Mayor Nutter's Sustainable Brain

Citizens are aching to help. Lots of them.

by Bruce Schimmel

As Philadelphia's first director of sustainability, Mark Alan Hughes' mandate is to catch up with the future before the past overtakes us.

An ex-UPenn academic, Hughes is a charming, frumpy guy, known to omit both tie and socks at public events. This is his first stint in government, and after six months, says Hughes, his biggest challenge is the pace.

"Serving in government is like drinking from a fire hose," he says. "There's very little time to think and learn and read. And far too many demands to act and decide, to move forward." (Listen to our entire interview at schimmel.com/hughes_081126.mp3 or below.)

Hughes joined the Nutter campaign in 2006, serving as its cerebellum. He essentially authored the sustainability plan with which the candidate clobbered his rivals.

When Nutter declared that Philly would "reclaim its position as America's most sustainable community," Hughes was the brains behind the boast. Now he's got the job of making promises come true — which, he says, is also different from civilian life.

"After a career of talking from the outside, of holding the Magic Policy Wand," Hughes admits he paid "very little attention to implementation."

Still, if Hughes' initial outline is any guide, Nutter has done well in year one. Some highlights:

Single-stream recycling is everywhere, and will soon be available weekly. Outdated plans to rebuild South Street Bridge were retooled to favor walkers and bicyclists. Energy efficiency is making its way into city contracts and building codes. And City Hall is finally wresting control of Fairmount Park from its current brain-dead bureaucracy.

Still, as city services have been threatened by financial realities, Hughes has taken hits. After Nutter threatened to close public libraries, Councilman Bill Green countered that Hughes' own office should be shuttered instead.

This, I think, is a bad move. Because without a vision for a sustainable future, even more city services will shut down. So, for now, Hughes is the man with the plan.

Which brings us another observation about life as the city's sustainable brain. Hughes says people are fairly aching to help. Lots of them.

"Hundreds, maybe thousands," says Hughes, of "enormously thoughtful, forward-thinking and committed people" have buttonholed him with suggestions.

Hughes will need that help, he says, to create a new blueprint for sustainability. The "Phlan," as he calls it, will be released in January for initial public comment. (Disclosure: My wife's firm, Maskar Design, was among several asked to bid on designing the document.)

Topping his agenda is energy. But even as Hughes ballyhoos the planned solar farm at the Naval Yard, the future is galloping ahead. The new facility will generate only enough energy to power fewer than 130 homes.

So, Hughes is being inundated with ideas to expand this solar farm, possibly to a rooftop near you. Under one scheme, South Philly homeowners would put up solar panels, and be well-paid for the power they generate.

Hughes is currently jawboning PECO to change its tariffs to finance homegrown energy generation, and also to encourage conservation. He suggests, for instance, that PECO could cut you a check when you buy a new, efficient refrigerator.

To harvest these and other ideas, Hughes has made more than 90 speeches in the past six months — all extemporaneous, he admits, which is not only "more fun," but necessary. "The whole sustainability framework is predicated on peoples' input." To help organize this torrent of suggestions, a Web site is planned for early 2009.

Which brings us to Hughes' final observation, which is sobering for someone whose portfolio is the future. Hughes says he can barely keep up with all the help he's getting. "I'm leading from behind," he admits. Which means to envision the future, "you have to invest in ways for people to help you."

(bruce@schimmel.com)