Addressing Climate Change, Making Mount Vernon Green

Democratic Nominee Shawyn Patterson Howard reveals Green Initiatives for Mount Vernon

(September 20th, 2019) Today, we’ve seen hundreds of thousands of young people take to the streets around the globe to protest against climate change. With hurricanes roaring, melting ice caps, rising rivers, sweltering summers, there is no doubt that climate change is real. That’s why I’m laying out my Green City Challenge to ensure that Mount Vernon takes the necessary steps to:

Reduce our carbon footprint
Become more energy efficient
Embrace recycling and refuse
Eliminate waste
Enforce green procurement processes

To turn Mount Vernon into a Green City, we must involve the entire community in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. I envision a city that focuses on protecting our natural parkland, cleaning up our waterways and identifying places for green space. Stakeholders deserve a clean, sustainable and environmentally friendly Mount Vernon. It’s not just the right thing to do for the planet, it does wonders for our public health, makes us more desirable to business and enhances the overall quality of life for many.

As recent news reports about the burning of the Amazon Rain forest have made clear, trees are the lungs of our planet. That’s why one of the first things I look to accomplish as Mayor is working with the City Council to finally complete the tree ordinance and as mayor sign it into law. Community stakeholders such as Henry May have put in tireless hours working on crafting an ordinance that provides guidelines for city tree care and management. This ordinance has languished for several years, and I believe that there is a consensus to pass legislation that addresses our tree management, but also creates community health and beautiful aesthetics to define Mount Vernon’s rich neighborhoods. As my primary challenger Clyde Isley said, Let’s Make Mount Vernon Tree City USA again!

If you look around the country, you will see cities are already embracing Green City initiatives. For example, Rochester, NY created a series of community-based teams and projects that provide sustainable, green and community-friendly programs to their residents. I believe Mount Vernon can do the same, which is why I intend to implement the following Green City Initiatives for Mount Vernon:

Proposed Green Initiative

1. Pass the Tree Ordinance and create a Green Team dedicated to maintaining trees located on city streets and parks. These initiatives will help generate jobs, boost our economic development and enhance public health, creating a beautiful city that retains its suburban aesthetic.
2. Project Green Fort: This initiative targets and converts abandoned/vacant residential areas into green space like parks and community gardens. Mount Vernon is facing a crisis of zombie properties. Through a properly vetted process, we may be able to return some of these spaces to valuable green space in high density areas.
3. Flower City Mount Vernon: Flowers provide a beautiful and healthy component to the city. I plan to create a community development program that challenges residents to improve their health and embrace nature through fun activities and contests. As I’ve walked through this city and knocked on doors, I am amazed by the beautiful gardens that our homeowners and community members have maintained. By creating a challenge to residents, we can continue to beautify our city while creating a more neighborly and engaging process for the community.
4. Sunny Roofs: If you are a homeowner in Mount Vernon and try to put solar panels on your roof, you will find it to be an arduous process, discouraging many people from attempting it. . Our Sunny Roof Project will help streamline the use of solar power in our city by improving the process for homeowners and businesses, making it easier for them to get these panels on their property.
5. Clean Waterways Project: This is straightforward. We must clean our waterways and fix our sewers. I am prepared to address our various violations, restore our bond and repair the sewers to ensure that our two rivers, the Hutchinson River and Bronx River, remain clean and free of pollution. The project will be expensive and require us to go out to bond, but it is imperative that we get started now, the problem will not be solved overnight.
6. Bike Sharing: Congestion in Mount Vernon is serious. What used to be a ten minute cross town trip from Lincoln Ave to Sandford now takes upwards of 20 minutes on certain days. That’s why I look forward to engaging with the various bike sharing companies to make Mount Vernon not only walkable, but bikeable. We will also examine other ways to remove cars from our thoroughfares. Through a Comprehensive Plan, we can add bike lanes and potentially redirect or close streets to car traffic to create plazas in an effort to boost commercial activity.
7. Clean Sweep MV: We want to create a program that educates residents on keeping their neighborhoods clean, and we will also enforce quality of life penalties for those who litter. In addition, we will organize a volunteer program, either through city department or a not-for-profit organization, to help collect litter and debris from our streets that might be out of reach for our DPW workers.

Green Procurement Policy

From water conservation to waste management to energy efficient, these are all ways that successful green procurement policy can help save Mount Vernon money and improve our environment. I am looking to implement a green procurement policy that follows best practices that means:

Communicating the financial case for sustainable procurement.

Identifying high priority procurement opportunities such as commodity contracts, service agreements and capital projects

Establishing clear and effective standards and procedures

Designing and coordinating outreach program to inform the community, employees and vendors and to track and report on our activities and the impact it can have on the community.

Identifying end-of-life options for equipment and infrastructure

Adding alternative fuel vehicles in the city fleet

Before a green procurement program can be implemented, current purchasing practices and policies must be reviewed and assessed. A life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts of products or services is required and a set of environmental criteria against which purchase and contract decisions are made has to be developed. The outcome? A regularly reviewed green procurement policy that is integrated into other organizational plans, programs, policies. Our green policy will include date-stamped priorities and targets, the assignment of responsibilities and accountability and a communication and promotion plan.

I acknowledge that there will be challenges with implementing these green initiatives, from lack of readily available environmentally friendly products, expensive alternatives, lack of organization support, supportive legislation, bonding and much more. That’s why my main priority throughout my first year will be to finish the comprehensive plan and begin to retool City Hall into a first-rate establishment with processes, standards and an organizational structure that works for Mount Vernon. We look forward to working collaboratively and trusting the community to be engaged along the way. That’s why over the next few weeks and months we will be convening town halls to find ways to better craft and implement these policies. As Mayor, our municipal government will work in your best interest.

If climate change, green initiatives and sustainable policy are an interest to you, please contact us. If you wish to get involved please email us at SPHforMayor@ShawynPattersonHoward.com or call/text us at 914–800–7010 and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at SPHForMayor. I look forward to moving together with you all. Let’s turn Mount Vernon into a Green City model for all to replicate.