spidey
06-22-2007, 07:06 PM
I saw on Channel 4 that JCCI released their latest study today. Here are the recommendations from the report:
Recommendations are the committee’s specific suggestions for change, based on the findings and conclusions.
Everything Jacksonville residents enjoy about Northeast Florida—its livability, natural environment, and good air quality—is endangered with uncontrolled growth in population and energy use. Without visionary leadership and the dynamic participation of the citizenry, Jacksonville, with the projected doubling of the population of Northeast Florida by 2030, could become another Atlanta. Northeast Florida needs to protect its future, and there are roles for every segment of society—the government, business, and private individuals. The Recommendations of this study are largely directed at governmental entities. However, to help shape the future of the region, every citizen—as consumer, employee, business person, parent—has an important role to play in becoming informed about the health risks of air pollution and in reducing air pollution. Using less energy and driving fewer miles produces less polluting air emissions. Individual and political action can create common ground to reduce air pollution and provide for a sustainable future.
1. The Mayor of Jacksonville should appoint a Sustainability Officer to coordinate efforts to establish goals, objectives, and targets for air quality improvement and long-range sustainability plans. The Sustainability Officer should engage the universities, businesses, government entities, environmental groups, and the general public and should lead the effort to:
• explore the model of Cool Cities and the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement and its objectives to
develop and adopt local feasible goals for reducing greenhouse gases;
• create a plan to address climate change impacts and greenhouse gases in Duval County incorporating goals and measurable outcomes;
• provide a model for citizens, by having energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) installed in all city facilities and providing a responsible CFL disposal program;
• strengthen the Environmental Protection Board’s role in educating the general public, identifying environmental problems, and enforcing compliance within Jacksonville’s long-range sustainability
plans; and
• engage the city’s various Citizens Planning and Advisory Committees (CPAC) and neighborhood associations in developing air pollution, health, and energy conservation awareness.
2. The Jacksonville City Council should revise the city’s building codes to incorporate Green Building Standards to increase energy efficiency. It should also encourage the installation of Energy Star compliant
appliances and equipment, following standards of the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) and U. S. Green Building Coalition’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
3. The City of Jacksonville and all the various Authorities, Jacksonville Transportation Authority, and Duval County Public Schools and its transportation contractors should increase the percentage of their
fleet of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles to reduce mobile emissions and improve air quality and to help establish in the city an infrastructure for alternative fuels that citizens can access.
4. JEA should continue to lead community education efforts on energy conservation. For example, JEA should:
• expand its education programs that provide consumer-friendly information and advance its initiatives on energy conservation programs that take into consideration family income;
• initiate a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb distribution program—that includes a plan for proper CFL disposal—and publicize its success; and
• assist the City of Jacksonville and the various Authorities to improve how their websites highlight energy conservation information and initiatives.
5. In order to control greenhouse gas and other emissions, JEA, as the largest municipally-owned utility in Florida, should continue to implement their expressed purpose—to improve the quality of life in the
communities they serve by
• restructuring electric rates to encourage conservation of energy;
•increasing the percentage of local energy production from renewable sources; and
•exploring alternative technologies—such as biomass, solid waste and nuclear power production, and carbon sequestration.
6. The City of Jacksonville’s Environmental Quality Division should evaluate increasing air quality monitoring sites, focusing on “hot spots,” and modeling and recommending limits on pollution causing activities.
These efforts should establish goals that go beyond compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
7. The Florida Department of Health and Duval County Health Department should increase public health studies in air quality “hot spots” to better understand the relationship between local air pollutants and health effects. Together they should increase their public awareness campaigns about the health effects of air pollutants.
8. To encourage greater development and use of mass transit, JTA should:
•be authorized and assigned control of public downtown off-street parking;
•work to end all subsidies for downtown public parking and move toward market rates;
•lower rates for parking for high occupancy vehicles (carpools);
•work with the Metropolitan Planning Organization to advertise and promote vanpooling and carpooling throughout Jacksonville, including suburban office areas;
•advocate for a sufficiently complete public transit system and consider a light rail system to encourage and accommodate more ridership;
•develop a new dedicated source of revenue to be funneled into mass transit;
•convert existing parking structures and parking lots into commercial, residential, and office space; and
•offer incentives to businesses to provide alternatives to the use of single occupant vehicles.
