy and tree height based on the location around homes and buildings. Local government needs to be aware of the need to integrate solar potential into all areas to generate solar based power. Where trees have to be sacrificed to improve solar gain, replacement trees should be planted.

Full notes from the Food and Agriculture group

20 people attended the first session. 14 people attended the second session.

Food is a “hot” issue today. The constituency of citizens concerned about food issues is growing (e.g.,  more people are attending the Food Policy Council).  Overall, these plans lack specificity and, because most are not measurable, there is little accountability for achieving them.  They are safe and conservative.

See the report for Group 4, Urban Forestry, for several recommendations regarding urban orchards of fruit and nut trees

2030 Objective 12.  Significantly increase the consumption of local food.

2012 Action 1.  Establish joint City-County institutional capacity to support the development of a strong local food system. Provide policy direction and resources to significantly increase the percentage of home-grown and locally-sourced food.

Although the CAP provides directives for the City/County, food and agricultural recommendations need to be considered as part of a bioregional system with emphasis on both “bioregional” (partnerships with other counties and Metro) and “system” (production and consumption as well as the financial dynamics of the local food system). The food needs of Portland cannot be satisfied without considering the surrounding counties.

Except for Action 6, this objective is lacking in quantitative commitments and measures that would insure accountability for achieving them.

• Develop a measure and estimate the amount of City/County food (of various types) that is/could be supplied within the City/County as a proportion of total consumption; set a local production target; and track progress toward increasing this proportion over time.
• Develop a method to identify local food-producing land (including portions of back/front yards as well as small and large farms) that would qualify for property tax credits as an incentive to achieve this objective.  Activities that preserve and enrich the soil of potential local food-producing land should also be supported in this way.
• Develop a system of disincentives and penalties for corporations and organizations that engage in actions that create barriers to the achievement of this objective.  Historically, citizens had power over corporations by periodically reviewing their charters to ensure that they were serving the public good and revoking them where this was not the case. Corporations today, especially large ones, have more rights and power than citizens and often work to sabotage citizen efforts to improve the local food system (e.g., resisting the labeling of foods, contamination of land by genetically-modified organism, pushing the use of pesticides and other toxics as well as fossil fuel-based fertilizer, etc.).
• Identify the benefits of organic methods and provide preferential treatment in public policy and resources (tax benefits, fees, grants, etc.) to all elements of the organic food system.  A climate-friendly lifestyle requires a transition to an organic food and agricultural system.  An organic approach has many benefits. One is that the amount of organic material in arable soil enhances the sequestration of carbon by as much as ten percent.  Emphasize organic methods rather than organic certification as the cost of certification is often too much for small farmers.
• Support the development of a biodiesel production system to reliably and cheaply supply the fuel and fertilizer needs of current and projected farmers that serve the local market. Provide the fuel and fertilizer produced from this system at cost as a first priority to local farmers. Develop the resources, facilities, services, and incentives to encourage a sufficient supply of fuel crops and waste cooking oil.

Diesel fuel for farm equipment and fertilizer for crops are significant costs in agriculture. Using biodiesel and fertilizer by-products produced from a combination of sources of raw oil (waste cooking oil along with reliable, low cost fuel crops like White Mustard) could significantly reduce these costs.

• As public funding becomes scarcer, review and modify all government structures, policies and procedures to support citizen volunteer efforts to increase food education and production. Increasingly redirect funding to support these efforts.

• Change regulations to allow fruit trees on parking strips. Link with and support Portland ReCode and the Fruit Tree Project.

Action 2.  Work to reestablish funding to the Multnomah County Extension Service.

• This action needs commitment -- remove “work to”.  This action needs numbers -- there should be a specific date and funding goal. Perhaps reestablish half of the funding in the first two years with more to come later.

• Create a “new and improved” Multnomah County Extension Service that takes advantage of the online power of the Web and other technological innovations for disseminating up-to-date information on all aspects of food production, preservation and consumption efficiently and effectively.  It would also be a “permaculture” extension service with emphasis on values, designs and techniques that create a truly sustainable food system.
• Provide extension service classes on gardening, soil management, animal husbandry, cooking, canning, preserving and other important skills related to the production and use of local food.

Action 3.  Increase the viability of farmers’ markets, community gardens, community-supported agriculture farms and home-grown food through qualitative goals. Integrate these goals into all planning processes.

