Annapolis Capital Punishment

WARNING--this is a long posting. Read it all or simply click here and see the subject of the article without my comments and judge for yourself at (warning--big file): http://annapolis.gov/upload/images/government/depts/environ/sustainability.pdf

In many respects our city is a leader in environmental protection, management and awareness and I do credit much of this to our current Mayor Ellen Moyer. However, I also find that a lot of her pronouncements are little more than puffery. She has taken strides in some areas and ignored others but she has always made environmental consciousness raising a priority--and that's important. But we have to separate the hype from the action and therefore I bring to your attention a 77-page report, a slide show of color photos and brief captions that was presented by Department of Neighborhood and Environmental Protection (DNEP) Director Michael Malinoff at a conference.

Chief of Environmental Programs Frank Biba answered some of my questions about the slide show. "The point of the slide show is to demonstrate how a municipality can be organized to address environmental issues, including those that aren't limited to municipal boundaries. ...local governments acting collectively can and do make a difference, particularly on issues like global warming where there is little or no state or national action."

"The slide show is only on the web page as far as I know. It was put together over a period of weeks primarily by Rob Savidge, our Sustainability Coordinator which is a contractual position funded by a grant. Mike and I contributed as well but I couldn't put a dollar figure on the effort. Just business as usual."

"...As a recovering English major, I have a problem with the increased use of the term sustainability because "sustain" means to "maintain", whereas the intent of the term is to indicate that you are going to exceed current standards, not maintain the status quo. Just my beef. Mike was presenting at an ICLEI conference and was asked to address sustainability from a local perspective. Mike didn't just read each slide so I'm sure that the presentation had more to it than what is shown."

"For legislative references I refer you to the city's web page, and look up R-38-06, O-27-07 and O-56-07. Collectively they will indicate what the city is doing/intends to do to lower energy use."

"There is a photo of the Woodwind in the presentation but our staff retreat was on the CBF skipjack. We paid the going rate for a half day sail and an environmental education program by CBF staff. I can't remember what the cost was. I do remember that it was a stellar September day with a good breeze. We do a staff retreat each year. It's a team building thing, common in the private sector but from my experience rare in government. We've also had retreats at the Quiet Waters pavilion and the CBF conference room."

Now back to the slide show. The first 32 pages are a lot of fluff, but at page 33 we see:


33 That’s why we decided to take action in Annapolis and focus on organizing for sustainability (NOTE: City employees looking at chart on boat. By slide 33 of 37 they actually talk about taking action)

34 Through staff retreats (Note: with a photos of a schooner under sail)

35 Utilizing Team Building Activities (Note: Shows some people-employees?-handing lines on the boat presumably building teamwork)

Then it starts to show what might actually be real work, such as reducing energy use but shows a photos of windmills off the coast somewhere...not Annapolis...(Note: Why not a photo from Annapolis of something relevant?)

40 Launching a green building initiative (NOTE: Showing the Chesapeake Bay Fdn's building in Bay RIDGE--not in Annapolis because they were unable to make it happen in the city due to a variety of concerns--again why not a city picture?)

41 Improving the Urban Tree Canopy and the recycling rate (NOTE: compares Annapolis to Annapolis to eight other cities, all of which are major cities, except for Burlington, VT and Frederick, MD...??? How do you compare these two different things in one bar graph? What is a recycling rate?)

Two slides to show us this can be accomplished through Legislation (The State House) and organization (NOTE: A photo of the sailboat show. The sailboat show?)

44 An aerial photo of Annapolis with the mayor smiling and the organization chart of some city officials....(NOTE:I am not making this up. Go figure)

Then some 15 color slides to show us what some city departments do, which is all fine and nice but we're talking sustainability so is sediment and erosion control and wastewater pretreatment something new, different or sustainable? No. Those are longstanding traditional role of government. Then comes the mayor's silly Cloud Nine clean air program, you know, the one where she used our tax dollars to create a clean air curriculum for the schools...which are not even city operated.

67 Huh?

75 That one is a doozie!

It looks to me like nothing more than a dazzling Powerpoint presentation that looks nice but....tastes great, less filling. Was it an efficient use of our public resources? What was the outcome of the staff retreat on the boat?

See it for yourself at (warning--big file): http://annapolis.gov/upload/images/government/depts/environ/sustainability.pdf

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