9. The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, as well as all the other Chambers of Commerce, and the City of Jacksonville—as models to businesses—should encourage and offer incentives to employees to use
mass transit and offer further alternatives to single occupant vehicles such as vanpools and carpools.
10. To reduce vehicle emissions from excessive and unnecessary idling in traffic, the City of Jacksonville should follow the example of other successful cities employing Intelligent Transportation System technology.
11. In the interest of the community, the Jacksonville Port Authority should lead a partnership of city and state officials, JTA, Metropolitan Planning Organization, individual shipping companies, and CSX Transportation, Florida East Coast Railway, and Norfolk Southern Railway companies to cooperate in increasing rail shipment and decreasing shipment by trucks from new and existing ports to conserve energy, decrease mobile emissions, and relieve traffic congestion in the port area.
12. As recommended in JCCI’s 2000 Improving Regional Cooperation and 2001 Growth Management Revisited reports, the Florida Legislature should establish a Northeast Florida Regional Transportation Authority (or
expand the scope of the JTA throughout the region) and authorize appropriate, broadbased regional funding mechanisms to create and implement regional transportation plans. The Northeast Florida Regional
Transportation Authority should thoroughly explore the achievability of all manner of mass transit including light rail, commuter rail, and water-borne transportation systems.
13. The Florida Legislature should empower the Northeast Florida Regional Council with authority to coordinate and enforce regional planning including transportation, land use, and the natural environment. The
Legislature should provide the Northeast Florida Regional Council with a dedicated source of revenue for sufficient, broad-based resources and staffing to perform these additional functions effectively.
14. The United States Congress should adopt improved Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to reduce mobile emissions from passenger cars and light trucks.
http://jcci.org/e3%20study/air%20quality/airquality2007.pdf
Recommendations are the committee’s specific suggestions for change, based on the findings and conclusions.
Everything Jacksonville residents enjoy about Northeast Florida—its livability, natural environment, and good air quality—is endangered with uncontrolled growth in population and energy use. Without visionary leadership and the dynamic participation of the citizenry, Jacksonville, with the projected doubling of the population of Northeast Florida by 2030, could become another Atlanta. Northeast Florida needs to protect its future, and there are roles for every segment of society—the government, business, and private individuals. The Recommendations of this study are largely directed at governmental entities. However, to help shape the future of the region, every citizen—as consumer, employee, business person, parent—has an important role to play in becoming informed about the health risks of air pollution and in reducing air pollution. Using less energy and driving fewer miles produces less polluting air emissions. Individual and political action can create common ground to reduce air pollution and provide for a sustainable future.
1. The Mayor of Jacksonville should appoint a Sustainability Officer to coordinate efforts to establish goals, objectives, and targets for air quality improvement and long-range sustainability plans. The Sustainability Officer should engage the universities, businesses, government entities, environmental groups, and the general public and should lead the effort to:
• explore the model of Cool Cities and the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement and its objectives to
develop and adopt local feasible goals for reducing greenhouse gases;
• create a plan to address climate change impacts and greenhouse gases in Duval County incorporating goals and measurable outcomes;
• provide a model for citizens, by having energy efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) installed in all city facilities and providing a responsible CFL disposal program;
• strengthen the Environmental Protection Board’s role in educating the general public, identifying environmental problems, and enforcing compliance within Jacksonville’s long-range sustainability
plans; and
• engage the city’s various Citizens Planning and Advisory Committees (CPAC) and neighborhood associations in developing air pollution, health, and energy conservation awareness.
