At the City Council meeting September 11, the Council unanimously adopted the 100-page plan submitted by the Rye Sustainability Committee.
By Robin Jovanovich
At the City Council meeting September 11, the Council unanimously adopted the 100-page plan submitted by the Rye Sustainability Committee.
Committee member Sara Goddard gave a detailed presentation outlining the plan’s long-term goals for energy; emission and waste reduction; water and land use; and less dependence on vehicle transportation. Projects were defined by their feasibility and affordability.
In an interview with Goddard before the Council meeting, she explained some of the benefits of the City having a sustainability Plan — quality of life, lower costs, traffic mitigation, to name three. She encouraged us to read the section in the plan on the need for trees and recommended we turn to page 89 to see how many other communities across the country already had sustainability plans in place.
“It is extremely clear that the plan is meant to be a menu. The next steps are dependent on this City Council and future ones,” said Goddard. “They’ll make decisions based on time and budget constraints and civic interest.”
The plan was two years in the making. “It was a real collaborative civic/city effort,” she explained. “We asked local organizations and schools to provide us with their sustainable initiatives. We had a lot of help from environmental committees in other towns, especially Larchmont.”
Rye City officials — City Planner Christian Miller, former City Councilwoman Suzanna Keith all the way from Texas, Eleanor Militana who found many of the photos that are in the final document, and Mayor Doug French who reviewed the plan over the course of time and provided a thoughtful letter of introduction. Goddard also mentioned the help the Committee received from New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson. “When we were just starting out, he took time to give us an overview of the pros and cons in undertaking this venture.”
How is the Sustainability Committee going to ensure all or some parts of this plan will be put into place?
“Bullheadedness, for one. Like Diana Nyad, you can never give up,” Goddard said boldly. “If you do things in a fair honest way, you can achieve great things.”
