[CALL TO ORDER ]
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IT'S SIX 10 AND WE HAVE QUORUM.
SO I'M CALLING OUR MEETING TO ORDER.
APOLOGIES FOR BEING A LITTLE TARDY.
UM, I NEED TO PULL UP THE AGENDA, BUT, UH, I THINK FIRST STEP WILL BE OUR, AND, AND I KNOW WE'RE IN A WEIRD, OUR, OUR AGENDA APPEARS IN A WEIRD ORDER NOW, BUT I'M GONNA STILL START WITH THINGS THAT WE NEED TO VOTE ON SPECIFICALLY THE, UM, THE MINUTES.
ACTUALLY FIRST, DO WE HAVE ANY, DO WE HAVE ANYBODY SIGNED UP FOR COMMUNICATION?
[5. Approval of minutes from the July 26th meeting of the Joint Sustainability Committee. ]
OKAY.THEN WE'LL START WITH THE MINUTES.
IF FOLKS HAVE LOOKED AT THEM, I'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION.
UM, ANY, UH, CONCERNS ABOUT THE MINUTES OR THINGS THAT WE NEED TO ADJUST? OKAY.
UH, CAN WE STOP SHARING FOR A MINUTE SO I CAN SEE EVERYBODY? AS A REMINDER, YOU NEED TO BE ON SCREEN TO VOTE, SO IF EVERYBODY CAN RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU'RE VOTING.
UM, AND, UH, ANNA, ARE YOU ABSTAINING OR VOTING? NO, I'M STILL TRYING TO GET MY, LIKE, FORM IN, SO I DON'T KNOW IF I'M ALLOWED TO VOTE, BUT I, I WILL VOTE FOR IT IF I'M ALLOWED TO.
WHAT, WHAT'S THE, UH, SHOULD SHE, SHOULD SHE JUST NOT BE ON THAT VOTE IF SHE HASN'T SENT IT YET OR SHE'S ALLOWED TO VOTE?
EITHER WAY, THE MINUTES ARE APPROVED, SO I WOULDN'T STRESS IT.
I HAD THE AGENDA UP AND MY COMPUTER CLOSED THINGS OUT, SO I'M BRINGING IT BACK UP, AND I'M GONNA TRY TO STRIKE A BALANCE BETWEEN GOING THROUGH THINGS THAT WE NEED TO VOTE ON AND, UH, HAVING, HAVING SOME SORT OF LOGICAL TRAIN HERE.
UM, JUST, JUST SO Y'ALL KNOW, WE HAVEN'T LOST OUR MINDS WITH THE, THE AGENDA.
APPARENTLY THE CLERK'S OFFICE IS, IS ASKING US TO POST THINGS IN THIS WAY, BUT WE CAN STILL TAKE THEM UP IN WHATEVER ORDER.
SO, UM, ZACH, DO YOU WANNA DO YOUR PRESENTATION? UH, NOW IT SHOULDN'T TAKE LONG.
[1. Office of Sustainability 2023-2024 Budget – Zach Baumer, Office of Sustainability. ]
THAT.SO WE'LL DO THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY BUDGET, UM, WITH, WITH ZACH, AND THEN WE WILL TAKE IT FROM THERE.
SO I'M ZACH, ER, UH, CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, AND HERE TO JUST GIVE YOU GUYS A SUMMARY OF WHAT IS IN ON SUSTAINABILITY BUDGET.
SO THE, THIS IS WHAT WAS IN OUR FY 23 BUDGET.
EVA, THE BUDGET ENDING, WE CAN'T HEAR ZACH IF HE'S TALKING, OR I CAN'T.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? CAN YOU HEAR ME BETTER? YES.
SO THIS IS, UH, SORT OF LIKE THE, THE BASE OF THIS IS WHAT IS IN OUR, UH, THE BUDGET FOR THIS BUDGET THAT YEAR THAT WE'RE IN RIGHT NOW.
UM, SO THE, THE TOTAL BUDGET IS AROUND $2.1 MILLION.
SO WE HAVE 14, UM, STAFF THAT YOU'LL SEE ON THE, THE COMING SLIDES, THOSE 14 STAFF WITH THE BENEFITS AND EVERYTHING, ALL THE COST, ALL ROLLED UP IS ABOUT 1.7 OF THAT 2.1 MILLION.
UM, THEN THERE IS, UH, CASH THAT WE, THAT WE HAVE TO SPEND ON THINGS.
UH, SO $125,000 OR SO IN OFFICE COSTS RENT, LIKE ALL THINGS RELATED TO RUNNING AN OFFICE, UH, 50, ABOUT $50,000 FOR MEMBERSHIPS, CONFERENCES, SPONSORSHIPS, WHICH IS A, YOU KNOW, A NUMEROUS DIFFERENT THINGS THAT WE DO THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
AND THEN ABOUT $230,000 FOR PROJECTS.
SO THAT'S MATERIAL THAT, THAT'S FUNDING THAT WE SPEND ON MATERIALS, CONSULTANTS, ADVERTISING, COMMUNICATIONS, ALL, ALL OF THAT WORK.
UM, SO WHEN IT COMES TO, YOU KNOW, DECIDING HOW
[00:05:01]
TO SPEND THAT BUDGET, I MEAN, THE STAFF OF THE STAFF AND THAT MONEY JUST SORT OF GETS TAKEN UP WITH ALL THE STAFF WE HAVE, UH, THE OFFICE COSTS, MOST OF THAT GETS CHEWED UP AS WE PAY FOR RENT OR PAY FOR WHATEVER OUR OFFICE SPACE AT THE TIME.UM, THE MEMBERSHIPS, CONFERENCES, SPONSORSHIPS, THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF LIKE, PLAY THERE DE DECIDING WHAT WE'RE GONNA SPONSOR OR WHAT CONFERENCES PEOPLE ARE GONNA GO TO, OR WHAT WE'RE GONNA BE MEMBERS OF ON BEHALF OF THE CITY.
UM, BUT THE $230,000 IS REALLY THE FUNDING THAT WE HAVE TO PAY FOR STUDIES OR HIRE TEMPORARY STAFF OR LIKE, UH, RUN PROGRAMS LIKE THE GREEN BUSINESS LEADERS PROGRAM.
I MEAN, IT'S THE, THAT'S THE MONEY THAT WE USE TO ALLOCATE, TO SPEND ON PROJECTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
UM, OH, AND ESSENTIALLY WHAT THEY DO THEN EVERY YEAR IS THAT THEY, UM, SORT OF THE BASELINE IS THAT THEY JUST COPY THE BUDGET FROM LAST YEAR, FROM LAST YEAR TO THE PROPOSED BUDGET TO THE NEXT YEAR.
THEY LEAVE ALL THOSE CASH NUMBERS THE SAME, AND THEN THEY JUST ADJUST ALL THE SALARIES BASED ON WHATEVER THE INCREASE IS FROM THE PROPOSED INCREASE FROM THE CITY MANAGER.
SO THAT'S ESSENTIALLY WHAT HAPPENS EVERY YEAR, SO THAT THOSE AMOUNTS OF CASH HAVE SORT OF BEEN THE SAME FOR MANY YEARS.
IS THIS GOOD? ARE, ARE YOU GONNA HAVE ANOTHER SLIDE GOING INTO THE, UM, THE LAST BUCKET OF MONEY THERE? OR SHOULD I ASK A QUESTION NOW ABOUT THAT? YOU CAN, YEAH, YOU CAN ASK A QUESTION.
SO I GUESS, ESPECIALLY HEARING YOU SAY THAT THE AMOUNT STAYED THE SAME, MY UNDERSTANDING WAS THAT THERE WAS, I'M GONNA, I'M GONNA HIT ON THAT IN A MINUTE.
THAT'S JUST LIKE, THAT'S JUST LIKE THE BASE BUDGET.
UM, SO THEN THIS IS HOW, UH, THIS IS WHAT OUR ORG CHART LOOKS LIKE RIGHT NOW.
UM, SO I AM, SO THERE'S 14 TOTAL STAFF.
UM, 12 OF THOSE ARE FULL-TIME EQUIVALENTS, UH, FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT, FULLY FUNDED, LIKE WITH BENEFITS AND EVERYTHING.
UM, THERE'S ONE VACANT POSITION, WHICH IS BECAUSE I AM IN THE CLIMATE PROGRAM MANAGER POSITION AND THE CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER POSITION.
SO I'M ON THERE TWICE SO THAT THERE'S ACTUALLY A VACANCY.
UM, AND THEN THE GREEN BOXES ARE TEMPS.
UH, SO WE HAVE TWO TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES RIGHT NOW.
AND THEN THE BLUE BOX OVER THERE IS MARK KUDAIR, WHO IS CURRENTLY KIND OF LIKE ON LOAN TO THE RESILIENCE OFFICE.
UM, SO YOU CAN SEE THERE'S ME AND THEN THERE'S THREE PEOPLE.
THERE'S EDWIN MARTY, AND ESSENTIALLY TWO STAFF PLUS ATTEMPT THAT REPORT TO EDWIN MARTY.
THERE'S THE CENTER, WHICH IS SHANNON STEWART, AND THEN TWO STAFF, AND THEN A TEMPORARY EMPLOYEE WHO MAKE UP KIND OF THE ADMIN AND COMMUNICATIONS EFFORTS, UM, WHO FOR THE TEAM.
AND THEN THERE'S ME REPORTING TO ME, UM, WITH MARK CUDA LOAN, AND THEN THREE OTHER FULL-TIME STAFF.
SO THAT'S WHAT IT IS AT THIS MOMENT.
SO, NEW RESOURCES THAT WERE ALLOCATED IN, UM, THE BUDGET THAT WAS JUST APPROVED LAST WEEK.
SO CITY COUNCIL JUST WENT THROUGH ITS WHOLE PROCESS TO RECEIVE THE PROPOSED BUDGET FROM THE CITY MANAGER AND THEN DO DELIBERATIONS AND QUESTIONS.
