HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/3/2019 Item 10, Pinard
Wilbanks, Megan
From:Peg Pinard <pinardmat@aol.com>
Sent:Monday,
To:E-mail Council Website; Pease, Andy; Christianson, Carlyn; Gomez,
Aaron; Harmon, Heidi; Stewart, Erica
Cc:Sandy Rowley; Peter Johnson
Subject:Request for Continuance for Item # 10
Dear Council Members,
It was a year ago this Thanksgiving holiday weekend that Trump tried to hide his
massive abandonments of our country’s commitments to stopping any further global
warming. He banked on people being so involved with their families and the holidays
that publicity over what he was doing would be virtually non-existent. I am hoping that
this city council isn’t using the same tactic this Thanksgiving holiday to minimize and
bury discussion about what they have declared as their #1 goal for our city.
The timing of the council’s discussions on climate change for this Tuesday, a time when
families are still reeling from all their activities, seems to be doing just that. Our city’s
commitment had been to “Open and Honest Government" - and this timing of such an
important issue seems to have been set to minimize awareness and make our residents’
involvement absolutely minimal - if even practically non-existent.
If this council is going to honor real public involvement then it must continue this
item.
As for the eyes of the world being upon you, this kind of rhetoric is self-
delusional. When it comes to what this city is doing about global warming, there are
numerous instances where this city should be ashamed. A partial list would include
allowing heat-absorbing dark buildings, approving a whole subdivision whose roofs
aren’t even oriented for solar panel access, approving the cutting down of hundreds of
carbon sequestering trees for developments. More responsible approaches were
specifically under this council’s purview but were totally ignored. Let’s just hope that
other communities aren’t copying San Luis Obispo’s current policies towards climate
change!
I’d like to add one more important climate change consideration that this council seems
to be ignoring. This city carefully accounts for vehicle miles traveled when it comes to
people going to and from work from nearby communities. And, while it is good to work
on issues like carpooling, alternate transportation and public transportation
improvements, it seems like the council is avoiding a huge "elephant in the room”.
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The “elephant in the room” is the ever increasing number of long trips that are actively
encouraged and designed to come from far out of the area for pure pleasure - for
tourism. Having identified that transportation is the #1 cause of green house gas
emissions, it seems very odd and purposeful that this segment of carbon generators is
being totally ignored and omitted in your staff report. The word “tourism” does not
appear anywhere in the 73 page staff report and the word “visitor” appears only once in
relation to the “new parking garages”.
The city’s advertising for tourism encourages people to come from far away —and they
do. They are encouraged to come from all over the U.S. and the world by
airplanes. Planes emit, on the average, "a little over 53 pounds of carbon dioxide per
mile” into the earth’s upper atmosphere making it especially harmful to the
environment. Thousands of tourists also come in their cars, trucks and RV’s.
The calculations of these impacts are easily gathered as that data is available from all
the hotels and motels where people have to register. This information was also
available at the county years ago. That very important information is totally missing in
your staff report. It appears that the city is placing the entire impact of carbon from
transportation sources on the local residents, most of whom are not using their cars not
for purely recreation activities but for work/school related.
This is an important discussion item for the city residents you represent. The real
question here is: Are you serious about honoring the city’s constitution for “early and
meaningful” notice and involvement on this issue or are you purposefully timing your
major city goal so as to exclude them?
My hope is that you are serious about involving city residents and that you will continue
this item. It is one of the most important issue of our time.
Sincerely,
Peg Pinard
Former Mayor, City of San Luis Obispo and
Chairperson, San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors
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