• Replace “qualitative” with “quantitative”.  We need the ability to measure success.  Cost is one way to look at the viability of different ways to produce and distribute food – e.g., some small farmers can’t afford the fee to participate in the Beaverton Farmer’s Market.  
• Reduce the price of participation in farmers’ markets by smaller farmers, perhaps using a sliding scale system or tying fees to the gross amount of food brought to market for sale.
• Wherever possible, eliminate the “middlemen” and their “profit-taking” in the farmers’ market system.
• Organize a farmers’ market within a 20-30 minute walk of every household or have at least one farmers’ market for every three neighborhoods.  Make parking lots and other public property available for farmers’ markets.  Organize a farmers’ market at every elementary school.  (Most schools are not used on weekends and they tend to be spaced evenly around the city.)
• Develop a measure and estimate the amount of regional food (of various types) that is being used or could be supplied to food services in local schools, hospitals and other institutions.  Increase the amount of locally-grown food into schools through the Farms to Schools and other programs.
• Review ordinances and regulations about raising poultry and other animals in the City/County and remove all unnecessary restrictions.  (The plan does not mention chickens and other animals. They are also part of the local food system.)

Action 4.  Provide educational opportunities for residents that will enable them to grow fruit and vegetables at their place of residence and in cooperation with their neighbors.

This action relies heavily on developing a sense of community and bringing people together around food.  An emphasis on the health and well-being of a community of people should be central to all educational efforts about producing food in one’s own neighborhood.  Neighbors can work together and develop creative ways to use space/land perhaps by taking down fences. Growing one’s own food can take a lot of energy, which may be difficult for some people but relaxing to others.  This is why neighbors helping neighbors is important.  Neighborhood associations and their sustainability committees can facilitate this kind of networking.

• Make City/County-owned buildings available for free and low-cost classes that teach residents how to produce and prepare more of their own food.
• Emphasize health benefits as a major motivator in encouraging residents to grow their own food.
• Develop a system of volunteer mentors, especially experienced seniors, to be matched with people who want to learn food-producing and preparing skills. Volunteers who have been mentored can then mentor others.
• Sponsor a contest for youth and adults to create public service announcements (PSAs) about growing food and being more food sufficient.
• Require that all city and county officials take a permaculture course.

·      Create a special information campaign to educate people on converting their lawns to gardens (“Food Not Lawns”); depaving and remediation techniques and doing container and “earth box” gardening.  Link to and support the “Vote with Your Fork” Campaign and Food Not Lawns.

• Provide information kiosks on as many blocks as possible to disseminate information about growing food.

Action 5.  Encourage the use of public and private urban land and rooftops for growing food and remove obstacles to local food production.

• Replace the word “encourage” with “allow.”
• Eliminate obstacles that are a barrier to local food production by modifying all structures, policies and procedures that might inhibit the achievement of this goal (e.g., three chicken rule; height of vegetation regulations). Create obstacles to any practice that inhibits the achievement of this goal (e.g., banning toxic chemicals that poison soil; not using pesticides in public parks).
• Provide more opportunities for people in high density living situations to grow their own food.  One way would be to subsidize tools and equipment like “Earth Boxes” (self-contained growing systems for small places like balconies, etc.) – similarly to what Metro has done with compost bins.  Link with and support a local course called “Permaculture for Renters.”
• Allow and encourage public and private asphalt parking lots to be used for local food production and distribution, perhaps by offering incentives to private land-owners. Link with and support ReCode Oregon and other relevant organizations to implement this recommendation.
• Change building codes so that roofs in the future will be strong enough to support a rooftop garden.
• Convert the roofs of all public and publicly-funded buildings to rooftop gardens.
• Link with and support Your Backyard Farmer to develop an expanded food-producing and sharing match-up system that connects people who have land and water with those who have the time, skills and energy to garden.  Develop or fund online sharing and networking like Bright Neighbor to help forge these connections.

 

Action 6.  Create 1,300 new community garden plots.

This goal seems quite low.  We prefer 1,300 new community gardens, not simply individual plots.

• Add a time element (e.g., create “X” new community gardens each year for the next “X” years) and/or a per capita element (e.g., create “X” new community gardens for every “X” households – e.g., Seattle’s comprehensive plan provides one community garden for every 2,550 households) to the goal.

• Identify the factors that currently prevent assigning garden plots to people on the long waiting list.  Develop solutions to speed up the assignment process.
• Develop a community garden at every school, perhaps targeting a ten percent annual increase in the number of schools that have one. Establish community partnerships to manage these gardens, especially during the summer when school is not in session (e.g., one local school has partnered with a private senior housing facility) but also encourage students to commit to helping year round (like farm kids did in earlier days). Link with and support relevant local organizations that encourage school gardens.

