A team of Santa Cruz environmentalists looked at the city’s Climate Action Plan, shrugged and arrived at a common conclusion: it could be better. Micah Posner of People Power, Transition Santa Cruz’s Michael Levy and Virginia Johnson of Ecology Action have released a 16-point list of suggested improvements to the plan, which serves as a blueprint for how the city will get its greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels by 2020.
Ten of the suggested proposals focus on transportation and ways to reduce around-town trips, which the city expects to cut by 30 percent, according to the CAP. “That goal is really ambitious,” says Levy, “and we didn’t see how that was going to be achieved.” The proposals to strengthen the city’s plan, which is still a draft, include passenger train service, diverting fees to pay for bike projects and encouraging pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. Mayor Ryan Coonerty, who is “very confident” the city will meet its goal, says the CAP will go through another set of public hearings before it can be finalized in the coming months.
One factor driving Levy and Posner what they consider the lax implementation of another big-thinking document, the 2003 Master Transportation Plan, which aimed to reduce traffic flows. “It was never adopted as policy and it’s kind of sitting on the shelf. We don’t want that to happen to the Climate Action Plan,” says Levy. Coonerty disputes that narrative, even though much of the 2003 report focuses on the need for more buses, trains and bike lanes. “The Master Transportation Plan is sorta like the Bible. People read into it whatever they want to,” says Coonerty.
The new CAP proposals, officially unveiled on Earth Day, have won support from various community groups including Greenways to School and the Quaker Center. Santa Cruz County Treasurer Fred Keeley and Peter Beckmann, bakery owner and co-founder of Think Local First, have endorsed the suggestions as well.