AND THEN THEY ADOPTED THE BUDGET, UM, LAST WEDNESDAY, SO ON AUGUST 16TH.
UM, SO HERE ARE NEW THINGS THAT WERE FUNDED, AND MANY OF THESE THINGS WERE FUNDED BECAUSE OF ADVOCACY BY THE JOINT SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE AND OTHERS.
SO, SO THE FIRST ONE AT THE TOP IS THERE WAS MONEY THAT WAS FOUND TO, UM, TO FUND WHAT'S GONNA BE CALLED THE UT CLIMATE COLAB WITH DR.
UM, THAT'S MONEY THAT WAS ACTUALLY FOUNDED IN THIS YEAR'S BUDGET, BUT IS GONNA PAY FOR, UM, PAY FOR THIS, THIS EFFORT TO HAPPEN BASICALLY ALL FOR ALL THROUGHOUT THE YEAR FOR NEXT YEAR.
SO THAT'S GONNA BE RESEARCH RELATED TO CLIMATE EFFECTS.
SO DEV DOES CLIMATE PROJECTIONS AND CLIMATE ANALYSIS OF WEATHER AND, AND, UM, TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION PATTERNS AND ALL THAT KIND OF STUFF.
WE'VE DONE A LOT OF WORK, UM, ON MY TEAM AND WITH THE RESILIENCE OFFICE TO, UM, TAKE THAT KIND OF INFORMATION AND HELP DEPARTMENTS AND ESPECIALLY BIG DEPARTMENTS LIKE AUSTIN ENERGY AND AUSTIN WATER, USE THAT KIND OF INFORMATION IN THEIR PLANNING AND IN THEIR OPERATIONS, RIGHT? BECAUSE IF THE TEMPERATURES ARE GONNA BE WAY DIFFERENT IN 50 YEARS, AUSTIN ENERGY NEEDS TO BE THINKING SERIOUSLY ABOUT HOW DO THEY CHANGE THINGS NOW TO BE PREPARED FOR THE FUTURE.
SO THERE'S A TON OF WORK THERE.
THOSE THAT MONEY IS MOSTLY GONNA, IT'S GONNA FUND RESEARCH, BUT IT'S GONNA FUND, I THINK TWO STAFF MEMBERS THAT ARE GONNA BE UT STAFF THAT ARE GONNA KIND OF WORK WITH THE CITY ON THESE TOPICS.
THEN THERE IS, UH, THESE THREE, NEXT THREE ITEMS ARE ONE TIME CASH, UM,
[00:10:01]
INCREASES THAT ARE, WILL GO INTO OUR BUDGET FOR US TO SPEND ON, UM, ANY NUMBER OF ACTIVITIES.UM, SO THE FIRST ONE IS $200,000 FOR ONGOING CONSULTANTS REPORTS FOR OUR, THE I INFLATION REDUCTION ACT GRANT PURSUIT, UM, WORK THAT WE'VE BEEN DOING.
SO OVER THE LAST YEAR, WE'VE HIRED AECOM.
THEY'VE HELPED US ANALYZE ALL THE GRANT OPPORTUNITIES, GET ORGANIZED, UM, APPLY FOR NUMEROUS GRANTS.
SO THIS IS MONEY TO KEEP DOING THAT WORK OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT YEAR.
UM, 'CAUSE WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF STAFF LIKE TO DO EXTRA GRANT PURSUIT, UM, A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR SUSTAINABLE PURCHASING PLAN, STILL HAVE TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT THAT MEANS, UM, AND HOW WE'RE GONNA ACTUALLY SPEND THAT MONEY.
UM, BUT IT WILL BE FOCUSED ON SUSTAINABLE PURCHASING AND THEN $50,000 FOR REFRIGERANT STUDY OR, YOU KNOW, A PROJECT PROBABLY RELATED TO UNDERSTANDING REFRIGERANT EMISSIONS WITHIN CITY OPERATIONS.
AND THEN PROBABLY LOOKING AT COMMUNITY, SORT OF COMMUNITY REFRIGERANT LEAKAGE AND THAT WHOLE TOPIC.
UM, SO THOSE ARE ONE-TIME CASH, UM, CASH ADDITIONS THAT WE'LL SPEND IN THIS NEXT YEAR.
AND THEN, AND THEN WE'RE, THERE ARE ACTUALLY TWO POSITIONS.
SO, UH, THERE'S ONE, WHAT THEY CALL ATTEMPT TO PERMANENT CONVERSION.
SO, UM, AS YOU SAW IN THAT LAST SLIDE, WE HAVE THOSE GREEN BOXES.
WE USE CASH TO PAY FOR THOSE TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES.
IT'S NOT LIKE DEDICATED, UH, FULL-TIME EMPLOYEE COSTS.
SO WE JUST USE CASH OVER OUR BUDGET TO PAY THE EMPLOYEES, LIKE FOR THEIR SALARY ONLY.
UM, SO WE GOT ONE NEW POSITION, WHICH WILL BE, UM, OUR ADMINISTRATIVE POSITION.
SO PAULA, UH, THE POSITION THAT PAULA'S IN, WE WILL GO THROUGH A PROCESS TO ESSENTIALLY HAVE A FULL-TIME ADMINISTRATIVE POSITION AND HIRE SOMEONE FOR THAT POSITION.
AND THEN PAUL'S TEMPORARY POSITION WILL GO AWAY.
UM, SO WE'LL HAVE FULL-TIME ADMINISTRATIVE HELP, WHICH WILL BE FANTASTIC, UM, AND PERMANENT.
AND THEN THE LAST ONE IS MARK CODA'S POSITION WILL SORT OF PERMANENTLY TRANSFER TO, TO WORK WITH RESILIENCE, AND THEN WE WILL GET A REPLACEMENT POSITION FOR THAT.
UM, AND THEN THAT POSITION WILL BE ON THE CLIMATE TEAM AND THEY'LL PROBABLY WORK ON ANY OF ANY NUMBER OF DIFFERENT CLIMATE ACTIVITIES.
SO, UM, SO THAT'S WHAT, THAT'S WHAT'S IN THE BUDGET.
UM, THERE WAS A LOT OF SORT OF CONFUSION IN THIS YEAR'S PROPOSED BUDGET ABOUT THESE THINGS AND ABOUT THE WORDING AND HOW THEY WERE DESCRIBED.
AND IT TOOK A LOT OF ENERGY FOR ME TO FIGURE OUT ACTUALLY WHAT WAS WHAT.
AND IT'S KIND OF ALWAYS LIKE THAT WITH THE PROPOSED BUDGET.
UM, BUT THIS IS TO THE BEST OF MY UNDERSTANDING AND TO EVERYBODY'S UNDERSTANDING WHAT, WHAT ACTUALLY CAME OF IT, THE WHOLE THING.
UM, I GUESS ONE THING I'M A LITTLE SURPRISED AT IS SEEING OR HEARING THAT THAT ATTEMPT TO PERMANENT POSITION IS FOR AN ADMINISTRATIVE AND NOT FOR THE IN IN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ASSOCIATE.
YEAH, I, I HAD SOME RECENT COMMUNICATION WITH, UH, WITH RODNEY GONZALEZ JUST TRYING TO CLARIFY WHAT WAS IN HERE, AND YEAH.
AND THAT WAS ONE THAT HE CHECKED OFF AS SAYING THAT IT WAS IN THE BUDGET.
SO I'M WONDERING WHY IS IT THAT POSITION INSTEAD OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT? WELL, SO I THINK I, I THINK I'M JUST GONNA HAVE TO GO BACK AND SORT OF DOUBLE CHECK AND CONFIRM, BECAUSE IT, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE WHERE IT SAID LIKE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS IN THE PROPOSED BUDGET DOCUMENT.
SO IT, IT WILL BE ATTEMPTED PERMANENT CONVERSION, WHAT IT'S ACTUALLY FOR, AND WHO ACTUALLY GETS IN THAT, I GUESS IS COMPLETELY CLEAR.
I MEAN, FROM OUR, FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, THIS IS MORE RESOURCES THAT HAVE, THAT HAVE BEEN RECEIVED FOR OUR BUDGET, ESPECIALLY IN ONE YEAR'S TIME THAN HAS EVER HAPPENED IN THE PAST.
THERE IS, THERE'S ONE MORE THING THAT'S HAPPENING.
SO, UH, WE, I THINK WE TALKED ABOUT THIS A FEW MEETINGS AGO.
WE, THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY PUT FORTH THE APPLICATION TO THE E P A CLIMATE POLLUTION REDUCTION GRANT PROGRAM.
THIS IS $1 MILLION, UH, FROM E P A THAT'S GOING TO STATE.
THERE'S MONEY GOING TO STATES, AND THEN THE 67 LARGEST MSAS IN THE COUNTRY ARE RECEIVING THIS $1 MILLION.
IF THEY APPLIED FOR IT, IT WAS NON-COMPETITIVE.
UM, SO IT'S ESSENTIALLY, UH, LIKE A, I THINK A THREE YEAR PROGRAM, A THREE YEAR PROGRAM, UH, TO SPEND THIS MILLION DOLLARS.
UM, AND THE WORK IS REALLY FOCUSED ON CREATING A REGIONAL, LIKE AN M S A WIDE, UH, PRIORITY CLIMATE PLAN, AND THEN WHAT THEY'RE CALLING A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CLIMATE PLAN, UH, FOR THE REGION.
UM, MOST OF THE WORK IS GONNA HAPPEN LIKE IN THE FIRST TWO YEARS.
AND WE ARE, WE'LL, WE ARE NOT GONNA HIRE CONSULTANTS FOR THIS WORK.
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JUST GONNA HIRE STAFF TO WORK ON OUR TEAM.UM, SO WE WILL, IT'S EITHER GONNA BE THREE OR FOUR.
