Paul Bass File Photo
Executive parking space: Steve Winter on day one with his work wheels.
New Haven’s new climate czar woke up at 4 a.m. Monday thinking about the planet — then pedaled two wheels through icy slush to help his city save it and create jobs in the process.
Steve Winter, 34, said he woke up that early because he was so “thrilled” to begin his job as New Haven government’s first director of climate and sustainability.
Winter will earn $85,000 a year running an office with a to-be-hired staffer charged with overseeing the city’s move to more electric buildings and vehicles, working with renters and property owners to retrofit their homes with cheaper and cleaner energy, and linking up with other city departments and nonprofits working on green infrastructure like bike lanes.
Five million dollars in federal pandemic-relief money (through ARPA, or the American Rescue Plan Act) will fund the office through 2026. Mayor Justin Elicker said he hopes the city will keep funding the office beyond that as a permanent part of government.
At a festive City Hall press conference alongside activists who pushed for the creation of the new climate office, Elicker (pictured above) proclaimed Winter “the perfect fit for this job. … He knows the city. He knows environmental issues. He knows the community.” Winter is stepping down as Ward 21 alder to take the job. He co-founded and helped run a clean-energy organization called Catalyst Cooperative. The coop’s mission: “to help more people bring data and analysis to the fight for clean energy and a stable climate.”
The new climate czar job requires someone who “wakes up every single Monday thinking out our challenges with climate change,” Elicker said.
Indeed, Winter said he woke up early with that very focus Monday. He then avoided adding to New Haven’s pollution or poking holes in the ozone layer by riding a Jamis bicycle, which he bought used in 2012, to a prime parking space in the rack outside his new City Hall work location. The topic of his getting a city car for the job never even came up.
Paul Bass photo
At the press conference, Winter (pictured) said one of his top priorities will be accessing the “avalanche” of federal money about to course through state governments to create green jobs in town. That’s part of a broader challenge for local governments across the U.S. the next two years: obtaining and actually spending the money Congress approved in a 2021 infrastructure law (with $65 billion earmarked for clean energy) and a separate 2022 “inflation reduction” act (which includes $369 billion for “Energy Security and Climate Change”) chock full of potential support for just the kind of building changes and energy switches Winter is charged with pursuing.
Based on the success City Engineer Giovanni Zinn has had snagging $160 million in federal dollars for coastal resilience efforts by the harbor, Winter has the potential to turn his office into a job-creator and a revenue source for city government while pursuing the goal New Haven set in 2019 of “ending community-wide greenhouse gas emissions” by the end of 2030.
Winter said he envisions finding money to fund “lots of energy efficiency jobs, building technicians … folks who know and assess and install heat pumps for heating and cooling.”
Elicker, who also has been known to bike to work, added that he envisions the city working to convince landlords to undergo energy audits and make sure of money for green upgrades, in part to help ease the high cost of living for renters.
Elicker was asked about concerns raised by some Independent commenters about spending money to create a new position instead of having existing employees absorb the work. He responded that the city is understaffed, that employees are stretched thin “being asked to do more with less” every day.
“Most days I’m scared” about the environment, Kai Addae, chair of the New Haven Climate Emergency Task Force, said of Winter’s appointment at the press conference. “We know this appointment will result in a healthier, safer New Haven,” the city’s Environmental Advisory Council stated in a release.
Patricia Joseph of the New Haven Climate Movement gave Winter the flyer pictured at left, which she hopes he will hang in his office as a reminder that “the work doesn’t end here” with his appointment.
“This has been a lifelong passion of mine,” Winter said of his work promoting green energy. “This climate crisis is real. It’s here now.”
While he has no plans to drive a city gas guzzler to work, Winter did recently purchase a Rad Mission e‑bike — in case his new job requires some longer trips over more challenging terrain.
Above: Monday's City Hall press conference.
I’ll believe that New Haven takes climate change seriously, and isn’t just paying lip service to it, when there is a single protected bike lane through the downtown area.
Virtually every other North American city now has these, but New Haven still doesn’t. It could be done overnight with a few concrete barriers and some paint.
Bike lanes in outlying neighborhoods like Edgewood or East Rock are nice, but those won’t make much of a difference when it comes to shifting trip choices.