• As a high priority, locate community gardens near places where people cannot grow food in their own yard or are less able to purchase food (e.g., apartment buildings, downtown neighborhoods, large renter populations, low-income neighborhoods).
• Create and manage a pool of volunteers who are trained to create fertile community gardens.  Perhaps a plot could be assigned to a volunteer for contributing a certain number of hours to this effort (using a model like Habitat for Humanity).

 

2030 Objective 13.  Reduce consumption of carbon intensive foods.

·      As stated, this objective lacks the commitment of specific, measurable targets/outcomes. Quantitative goals for a specific time period should be established.  Reduce consumption by how much, by when?

·      Define “carbon-intensive foods.”   The definition should consider type of food (meat and dairy) as well as how the food was produced (whether from deforested land , organic or industrial techniques, chemicals and pesticides used, etc.), packaged, transported (local or not, how shipped, etc.) stored, and where the waste goes. Defining the carbon intensity of foods inevitably requires looking at the entire lifecycle of food. This means looking beyond the physical boundaries of the City/ County.

 

2012 Action 1.  Create a public engagement campaign highlighting food choice as a key action to live a climate-friendly lifestyle.

• Include the following elements in a public engagement campaign about food choice: how food choice affects health, how food builds community, the lifecycle of food and how it is part of a wider system of inputs and outputs, the relationship of food to the environment, the importance of eating seasonally and the festive/participatory/fun nature of food.
• Quantify this action with measurable targets – for example, increase in various indicators like awareness of food choice as a key behavior in a climate-friendly lifestyle, percentage of citizens who have made changes in their food choices, change in the number of times residents eat meat each week, etc.

·      Develop a scorecard with a point system to help people make better food choices; (e.g., points for buying local, for buying food not produced with petroleum).  Provide awards (sign for their yard, etc.) when they do. Use signage and icons at the point-of-purchase to help consumers make better food choices. Perhaps develop a Willamette Valley and/or Oregon label to distinguish foods that are grown/produced locally.

• Include elements from the “slow food” and “vote with your fork” movements in the campaign: consciously rejecting the fast-food culture, people socializing and eating together, cooking with local ingredients, eating healthy food, desiring the food in your own back-yard, creating a feeling of caring and abundance around food.
• Create an alternative festival event like “The Bite” that is fun and accomplishes the educational intent of this objective.  Feature vegetarian/vegan options that show how nutritious and delicious plant-based eating can be.
• Consider using potlucks and other ways to personalize the campaign.
• While emphasizing the many benefits to people and the planet of a plant-based diet, avoid identifying or framing climate-friendly food choice with vegetarianism.  (People often adopt a vegetarian/vegan diet for reasons other than effect on climate.)

·      Offer or facilitate the offering of cooking classes that teach people how to cook delicious and nutritious meals without meat.

·      Develop something like a “200-Mile Diet Challenge” to emphasize the climate-friendliness of eating food produced in our local region. At the same time require or encourage food stores to identify where food products come from.

 

Action 2.  Create City and County partnerships with healthcare, schools and other organizations to promote healthy, low-carbon diets.

• Require that all City/County offices and public facilities that serve food offer a vegetarian/vegan option. It is essential that the City/County provide a model and set an example wherever possible of what it is asking the public to do.
• Encourage all schools to have a food garden with student participation and to incorporate the garden into the curriculum and cafeteria so that young people develop a greater appreciation for where food comes from, how it is grown and prepared, etc.
• Encourage school systems to offer vegetarian/vegan alternatives in the cafeteria and all meal programs.  Set a measurable target that increases over time for the number/proportion of students who opt for these alternatives.
• Include students at every level in the discussion of how best to promote healthy, low-carbon diets. Seek their opinions about this City/County Climate Action Plan. Ensure that their views are heard by decision-makers so they feel empowered and optimistic about their future.
• Facilitate the partnering of the Portland Brownfield Program with the Community Garden Program in order to encourage the use of remediated sites for community gardens.
• Link with and support food and nutrition groups that work with schools and hospitals that are running “eat healthy” campaigns.
• Develop a local ordinance requiring the labeling of GMO foods.

 

ADD NEW 2030 OBJECTIVE XX.  Ensure that all objectives and action steps in this Climate Action Plan be deliberately and carefully developed within the context of systems thinking (inputs and outputs) and use a lifecycle framework for analyzing the climate impacts of food.