WE'RE STILL IN THE FINAL, UM, TRYING TO FIGURE THAT OUT, BUT IT'LL BE THREE OR FOUR STAFF MEMBERS THAT ARE ESSENTIALLY HIRED ON FOR A TWO YEAR CONTRACT TO WORK WITH US AND HELP CREATE THESE DELIVERABLES AND DO THIS PROJECT AND DELIVER THESE, DELIVER THESE PLANS.
UM, WE'RE IN THE FINAL THROWS OF ACCEPTING THIS MONEY FROM E P A AND WE'RE ON THE SEPTEMBER 21ST CITY COUNCIL MEETING FOR CITY COUNCIL TO LIKE FORMALLY ACCEPT THE FUNDING.
AND THEN HOPEFULLY WE KICK THIS PROJECT OFF IN OCTOBER AND AWAY WE GO.
AND AS IT GOES WITH, UM, I'M SORRY, CAN I JUST ASK, WHEN YOU FORMALLY ACCEPT IT, WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO? DO YOU HAVE TO PROVIDE LIKE A STATUS UPDATES OR WHAT ARE THE, WHAT ARE THE WHAT, WHAT ARE YOU ON THE HOOK NOW TO DO THAT? YOU'VE GOT THAT 1 MILLION OVER FOUR YEARS? OH, YEAH.
SO E P A ESSENTIALLY GIVES US, THEY GIVE YOU A LETTER IN CONFIRMATION THAT YOU'RE RECEIVING THE MONEY, AND THEN THEY LINE, THEY DO FINANCIAL LINEUP.
SO WE WILL TRACK OUR COST AND REPORT IT TO THEM.
WHEN I SAY CITY COUNCIL HAS TO ACCEPT IT, IT'S JUST ANYTIME YOU'RE ACCEPTING GRANT FUNDING, LIKE THAT CITY COUNCIL HAS TO ACCEPT THE MONEY BECAUSE IT LIKE INCREASES THE BUDGET.
SO CITY COUNCIL HAS TO FORMALLY ACCEPT THE GRANT.
SO THEN ONCE THEY'VE ACCEPTED IT, WE WILL ESSENTIALLY GO ON THIS, THERE'S A, THERE, THERE COULD BE A WHOLE SEPARATE PRESENTATION ON THE WORK PLAN AND WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO AND WHAT'S GONNA BE THE PROCESS TO, TO CREATE THE DELIVERABLES TO, TO FULFILL THE GRANT.
BUT YEAH, IT'S GONNA BE, BUT ARE THE DELIVERABLES ONEROUS OR ARE THEY FINE? LIKE, I AM GUESSING, YOU KNOW, A MILLION DOLLARS NON-COMPETITIVE OVER FOUR YEARS IS PRETTY DARN GOOD.
I'M JUST WONDERING THEN, IS IT ONEROUS WHAT YOU HAVE TO PROVIDE TO SHOW THAT YOU'RE WORTHY OF THE MONEY? YEAH.
WELL, IT'S, IT'S CREATING, IT'S, IT, IT IS NOT SIMPLE.
I MEAN, IT'S TWO SEPARATE, SEPARATE S A WIDE FOCUSED CLIMATE PLANS THAT HAVE PROJECTS AND GREENHOUSE GAS ANALYSIS AND COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.
AND I MEAN, IT'S GONNA BE A LOT OF THINGS.
UM, THE KEY WITH, WITH THIS ONE THOUGH IS, UM, THAT I SHOULD HAVE SAID EARLIER, IS THAT ANYTHING THAT WE LIST, ANY PROJECTS THAT END UP IN OUR PRIORITY CLIMATE PLAN BECOME ELIGIBLE FOR US TO APPLY FOR C P R G IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS, WHICH THERE'S GONNA BE E P A SAYS UP TO $5 BILLION IN NATIONWIDE FUNDING FOR IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.
SO, YOU KNOW, JUST ONE EXAMPLE WOULD BE, OKAY, WE WERE WORKING WITH THE M S A, YOU FIGURE OUT, YOU KNOW, WHAT LEANDER AND CEDAR PARK WANNA PUT IN A WHOLE BUNCH OF CHARGING STATIONS OR WANNA PUT IN A BUNCH OF SOLAR, UH, AND THOSE PROJECTS ARE LISTED OUT, THEN THEY COULD APPLY FOR THOSE THINGS AND GET THOSE THINGS.
SO THE AUSTIN, OF COURSE, WILL BE CENTRAL IN THIS PLAN, BUT PART OF THE HOPE IS THAT WE REALLY GET OUR FIVE COUNTIES IN THIS GAME AND TAKING ACTION.
CHRIS? YES, ZACH, I, I GUESS I WAS CURIOUS ON HOW, HOW DO YOU SEE, UM, HOW DO YOU SEE THE CLIMATE ACTION PLAN KIND OF FEEDING INTO, INTO THIS WORK? YEAH, I, I THINK IT'S, IT WILL BE THE BASELINE.
LIKE IT WILL BE, WE ALREADY HAVE THIS PLAN.
WE ALREADY HAVE TONS OF IDEAS AND PROJECTS.
THEY'RE NOT REALLY INM S A WIDE PROJECTS.
AND IF YOU'RE IN A DIFFERENT COUNTY OR A DIFFERENT CITY, THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT CONTEXT AND HAVE DIFFERENT IDEAS.
BUT YOU COULD TAKE A LOT OF THE THINGS THAT WE'VE PROPOSED AND, UM, ENCOURAGE THEM IN OTHER PLACES.
ANOTHER BIG DIFFERENCE WILL BE THAT AUSTIN ENERGY WAS A BIG PART OF OUR PLAN, AND THE CITY OF AUSTIN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH AUSTIN ENERGY IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE CITY OF CEDAR PARK'S RELATIONSHIP WITH YEAH, WELL YOU HAVE PERAL AND BLUE BONNET, BUT THEN YOU HAVE ALSO DEREGULATED AREAS.
IN THOSE CITIES ALSO HAVE A VERY DIFFERENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS. THEY HAVE VERY DIFFERENT, UM, LIKE THEY HAVE THEIR OWN ENERGY CODES AND BUILDING CODES.
SO THERE'S, THERE WILL BE DIFFERENT THINGS FOR SURE IN, IN AN M S A WORLDWIDE PLAN.
I WAS JUST WONDERING, I SAW THERE WAS BOTH A PROGRAM COORDINATOR AND A PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR, IT FELT ADMINISTRATIVE HEAVY.
I'M WONDERING WHAT THOSE POSITIONS ARE GONNA BE DOING.
YEAH, ROHAN AND I ARE STILL FIGURING IT OUT.
I MEAN, I THINK THERE'S GONNA BE A MANAGER TYPE PERSON WHO'S MORE RESPONSIBLE.
THERE WILL PROBABLY BE AN ANALYST TYPE PERSON.
[00:20:01]
DISCUSSIONS, WE'RE STILL IN DISCUSSIONS AROUND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND THEN COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT.AND THEN THERE IS GONNA BE SOME AMOUNT OF JUST ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE TO TRACK THE SPENDING AND DO THE REPORTING AND ALL, ALL OF THAT STUFF.
SO, UM, IT'S GONNA BE SOME COMBINATION OF THOSE FOUR SKILL SETS.
I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT THE, UH, CLIMATE AMBASSADOR PROJECT AND, YOU KNOW, I KNOW SYDNEY WENT TO THE OFFICE OF EQUITY, SO I GUESS YEP.
YOU KNOW, IT WAS A REALLY COOL PROGRAM THAT Y'ALL DID.
I THINK THIS WAS THE SECOND COHORT.
UM, SO I GUESS, YOU KNOW, LOOKING FORWARD WITH THAT PROGRAM, SORT OF WHERE Y'ALL'S PLANS FOR IT, DOES THAT, WHAT BUCKET DOES THAT FALL INTO? LIKE FUNDING WISE, I GUESS? YEAH, SO I THINK WHAT WILL HAPPEN IS THAT OVER THE COURSE OF THIS NEXT YEAR WHEN WE HIRE ON THESE NEW STAFF MEMBERS, WE, THAT PROJECT IS A PRIORITY FOR US TO CONTINUE TO DO.
SO WE WILL FIGURE OUT HOW TO STAFF IT WITH THE, WITH THE RESOURCES THAT WE HAVE IN THE OFFICE.
SO, AND I THINK WITH THE, THESE RESOURCES AND THE OTHER THING WITH THOSE, WITH THE E P A C P R G PEOPLE THAT JOIN US, UM, THOUGH THEY'RE NOT GONNA LIKE ONLY BE ABLE TO WORK ON THAT PROJECT, THEY'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO HELP US ON OTHER STUFF.
SO, UM, WE'RE GONNA FIGURE OUT HOW TO CONTINUE ON CLIMATE AMBASSADORS IN PROBABLY MULTIPLE DIFFERENT WAYS.
YEAH, AND I, I MEAN, I CAN FOLLOW UP WITH YOU OFF OFFLINE ABOUT THAT SINCE, LIKE I SAID, I, I GOT A TOTALLY DIFFERENT RESPONSE FROM RODNEY.
WHICH IS WEIRD 'CAUSE I'M SURE, YEAH, HERE'S Y'ALL ARE TALKING TOO, SO, UM, BUT I, I DO JUST WANNA SAY CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYBODY.
YOU KNOW, I THINK IT, IT'S CLEAR THAT WE MADE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS BUDGET AND, UM, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, I'VE BEEN SERVING ON BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS FOR, YOU KNOW, GOING ON NINE YEARS NOW.
AND BY AND LARGE, I'VE FOUND BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS TO BE IGNORED.
AND I THINK THE DIFFERENCE HERE WAS THAT WE WERE REALLY SPECIFIC, WE WERE SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT WE NEEDED THE MONEY FOR, WHAT THE DEPARTMENT OR DEPARTMENTS NEEDED THE MONEY FOR, AND WE PUT DOLLAR AMOUNTS TO IT, AND THEY WERE DOLLAR AMOUNTS THAT WEREN'T, YOU KNOW, UNREASONABLE.
