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Posts tagged ‘mayor ralph becker’

Nov 7

Sustainable City Dashboard

DashboardScreenshot

Screenshot of the homepage of the Sustainable City Dashboard.

Today SLCgreen joined Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker to unveil a new and innovative tool to track our sustainability efforts and engage with the public.

The Sustainable City Dashboard website features over 100 different metrics from 12 core areas of livability: Air & Climate, Energy, Recycling, Transportation, Open Space, Water, Urban Forestry, Arts & Culture, Housing, Community Health & Safety, Food & Nutrition and Education.

“The Sustainable City Dashboard is an effort to openly engage with residents as we work toward our goals for the future,” said Mayor Becker. “The tool illuminates a broad and ambitious agenda to protect our resources, enhance our assets and establish a path toward greater resiliency and vitality for every aspect of our community.”

The dashboard also features a venue for residents to voice their ideas and concerns about all aspects of Salt Lake City life. The new format, facilitated through Open City Hall, provides the opportunity for two-way communication and enhanced idea sharing.

We hope that Salt Lake City residents will see the new dashboard as an opportunity to explore what their city is doing to improve our community, and become part of the process by sharing their own ideas on how we can reach our goals.

Start exploring the new Sustainable City Dashboard.  We can’t wait to hear your ideas!

Oct 23

The Challenge of the 100 Mile Meal

This evening, Salt Lake City Green and Mayor Ralph Becker will host the 100 Mile Meal: Food with a Salt Lake City Story. The meal represents a celebration of Salt Lake City’s local food, farms and economy, while illustrating a commitment to sustainable agriculture.

Did you know the average meal in the United States travels 1,500 miles from the farm to your plate? Food that travels long distances impacts:

  • Environment. A larger carbon footprint due to fuel consumption and polluting emissions.
  • Food Security. Limited accountability due to large processing and distribution chains leaves food more vulnerable to contamination.
  • Nutrition. Fruits and veggies are most nutritious (and delicious!) when they are fresh.
  • Economy. Local farms mean more local jobs and revenue.

The 100 Mile Meal features seasonal ingredients sourced from farms within 100 miles of Mayor Becker’s office. In this day and age, this was no easy feat.

Read more

Apr 11

New Clean Glass Recycling Facility Opens

Momentum

Today marked the opening of the a brand new clean glass recycling facility in Salt Lake City. The facility, operated by Momentum Recycling, will process glass waste from Salt Lake City and other cities in Utah and beyond.

“We are very excited to help Utah increase glass recycling,” says Justin Mills, Plant Manager at Momentum Recycling. “This facility is only the second of its kind in the US, and it results in very high quality cullet for our customers. This drives demand for more cullet, which in turn drives demand for post-consumer glass, and allows us to make glass recycling affordable for many cities and counties in Utah that have never had glass recycling.”

Salt Lake City’s partnership with Momentum Recycling has moved the city forward with glass recycling – a top priority for both Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and the City Council.

In November 2012, curbside glass recycling service was offered to roughly half of Salt Lake City households. The pilot project was an instant success, with thousands of households participating in the program. As of April 2013, the curbside program has expanded to offer a service to all city residents. Residents who would like to register for the voluntary program can do so at www.SLCGreen.com.

In attendance at today’s event were Salt Lake City Councilperson Jill Remington Love, Dan Velasquez with Salt Lake City Economic Development, members of the community and the entire Momentum Recycling staff. Every inch of the facility was on display, and a photo gallery from the event can be viewed on the SLCGreen Facebook page.

Salt Lake City Green was thrilled to be there to help celebrate this important step towards a more sustainable community!

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Mar 19

City Releases Sustainability Roadmap for 2015

Salt Lake City LogoFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


March 18, 2013
Contact: Kate Lohnes
801-535-7755

City Releases Sustainability Roadmap for 2015
SALT LAKE CITY – In a continued effort to enhance the long-term vitality of the City, Salt Lake City Green, the outreach arm of Salt Lake City’s Sustainability Division, has made strides to enhance community engagement by offering new resources and services to residents.

With the release of the Sustainable Salt Lake City – Plan 2015, Salt Lake City has created a living document that serves as a roadmap for how to enhance the sustainability, livability and resilience of the community.

The comprehensive plan outlines goals and strategies to achieve increased community sustainability, social justice and neighborhood and downtown vitality by the end of Mayor Ralph Becker’s second term in 2015.  City departments will track appropriate metrics to show progress towards accomplishing their goals.

“As we look ahead toward 2015, we envision continued progress to a new kind of urbanism that embraces accessibility, sustainability, diversity and culture,” said Mayor Ralph Becker. “Sustainable Salt Lake – Plan 2015 reflects a broad and ambitious agenda to protect our resources, enhance our assets and establish a path toward greater resiliency and vitality for every aspect of our community.”

