On Nov 4: Make Philly's Mayor’s Office of Sustainability Permanent

This Election Day – Tuesday, November 4 – the fate of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability is in the hands of Philadelphia voters. Earlier this year, the Philadelphia City Council passed charter change legislation to bring to the question of the department’s permanent status to a general election ballot vote.  A “yes” vote on ballot question 1 this Tuesday will make the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability a permanent fixture in city government. 

Need a little help making your decision? Consider this – since its inception in 2008, the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability has achieved the following under the umbrella of its ambitious Greenworks agenda:

• Brought in $41 million in outside grants 
• Increased the amount of alternative energy as a percentage of our electricity use from 2.5 percent to 14.8 percent
• Diverted 73 percent of waste from landfills, up from 53 percent
• Greened 323 acres of land to help manage stormwater
• Added 142 new acres of park and open space and more than 16 new miles of trails 
• Increased the number of markets, gardens, and farms from 230 to 340
• Planted 100,000 new trees

The continuation of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability is just the first step in bringing the many, many great initiatives that are under way across the finish line. 

The Next Great City coalition is proud of the tremendous progress we've made toward creating cleaner, safer, and healthier Philadelphia neighborhoods over the past seven years. The Mayor’s Office of Sustainability has played a critical role in implementing and shaping our vision for what Philadelphia can and will be. The importance of a strong ally in city government cannot be underestimated.

It’s up to all of us to decide what Philadelphia's future will look like. Voting “yes” on ballot question 1 is a critical step in the right direction.   

Katie Bartolotta is PennFuture’s Philadelphia outreach coordinator and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.

Go green, get green $$

Philadelphia is following up the success of the first two years of its citywide benchmarking program by encouraging buildings to participate in the Energy Reduction Race, a competition to cut down on building energy use. 

Any commercial building that is over 50,000 square feet that has been benchmarked this year is invited to participate. The competition challenges all participating buildings to reduce their building’s energy consumption by 5 percent between October 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015. As part of the competition, buildings also receive free building operator training. 

Within the group of participants, three buildings will receive an award of $5,000 based on the following factors: greatest total energy reduction, greatest energy reduction by square footage, and greatest increase in ENERGY STAR score. 

Even if you aren’t directly participating in this competition, its impact is extremely important both locally and globally. Reducing energy usage is a key component of mitigating climate change locally given that building energy use accounts for more than 60 percent of Philadelphia’s greenhouse gas emissions according to the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability. 

For those tuned into the Next Great City coalition, you may remember that disclosing energy costs to property buyers was one of our 2011 recommendations. Benchmarking legislation brought this recommendation to fruition in 2012, resulting in reductions in Philadelphia’s building energy usage. The Energy Reduction Race is an exciting way to continue this progress by encouraging buildings to meet achievable goals and compete over a worthwhile aim. 

Next Great City is rooted in the idea that we can always be a greener, more innovative city and it’s clear that Philadelphia is up to the challenge.  

Katie Bartolotta is PennFuture’s Philadelphia outreach coordinator. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.

On the ballot: Making Philly's sustainability sustainable

Over 130 acres of new park space. 100,000 new trees planted since 2008. Miles of new trails and bike lanes in every corner of city. A city reconnecting to its waterfront. An increase in alternative energy use from 2 percent to almost 14 percent. A recycling rate that has quadrupled. A new, sustainable zoning code. A world class plan to manage storm water with more green, and less gray. A more walkable, bikable, livable Philadelphia. 

All of this progress would have been unimaginable without the Mayor's Office of Sustainability (MOS). MOS has worked tirelessly across departments and citywide to advance the goals outlined in Greenworks, the City's sustainability plan. 

Through PennFuture's Next Great City coalition, we are proud to have helped chart the path toward a more vibrant, healthy, sustainable city. Our coalition members -- which include faith, labor, civic and environmental groups -- have worked closely with the Mayor's Office of Sustainability and have experienced first hand the value in having a partner and advocate in city government. 

Mayor Michael Nutter created the office in 2008 -- but it is not a permanent office and could be eliminated by a future mayor. Philadelphia has made tremendous progress over the past six years but there is clearly so much more to do. 

That's why several City Council members are trying to make MOS a permanent fixture of city government. They are sponsoring charter change legislation that would incorporate a question onto November's general election ballot that would ask voters if the office should be made permanent. 

(The answer is a resounding YES.)

A committee hearing on the charter change legislation will take place this coming Monday, April 28 in Council chambers (located on the 4th floor, Room 400 of City Hall). 

Please come out and show your support for this vital step in making Philly's sustainability truly sustainable. 

4/28/14 Update: The bill was voted out of committee during the hearing, and is expected to be considered by the full Council within two weeks. 


Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's director of outreach and is based in Philadelphia. He tweets @RexBainbridge.

Philly building owners get temporary reprieve on benchmarking reporting due to government shutdown

The city of Philadelphia announced on Friday that it is extending its first energy benchmarking reporting deadline by almost a month to November 25. It had been previously scheduled for October 31. 

Because of the government shutdown, the tool used to submit the mandated reports -- EPA's Portfolio Manager -- was offline for 18 days, necessitating an extension, according to city officials. 

So for all you building owners and managers out there, think of this as a snow day on the day of a big test. You now have extra time to prepare! (Okay, so the snow day was not just a day -- it was 16. And it cost $24 billion in lost economic output, but we're trying to make lemonade out of some pretty sour lemons.)

The city will be announcing open office hours to assist with benchmarking in the coming days. If you have any questions, you can email the Mayor's Office of Sustainability at benchmarkinghelp@phila.gov.

PennFuture worked as part of a coalition to advocate for benchmarking legislation in Pennsylvania's largest city. In 2012, Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed legislation requiring all commercial buildings 50,000 sq. ft. or greater to annually benchmark and report energy and water use to the City of Philadelphia. 

The law promotes transparency in the commercial real estate market, drives improved energy performance, and promotes savings for building owners and tenants. 

PennFuture is working to bring the momentum from Philadelphia's benchmarking success to smaller cities in the state. It has put together a webinar for municipal policymakers to help them take the first steps toward a benchmarking regulation. It will be available at PennFuture.org on October 24.