SO, UM, I MEAN, I THINK WE, WE COLLECTIVELY CITY VIA OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY STILL NEEDS MORE AND PROBABLY WE NEED MORE FOR NEXT YEAR, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, I HOPE WE CAN KEEP THAT IN MIND AS WE, AS WE START TO MOVE INTO COLLECTING INFORMATION FOR THE NEXT ROUND OF, OF BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS, WHICH, WHICH SOUNDS WILD, BUT I THINK LIKE WE FELT RUSHED LAST TIME AROUND AND THIS TIME HOPEFULLY WE CAN, YOU KNOW, REALLY START HERE PRETTY SOON, GATHERING THAT INFORMATION AND, AND DO AN EQUALLY, UM, KIND OF PRECISE AND WELL-DOCUMENTED SET OF RECOMMENDATIONS THAT, THAT TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL.
SO THANK THANKS EVERYBODY THAT HELPED WITH THAT.
WOULD YOU REMIND ME WHAT THE F Y 22 BUDGET WAS AND THEN THE CURRENT F Y 23 BUDGET JUST AS COMPARISON OF OUR BUDGET? WAS IT A LOT LESS OR? OH, UM, SO IF I DON'T HAVE THE NUMBER IN FRONT OF ME, BUT IF WE HAD THE 22 AND THE 23, THE ONLY INCREASE THE INCREASE WOULD BE THE ADDITIONAL PERCENTAGE IN SALARY INCREASE FOR LIKE THE PERCENTAGE OF RAISE.
SO IT WAS PROBABLY 2 MILLION TO 2.1 MILLION OR SOMETHING.
I MEAN, IT WAS JUST THE MARGINAL INCREASE.
THERE WASN'T A BUNCH OF ADDITIONAL, UM, THE LAST TION YEAH.
YEAH, 22 WOULD BE NOT THIS YEAR, BUT THE PREVIOUS YEAR.
ARE YOU ASKING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE YEAR WE'RE IN AND THE YEAR THAT JUST GOT APPROVED? RIGHT.
WELL, I KNOW WE'RE CURRENTLY IN FY 23, BUT WHAT GOT APPROVED IS F Y 24.
SO WHAT I'M ASKING ABOUT IS, I WAS WONDERING IF WE LIKE DOUBLED THE BUDGET OR SOMETHING, BUT NO, NO, NO.
IT JUST DIDN'T SHRINK, RIGHT? YEAH, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH.
SO WE COULD APPROXIMATELY, IT'S 22 WAS PROBABLY ABOUT 2,000,023, UH, WAS 2.11, WHICH WE'RE CURRENTLY IN.
AND THEN 24 WILL BE INCREASES IN SALARIES, SO THAT PROBABLY GETS IT TO 2.2.
AND THEN YOU ADD IN THOSE ADDITIONAL CASH, THAT ADDITIONAL CASH, AND IT'S PROBABLY, WHICH IS WHAT, 300 ADDITIONAL CASH INFUSIONS 350? YEAH.
SO IT'S PROBABLY UP TO LIKE TWO THAT'S, I MISSED SIX OR SEVEN.
SO I MEAN, THAT, THAT ABOUT DOUBLES IT LOOK LIKE THE CASH THAT YOU HAVE TO SPEND ON THINGS.
AND, AND, AND THEN PLUS GETTING ONE F T E CONVERSION, ALTHOUGH PERHAPS YEAH, PERHAPS MAYBE FOR WHAT WE ASK FOR AND MAYBE NOT
BUT I, YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT'S, THAT'S SUBSTANTIAL.
UM, IT'S A SMALL DEPARTMENT TOO SMALL FOR THEIR MISSION, SO, UH, WE NEED TO, TO KEEP PUSHING.
[00:25:02]
THANK, THANK YOU, ZACH.YEAH, I THINK THAT'S REALLY HELPFUL FOR US ALL TO SEE.
DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE QUESTIONS OR CAN WE MOVE TO OUR NEXT ITEM? MY QUESTION WAS TO, TO YOU ON YOUR COMMENTS, LIKE, DID WE HEAR FEEDBACK FROM SOMEONE THAT WAS LIKE, HEY, THESE WERE GREAT AND SPECIFIC, AND THEREFORE WE FUNDED THEM, OR ARE WE JUST, IS THAT JUST LIKE OUR OPERATING ASSUMPTION BECAUSE WE DIDN'T DO THAT IN THE PAST AND THEN LIKE NOW THINGS WENT FORWARDS? WELL, I, I, I DID MEET WITH, UH, RODNEY GONZALEZ, WHO'S THE ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, UH, OVER OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY, AND ZACH WAS IN ON THAT MEETING AS WELL.
AND, AND WE TALKED THROUGH THE, THE BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS, WHICH HE HAD, YOU KNOW, ALREADY SEEN AND, AND LOOKED AT.
AND, YOU KNOW, AT THE TIME HE WASN'T ABLE TO, YOU KNOW, GIVE ME TOO MUCH INFORMATION.
BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, I KIND OF PITCHED THINGS TO HIM AGAIN AND, YOU KNOW, JUST EMPHASIZED THAT THE OFFICE NEEDS MORE FUNDING TO ACTUALLY DO THE JOB.
SO, UM, IT, IT WOULD BE A MIGHTY BIG COINCIDENCE IF THEY JUST HAPPENED TO FUND
BUT, UM, I SUPPOSE YOU NEVER KNOW.
UM, BUT I DID FOLLOW UP WITH HIM AFTERWARDS, WHICH IS WHAT I'M REFERRING TO HERE AS I WAS TALKING TO ZACH, UM, BECAUSE IT IS REALLY, I MEAN, IF Y'ALL LOOK AT THE BUDGET, IT'S, IT'S, IT'S NOT ALWAYS CRYSTAL CLEAR WHAT'S, WHAT, WHAT IS THERE AND WHAT IT'S FOR.
SO I JUST EMAILED HIM DIRECTLY AND WAS LIKE, CAN YOU LET ME KNOW WHICH OF THESE THINGS IS IN THERE AND WHICH ISN'T? SO HE, HE ALSO REPLIED.
I MEAN, IT SOUNDS LIKE SOME OF YOUR ADVOCACY WORK WAS SUPER HELPFUL AS WELL, SO THANK YOU FOR THAT.
AND I, I THINK THAT WE SHOULD, UM, MAKE THAT A REGULAR PART OF WHAT WE DO HERE AND, AND I'M HAPPY TO, YOU KNOW, BE POINT, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO GET OTHERS, YOU KNOW, FROM, FROM THE J S C INVOLVED IN, IN THOSE MEETINGS GOING FORWARD.
I'M GONNA MOVE ON WITH OUR AGENDA.
UM, OH, UH, SMALL THING, ZACH, IF YOU CAN MAYBE LET ROHAN KNOW ON THE, UM, WEBSITE, UHHUH THE BACKUP FOR YOUR PRESENTATION IS ACTUALLY JUST ANOTHER COPY OF THE AGENDA.
UM, ALRIGHT, SO WE HAVE TWO OTHER ITEMS THAT POTENTIALLY WOULD BE UP FOR A VOTE.
THE ANNUAL REPORT IS BACK ON HERE, AND IT'S BECAUSE I THOUGHT THAT IF, IF SOME OF OUR RECOMMENDATIONS, UH, MORE APPROPRIATE, WE MIGHT WANNA ADD THEM IN.
SO WE DON'T HAVE TO DISCUSS THAT A LOT, BUT IT'S, IT'S ON THERE.
AND THEN WE HAVE ANOTHER, UM, PRESENTATION FROM LARRY, BUT HE'S NOT HERE UNLESS I'M MISSING SOMETHING.
ARE WE SEEING EVERYBODY ON THE SCREEN? YEAH, I DON'T, I DON'T SEE.
WELL THEN WE'RE NOT GONNA DO THAT NEXT.
[6. Discussion and Possible Recommendation to Council on composting and recycling services at multifamily residential properties. ]
TAKE UP, UM, HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BE A QUICK ONE, UM, MULTIFAMILY, UH, COMPOSTING.SO THIS IS AGENDA ITEM NUMBER SIX.
UM, AND I KNOW THE ZERO WASTE ADVISORY COMMISSION ALREADY, UM, ALREADY DID, UH, RECOMMEND THIS, BUT I THOUGHT THAT IT WAS, YOU KNOW, APPROPRIATE FOR US AS WELL.
UM, I THINK MELISSA'S ON THERE, OF COURSE, NOW I CAN'T SEE
IF WE CAN GO TO THE NEXT SLIDES.
WE ACTUALLY DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH ALL THESE, BUT THERE MIGHT BE SOMETHING USEFUL IF WE CAN MOVE FORWARD.
AND I'LL JUST SAY THAT FOR WAC, EVERY ONE ON THE COUNCIL WAS VERY SUPPORTIVE AND IT SEEMS LIKE A NATURAL PROGRESSION FOR THE CITY TO GO FOR COMPOSTING SERVICES AND FOR THE U R O IT JUST SEEMS LIKE A NATURAL THING TO HAVE MULTIFAMILY BE INCLUDED.
SO THERE WAS NO, NO DISSENTING VOTES OR ANYTHING AS WAC.
UM, YEAH, CAN WE, NO, DEFINITELY NOT.
CAN WE GO FORWARD IN THE SLIDES PLEASE? YEAH.
SO JUST SO FOLKS KNOW, THE U R O IS UNIVERSAL RECYCLING ORDINANCE, BUT IT ACTUALLY DOES ADDRESS COMPOSTING CURRENTLY ONLY AT FOOD SERVING ENTITIES.
WE CAN MOVE FORWARD IN THE SLEDS.
UM, I'M NOT ACTUALLY SURE THERE'S ANYTHING WE CAN WE NEXT SLIDE? YEAH.
