On March 16 through 18, 2007, I attended the annual Yosemite Conference for local government officials presented by the Local Government Commission. This year’s theme was Building Livable Communities: Moving the Smart Growth/Water Sustainability Agenda Forward.

Also attending from Richmond was Councilmember Jim Rogers. This is my AB 1234 report on that activity.

Click here for the full agenda.

Board of Directors Meeting, Friday, March 16, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

The LGC Board of Directors met for three hours on Friday, March 16. Two new members were welcomed, Jean Quan, President pro-tem of the Oakland City Council, and Maggie Houlihan, Councilmember, City of Encinitas.

The 2007 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference (January 2007 in Los Angeles) was reviewed. With an attendance of 1,500, it was the largest and perhaps best yet. Next year’s conference will be in Washington, DC in February 2008.

The LGC will be expanding its nearly 20-year old smart growth agenda to embrace the challenge of climate change.

Gary Fitzgerald of ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives - now known simply as Local Governments for Sustainability) discussed working with LGC on issues of local government and climate change. ICLEI s an international association of local governments and national and regional local government organizations that have made a commitment to sustainable development. More than 475 cities, towns, counties, and their associations worldwide comprise ICLEI's growing membership. ICLEI works with these and hundreds of other local governments through international performance-based, results-oriented campaigns and programs.

ICLEI provides provide technical consulting, training, and information services to build capacity, share knowledge, and support local government in the implementation of sustainable development at the local level. ICLEI’s basic premise is that locally designed initiatives can provide an effective and cost-efficient way to achieve local, national, and global sustainability objectives.

ICLEI was founded in 1990 as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives. The council was established when more than 200 local governments from 43 countries convened at our inaugural conference, the World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future, at the United Nations in New York

Pat Stoner provided an update of the Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition (LSEC), an association of California public entities formed to share information and resources to strengthen and leverage their communities' commitment to a sustainable energy future. That commitment is to manage today's energy uses and resources in ways that do not compromise the environment's capacity, or the community's ability to meet the needs of future generations.

Core strategies are to moderate energy demand through energy efficiency, increase renewable energy production, and improve energy security and reliability, while instilling environmental values that lead to community well-being.

Friday, March 16, 2007, Keynote Address

The speaker was John Geesman, who reminded us that the Local Government Commission was originally created by the California Energy Commission in the 1970s to involve local elected officials in energy conservation issues. He reminded us that most of the early initiatives for energy conservation came from local government and that the Local Government Commission was established as a way of providing a statewide policy so that business would not have to adapt to the policies of each local government. He said that “think globally, act locally,” is still a good strategy.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

John Shirey, Executive Director, California Redevelopment Association described what the CDA does, including providing information about redevelopment, representing redevelopment agencies in Sacramento and providing training and redevelopment opportunities. He noted that the CRA joined with the League of California Cities to lead in the defeat of Proposition 90 last year. He reviewed program for funding reinvestment in California’s aging infrastructure that are available to cities, particularly from the Proposition 1 bonds. For example, Proposition 1C has $125 million to fund, among other things, grade separation and railroad crossing safety improvements. The CRA encourages its members to do green building.

Tom Richmond, Principal, Tom Richman & Associates, is a landscape architect and expert in stormwater management. His presentation showed examples of streets, green roofs and parking lots that sustainably manage stormwater. Reach him at  654 Gilman St. Palo Alto, CA 94301,  650-462-8880,  tom@tomrichman.com,  http://www.tomrichman.com/

Rachel Dinno, Director, Government Relations (Western Region), Trust for Public Land, and Peggy Chiu, Western States Research Director, Trust for Public Land, discussed strategies for acquisition of open space.

Steve Kinsey, Marin County Supervisor, and Mary Jane Griego, Supervisor, Yuba County, presented the unique challenges of representing rural counties where preservation of economically viable farms and construction of environmentally sound levee systems are high priorities.

Kathy Long, Ventura County Supervisor, Brian Brennan, City of Ventura Councilman, Sue Hughes, Legislative Analyst, Ventura County, Rick Cole, City Manager, City of Ventura, John Proctor, City of Santa Paula and Neal Andrews, City of Ventura Councilman, discussed smart growth in Ventura County. Rick Cole’s presentation was particularly useful. Rick Cole has been City Manager of Ventura since 2004. He was recently honored by Governing Magazine as one of their nine "2006 Public Officials of the Year," the only City Manager in the nation to earn that distinction. Governing cited his "intense focus on the details that add up to a vital city." Cole has focused on four key priorities, the ABCS of Ventura government: Accountable government; Balanced budget, Civic Engagement and Smart Growth. Ventura has recently adopted a new general plan.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

The final session featured a trio of state government officials who focused on funding sources for programs and projects from Proposition 84 and Propositions 1B, 1C and 1E. The speakers included Dennis O’Conner, Principal Consultant, Senate Committee on Natural; Resources and Water, Lynn Jacobs, Director, California Department of Housing and Community Development and Peter Brand, Senior Project Manager, Coastal Conservancy. There are billons of dollars available to cities for a large variety of projects from these sources. Some of the money is already available and will be used to continue programs previously funded by earlier propositions. Others will require legislative action to create detailed spending plans.

Technical assistance for economically disadvantaged communities, which probably includes Richmond, is typically available. Examples of projects in Richmond that could be funded include parks, creek restoration, low income and homeless housing, transit oriented development and infill infrastructure projects and transportation infrastructure.