Big City Sustainability: Oakland
Oakland California is a patchwork quilt made from pieces of American culture, sewn together with the threads of prosperity. Oakland is rooted in cultural diversity, respect for the environment, and the pursuit of the “American Dream.” Oakland also has become a national symbol of the “inner city blues”, and its negative influence on big cities in the United States. Over the past decade, big business, cultural issues, and politics have been woven into Oakland’s thread of sustainability. Unfortunately, economic and racial injustices still seem to be a part of the fabric of the city.
Sustainable Oakland is the city’s official program for sustainability and was established by the city council in 1997. It is housed in the Environmental Services Division of the city’s Public Works department. The Sustainable Oakland program supports the city’s sustainability efforts by facilitating collaborative approaches for improving city sustainable performance. It also tracks, reports, and promotes Oakland’s sustainable progress. Oakland also has drafted a climate action plan to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions. The “City of Oakland Draft Energy and Climate Action Plan” was presented to the city council on March 1, 2011 for consideration. The plan has a 2020 goal to reduce municipal GHG emissions by 36% below 2005 levels, and solar energy is a key player in Oakland’s efforts to do this. Oakland resides in Alameda County, which has more solar power than any other county in the country. Oakland is also home to California’s largest corporate solar electric system. FedEx at Oakland Airport installed 5,700 photovoltaic modules on 81,000 square feet of roof ( almost 1 megawatt of electricity, enough to power 900 homes) which meets 80% of FedEx’s peak electricity needs. I particularly like the way the municipality and the corporation work in tandem to make a positive impact on the environment, and model sustainably responsible big business practices. Many big cities could use this system as a model to help them utilize municipal properties for corporate sustainability. It can potentially create healthier urban environments, and much needed economic and job development. Oakland also has many community outreach programs designed to help the residents reduce, reuse, and recycle. The city also has building codes (LEED certification), and residential and business incentives to motivate and regulate the public and private sectors regarding sustainable practices. On paper, Oakland is one of the most sustainably progressive cities in America, and in the past decade experienced a urban renaissance driven by former Mayor Jerry Brown. Like most powerful big city mayors, he has garnered praise and criticism for management of one of the country’s most diverse cities.
To say Jerry Brown is a born and bred career California politician would be an understatement. His father was Governor of California from 1959-1967, Jerry was Governor from 1975-1983 and in 2011 was sworn in for a third term in that office. He also was California Secretary of State from 1971-1975 and 2007-2011, and lost three presidential bids(‘76,’80,’92) and a senate race(‘82). When he announced he wanted to become mayor of Oakland, critics accused him of using the troubled city on the bay to resurrect his political career. Undaunted, Brown ran on a campaign of fixing the school system, lowering crime, and continuing the previous mayors city’s “10k” plan to bring 10,000 new residents to Oakland’s downtown areas. In 1999, Brown was elected mayor and set out accomplishing the goals. Mayor Brown’s success has proved to be good a mixed bag by all accounts. By his own regard, the efforts to improve the Oakland school system were “largely a bust.” The efforts to reduce crime did not go well either. During his tenure, Mayor Brown introduced almost a half a dozen crime initiatives, and for a while the crime rate in Oakland began to recede. During his final year in office however, the crime rate spiked an alarming 57%. Mayor Brown’s success mainly lies in his revitalization of Oakland’s downtown areas, the Port of Oakland and London Square most notably. He attracted over 12,000 new residents downtown and around 1 billion dollars in investment. Critics have said Brown’s revitalization of Oakland has left it with gentrified neighborhoods and threatens the cultural structure of the historically African American downtown. Although some African Americans have left the city for the more affluent suburbs, many are being forced out due to tax increases and “urban renewal”.
In spite of the chronic problems of race and equality that plague Oakland, it still has the building blocks that can make it one of the country’s model sustainable cities. The city is dense, culturally diverse, and has a progressive West Coast attitude. Oakland also has an infrastructure (BART, solar energy, etc.) and a big sister city across the bay that can help support its ongoing efforts to achieve social equality and environmental sustainability.
References:
City of Oakland “ City of Oakland Draft Energy and Climate Plan” City of Oakland. February 22, 2011
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