UM, THIS IS JUST KIND OF, YOU KNOW, A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T
[00:30:01]
BEEN SEEPED IN WASTE MANAGEMENT POLICY, UM, THE, THE U R O IS, UM, FOCUSED ON ENTITIES THAT THE CITY OF AUSTIN DOES NOT SERVE.SO CITY OF AUSTIN SERVES SINGLE FAMILY THROUGH FOURPLEXES AND THEN MULTIFAMILY AND EVERYTHING ELSE.
COMMERCIAL IS SERVED THROUGH THE PRIVATE HAULER INDUSTRY AND THE U R O SETS THE STANDARDS FOR WHAT, UM, WHAT EACH OF THOSE PROPERTIES IS REQUIRED TO CONTRACT FOR, BE THAT CERTAIN TYPE OF RECYCLING SERVICES, OR IN THE CASE OF FOOD SERVICE, FOOD PERMITTED BUSINESSES, UH, SOME SORT OF ORGANICS DIVERSION RIGHT NOW DOESN'T REQUIRE COMPOSTING, BUT THAT IS AN OPTION.
I WANTED TO SEE, YEAH, SO THIS, I GUESS WAS ONE, ANOTHER THING I KINDA WANTED YOU TO SEE THAT THERE HAS BEEN LIKE KIND OF AN EXTENDED PROCESS AND REALLY THIS, IT GOES BACK FURTHER THAN THIS, BUT IT, THE PILOT ACTUALLY GOT UNDERWAY IN SPRING 21, BUT PRIOR TO THAT, THE, UH, U R O COMMITTEE OF WAC HAD BEEN MEETING, HAD A SERIES OF, OF MEETINGS THAT WERE, YOU KNOW, PUBLIC AND, AND OPEN TO STAKEHOLDERS TO DISCUSS THIS IDEA OF, OF REQUIRING COMPOST, STAYING AT MULTIFAMILY, UH, PROPERTIES.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, THEN IT LED INTO DOING A PILOT AND A REPORT CAME OUT OF THAT MORRIS WAC RECOMMENDATIONS.
AND YOU CAN KIND OF SEE HERE SOME OF THE DATES.
SO I JUST WANTED Y'ALL TO, YOU KNOW, SEE THIS DIDN'T COME OUT OF THE GREAT BLUE, NOTHING.
UM, THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF THOUGHT BEHIND IT.
UM, I THINK WE CAN CLOSE THIS, THIS PRESENTATION OUT AND, AND IF WE WANT, WE CAN, UM, BRING UP THE OTHER DOCUMENT FOR THIS ITEM, BUT IT'S PRETTY STRAIGHTFORWARD.
THE, THE UPDATE TO THE U R O WOULD, UH, REQUIRE ALL MULTIFAMILY PROPERTIES TO CONTRACT FOR, UH, COMPOSTING SERVICE THAT WILL BE, UH, CO-LOCATED WITHIN 25 FEET OF ANY, UH, LANDFILL RECEPTACLE.
SO WHEREVER THERE'S, YOU KNOW, LANDFILL, DUMPSTER, THERE NEEDS TO BE, UH, AN ASSOCIATED, ALREADY IT'S REQUIRED TO HAVE AN ASSOCIATED RECYCLING, UH, COLLECTION.
AND THIS WOULD ADD COMPOSTING TO THAT.
UM, AND ALSO ESTABLISHES THAT THEY NEED TO HAVE SUFFICIENT CAPACITY SO THAT THOSE, UH, BINS ARE NOT OVERFLOWING AND DOES, UM, ESTABLISH KIND OF MATERIALS THAT NEED TO BE ACCEPTED.
SO THIS WILL BE LIKE, KIND OF FULL SCALE, UH, COMMERCIAL COMPOSTING, SO YOU'LL BE ABLE TO PUT IN ANY SORT OF MEAT, DAIRY, BONES, WHATEVER.
SO THAT'S A SUMMARY OF WHAT IT IS.
I, UM, YOU KNOW, I THINK IT'S, IT'S IN LINE WITH, WITH THE CLIMATE PLAN AND, AND REDUCING EMISSIONS BECAUSE KEEPING ORGANICS OUT OF THE LANDFILL REDUCES METHANE PRODUCTION GOOD FOR CLIMATE CHANGE.
ANYBODY HAS QUESTIONS? YEAH, CHARLOTTE, AS, AS SOMEONE WHO HAS NOT BEEN STEEPED IN, UH, WASTE MANAGEMENT POLICY, UH, I, I NOTICED THERE'S ENFORCEMENT OF A CLASS C MISDEMEANOR.
CAN YOU, HOW, WHO IS HELD LIABLE FOR THAT AND HOW IS THAT ENFORCED? GOOD QUESTION.
UM, SO THE, WHO IS HELD LIABLE IS THE, THE PROPERTY OWNER.
SO, UM, YOU KNOW, THE MULTI-FAMILY PROPERTY OWN OWNER, UM, SO IT'S NOT GONNA BE LIKE INDIVIDUAL TENANTS.
THEY'RE, THEY'RE, THEY'RE NOT RESPONSIBLE.
IN FACT, THEY'RE KIND OF THE RECIPIENTS OF THE SERVICE.
UM, AND IN TERMS OF ENFORCEMENT, UH, MELISSA, PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT I THINK THAT, UH, AUSTIN RESOURCE RECOVERY NOW, I THINK THEY HAVE A COUPLE CODE ENFORCEMENT FOLKS ON STAFF, RIGHT? YEAH.
I, THEY HAVE CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, BUT ONCE THEY FIRST DO THIS MULTIFAMILY ROLLOUT, IT'S NOT GONNA BE IMMEDIATE CODE ENFORCEMENT.
THERE'S GONNA BE, IT'S GONNA BE SLOW GOING TO GET EVERYONE ACCUSTOMED AND USED TO THIS NEW REQUIREMENT.
SO I DON'T THINK THEY'RE GONNA BE ISSUING ANY SORT OF ENFORCEMENT REGULATIONS UNTIL, YOU KNOW, LATER ON.
YEAH, I THINK IT SAID THAT THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN UNTIL ONE YEAR OUT.
SO EVERYBODY WILL HAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO GET THINGS SET UP.
UH, ANOTHER QUESTION, UM, AROUND EDUCATION.
UH, WHAT IS THE REQUIREMENTS? IS THERE ANY ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS VERSUS WHAT WAS DONE FOR RECYCLING? UM, FOR COMPOSTING? JUST BECAUSE IT'S, IT'S A NEWER KIND OF A THING.
I THINK MOST PEOPLE SORT OF HAVE
[00:35:01]
A GIST OF, OF UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IT MEANS TO RECYCLE, BUT IT MAY NOT BE AS UNIVERSAL AS COMPOSTING MAY NOT BE.SO IS THERE ANYTHING ABOVE AND BEYOND JUST, YOU KNOW, SIGNAGE OR ANY OTHER EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS TO LET PEOPLE KNOW WHAT THEY CAN DO AND WHAT THEY SHOULD DO? WELL, THERE ARE, THERE ARE REQUIREMENTS AND IT WILL BE ADDITIONAL TO RECYCLING IN THAT THEY WILL HAVE TO EDUCATE ABOUT COMPOSTING AND HOW TO, UM, COMPOST CORRECTLY.
UM, AND IT, IT, IT ISN'T JUST SIGNAGE, IT'S ALSO MATERIALS DIRECTLY TO THE, UM, THE RESIDENTS.
UM, THAT SAID, YOU KNOW, THE, THE Z WAC DID RECOMMEND BACK, GOSH, I, I CAN'T REMEMBER, I'M LOSING TRACK OF TIME, BETTER PART OF A YEAR AGO, UM, THAT THE, THE A R R ALSO PROVIDE EDUCATION AND I CONTINUE TO THINK THAT THAT IS ESSENTIAL FOR, TO ACTUALLY GET THIS RIGHT.
UM, THEY HAVEN'T SAID THAT THEY WON'T DO IT, BUT I DON'T KNOW, MELISSA, IF YOU'VE HEARD ANYTHING MORE CURRENT, UM, YOU KNOW, THIS, WHAT'S GOING FORWARD IS JUST THE ORDINANCE UPDATES.
SO, UM, IT DOESN'T SPEAK TO WHAT THE DEPARTMENT MIGHT DO.
WELL, A R R HAS BEEN TRYING TO ADVOCATE FOR MORE EDUCATION.
SO THEY HAVE THAT ZERO WASTE BLOCK LEADER PROGRAM.
AND SO THEY DO HAVE CURRENT STAFF THAT ARE HELPING TO TRAIN NEW BLOCK LEADERS AND TO HELP PROMOTE AND, UM, EXPAND THE BLOCK LEADER PROGRAM.
BUT ESSENTIALLY BLOCK LEADERS ARE JUST EDUCATED CITIZENS WHO ARE ABLE TO INFORM THEIR NEIGHBORS ABOUT HOW TO PROPERLY RECYCLE AND COMPOST.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S THE EXTENT THAT I'VE HEARD THE ABOUT HEATHER, I SAW YOUR HAND WAS UP.
I WAS GOING TO BRING UP THE BLOCK LEADERS PROGRAM.
I THINK THEY PROBABLY ALSO COULD USE SOME LIKE PAID AMBASSADORS, BUT, YOU KNOW, UH, CHRIS, DID YOU ALSO HAVE YOUR HAND UP? UH, I WAS JUST CURIOUS, AND SORRY IF THIS WAS MENTIONED BEFORE, BUT ARE THERE, UM, COM COMPOSTING LOCATIONS AND FACILITIES, UH, LARGE ENOUGH TO I GUESS, TO COVER ALL THIS INITIATIVE AT THE MOMENT? OR IS THAT GONNA GONNA BE BILLED AS PART OF THIS WHOLE PROCESS? MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THE ANSWER IS YES, UM, BUT I THINK, YOU KNOW, I COULD IMAGINE AS IT CATCHES ON THE, THE FACILITIES MAY NEED TO EXPAND OR MAYBE NEW ONES WILL COME ONTO THE SCENE.
