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Workshop Notes El Cerrito Climate Action Plan Workshop #2 Saturday, November 13, 2010, 10:00 p.m. El Cerrito City Hall (City Council Chambers) 10890 San Pablo Avenue Workshop Presenters: Melanie Mintz, Environmental Services Division Manager, City of El Cerrito Maria Sanders, Environmental Analyst, City of El Cerrito Ariel Ambruster, Facilitator, Center for Collaborative Policy 1. Meeting Overview and Participant Introductions Ariel Ambruster gave an overview of the meeting agenda and ground rules. Meeting participants introduced themselves and briefly discussed their interest in the Climate Action Plan. 2. Presentation on El Cerrito’s Climate Action Planning Process Maria Sanders presented information on El Cerrito’s Climate Action Plan (CAP), greenhouse gas emissions inventory, and land use/ transportation strategies to reduce vehicle miles travelled. She challenged participants to think about strategies that would create a 15% reduction in transportation emissions due to activities in El Cerrito. This would equal 1,000 less car miles per person per year, or just 19 miles per week per person. Please refer to CAPWorkshop#2.ppt for more on the contents of the presentation. 3. Land Use and Transportation Strategies Small Group Discussion Meeting participants were given a worksheet to fill out individually, soliciting their comments on the following questions and then asked to discuss their responses in small groups: What are the barriers to you personally being able to drive fewer miles? Are any of these barriers ones that the City of El Cerrito could help remove? If so, what could the City do to make it easier for you and/or other community members to use other transportation alternatives (e.g. biking, walking, transit)? Many “vehicle trip reduction” strategies will rely on voluntary participation by members of the community in order to be successful. What types of things could the City do to encourage greater participation by the community in the following activities? Commuting to work or school car-free walk, bike, or take public transit) or by carpool more often Walking and biking to do personal errands or go to recreational opportunities more often A number of possible policies, ordinances, programs, or projects that could help El Cerrito reduce its carbon footprint were discussed today. What additional ideas do you have for options the City could pursue? (Ideas that don’t necessarily affect transportation-related emissions are also welcome). 4. Group Reports and Large Group Discussion Participants reported back to the larger group on their small group discussions: i. Group 1: Main barrier is time and hills. Encourage bicycling with safer bike routes, like Bicycle Boulevards ---PAGE BREAK--- More bike racks on buses. A chair lift or something to get bikes and walkers up the hills Free shuttle like Emeryville Improve the Ohlone Greenway – make it more social with more points of activity, like coffee carts and more dog parks Incentivize bus travel for those who don’t know public transportation. A new rider starter-kit with maps and complementary tickets. More education: Empower people with the details that would help them reduce trips, like what would the results be if you boosted your car mpg by 10 extra miles. ii. Group 2: Time pressures and safety issues are the main barriers. There is no silver bullet to reducing car travel. The little things matter and build up into something significant. It’s like a bunch of silver bb’s. People are going to walk more if the way is interesting and safe. Create network of walkpools (like carpools) Ohlone Greenway not as pleasant a walk because BART is so noisy. Create a “Squeaky Wheel Coalition” to pressure BART to regrind their wheels. Del Norte BART Station area needs to be more safe in order to encourage walking in the north part of town. Sponsor a walking contest. Use credits, incentives. A treasure hunt. New homeowner welcome packet, including transit and energy efficiency information. Work with 511.org to publicize their programs. Clean fuels for corporate fleets like biodiesel school buses, garbage trucks Expose people to the different vehicle technologies out there with an alternative vehicle car share program. iii. Other Ideas People feel powerless and guilty about their driving habits. Help them figure out as broad a set of options so they can figure out what will work for them. Reducing vehicle miles should be the theme of the next Earth Day Incentives for higher fuel efficient cars, like a sales tax reduction Provide fueling infrastructure and parking spots for alternative fuel vehicles. How can City support carbon offsets? Set up a voluntary community offset fund. Issue a carbon reduction challenge. Go to civic groups to see if they are interested in doing a challenge. Maybe a friendly competition between groups, neighbors? 5. Wrap-UP & Next Steps Final workshop will cover Energy Efficiency Strategies in more depth. It will take place on Thursday, Dec 2, 7pm to 9 pm