Full notes from Community Engagement group

Fourteen people attended the first session.  Eleven attended the second session. In addition to the specific comments below, these themes emerged: 

• Make use of existing systems to engage communities, especially neighborhood associations, K-12 schools, faith communities and businesses.  Rely on organizations already active in climate change education and mitigation, including but not limited to Transition PDX, Northwest Earth Institute, Oregon Interfaith Power and Light, City Repair, Portland Peak Oil and Bright Neighbor. 
• Inclusivity and cultural sensitivity are paramount in engaging the public.  Seek guidance of community leaders in carrying out the information sharing and education that will lead to behavior change among all groups.
• Brand the campaign.  Plant the message strongly and succinctly with a recognizable logo, but offer a variety of involvement options so that everyone can participate on some way.
• A climate change coordination system must allow for information to pass efficiently both from the City/County and to the City/County from the public.  Communities must be empowered in a variety of ways to implement the training and projects needed to help meet the CAP objectives. 

 

2030 Objective 14.  Motivate all Multnomah County residents and businesses to change their behavior in ways that reduce carbon emissions.

2012 Action 1.   In partnership with businesses, universities, community colleges, K-12 schools, non-profits, public agencies, neighborhood associations and faith-based, social and community organizations, launch a community-wide public engagement campaign to promote carbon emission reductions.

• Add the underlined language above.
• Using the current neighborhood system as a starting place to launch the campaign, establish a comprehensive database inventory of current stakeholders.  Consult neighborhood coalitions, business associations and County social services delivery systems for help in determining additional stakeholders, striving for maximum representation and inclusivity.
• Establish a Community Engagement Coordination Office to network with and support efforts of community groups, neighborhoods and non-profits.
• Establish a system such as an Advisory Council for coordination and networking among stakeholders.  Also convene meetings among stakeholders by geographic area (e.g., neighborhood coalitions) to allow for ongoing learning and information sharing to maximize resources. 
• Establish a Green Grants program to support community trainings.  Create a board to review Green Grants requests from community groups.
• Create training modules (including train the trainer) on carbon reduction plans for households, businesses and organizations.  Inform neighborhoods of possible carbon reduction priorities based on their local transportation, waste disposal and energy usage patterns.
• Identify campaigns that have been successful, such as Drive Less/Save More, and examine metrics and potential for replication.

• Create a positive, tangible campaign for behavior change to inspire residents to engage in carbon reduction activities that are measurable and replicable.
• Generate tangible, bite-sized steps for carbon reduction to prevent overload and make progress doable.  Audit and publicize existing resources and progress by neighborhood for inspiration.  Establish ‘language of carbon reduction’ - consistent terminology for promoting desired behaviors.
• Publicize ways that carbon reduced living is in citizens’ self-interest, as well as community and global interest.  Parents tend to act for the good of their children.
• Recognize and reward significant efforts by individuals, schools, etc., that lead to CO2 reductions.  Examples:  Hold contests in K-12 to design low carbon “brand” logo, slogan and songs.  Use logo on reusable shopping bags and track bag use via bar code to measure and reward behavior.  Encourage friendly carbon reduction competitions in schools, churches and neighborhoods.  Encourage peer pressure and peer support.  Active CO2 reduction neighborhoods could be rewarded with park retrofits or other enhancements.
• Make K-12 system a centerpiece for information delivery and motivation for youth and adults (e.g., SUN Schools model).  Engage middle and high schoolers in training younger students.  Offer courses on re-skilling, local food growth, transportation sharing, waste reduction methods, energy efficiencies and district energy projects.  
• Anticipate conflicts that come with change and offer conflict resolution training and resources.
• Create an Information Delivery System using existing organizations and groups whose final target is the individual household.
• Deliver vital information via flow chart.  This is a possible model: 
• City or County ? Municipalities or Sub-Municipalities (SE, NE, NW, SW, N, E) ? Neighborhood Associations/Climate Action Committees ? Constituent Groups (schools, faith-based and social groups, housing subdivisions) ? *Green Teams, Co-ops, Condominiums ? Individual Households.
• *Green Teams are sub-neighborhoods of 125-150 people acting in shared interest.
• Encourage a reverse flow of information where concerns at the household level can be relayed to City/County.
• Create a feedback mechanism to track efficiencies and quickly disseminate improvements throughout this system.
• Make it fun!  Encourage neighborhood social functions for learning and supporting changes. 

 

Action 2.  Establish a business leadership council to catalyze the business community to create a prosperous low-carbon economy. 

• Incentivize corporate carbon reduction through tax credits.  Train energy delegates from corporate community to educate staff on carbon reduction practices. 
• Facilitate the establishment of an effective communication channel between business and consumers so that businesses can inform consumers of their progress toward CO2 reduction measures, and consumers can let businesses know what they want to see.  Life-cycle carbon assessments of products and services, whenever possible, could also be posted.  Such a channel might include a website, newsletter and/or branding campaign.
• Engage business participation in the 20-minute neighborhood model. 

