2007-07-21 Unconference Schedule - The City Government Could Do

From Unconference

1 The City Government Could Do ___

The City Government Could Do ___

Summary

The primary role for the city should be making a value statement about sustainability and then visibly doing the things to honor that position.

What could City government do and how should they fit in to addressing current and future concerns regarding the imperative of sustainability in Bloomington? There should be an explicit value statement chartered by citizens (and perhaps city officials). The values expressed in this statement should reflect Bloomington community members and it was suggested that the drafting of this statement could be done in a participatory session (perhaps at city hall, during a BCOS meeting, or again at the public library). Additionally, there is a public comment period for citizen input at the parks board meeting that always goes underutilized. Significant efforts should be undertaken to attract “certain kind of businesses” to Bloomington that reflect green/sustainable practices (i.e. in building construction and production/consumption). In general, building codes need to reflect a concern for sustainability in terms of (i) offering incentives as well as requiring use of local materials to produce heat and electricity.

The government needs to play a strong role in achieving immediate localization of necessities, specifically by adopting a lead by example philosophy. For instance, all city buildings should be held to high green standards as a way to encourage best practices. Also, there are already sustainable actions underway headed up by local community members that should be rewarded. Current notable projects include the movement toward Green Roofs to produce food and the subsequent contribution of these food production to the kitchen incubator project, which collectively cut energy usage and provide wholesome food to those in need. With growing national interest in local food production, Bloomington’s community gardens initiatives need to be expanded. A number of benefits can result from such projects, particularly by cutting down on the need to mow excessively on public land by converting wide patches of grass to garden plots. This is already underway and initial efforts have been successful. Michael Simmons (an unconference attendee) is head of the community gardens in the department of Parks & Rec and is interested in helping advance this area of urban agriculture in particular. From past efforts, such as lawn naturalization, sustained local citizen interest has caused policy to change via defacto recognition. A potential city to look toward as a model example is Victoria/BC , Canada.

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