YOU KNOW, IT'S A LITTLE BIT OF A CHICKEN AND AND EGG SITUATION UNTIL YOU HAVE THE DEMAND, FOLKS AREN'T GOING TO, YOU KNOW, GO OUT AND BUILD NEW FACILITIES.
SO, UM, WE'LL SEE WHERE THINGS, YOU KNOW, LAND IN A FEW YEARS.
I WOULDN'T BE SURPRISED IF THERE'S, YOU KNOW, ANOTHER FACILITY PERHAPS SET UP.
I HAVE A QUESTION, UM, AND I'M SORRY IF YOU ALREADY MENTIONED THIS, I'M NOT SURE, UH, IS THIS INTENDED TO BE TOWARDS LIKE PROPERTY ADMINISTRATORS? UM, OR I'M ASKING BECAUSE LIKE WHO'S, WHO'S ACCOUNTABLE FOR, FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SOMETHING LIKE THIS? UM, IT'LL BE THE PROPERTY OWNER.
UM, I MEAN, YOU KNOW, OF COURSE THE BIGGER PROPERTIES, YOU KNOW, THERE'S USUALLY A PROPERTY MANAGER AND SO THEY'LL PROBABLY BE THE ONES ACTUALLY DOING THE WORK.
BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, THE PROPERTY OWNER IS, IS RESPONSIBLE.
UM, WELL FIRST OF ALL, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT, UH, YOU KNOW, COMMUNITY IMPACT ACTUALLY PUT OUT SOMETHING LAST YEAR I WAS LOOKING IT UP, UH, ABOUT COMPOSTING, UH, PUT IT UP SO THAT ALL MY ROOMMATES CAN REALIZE THAT HEY GUYS, WE CAN ACTUALLY COMPOST OUR PIZZA BOXES AND NOT JUST THROW 'EM AWAY.
SO, YOU KNOW, THE MORE YOU LEARN.
UM, SO IN THE AMENDMENT OR PROPOSED AMENDMENT, IT SAYS, UH, FOR PREMISES WITH FIVE OR MORE DWELLING UNITS.
SO I ASSUME THAT IF, UH, LIKE A, A PROPERTY MANAGER HAS A FOURPLEX, WHICH MAYBE COUNTS AS MULTIFAMILY, MAYBE THAT COUNTS AS SINGLE FAMILY, I'M NOT SURE, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE FOURPLEXES WOULD NOT NECESSARILY HAVE TO PROVIDE COMPOSTING THEN, OR MAYBE RECYCLING TOO.
WHAT'S THE, THE STATUS ON THAT I SUPPOSE? YEAH, SO CITY OF AUSTIN, AT LEAST IN THEORY, PROVIDES UH, TRASH RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING FOR SINGLE FAMILY DUPLEX, TRIPLEX, AND FOURPLEXES.
AND I SAY IN THEORY BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW THE NUMBER, BUT
[00:40:01]
I KNOW THAT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF FOURPLEXES THAT HAVE NOT ACTUALLY BEEN GETTING, THEY GET TRASH SERVICE.'CAUSE YOU KNOW, THAT'S KIND OF LIKE DO OR DIE, BUT THEY HAVEN'T ACTUALLY BEEN GETTING NECESSARILY, I THINK MAYBE THE RECYCLING OR COMPOSTING SERVICE, AND I DON'T TRULY UNDERSTAND IT FULLY, BUT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH DUMPSTERS VERSUS CARTS AND SPACE AND I DON'T KNOW.
UM, BUT PEOPLE HAVE COME TO WACK TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT UNDERSTANDABLY.
UM, SO HOPEFULLY THAT'S BEING ADDRESSED SOMETIME SOON.
I THINK THEY WERE ADDRESSING SOME OF THOSE PROPERTIES RECENTLY, BUT, UM, YEAH, THAT'S THE BEST I CAN SAY.
UM, YEAH, I MEAN IF THE CITY IS ALREADY PROVIDING OR SUPPOSED TO IN THEORY PROVIDE, YOU KNOW, COMPOSTING SERVICES FOR FOURPLEXES AND THEY'RE GOING TO PROVIDE COMPOSTING SERVICES FOR MULTIFAMILY GREATER THAN FOUR UNITS AND HOPEFULLY THE MISSING SERVICE GAP FOR THESE, YOU KNOW, OTHER SORT OF MULTIFAMILY PROPERTIES WILL LIKE ACTUALLY HAPPEN.
ONE MORE THING, UM, JUST BECAUSE I LIVE IN A MULTIFAMILY, SO I KIND OF IMAGINE A PICTURE HOW THINGS CAN GO WRONG.
UM, SO SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS IN SOME COMMUNITIES WHEN THEY'RE MAYBE TOO LARGE, WHAT THEY HAVE IS, OR WHAT THE BUSINESS THE BUILDING MANAGER HAS IS LIKE AN ADDITIONAL SERVICE THAT PICKS UP TRASH AND, UM, IT'S REALLY FOSSY THE EXPLANATION OF WHAT THEY DO WITH THE RECYCLING, UM, BECAUSE IT'S SEEMS LIKE IT'S OPTIONAL.
UM, OR LIKE, THERE'S NOT REALLY LIKE A LOT OF EXPLANATION ABOUT RECYCLING.
UM, AND IN ADDITION TO THAT, AT LEAST IN MY COMMUNITY, AND I THINK THAT'S IN ANY COMMUNITY THAT HAS LARGE ENOUGH THAT NEED, THAT THEY NEED THAT SERVICE IS IN AN ADDED COST FOR THE TENANTS AND FOR THE RESIDENTS.
SO I CAN VISUALIZE, AND I MEAN A WAY IN WHICH AT THE END, THAT WHICH WHOM, WHO ENDS UP PAYING FOR THE RECYCLING AND THE COMPOSTING NOW WOULD BE THE TENANTS AT THE END.
AND I GUESS THAT'S NOT THE INTENT.
UM, I WONDER IF THERE'S ANY PROVISIONS FOR, YOU KNOW, AVOIDING THAT TO HAPPEN AND ADDING COSTS TO, SO YOU, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT LIKE THE DOOR TO DOOR VALET TRASH SERVICES? UM, YEAH, I MEAN I KNOW SOME COMMUNITIES PROVIDE THAT AND I THINK THAT I, I WOULD NEED TO DOUBLE CHECK.
I THINK THIS WOULD IMPLY LIKE IF THEY'RE PROVIDING THAT FOR TRASH, THEN THEY WOULD NEED TO PROVIDE IT FOR COMPOSTING AS WELL.
'CAUSE THE WHOLE IDEA IS THAT IT'S LIKE EQUALLY CONVENIENT TO COMPOST IS NOT, UM, I GUESS WHAT THEY ARE CHARGING FOR THAT.
I, I DON'T THINK THAT ENDED UP MAKING IT INTO THE, UM, I DON'T THINK THERE'S ANYTHING IN THERE ABOUT, ABOUT THE FEES.
UM, I MEAN DEFINITELY VALET IS IS MORE EXPENSIVE.
I THINK IT'S USUALLY AT LIKE, KIND OF HIGHER END PROPERTIES.
BUT IF YOU KNOW DIFFERENT, YOU KNOW, I, YEAH, I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S, ARE YOU ASKING LIKE IF, IF PROPERTIES CAN BE STOPPED FROM PROVIDING VALET SERVICE OR LIKE, I JUST SEE THAT AS AN ADDED CO LIKE, UH, THE PROPERTIES THAT HAVE LIVED THAT THEY HAVE VALET IS NOT AN OPTION.
LIKE IT'S, YEAH, YOU HAVE TO DO IT
SO EVEN IF YOU PUT YOUR TRASH WHEREVER YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO.
SO I GUESS IF, IF THIS IS GOING TO THEN NOW INCLUDE COMPOSTING, I CAN SEE HOW THAT WOULD INCREASE COST, WHICH WOULD INCREASE COST TO RESIDENTS.
UM, YEAH, I MEAN UNINTENTIONALLY, I MEAN UNINTENDEDLY, YOU KNOW.
I THINK IF YOU, IF YOU, IF YOU'RE SOMEWHERE THAT HAS VALET THAT, UM, I, I MEAN THAT SOUNDS LOGICAL.
UM, WHAT THE PILOT SHOWED WAS IF YOU WEREN'T USING VALET, THAT THE COST WAS LIKE VERY MINIMAL.
I THINK IT WAS LIKE $3 AND 50 CENTS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT PER UNIT.
SO, YOU KNOW, THAT'S, THAT'S PRETTY MINIMAL.
BUT YEAH, VALET IS, IS MORE, I, SORRY, I DON'T HAVE A
YEAH, I WAS JUST TRYING TO SEE IF THERE, IF THERE'S POSSIBILITY TO ADD A PROVISION TO, YOU KNOW, HELP RESIDENTS NOT HAVING TO, UM, GO THROUGH AN ACUTE INCREASE OF, OF SERVICE THAT, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE AT THE END WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THIS IS REALLY THE VALETS BECAUSE THE WAY THE BUILDING WAS DESIGNED WAS NOT REALLY EFFICIENT WITH THE TRASH.
[00:45:01]
SO YEAH.SO IT'S NOT THE, AND NOW THIS IS A NEW EDIT THAT IT'S NOT THOUGHT OUT FOR THE DESIGN OF THE BUILDING, EVEN IF IT'S LIKE HIGH END OR NOT.
SO IT'S JUST, YEAH, IT'S JUST ARE THESE IN LIKE KIND OF HIGH-RISE STYLE BUILDINGS THAT YOU'VE BEEN IN OR NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.
I'M JUST CURIOUS THAT THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT YEAH, I'VE HEARD ABOUT.