 

Action 3.  Create a center to bring together academia, businesses and government to foster policy development, best practices and collaboration to address climate change.

• Establish a Countywide delegation from communities – including all stakeholders – to support City/County efforts.  Invite community delegates to the center to present on their efforts.

notes from the full Climate Change Preparation group

Six people attended each session.  In addition to the specific comments below, these themes emerged: 

• The City/County should engage all constituent populations in assessing climate change related vulnerabilities and inherent community strengths, and as partners in developing plans and taking needed actions to prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change.
• In particular, the City/County should establish a public health advisory council to link with nonprofit and citizen groups concerned with public health.  Such a council would guide and monitor the assessment, planning and action stages of preparing for the health impacts of climate change on the population. 
  

2030 Objective 15.  Adapt successfully to a changing climate.

2012 Action 1.  Prepare an assessment of climate-related vulnerabilities of local food, water and energy supplies, infrastructure and the public health system.

• Conduct in-depth vulnerability assessments (with benchmarks and indicators) of special health and other risks to vulnerable populations, including the elderly and infirm, those with mental health issues, immigrants and refugees and the homeless.  Have input from all populations in conducting assessments and use models like Oregon Health Plan and Vision Into Action participation to make sure all concerns are addressed and perspectives included.  Strive for health equity as related to climate change. 
• Conduct assessments on a Countywide basis and in individual neighborhoods.
• Assess risks from rising temperatures on the elderly and all populations.  Increase education about asthma.
• To reduce heat island effect and increase food sources, plant more fruit trees throughout the city and county.
• Examine increased health risks to populations based on geographic location in the City/County.  Consider proximity to air pollution sources such as freeways, proximity to hospitals/clinics and mobility of vulnerable populations. 
• Assess current capacity of hospitals and health clinics and the vulnerability of their energy infrastructure to climate events and energy shortages from any cause.
• Assess local food sources and vulnerabilities.  Determine impacts of climate change on local agriculture and support farmers in adapting to change.

• Determine short-term food supply and access in the event of climate change related disaster/emergency.  In areas where food is not readily available, plant community gardens.
• Offer more public education on bioregional and local food sources as well as how to grow a personal food supply.
• Assess adequacy of water sources and transportation corridors.

• Encourage gardening at schools and use schools as locations for food management centers in case of emergency.
• Identify areas of strength and resilience as well as vulnerability in all assessments.           

 

Action 2.  Analyze the costs and benefits of addressing major vulnerabilities identified in the assessment and prioritize preparation actions.

• Track incidents and potential problems at the neighborhood level.  Establish a call center to collect information about vulnerabilities.  Use both quantitative and qualitative methods that value humans as well as all other living beings.
• Achieve efficiencies and reduce costs through applying the “20 Minute Neighborhoods” model.  Increase community resilience, achieve multiple benefits and reduce costs to both households and to local government through encouraging coalescence in communities.

             

Action 3.  Adopt a climate change preparation plan assigning responsibility to appropriate bureaus or departments to address prioritized actions.

·      Work with and include grassroots groups – not just city government bureaus and departments – to address prioritized actions.  Use community groups as partners to identify vulnerabilities, conduct assessments, make recommendations and take needed actions. 

• Community organizations and grassroots projects are important sources for help in preparing for and responding to the social-psychological aspects of climate change.  The City/County should leverage community expertise.
• Conflict and tension between people may increase in difficult times, especially in relation to limited resources.  As part of climate change preparation, include free mediation and conflict resolution training to the public or connect people to organizations that provide this as a free service.  Address cultural and ideological barriers to getting people to adapt.  Encourage neighbors to know each other better and share skills and resources.
• Focus on how all organizations can be made more adaptive by processes that foster creativity, thinking outside the box, flexibility, new channels of communication and incentives for dissent.            Help make available training in group dynamics.

Draft Climate Action Plan 2009

 http://www.portlandonline.com/osd/index.cfm?c=41896

In 2007, Portland City Council and the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners adopted resolutions directing staff to design a strategy to reduce local carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Achieving the 80 percent reduction goal is not something government can do alone: We need to work together with every citizen and every business to make the fundamental changes that will help us reach the 2050 goal.

The 2009 Climate Action Plan will serve as the 40-year roadmap for the institutional and individual change needed to reach our ambitious climate protection goals in the City of Portland and Multnomah County. This draft plan proposes objectives and actions that will help residents, businesses and government meet the 2050 goal

 

We encourage you to read the proposed plan and share your thoughts with us.

 

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Draft Climate Action Plan 2009

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