Thomas Breen pre-pandemic photo
NHCM organizer Kiana Flores (center).
The following letter was written by Co-Op High School senior Kiana Flores in collaboration with other New Haven Climate Movement organizers to Mayor Justin Elicker in advance of Thursday night’s public hearing on how to spend the city’s American Rescue Act federal aid.
Dear Mayor Elicker,
It’s clear the cascading impacts of climate change will present a greater and greater threat to the New Haven community in the coming years. To date, New Haven has not taken bold action on this unprecedented challenge, and we have continued to push our present-day climate debt onto others.
The Federal funds allocated to New Haven offer the opportunity to give the climate emergency the attention it deserves, while also allowing the City to take advantage of the significant benefits a clean energy future offers us.
We must:
• Do our part to cut out GHG emissions immediately to limit climate damage and help spur statewide action.
• Act because it’s the right thing to do for vulnerable communities in the region and globally.
• Recognize that our children’s well-being (survival?) depends on us taking strong action.
Understand that every action that reduces fossil fuel use has other positive benefits, and reduces other negative public health and economic impacts, and because of this, we will see a massive shift in energy use — but we need to accelerate it.
We list some important projects below and think the City (or other funded lead organization) has a critical role in hiring skilled staff capable of leading and coordinating local climate efforts that engage local businesses, organizations, and residents. In our experience, the limited City staff availability for climate projects has been a barrier to working with willing community partners.
We are suggesting investing $3 million per year in FYs 21 – 22, 22 – 23, 23 – 24 in greenhouse gas reduction projects. The benefits of this investment— healthier, quieter, more resilient, more efficient neighborhoods — will be a pivotal turning point for New Haven. These local efforts will also help New Haven attract other funds to move towards the scale of work needed for this crisis.
The failure of past leadership going back three decades has gotten us into a dangerous place with respect to runaway climate chaos. We have the opportunity with these new funds to finally take action.
We would like to meet to hear your thoughts and explore how better to respond to the climate emergency.
Sincerely,
NHCM
Proposed Climate Projects and Budget
Energy Efficiency Program: Help families and businesses tap into existing Energize CT and Green Bank resources. Offer family counseling — possibly funding groups like IHeartNewHaven — to help people navigate the system (connect with resources like I Heart My Home CT, LIHEAP, and CCHHP funds, or Operation Fuel). Help vulnerable families/seniors prepare for extreme weather and heat events. Develop energy efficiency policies that reduce family energy costs, including policies that push the largest property owners (Mandy, Pike, etc.) to make buildings more energy-efficient. $300,000 ($100,000 per year)
Co-benefits: Save families money; make homes more resilient; access state and other funds for New Haven improvements; make homes more healthy; create jobs, many funded by energy savings; long term reduction in New Haven funds leaving the community to buy fossil fuels.
Examples: ACEEE
Clean Energy Staff: To coordinate electrification and energy efficiency work in City buildings; promote policies to move businesses and organizations to clean energy and less energy use; to address challenges related to the electrification of buildings and transportation systems; promote clean energy installation in City in public and private spaces; support microgrid and transmission work. $300,000 ($100,000 per year)
Co-benefits: Lead by example; employ local businesses and workers; save funds long term.
City Building Energy Efficiency/Electrification/ Solar Installation/ Fleet Electrification: This investment — based on experiences of other communities — will save the City funds in energy and maintenance costs. Installing solar on City property will further help limit energy costs and carbon pollution: $3,000,000 ($1,000,000/year).
Co-benefits: Lead by example; employ local businesses and workers; save funds long term.
Green Jobs Staff: Staff to support workforce and business development to meet the growing need for energy efficiency remediation; worker training and job placement (weatherization fields (insulation, air sealing, home audits, window installs, etc)), make sure New Haveners have the capacity to get work that will be coming as the US accelerates climate/energy transition and new clean energy/electrification installations. $300,000 ($100,000 per year).
Street Redesign Staff: To lead the creation of Citywide bike network and safe street infrastructure; improve multimodal network, work with SCROG and neighboring towns. $300,000 ($100,000 per year).
Co-benefits: Reduce air pollution and noise; more affordable transportation options
Transportation Communications and Outreach: Staff/grants or public education on transportation alternatives, Safe Routes to Schools, goNewHavengo, working with CTrides and major employers to move away from SOVs. Work with Yale, SCSU, Gateway, Albertus, Chamber of Commerce, YNHH on coordinated efforts to allocate transportation resources. $300,000 ($100,000 per year).
Transportation Infrastructure: Funds for street modification projects to implement the Safe Routes For All Plan developed by the City (possibly some capital funds). $3,000,000 ( $1,000,000 per year).
Resilient Neighborhoods and Youth Employment: Funding for tree planting and greenspace work to reduce GHG, address heat and precipitation challenges. (work with URI, including summer youth employment). $1,500,000 ($500,000/year)
Neighborhood Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grants: To support small projects that engage residents and community/faith organizations in energy education and action, neighborhood resiliency, healthy transportation, greening projects. $150,000 ($50,000 per year).
Co-benefits: Engage local organizations in climate solutions
This is a good message.
Planting more trees in particular is something that should get much more funding. Right now the wealthier parts of New Haven have tons of trees because homeowners plant them there, and then some of the other parts of the cities have barely any, which is not a very equitable approach.
Also the city is missing a huge opportunity by not installing way more cycletracks downtown as quickly as possible. It shouldn't take years to install each one. If you look around at other cities you will see they have been installing hundreds of miles of protected bike lanes.
There are one or two cycletracks near downtown now, plus some nice ones going in in some of the outlying neighborhoods. But if you want them to work, you have to put them where people are most concentrated, like right along Church, Temple, Grove, Howe, and George. And they have to be continuous, not stopping and starting every couple blocks.