UH, I DON'T, I THINK THE, THE ORDINANCE IS SILENT ON THAT.
I DO KNOW THAT VALET IS, IT'S OUT THERE, BUT IT'S NOT.
IT'S, IT'S A SMALL, IT'S A SMALL SHARE COMPARED TO THE, THE NON VALET.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? IF NOT, UM, WE CAN, UH, UH, MY HOPE WOULD BE THAT WE CAN HAVE A MOTION TO RECOMMEND THIS, UH, ORDINANCE.
I BELIEVE IT'S GOING TO COUNCIL IN ABOUT A MONTH, I THINK ON SEPTEMBER 21ST.
THAT WAS HEATHER AND ANNA, RIGHT? YES.
WE'VE GOT A MOTION AND A SECOND.
ALL THOSE IN FAVOR, PLEASE RAISE YOUR HAND.
[7. Discussion and Possible Recommendation to Council on Priority policy and program recommendations from JSC working groups on Austin Climate Equity Plan Implementation. ]
MOVE ON TO OUR RECOMMENDATIONS FROM OUR WORKING GROUPS.UM, I'M, I'M GONNA SAY TO START THAT, I KNOW WE SAID WE WERE GONNA VOTE ON THESE TODAY.
I ALSO KNOW THAT I, NONE OF OUR WORKING GROUPS CIRCULATED THESE IN ADVANCE, AND THAT THAT INCLUDES
SO, UM, NOT THROWING ANY SHADE THERE, BUT I THINK THE REALITY IS WE, WE DIDN'T GIVE EACH OTHER, UH, REALLY MUCH, UH, WELL ANY TIME TO REVIEW.
SO, UM, I'M GONNA SUGGEST THAT WE GO THROUGH THEM AND, UM, FOLKS, YOU KNOW, ASK ANY QUESTIONS AND, UM, YOU KNOW, WE CAN DISCUSS AND, AND, AND BRING THEM UP NEXT MONTH SO THAT, THAT EVERYBODY CAN FEEL KIND OF FULLY COMFORTABLE WITH THOSE.
UM, BUT IF, IF ANYBODY HAS STRONG DISSENT TO THAT PROPOSAL, CERTAINLY, CERTAINLY WILLING TO HEAR IT.
BUT THAT'S MY SUGGESTION AS WE GO INTO THIS JUST SO EVERYBODY CAN FEEL A LITTLE LESS, UH, MAYBE TENSION ABOUT UNDERSTANDING AND NOT HAVING TO GAIN ALL UNDERSTANDING AND VOTE RIGHT AT THE SAME TIME.
LET'S START WITH TRANSPORTATION.
CHRIS, DID YOU SEND J IN? HOW DO YOU WANNA DO THIS
SO I CAN EITHER LIKE, SHARE THAT OR I CAN GO THROUGH THEM, UH, VERBALLY, UH, WITHOUT SHARING.
I, I THINK, I THINK WE DO WANNA SHARE.
AND JUST FOR THE, THE FOLKS, UH, RECORDING THIS, THIS IS ITEM NUMBER SEVEN THAT WE'RE TAKING UP RIGHT NOW.
UM, YEAH, IF YOU CAN BOTH SEND THAT TO ROHAN TO SEND TO ALL OF US, AND IF YOU OKAY.
THAT'S NOT REALLY HIM, SEND IT TO ZACH.
AND THEN YOU CAN ALSO SHARE ON YOUR SCREEN IF, IF THAT WORKS.
UM, DO YOU RODEO, DO YOU MIND SENDING THAT TO ZACH WHILE I, WHILE I SHARE THIS? YES.
OR HEATHER, CAN YOU GUYS SEE THE SCREEN? YEAH.
SO, UM, SO I'LL START WITH, UH, WE, WE HAVE THE TRANSPORTATION ELECTRIFICATION, UH, RE POTENTIAL RECOMMENDATIONS, AND THEN WE HAVE SOME OF THE LAND USE ONES.
SO I CAN GO THROUGH THE TRANSPORTATION ELECTRIFICATION FIRST, AND THEN WE CAN, UH, EITHER HEATHER OR RODIO, IF YOU GUYS WANNA JUMP INTO THE OTHER ONES.
I THINK THAT'LL BE, THAT'LL BE GREAT.
UM, SO THESE FIRST THREE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE, LET ME PUT MY NOTES SIDE BY SIDE.
[00:50:01]
ARE ONE BEFORE I, I KIND OF GO, UH, MORE DEEPER INTO THE, UM, THE FIRST ONE IS ABOUT DOING, UM, UH, EV COMMUNITY, UH, NEEDS ASSESSMENT.UH, THE FIRST ONE IS, IS IN REGARDS TO THE INCENTIVES FOR BUYING AND LEASING EVS, BUT TARGETED ONLY TO LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES.
AND THEN THE THIRD ONE IS, UM, TALKING ABOUT BUILDING A CO COALITION WHERE WE FOCUS ON PROVIDING EDUCATION ON THE EV PROCESS, UH, ALSO DISCLOSING INCENTIVES AND ALSO INCREASING COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, UM, ESPECIALLY TARGETED TO EXCLUDED GROUPS AND PROVIDING CAREER AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOCUSING ON EVS AND THE EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE.
SO THAT'S KIND OF LIKE AN OVERVIEW OF THOSE, BUT STARTING WITH THE FIRST ONE.
SO THIS ONE IS, UH, ALIGNED WITH THE GOAL NUMBER ONE IN STRATEGY ONE OF TRANSPORTATION, UH, ELECTRIFICATION.
SO THE, THE IDEA HERE IS, YOU KNOW, THAT THE, THE, THE PLAN WAS TALKING ABOUT, UH, DOING THIS ASSESSMENT, LIKE KIND OF LIKE A, AS A FIRST STEP TO IDENTIFY THE INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN MOBILITY CHALLENGES, UH, TRANSPORTATION, ELECTRIFICATION, UH, RACIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE.
AND THAT THE ASSESSMENT WILL INFORM AN EV ADOPTION GROWTH PLAN THAT WILL BE SUPPORTED BY ENHANCED COMMUNICATION EFFORTS AND INCENTIVES.
AND THEN WE HAVE SOME, SOME NOTES HERE THAT, UH, I REALLY LIKE THAT, THAT RODIO ADDED, UH, BASED ON SOME OF THE WORKING GROUPS THAT WE HAD DISCUSSIONS.
AND THEN I THINK HE HAD SOME, SOME ADDITIONAL, UH, DISCUSSIONS AS WELL WITH, UH, UH, GAVA.
SO, UH, SO DOING THIS ASSESSMENT, BUT FOCUSING ON AREAS SUCH AS THE EAST, UH, EASTERN CRESCENT, UH, ROMBERG AND DO DOVE SPRINGS.
AND ALSO, UH, MAKING THIS ASSESSMENT SO THAT IT BUILDS ON, UH, PREVIOUS COM COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT FEEDBACK, UH, REGARDING THE, THE MOBILITY CHALLENGES IN THESE RE REGIONS AND CONSIDER OTHER ELECTRIC MOBILITY OPTIONS SUCH AS BUSES, SHUTTLES, AND, AND CAR SHARING.
SO I'LL, I'LL STOP THERE AND SEE IF ANYBODY HAS ANY THOUGHTS OR, OR COMMENTS ON THIS ONE POSSIBLE FOR YOU.
IS IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO MAKE THIS A LITTLE BIT BIGGER? SURE.
IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH? THAT'S GREAT, THANK YOU.
I GUESS, UM, JUST OUTTA CURIOSITY, I DO LIKE THE SUGGESTIONS ABOUT THE EASTERN CRESCENT, YOU KNOW, THE RUNDBERG SLASH FIVE THREE AREA, UH, DOVE SPRINGS, YOU KNOW, UM, YOU KNOW, IF WE THINK ABOUT THE METRO, CERTAINLY YOU WOULD THINK ABOUT PLACES LIKE, YOU KNOW, DELL VALLEY ALSO, UM, YOU KNOW, UM, THAT WHOLE AREA.
I MEAN, IF YOU GET INTO THE OTHER COUNTIES, AND THAT'S JUST LIKE A WHOLE OTHER CAN OF WORMS TOO.
UM, BUT I GUESS, UH, WE WERE JUST THINKING ABOUT KEEPING IT TO CITY LIMITS SO FAR.
UH, YEAH, I THINK, I THINK THAT WAS, I THINK THAT'S, THAT'S THE IDEA.
UM, YEAH, I'M NOT SURE IF ANYBODY ARE THE, AND, AND I GUESS FOR, FOR RODIO, WERE THESE KIND OF THE AREAS THAT WE WERE DISCUSSING IN ONE OF THE, THE WORKING GROUPS I CAN REMEMBER? OR WAS IT IN ONE OF THE CONVERSATIONS THAT, THAT YOU HAD SEPARATELY? YEAH, IT WAS PART OF THE CONVERSATIONS THAT I'VE HAD, UM, WITH GAVA, BUT ALSO, YOU KNOW, THERE'S BEEN PREVIOUS ASSESSMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED THAT SHOW THAT, YOU KNOW, IT'S THE SAME NEIGHBORHOODS THAT ARE FACING MOBILITY CHALLENGES, BUT GOOD POINT ABOUT OUTSIDE OF THE CITY LIMITS, GREATER METRO.
UM, I MEAN, THE THINKING WOULD BE THAT THIS WOULD BE LIKE A CITY LED EFFORT, UM, BUT IT SHOULD BE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CAP METRO, WHICH WOULD THEN TOUCH ON
[00:55:01]
PLACES OUTSIDE OF THE CITY.BUT THIS IS A, I THINK THIS IS LIKE A STARTING POINT, RIGHT? YEAH.
