Green ... with Envy

Beaten by Vegas? We wuz robbed.

by Bruce Schimmel

When Michael Nutter declared that Philadelphia would be the nation's greenest city, I don't think he meant green with envy.

"We're No. 1," a Seattle Post-Intelligencer blogger recently bragged, after the Emerald City topped the Natural Resources Defense Council's list of smarter cities. Philadelphia came in 20th — edged out by Las Vegas (smartercities.nrdc.org/rankings/large).

Beaten by Vegas? Feh. Me, I'm red with rage. We wuz robbed.

Almost to the day of NRDC's announcement, the mayor introduced Katherine Gajewski as the new head of the Office of Sustainability. To her credit, as an aide to Nutter's chief of staff, Gajewski has already done wonders with recycling and cleanup.

The Office of Sustainability's first director, Mark Alan Hughes, left city government in June, soon after presenting "Greenworks Philadelphia," an ambitious plan to achieve Nutter's green goal.

Hughes knew his plan was good. "Compared to what we're coming out with," Hughes boasted at the Academy of Natural Sciences, "the New York City plan blows."

It's true. "Greenworks" is kind of amazing — covering everything from energy, to environmental justice, to economic growth. Though the real issue for many is whether we're up to the task. Could our creaky bureaucracy limber up?

This was Hughes' first foray into government, which he described as "drinking from a fire hose." Given the city's general intransigence, for Hughes it was perhaps a hose connected to a fire engine on blocks.

"Greenworks" was unveiled in April. By mid-June, Hughes was gone, to a post as-yet unknown.

Meanwhile, other cities are collecting kudos, and not just from NRDC — which could translate into more green from Washington for them, and less for us.

In the NRDC ranking, after Seattle comes San Francisco, Portland, Oakland, San Jose, Austin, Sacramento, Boston, Denver and Chicago. New York finished 12th, Dallas 14th, and Columbus 15th.

NRDC ranked more than 600 cities on nine criteria. Philly scored low in air quality, energy production, standard of living and water quality. Given that our air sucks, our energy is imported and our people are poor, I can understand getting low grades.

But lacking in water quality and control? Try again. We're an undisputed leader. On the plus side, in NRDC's assessment, Philly excels in environmental standards, green buildings, green space, recycling and especially transportation. PhillyCarShare and our budding bike-share program got special mention.

Now, everyone knows that these beauty pageants — the ranking of cities — are often misinformed. But what's really galling here is that the NRDC report is essentially out-of-date. The report just released is based on a survey that closed Aug. 15, last year.

Fortunately, NRDC is still accepting info from city officials for next year's report until mid-August. And, for the first time, ordinary citizens are being asked to report in. (Hint-hint.)

As sustainability director, Hughes hit the road to tell our tale, despite this penchant for not wearing socks. As Gajewski said at her press conference, "I know I have some big sockless shoes to fill."

Let's help her. Philadelphia deserves a better rep. To be a citizen reporter for NRDC, go to smartercities.nrdc.org/smarter-cities.

(bruce@schimmel.com)