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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019_06_10 Sustainability Collaborative Minutes Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative Meeting Notes,June 10, 2019 Attendees: Nancy Seligson, Steve Altieri,Jeffery King, Mitch Green, Frank Owens,Arlene Novich, Sue Odierna, Mark Kramer, Marc Karell, George Roniger, Karen Khor,June Wallach, Elizabeth Poyet,Todd Isberg, Karin Weisburgh, Diane Neff, Elana Mass,Jenny Geer, Denise Dunn, Steve Moser, Christiane Janssen, Chris Hofstedt, Peter Hofstedt, Interns Chelsea, Lily and Franco Minutes of May 14th meeting were accepted. Wasted Food Reduction Grant Karen K. reported to the group that the Town of Mamaroneck, in partnership with the Villages of Mamaroneck and Larchmont has been awarded the grant for Food Waste Prevention (now known as Wasted Food Reduction since that more accurately reflects the grant's purpose). Documents need to be uploaded to the DEC portal prior to August 30th. Steve/Connie are gathering documents from the appropriate agencies and Sue is uploading to the portal. Elana explained the two-prong approach to teaching how to prevent food waste:community outreach and school outreach. A consultant will be brought in to work with middle school students regarding reducing waste there. Beth added the emphasis is on prevention. She met one of the DEC grant reviewers at a local event who told her that we were one of 27 applicants but that we "hit it out of the park"because our focus was on prevention. Karen added that this grant process brought the issue of food waste to the forefront. Mobility/Complete Streets/Electric Vehicle (EV)Charging Stations Karin W. reported that the Town Board approved Traffic Committee recommendations of painting sharrows on the following Town roads;North Chatsworth Avenue, Rockingstone Avenue, Forest Avenue and Myrtle Boulevard. Mark K. suggested before painting sharrows, the Town checks with Con Edison to ensure they don't dig up/destroy roads after painting sharrows. Mitch asked for ideas on outreach strategy,several ideas suggested are noted below: • laminated posters at Farmers Market, Library, other locations? • digital map/video showing bikers along sharrow'ed roads--perhaps LMC-TV could create • blurbs in school newsletters in the fall • promoting prior to the "Walk to School Week"events(fall&spring) • Town having a "car free day," • letter to the Editor of the Journal News • press release • make use of NYSC video screen • email blast, robocalls • Nancy's e-newsletter • Bike event day of painting June said it would be helpful to have a calendar of all events at which the sharrows could be promoted. Jenny asked if the four sharrow'ed roads are the start of a bigger network of bike lanes/sharrows(yes, they are just the beginning)and so she felt, this bigger picture should be part of the story in the promotional pieces. Mitch mentioned that Michael Flynn's research showed that about 20%will bike no matter what and 20%will not bike no matter what,so it's the 60%we should be reaching out to. Mitch asked June the best way to do this and she relayed to the group the primary questions we need to be asking: 1 ■ What's our mission here? ■ Who are we trying to reach out to? ■ What are our key messages? Need to be tailored to specific groups ■ What does "success"look like?How many are biking? June added we need to use a personal, relatable approach to "speak"to residents about sharrows;she liked the case studies our bike consultant, Michal Flynn,sent out. (See link here for reminder on that) https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gI7zemifv xtc ujA,A jp F.v1. H 3f c. ..3.ccWa?d1=0 Also a concern for the Town is that residents will be surprised to see sharrows painted on their streets; they don't usually like having something painted on a street in front of their home,so this concern needs to be addressed as well. The question of when will sharrows be painted was asked. Steve A. said late summer. Also some suggested the Citibikes program. Steve A said he could follow up with New Rochelle City Manager on this. Steve A also reported on the EV Charging Stations that the bids came in last week. The contractors will start working in the next couple of weeks and the goal is to have them installed July/August. Nancy reported that the Town is participating in the "Green Your Commute"challenge in which municipalities and colleges compete to see who will have the most participation in the contest that emphasizes making better environmental choices when commuting to work. The goal is not to be a single passenger in a gas-guzzling car. Better alternatives are to bike, walk, use an electric vehicle, carpool to work, or use public transportation and do so as often as you like. Keep track on an app that also reports on the amount of carbon emissions you're using. Action Item: Bike subcommittee to meet and discuss strategy and event ideas Bike subcommittee to work with June on communications based on Mission,Audience, Key Messages, FAQs,Case Studies and opening up feedback channels