2. The Jacksonville City Council should revise the city’s building codes to incorporate Green Building Standards to increase energy efficiency. It should also encourage the installation of Energy Star compliant
appliances and equipment, following standards of the Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) and U. S. Green Building Coalition’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
3. The City of Jacksonville and all the various Authorities, Jacksonville Transportation Authority, and Duval County Public Schools and its transportation contractors should increase the percentage of their
fleet of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles to reduce mobile emissions and improve air quality and to help establish in the city an infrastructure for alternative fuels that citizens can access.
4. JEA should continue to lead community education efforts on energy conservation. For example, JEA should:
• expand its education programs that provide consumer-friendly information and advance its initiatives on energy conservation programs that take into consideration family income;
• initiate a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb distribution program—that includes a plan for proper CFL disposal—and publicize its success; and
• assist the City of Jacksonville and the various Authorities to improve how their websites highlight energy conservation information and initiatives.
5. In order to control greenhouse gas and other emissions, JEA, as the largest municipally-owned utility in Florida, should continue to implement their expressed purpose—to improve the quality of life in the
communities they serve by
• restructuring electric rates to encourage conservation of energy;
•increasing the percentage of local energy production from renewable sources; and
•exploring alternative technologies—such as biomass, solid waste and nuclear power production, and carbon sequestration.
6. The City of Jacksonville’s Environmental Quality Division should evaluate increasing air quality monitoring sites, focusing on “hot spots,” and modeling and recommending limits on pollution causing activities.
These efforts should establish goals that go beyond compliance with National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
7. The Florida Department of Health and Duval County Health Department should increase public health studies in air quality “hot spots” to better understand the relationship between local air pollutants and health effects. Together they should increase their public awareness campaigns about the health effects of air pollutants.
8. To encourage greater development and use of mass transit, JTA should:
•be authorized and assigned control of public downtown off-street parking;
•work to end all subsidies for downtown public parking and move toward market rates;
•lower rates for parking for high occupancy vehicles (carpools);
•work with the Metropolitan Planning Organization to advertise and promote vanpooling and carpooling throughout Jacksonville, including suburban office areas;
•advocate for a sufficiently complete public transit system and consider a light rail system to encourage and accommodate more ridership;
•develop a new dedicated source of revenue to be funneled into mass transit;
•convert existing parking structures and parking lots into commercial, residential, and office space; and
•offer incentives to businesses to provide alternatives to the use of single occupant vehicles.
9. The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce, as well as all the other Chambers of Commerce, and the City of Jacksonville—as models to businesses—should encourage and offer incentives to employees to use
mass transit and offer further alternatives to single occupant vehicles such as vanpools and carpools.
10. To reduce vehicle emissions from excessive and unnecessary idling in traffic, the City of Jacksonville should follow the example of other successful cities employing Intelligent Transportation System technology.
11. In the interest of the community, the Jacksonville Port Authority should lead a partnership of city and state officials, JTA, Metropolitan Planning Organization, individual shipping companies, and CSX Transportation, Florida East Coast Railway, and Norfolk Southern Railway companies to cooperate in increasing rail shipment and decreasing shipment by trucks from new and existing ports to conserve energy, decrease mobile emissions, and relieve traffic congestion in the port area.
12. As recommended in JCCI’s 2000 Improving Regional Cooperation and 2001 Growth Management Revisited reports, the Florida Legislature should establish a Northeast Florida Regional Transportation Authority (or
expand the scope of the JTA throughout the region) and authorize appropriate, broadbased regional funding mechanisms to create and implement regional transportation plans. The Northeast Florida Regional
Transportation Authority should thoroughly explore the achievability of all manner of mass transit including light rail, commuter rail, and water-borne transportation systems.
13. The Florida Legislature should empower the Northeast Florida Regional Council with authority to coordinate and enforce regional planning including transportation, land use, and the natural environment. The
Legislature should provide the Northeast Florida Regional Council with a dedicated source of revenue for sufficient, broad-based resources and staffing to perform these additional functions effectively.
14. The United States Congress should adopt improved Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to reduce mobile emissions from passenger cars and light trucks.
http://jcci.org/e3%20study/air%20quality/airquality2007.pdf