Whither "cleaner, greener" Baltimore?
Will City Hall keep pushing for a "cleaner, greener" and more sustainable Baltimore now that Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is mayor?
Those had been priorities for the departed Sheila Dixon, who among other things pushed through one-and-one recycling, expanded bicycle lanes and shepherded the development of a sustainability plan for the city.
Rawlings-Blake already has signaled that she's got different watchwords for the city under her mayoralty - "better, safer, stronger." And she's indicated she plans to focus on public safety, education and economic development.
In a recent wide-ranging interview with the editorial board of The Baltimore Sun before becoming mayor, Rawlings-Blake didn't seem inclined to make a wholesale departure from the policies and initiatives of her disgraced predecessor, but indicated she might put her own emphasis and stamp on them.
When asked if she might be planning to change any of Dixon's policies, particularly the "cleaner and greener" initiative, Rawlings-Blake replied; "These are values that you know most Baltimoreans share. You can package it differently ... but we care about crime, we care about grime, we care about jobs, we care about educating our kids. And that's my focus."
Specifically, on the controversial shift to one-and-one recycling in the city, Rawlings-Blake pledged to review it to improve it and fix any problems that have cropped up. But she said she didn't plan to halt it. "I know there's an increase in recycling," she said. " and that is very encouraging to me. I'm certainly committed to making this work. We certainly can't go backwards. You know, we just don't have the money, and it doesn't make sense to go backwards.."
Even so, environmentalists are nervously watching for signals of how much political capital the new mayor will invest in continuing the push to green Baltimore.
Early tests of Rawlings-Blake's green-ness are already on the horizon. One is the adoption of green building regulations and standards to carry out the law passed in 2007 that advocates say is one of the most progressive in the nation. Some developers, though, are warning of "unintended consequences" and trying to get more "flexiblity" written in to the rules. Dixon had been prepared to push them through, but Rawlings-Blake seems in no hurry. And one of her transition leaders, Don Fry of the business-oriented Greater Baltimore Committee, has been a vocal critic of the green building law.
Another test may come in the form of a bill put in by Councilman James B. Kraft and others to ban the use of plastic bags in supermarkets and other retail outlets. The council is scheduled to hold a hearing on the measure Feb. 16. City Council balked at levying a fee on the use of plastic bags - now it's being asked to ban them entirely, as San Francisco has done.
A proposed ban is likely to irk some, maybe a lot of folks who aren't in the habit of bringing their own re-usable bags for taking away merchandise they've bought. But the city has a major trash problem, and it's going to come under growing pressure from the state to clean up the tons of debris getting into the harbor every month. Plastic bags are among the most common items in the refuse routinely tossed in streets and gutters, and one of the most difficult to clean up or recycle. What position do you think the new mayor should take?
(Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton Ferron)
Comments
ban the plastic bag
Posted by: kurt | February 5, 2010 8:29 PM
I try my best to remember to take my bags with me when I go shopping, though sometimes I just forget and end up using the store's bags.
Posted by: Amanda | February 8, 2010 5:48 AM
Take one look at the creek bed of the lower Gwynns Falls Trail and you will see why banning plastic bags is imperative.
Posted by: jmots3 | February 8, 2010 9:06 AM
I ride my Montague folding bike here in Baltimore, and would love to see expanded bike lanes. Baltimore is a great city for biking, but it could use room for improvement for the all-year-round bicycle commuters.
Posted by: Matthew | February 8, 2010 5:46 PM
Ban the plastic bag!
Posted by: Pedro | February 8, 2010 6:09 PM
ban the plastic bag! we have enough grocery stores in Baltimore City. If they won't come to a jurisdiction with high taxes, high shrinkage and unusual regulations then that is their problem.
Posted by: telecommutenow | February 12, 2010 12:01 PM
Plastic bag banning = surplus dog crap in Patterson Park.
In reality, it will just be a $0.25 tax on everyone that doesn't walk around with a bag.
Besides, I see as many empty coke bottles and doritos bags in the gutters. Let's just ban plastic all together!
Morons
Posted by: Kenwood Tiger | February 22, 2010 7:52 PM