Repair Café After last month's discussion on Repair Cafes, George R. invited Lindsey Taylor to give a presentation on her experiences running a Repair Café in Hastings-on-Hudson. Lindsey reported that it was very slow in recruiting volunteers but after a couple of months of soliciting,she said word got around and they ended up with 44 people willing to help for their first repair café this past April. She had reached out to Veteran Centers,Senior Centers and even got four volunteers from Consumer Reports. Lindsey explained the concept of volunteers(not usually professionals) working with/teaching those who bring in items for repair;not a drop-off but a way to share skill sets and also a way to save items from the trash and to promote community and volunteerism. People are encouraged to stay and learn from the fixer. Lindsey reported it was a big success with over 100 people attending the store to get fix-it help from the volunteers. They expect to have their next Repair Café in late fall. Nancy asked if any Collabs were interested in having a Repair Café here. Todd I. said he'd like to participate. Nancy and Steve agreed that the Senior Center would be a good location for a Repair Café. Sue was asked to re-send the Today Show video segment on Repair Café. Please click here to see the entertaining and sentimental video: youtu.be/e5xRDhgGJCA Action Item: Todd I. and George R.to discuss next steps 2 Sustainable Energy-Community Solar Frank O. reported that he is working with a developer and Sustainable Westchester to help communicate the specifics of the lengthy agreement to the residents. Reusable Bag Initiative(RBI) Nancy would like the Town Board to move forward on legislation especially since there is some concern that NY State will not complete the regulations, policies, procedures and detailed guidelines for implementation in time for the intended March 1 2020 Start Date. The Town Board now has to rewrite the NYS law to reflect the state's requirements in our local law. In our law, merchants would keep the 5 cents, rather than have to pay into an environmental fund. Nancy is hoping by the July 24th Town Board meeting,they can set a public hearing for August. However, as so many people are on vacation in August,they would probably have a second hearing in September. Sue reported that she had worked with Katherine and a print shop on the second order of 1,000 reusable bags;order was placed mid-May. Price quote was$1,660 for 1,000 bags to be paid for by a sponsor, former resident Svetlana Wasserman whose company logo SW Management was to appear on one side of the bag (with the winning student artwork on the other side). Unfortunately, order came in with student artwork on BOTH sides. We will keep (and use) this order of bags and are now awaiting the correct bags adorned with student artwork and company logo. Collab Todd I. of"Center for Green Building"has also offered to sponsor an order of bags with his company logo on one side and winning student artwork on the other side;details/pricing TBD. Action Item 1: Sue/Nancy to follow up prior to July 24th TB meeting to get RBI public hearing set for August(and possibly September also). Action Item 2: Sue to coordinate next order of reusable bags with Todd I.of"Center for Green Building"in Mamaroneck MHS Spring Internship Update Chelsea, Franco and Lily gave a progress report on their efforts: • Healthy Yards project:the interns contacted Mamaroneck Schools Director of Facilities,Steve Brugge, who reported that none of the six schools in Mam'k School District use pesticides, herbicides or fertilizer, and would therefore qualify as "Healthy Yards". Mitch suggested a rollout in the fall to communicate this to parents. Discussion followed that due to size of schools' "healthy yards,"best to purchase healthy yard banners rather than the little signs. Diane suggested we also speak to municipalities about putting signs/banners up. Nancy/Steve mentioned that Memorial Park doesn't use anything so that could be an appropriate first park. They also gathered content for future items to post to webpage(which should change monthly) • Recyclopedia: the interns updated this great resource for residents wanting to know how to dispose of practically anything by contacting businesses and non-profits for updated information. (Type in an item and check it out yourself here! https://Imsanitation.org/waste-wizard- recyclopedia) • Green Your Commute Challenge:Nancy gave the interns "ambassador"status and they spoke to all of the Town Center departments and visited the Highway Dept. to explain the Challenge. (Note: the interns ended their MHS internship program at the Town on Monday,June 17t". They worked with us and with each other wonderfully and we thank them for all of their work and wish them well!) 3 Action Item: Healthy Yard committee to determine next steps for schools, municipalities re: healthy yard communications and Healthy Yards Plaque Dedication Event Schedules The meeting was adjourned at 8PM. The next meeting is Tuesday,July 16, 2019, at the TOM Senior Center/VFW on the Boston Post Road 4