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Home Resource Center In the News Home Greenbelt Alliance in the News |
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Greenbelt Alliance In the News
March 21, 2008 'City isn't green without green housing Michele Beasley and Beth Mezias Last October, the City Council signed the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement, joining the Sierra Club's "Cool Cities" campaign. Being a Cool City means Mountain View has made a commitment to help stop global warming. It also means Mountain View residents should push their city to do all it can to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. There are many ways to tackle global warming. These include green building policies, installing LED lights, and moving to hybrid vehicle fleets. These are all good steps to take. But one step is more fundamental, more powerful, and absolutely critical: building cities in a greener way. This doesn't just mean using recycled materials. It means making it easy for people to get around without having to drive. The single largest contributor to California's greenhouse gas emissions is transportation. Over the last several decades, sprawling patterns of development have put jobs and homes far apart, and made us dependent on our cars. Here in Mountain View, the number of jobs has grown, but the supply of affordable homes has fallen far behind. We are now dealing with the social, economic and environmental consequences: traffic, unaffordable homes and greenhouse gas pollution. We have to change. Car dependence no longer makes sense in a world whose climate is warming. Mountain View residents who care about climate change need to stand up and demand that their city truly build greener. Mountain View already has plenty of examples of sustainable development, with an attractive downtown and compact neighborhoods near public transit. But recently, Mountain View's leaders have made decisions that will make the city less sustainable, not more. In the past year, the City Council considered a moratorium on all development. It reduced the number of homes that could be built at the Mayfield Mall site. Now it is trying to decide whether to undo a zoning ordinance that allows more homes to be built in the city. These decisions all mean fewer homes. Meanwhile, companies such as Google are hoping to expand. By worsening this imbalance, Mountain View is effectively saying that building homes is some other city's problem. That makes no sense, and it sure is not green. The result will be more cars on the road – especially on Highway 101 – and more greenhouse gas pollution. It will mean more traffic, longer commutes for everyone, and fewer homes that young people, seniors and local workers can afford. There is a better way to grow. Mountain View should encourage the creation of more vibrant, compact neighborhoods close to jobs, Caltrain and Castro Street. This will be good for people, good for the environment and good for business. The City Council should be leading the way on this, not lagging behind. It is time for residents to hold their leaders to their pledge to fight global warming. Now let's see how green, and how cool, Mountain View can be. Michele Beasley is South Bay field representative for the Greenbelt Alliance. Beth Mezias is on the Sierra Club Global Warming and Energy Committee and the Mountain View Sustainability Task Force, and is a Mountain View Cool Cities Team Leader. ### |
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