Mayor Sam Adams repeatedly pointed to Portland’s culture of sustainability in his State of the City Address to the City Club today:
With great firms here like Iberdrola Renewables, Vestas, Glumac, Benson and Solarworld, we are emerging world leader in sustainable industries and clean technology practices in all industries. There isn’t any reason why Portland can’t become the nation’s new hub for clean technology – a means to create electricity and fuels with a smaller environmental footprint. And we should be exporting all these goods and services all around the globe.
Clean Energy Works, the ReVOLT headquarters, and streetcars are three examples of our new Economic Development Strategy in action.
Adams showcased Clean Energy Works, Portland’s “first-in-the-nation” program for home energy retrofits, financed through a person’s utility bill, pointing out that Senator Merkley has proposed legislation to take the program national.
Adams recently returned from Washington, DC where one of his tasks was lobbying for the Oregon Sustainability Center.
The Oregon Sustainability Center will be the largest ecologically “living” building on Earth. The governor and I, along with higher education, a scrappy group of non-profits, the Portland Development Commission, and our ever-resourceful federal delegation, are pushing to build this Center on the campus of Portland State University.
Much of Adams speech centered on the economy where Adams announced a new Sustainable Development Fund:
Today, through smart use of federal stimulus resources, we’re announcing the formation of the Sustainable Development Fund. The Sustainable Development Fund is a best-in-the-nation green financing fund with up to $33 million in resources, which will help bring Clean Energy Works to our commercial and industrial sectors.
He didn’t shy away from Portland’s new 20 year bicycle plan and it’s $600 million price tag:
The same goes for our brand new bicycle plan, which elevates our aspirations to one in four trips in Portland to be made on bicycle. It’s the most ambitious, most comprehensive plan of its kind in the country. By building it out, we will be on par with the great bike cities of Northern Europe.
There’s been some chatter out there about cost, and that’s fine.
But folks, here’s the bottom line: we can’t afford not to build it. Think about the cost of any given trip made on bicycle versus private automobile. There’s no such thing as a pothole caused by bikes. No noise and no emissions.
Even if you never plan to set foot on a bicycle, you benefit tremendously. Fewer vehicles, less congestion, reduced pollution.
Read the complete speech here.