In addition to the release of the sustainability plan, Salt Lake City Green has updgraded several of its outreach tools, including a re-launch of a comprehensive sustainability website (www.slcgreen.com), an active social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, and a new blog that highlights information about living sustainably in Salt Lake City.

Salt Lake City continues to attract national attention for its sustainability efforts. The most recent accolade was delivered in Bill Moyers’ “Top 12 Cities Leading the Way in Sustainability” list. The ranking listed the top 12 American cities with innovative sustainability initiatives. Salt Lake City was awarded the eighth spot on the list.

 

Salt Lake City Green website:www.slcgreen.com; Blog:www.slcgreen.wordpress.com

Facebook:www.facebook.com/saltlakecitygreen; Twitter: www.twitter.com/slcgreen;

Sustainable Salt Lake – Plan 2015:www.slcgov.com/slcgreen/sustainableslc2015

Feb 15

Mayors Take to the Hill for Clean Air

Mayors Clean Air Event

Yesterday, SLCGreen took a trip to the Utah State Capitol for a media event hosted by Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, Ogden City Mayor Mike Caldwell and the Salt Lake Chamber’s Ryan Evans. The purpose of the event was to voice their support for state and local actions to help improve air quality, and to present a list of recommendations that would result in less air pollution.

Among the actions recommended:

  • Initiate a call to action by individuals to lessen single occupant vehicle driving and cold starts (a large contributor to poor air quality).
  • Implement a UTA transit pass sponsorship program.
  • Share local/state level strategies for others to consider:
    • Education everyone on the fact that most emissions come from “cold starts.”
    • Provide discounted or free transit passes to employees.
    • Have a robust carpooling program, creating preferential parking for carpools.
    • Encourage employees to telework.
    • Pass parking user costs on to employees.
    • Establish no-idling ordinances and educational campaigns.
    • Allow for flexible schedules to avoid rush hour traffic.
  • Propose a series of legislative/regulatory actions to improve funding for transit and local transportation funding, reducing vehicle use and removing state barriers to more aggressive action:
    • Provide additional transit funding by implementing an increase in the local-option sales tax; or by increasing the gas tax.
    • Repeal state law prohibiting Utah from setting air quality standards that are higher than federal regulations.
    • Extend tax credits for clean fuel and electric vehicles.
    • Change state vehicle registration fee schedule to be based on vehicle emissions.
    • Adopt additional driving restrictions during bad air days.
  • Support regulatory actions due to the new PM2.5 standard:
    • New point and area source regulations.
    • Trip reduction mandates for companies with over 100 employees.

What are you thoughts on the recommendations listed above? What would you like to see from the Utah State Legislature this session?

Feb 12

Community Food Assessment

Community Garden Bed

How does the availability of wholesome and affordable food impact the health of our community? This is the question that Salt Lake City Green and the Mayor’s Food Policy Task Force took on when they began the Community Food Assessment.

The food assessment provides a basis for developing strategies to support local food enterprises, foster rural/urban food links (farm to plate) and expanding access to healthy and nutritious food.

“Gaining a firm understanding of Salt Lake City’s current food system is necessary to assist Salt Lake City and it’s Food Policy Task Force in creating strategic planning, policy and action steps to strengthen local urban agriculture,” states an excerpt from the report.

Food Snapshot Highlights:

  • From 1997 to 2007, Utah Certified Organic operations increased from 3 to 48.
  • Salt Lake City is home to more than 22 community, school and neighborhood gardens, providing fresh, healthy food for hundreds of residents.
  • Salt Lake City is home to eight farmers markets, providing a direct link between residents and the people growing their food, and providing more convenient, fresh, local food while growing our local food economy.
  • Approximately 20% of Salt Lake City’s residential waste is food scraps.

Stayed tuned for more in depth coverage of key findings from the report, including next steps.

In the meantime, read the draft report.

DRAFTCFAReport

Feb 12

Sustainable Salt Lake — Plan 2015

Over the last five years, Salt Lake City’s pursuit of success in sustainability, social justice, and neighborhood
and downtown vitality has helped shape the collective vision for how we live, work, recreate and
grow in Salt Lake City.

The Sustainable Salt Lake – Plan 2015 reflects a broad and ambitious agenda to protect our resources, enhance our assets, and establish a path toward greater resiliency and vitality for every aspect of our community.

The plan is an extension of Salt Lake Mayor Ralph Becker’s visionary Livability Agenda. The agenda was crafted to guide policies during Mayor Becker’s second term.

Learn more about how sustainability is an important part of the future of Salt Lake City.

Explore the Sustainable Salt Lake — Plan 2015.

Sustainable Salt Lake -- Plan 2015

Let us know what you think about Salt Lake City’s plans to increase the long term sustainability of our community.

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