MINUTES
OCTOBER 8,
2007 MEETING OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA
SUSTAINABLE CITY TASK FORCE
The meeting was
convened at 7:30pm.
Sustainable City Task Force members in attendance: Jim
Ries, Dennis Woods, Al Rosen,
Leonard Mitchell, Genevieve Bertone,
Christina Erikson, Jennifer Wolch and Laura Berland
Shane. City staff in
attendance: Shannon
Parry and Jessica Cusick. Members of the public in attendance:
Community Sustainability Liaison Traci Reitz and Louisa
Fish.
Public
Input on Agenda Items
There was no public input on agenda items.
Approval of
Minutes from the September
10, 2007 meeting
Approval of the September meeting minutes was moved
to the November 2007 meeting agenda.
Update from
the Community Sustainability Liaison
Traci Reitz provided the update. She has developed an
initial set of community outreach tools and is continuing to develop
relationships with key institutional partners in the community. She has developed a community events
calendar for the Community Sustainability Liaison website and is developing a
master calendar of community meetings. Traci Reitz is planning to engage
community groups, neighborhood organizations and key institutional stakeholders
once the tiered level of commitment subcommittee meets to develop the program
specifics.
Genevieve Bertone thanked Traci reitz for her work and recommended
Traci reitz follow-up first with the institutions and organizations that
initially endorsed the Sustainable City Plan.
Genevieve Bertone reinforced
the need to develop the tiered level of commitments so that there is a
strategic approach to the Community Sustainability Liaison’s outreach and
engagement efforts. Shannon Parry agreed to schedule a meeting with Genevieve Bertone, Dennis
Woods and Traci Reitz to develop the tiered level of
commitments in more detail.
Update on
the Sustainability Advisory Team
Shannon Parry provided the update. The Sustainability Advisory
Team has quarterly meetings and has not met since the last update. The next Sustainability Advisory Team meeting
will be in Winter 2007 and will focus on developing internal sustainability
goals for the city.
Discussion
and Recommendations Regarding Sustainable City Plan Goal Areas
Shannon Parry introduced the item. Jessica
Cusick provided information on the item. Staff from the
Environmental Programs Division and Community and Cultural Services are
considering a ninth goal area for the Sustainable City Plan. The new goal area,
Cultural Vitality, would include current best practices in sustainability and
reflect the leadership the city has shown in the Community and Cultural Arts
Master Plan. The inclusion of community
and cultural arts in the Sustainable City Plan would support and enhance the
impacts of Creative Capital and further integrate community cultural planning
and sustainable city planning.
Members of the Task Force expressed concern about
expanding the scope of the Sustainable City Plan and questioned the role of
culture vitality in natural resource sustainability. They also questioned the
appropriateness of a cultural vitality goal area within the current Sustainable
City Plan. After discussion, the Task
Force requested that a future presentation on this topic include a more
detailed presentation of the relationship between cultural vitality and sustainability
as well as proposed language that clearly illustrates the relevancy of cultural
vitality to the goals in the Sustainable City Plan.
Leonard Mitchell made the following Motion:
The Sustainable City Task Force recommends that staff
work with representatives of the Task Force to develop language that clearly
illustrates the relevancy of cultural vitality to the goals in the Sustainable
City Plan.
Dennis Woods seconded the motion which passed unanimously.
Discussion
and Recommendations Regarding Sustainable City Task Force Applicants
Shannon Parry introduced the item. There are currently two
vacancies on the Task Force. The previous Sustainable City Task Force
application was included in the Task Force packet for review. The Task Force
identified possible areas of expertise for future Task Force members. These
areas included climate change, labor, green technology, architecture, and
LEED. The Task Force also identified key
stakeholder groups that should be represented such as the Santa Monica Malibu
Unified School
District, the Chamber of Commerce and the
Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Task
Force created a subcommittee to review future Task Force applications. The
subcommittee includes Jennifer Wolch, Christina Erickson and Leonard Mitchell.
Additionally, the Task Force discussed attendance
requirements for existing Task Force members.
Genevieve Bertone requested
the development of an accountability mechanism for Task Force attendance. Jim Ries restated the importance of
participation and requested an annual reporting of attendance. After discussion, the Task Force requested
staff return with a detailed attendance policy as well as a set of criteria for
excusing absences.
Discussion
and Recommendations Regarding Sustainable City Plan Implementation Measures
The resource conservation subcommittee introduced the
item. They would like to invite specialists to present to the Task Force on
LEED EB for governmental organizations and the hospitality industry as well as
the potential for energy efficiency, assessments and benchmarking in municipal
government. Shannon
Parry agreed to invite specialists these areas to the November
meeting.
The resource conservation subcommittee introduced the
item. They are interested in developing a community carbon offset program. The Task Force discussed the importance of
valid carbon offsets and identified the opportunities and challenges to
providing local carbon offsets. The Task
Force agreed to agendize a discussion of valid local carbon offsets at a future
meeting. Shannon Parry agreed to
invite specialists in this area to inform the discussion.
Dennis Woods introduced the item He requested the Task Force
offer formal support for the 2nd and 4th Street Improvement Project
because it meets a number of goals established in the Sustainable City Plan.
Motion 1:
The Sustainable City Task Force supports the 2nd
and 4th Street Improvement Project because it meets a number of
goals established in the Sustainable City Plan.
Task Force members expressed reservation about
supporting the motion without having reviewed the project in detail. After discussion, the Task Force voted. The
vote was 3 in favor, 1 opposed and 3 abstaining.
Shannon Parry introduced the item. She provided an update on the
Strategy for a Sustainable Local Economy.
The RFP has been released and proposals will be received in early
November. The Task Force created a subcommittee to review the proposals. The
subcommittee includes Jennifer Wolch and Dennis Woods.
Liaison
Updates
Due to time constraints, the liaison updates were
postponed until the November meeting.
Public
Input on Non-Agendized Items
There was no public input on non-agendized items.
Comments
and Announcements
There were no additional comments or announcements.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00pm.
