Making Cincinnati the Greenest City in America: A 10 Point Plan
Sustainability and environmental advocacy is not just about a better planet. It’s about jobs, health and social/economic justice. Jobs because being “green” attracts and retains employers/employees; health because Cincinnati has some of the worst air quality, which leads to health issues, and social/economic justice because these issues disproportionately impact lower income communities particularly communities of color.
In Cincinnati, the great news is that we already have a really robust plan with the Green Cincinnati Plan — a super detailed set of goals and recommendations that was last updated in 2018. And we are by many measures ranked highly in “green” standards with one of the highest overall tree canopy coverage of major cities and the largest municipal solar farm being built; so having a vision for becoming “The Greenest City in America” is maybe not as far fetched as it might first appear.
On City Council, my first priority would be to ensure all 88 recommendations in the Green Cincinnati Plan have specific actions behind them and plans are funded. Recommendations are great, but follow-thru is imperative. I would ask for a quarterly report to City Council on progress against each of the goals and recommendations with a Green/Yellow/Red scorecard. I would also advocate for new special Council committee on the Environment and Sustainability to ensure progress continues to be made.
In addition to 100% supporting the Green Cincinnati Plan, Green Umbrella’s District 2030 plan, and the Tri-State Trails Active Transportation Platforms, I would take it further in a few areas:
1. Push to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2040 (vs 2050 goal in Green Cincinnati Plan). We are in a climate crisis. The 2050 goal is great, but we need to push it with a minimum goal of 2040 and stretch goal of 2035. But first, let’s make sure that we have specific by-year plans to reduce emissions and are hitting those. Goals without funding are a pipe dream.
Transportation:
2. Bike & walking/mobility friendly infrastructure: Yes we need to build out the CROWN in the next 3 years, but also add 100 miles of protected bike infrastructure, 2,000 bike parking spaces by 2024 and enable safer walking/mobility for those with disabilities in our 52 neighborhoods. We should use ARP funding for this as well as other matching funding. Other cities are moving aggressively in this direction e.g. Paris is adding>400 miles of bike infrastructure & 10,000 bike parking spaces next 5 years (similar size city in terms of geography). We need protected bike lanes to connect to the CROWN in our neighborhoods so cycling is an option for commuting as well as errands for everyone especially in lower income neighborhoods. This is an issue of equitable opportunity — not requiring spending $5,000/year on car vs spending $100 on a bike — and increasing safety on our roads given cars slow down with protected bike lanes. It is also an issue of attracting & retaining young people to our city; look no further at one of the top issues that Amazon laid out for their H2Q process…bike infrastructure & easily accessible neighborhoods were top of the list.
3. eBikes: At the same time that bike infrastructure is built out, execute a pilot to subsidize eBike purchases for City of Cincinnati employees e.g. employee pays $50 and the city pays the rest. Measure the impact on health and other metrics for this voluntary pilot program. Explore a similar pilot with major corporate partners. France just implemented a “buy back” program where they would buy your car for an eBike. This does not go that far, but in a hilly city, the more we can get residents to use eBikes once we have the right bike lane/trail infrastructure in place the better it is for their health and the environment given transportation accounts for 31% of carbon emissions in Cincinnati & this is a significant savings for people with lower incomes.
Food:
4. Accelerate community gardens with a goal of having 10% of local consumption of fruits/vegetables coming from community gardens and urban agriculture by 2035 especially for communities without access to fresh fruits/vegetables and work with Cincinnati Public Schools to set a target of increasing the % of local fruits/vegetables purchased for Cincinnati Public Schools from 40% to 50% by 2035. For perspective, during WWII, 40% of local consumption of fruits/vegetables came from community gardens so a 10% goal is not unreasonable. And with an estimated 25% of Cincinnatians living in ‘food deserts’ this is an issue of social/economic justice as well as health.
5. Cut food/yard waste in half by 2030 (it is 31% of trash today) via composting initiatives and exploring ways to incentivize disposing of food waste differently (including donating to local pantries before it is waste). This could involve separate compost bins for residents similar to how we have separate recycle bins or other innovative programs.
Natural Systems:
6. Eliminate canopy differences by neighborhoods (that results in 10 degree difference in temperatures between neighborhoods) and achieve 50% canopy coverage throughout the city making Cincinnati truly a city in a park. Implement a green “Welcome to Cincinnati” (local tree canopy coverage to all the highway entry points to the city); this is not about just the image of our city reflecting who we are, but also of offsetting pollution from highways. Additionally, advocate with State of Ohio to replant all trees from all highway construction e.g. along I-75. This is an issue of social and environmental justice and dollars & cents (results in higher energy costs in some of the lowest income neighborhoods).
7. Partner with county, state and federal to clean up Mill Creek & Ohio River to make them major water recreation centers for boating, canoeing, kayaking, etc. This is a partnership issue because it involves the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) with the Mill Creek since the combined sewage overflow (CSOs) currently goes into the Mill Creek, and state and federal governments since the Ohio River crosses states. A partnership to address the 199 CSOs must be a starting point to address as clean-up cannot happen with sewage flowing into our waterways. On the Ohio River, a great initiative in this space is the Ohio River Recreation Trail — an initiative that the City should embrace to encourage recreational activity on the Ohio River. Ultimately locally this looks like supporting docks along the water for easy entry and rental facilities such that they are waterways filled with water activity. Imagine the Great Outdoors Week & Paddlefest (which are fantastic events) on a smaller scale year-round.
Built Environment/Energy:
8. Change zoning regulations to encourage denser new, more affordable housing and require bicycle parking for new apartment/multi-family buildings. We know that denser communities are more environmental friendly. Instead of requiring parking minimums we should require building bike parking, which is also more efficient than car parking (10–20 bikes can typically can fit in 1 car space).
9. Further stepchange solar usage in Cincinnati via encouraging Cincinnati Public Schools to implement solar panels in all schools by 2026, and exploring other unique partnerships to further develop solar farms even in the city e.g. along Mill Creek and other open areas for City of Cincinnati buildings. The city has made tremendous progress in this area with the largest solar municipal farm being built, a project that created 1,500 temporary jobs and a few hundred permanent high paying jobs. This is just pushing ourselves more. This is not just about building a greener city; it’s about jobs.
10. Switch 100% of City of Cincinnati to LED (not just street lights) by 2025 & through help from federal funding eliminate 100% of lead piping in Cincinnati by 2030. On LED lights, unique partnerships should be explored such as in cities where they have an agreement with LED providers to have them replace all lighting if the city has a long-term contract with them. On lead pipes, this is a priority for the Biden Administration so close partnership with their investments needs to be prioritized. No one should be drinking water with lead in it in 2021.
One of the things that should go across all of these plans is continuing to target not only bringing in ‘clean’ jobs and investment as well as training our workforce on those next generation jobs, but encouraging BigCos (e.g. P&G, Kroger, etc) in Cincinnati to spend the investments they are making around sustainability e.g. packaging locally. A Greener Cincinnati can and should be synonymous with growing and building high paying jobs.
The current Green Cincinnati Plan is an incredibly robust set of goals and recommendations. I believe it is the job of City Council not just to advocate for ensuring that we fund these priorities, but also to push ourselves toward advance these goals even further. This is not only about making Cincinnati the Greenest City in America for the sake of a nice-sounded goal, but about creating jobs, improving health and addressing issues of social/economic justice. Let’s start building toward that!