BECAUSE I GUESS LIKE THINKING BIG PICTURE, UM, 'CAUSE THE, THE, ALSO THE CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN, I MEAN, IT'S, IT'S MOSTLY FOCUSED ON THE CITY, BUT I THINK THERE ARE SOME, SOME, UH, SOME OF THE STRATEGIES THAT ARE ALSO LOOKING AT OUTSIDE OF THE CITY AND WORKING WITH WHAT, SO I GUESS, YEAH, IT MIGHT, MIGHT NOT BE LIMITED COMPLETELY TO, TO THE CITY LIMITS.
I THINK IT'S JUST, BUT I LIKE THE IDEA OF FOCUSING, MAYBE NARROW IT DOWN FIRST.
I, I THINK AS LONG AS IT'S AN AREA THAT, UM, THAT THE CITY STAFF CAN TAKE ACTION, LIKE MAKE OUR RECOMMENDATION SOMETHING THAT IS ACTIONABLE BY THE CITY BECAUSE THAT'S WHO WE MM-HMM.
CHRIS, WHAT, WHAT WAS THE STAT, LIKE WHEN YOU WERE LOOKING INTO IT? WHAT WAS THE STATUS OF THESE ITEMS? UM, LIKE EITHER IN THE DASHBOARD OR ACCORDING TO FOLKS YOU TALKED TO? YEAH, SO I'M NOT SURE IF I'M GONNA REMEMBER EXACTLY HANNAH AT THIS POINT, BUT I THINK FOR THIS ONE, UM, WE WERE TALKING ABOUT WITH, UH, AUSTIN ENERGY ABOUT THIS.
SO THIS, THIS IS, THIS HAS BEEN ONE OF THE, ONE OF THE, I GUESS THE, THE CHALLENGES THAT THEY REC THAT THEY POINTED OUT FOR THIS ONE SPECIFICALLY, BECAUSE THEY WERE SAYING THAT I, AT THE END OF THE DAY, LIKE IT'S A LITTLE BIT HARD TO DEFINE EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE ASSESSING, YOU KNOW, IN SOME WAY.
LIKE WHAT IS THE SCOPE REALLY? WHAT IS THE SCOPE THAT IS GONNA BE HELPFUL ENOUGH TO REALLY, YOU KNOW, LIKE HELPFUL, LIKE HELP YOU WITH THESE STRATEGIES KIND OF THING.
AND THEN AS THIS LANDSCAPE IS CHANGING SO MUCH IN TERMS OF EVS, YOU KNOW, LIKE HOW DO YOU MAKE IT SO THAT IT'S GONNA HELP YOU IN THE LONG RUN KIND OF THING.
SO JU JUST, JUST IDENTIFYING THAT SCOPE IS CHALLENGING AT THE MOMENT, AND THAT'S ONE OF THE BIGGEST BARRIER THAT NO MUCH HAS BEEN DONE AT THE MOMENT.
SO, YOU KNOW, THAT'S WHY WE'RE THINKING THAT MAYBE LIKE ALLOCATING FUNDING TO STAFF OR, OR TO A CONSULTING SPECIFICALLY FOCUS ON THIS, UM, COULD BE, COULD BE GOOD.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WITH, OBVIOUSLY WITH A FOCUS ON SOME OF THE PREVIOUS ASSESSMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN DONE AND, AND FOCUSING ON, ON SPECIFIC NARROWED AREAS THAT NEED IT THE MOST.
SO IT'S, IT'S ALMOST LIKE THEY NEED SOME TYPE OF LIKE EJ SCREEN OR LIKE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, LIKE ROADMAP FOR EQUITY IN EVS OR SOMETHING.
IN ADDITION TO THE MONEY AND TIME TO ACTUALLY DO THAT.
I MEAN, ONE THING THAT I, THAT I, THAT I WOULD NOTE IS, UH, WE DID HAVE, UH, LARRY, UH, I CAN'T REMEMBER LARRY'S LAST NAME, BUT, UH, HE, HE WASN'T OUR PREVIOUS WORKING GROUP.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HE WAS A LITTLE BIT, SEEMED TO BE FRUSTRATED ABOUT IS THAT THERE SEEMS TO KEEP ON BEING, UH, YOU KNOW, ASSESSMENTS AND COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENTS, STUFF LIKE THAT.
AND THEN THE ACTION IMPLEMENTATION NEVER HAPPENS.
SO JUST SOMETHING TO, TO THROW OUT THERE.
I MEAN, I STILL THINK THAT AN ASSESSMENT IS NECESSARY, UH, BUT JUST WANTED TO KINDA SHARE HIS FEEDBACK FROM THE LAST MEETING THAT WE HAD.
YEAH, I, I THINK HE, HE'S BROUGHT THAT UP AT OUR, AT OUR WORKING GROUP, AND I THINK IT'S A GREAT POINT, AND I THINK IT'S SOMETHING FOR US TO, TO PUSH PEOPLE ON.
AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, HAVING SAT WITH THAT, UH, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, I THINK THE QUESTION IS LIKE, OKAY, WELL WHO, WHO'S GONNA DO THE WORK, RIGHT? LIKE, YEAH, WE NEED TO GET THIS IMPLEMENTATION DONE, BUT WHO, WHO IS GOING TO DO THAT? AND HOW, HOW, HOW DO WE GET THEM THE RESOURCES THEY NEED TO DO THAT? AND SO THAT'S KIND OF WHY I WAS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND, IS THIS ONE OF THESE LIKE HAVEN'T HAD TIME, DON'T HAVE THE EXPERTISE, NEED MONEY TYPE OF THINGS MM-HMM.
SO I GUESS MY COMMENT IS, IT KIND OF TIES INTO THAT A LITTLE BIT.
I WOULD SUGGEST TAKING THE WORDS, ALLOCATE FUNDING OUT OF THAT.
REMEMBER THESE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE GONNA GO FIRST TO THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE AND, AND TO
[01:00:01]
CITY COUNCIL.AND WHEN THEY SEE ALLOCATE FUNDING, THEY'RE PROBABLY GONNA THINK, WELL, WE JUST APPROVED A BUDGET.
SO I GUESS THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT FOR NEXT YEAR.
UM, AND IF AUSTIN ENERGY IS THE BODY TO DO THIS, WHICH SEEMS LIKE THEY WOULD BE, SINCE THEY'RE THE HOME FOR ALL THE KIND OF OTHER EV UM, WORK, THEY, THEY'RE THE POLAR OPPOSITE OF THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY.
THEY
SO THEY, THEY HAVE I'M SURE FUNDING THAT THEY CAN DO THIS WITH.
SO I WOULD JUST SAY LIKE, DO THE THING
SAY WHO YOU WANT TO DO THE THING AND THAT WOULD BE AUSTIN ENERGY AND FORGET ABOUT THE ALLOCATE FUNDING BECAUSE THEN IT WILL BE, UM, I THINK MORE READILY PERCEIVED AS A THING THAT CAN BE DONE NOW AS OPPOSED TO AFTER THE NEXT BUDGET.
UH, IS, IS THAT LIKE THE, I MEAN, IT, IT, YEAH, IT SEEMS LIKE OBVIOUSLY ALSO ENERGY SHOULD BE THE ENTITY DOING IT, BUT I'M WONDERING LIKE, WOULD THAT BE THE ONLY ENTITY THAT YOU THINK SHOULD BE TAKING KIND OF THE MAIN LEAD, OR SHOULD IT BE ALSO IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OTHER ENTITIES? I MEAN, I THINK RODRIGO BROUGHT UP A GOOD POINT WITH CAP METRO.
I MEAN, WHEN WE TALK, TALK ABOUT ELECTRIC MOBILITY OPTIONS SUCH AS BUSES, SHUTTLES, I MEAN, MAYBE NOT CAR SHARING, BUT I MEAN, HEY, WE CAN ALWAYS SET NEW PRECEDENTS, RIGHT? UM, I MEAN THAT'S STUFF THAT CAP METRO ALREADY DOES CIRCULATORS, I THINK I REMEMBER SEEING THAT SOMEWHERE.
UM, SO THAT STUFF THAT CAP METRO ALREADY DOES.
SO I THINK CERTAINLY WOULD BE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THEM, IF NOT, YOU KNOW.
I THINK IT'S PUT WHOEVER YOU THINK NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED, BUT I, OKAY.
AGAIN, THINKING ABOUT WHO'S GONNA HAVE THE FUNDING AVAILABLE TO BE THE LEAD ON IT, UM, RIGHT, RIGHT.
AND I'M NOT TRYING TO LIKE, YOU KNOW, MAKE LIGHT OF THE FUNDING, BUT IT'S JUST, YOU KNOW, REALITY.
LIKE SOME DEPARTMENTS HAVE ONE MORE THAN OTHERS.
SO YOU WOULD SAY, LIKE FOR THE RECOMMENDATIONS, LIKE FOR NUMBER ONE YOU JUST SAY, YOU KNOW, AUSTIN ENERGY WILL, YOU KNOW, DEFINE AND CONDUCT AN ENERGY WHATEVER, AND THAT'S HOW YOU WOULD PHRASE IT.
YOU KNOW, THE RECOMMENDATION IS YES, AUSTIN ENERGY DEFINE AND CONDUCT.
AND, AND MAYBE IT'S AUSTIN ENERGY IN, IN COLLABORATION WITH CAP METRO AND YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE THE TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT SHOULD PROBABLY HAVE A ROLE IN THIS, I WOULD THINK.
UM, AND MAYBE THEY HAVE FUNDING TOO, I DON'T KNOW.
BUT, UM, I, I THINK THAT CERTAINLY BETWEEN THOSE ENTITIES, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO COME UP WITH THE MONEY TO DO THIS WORK, I WOULD THINK.
SO, SO NOT, NOT, NOT PROPOSING LIKE A SPECIFIC AMOUNT FOR IT.
DO YOU THINK LIKE THAT'S THAT'S A GOOD IDEA OR WELL, OUR INTENTION SHOULD WE, OUR INTENTION IS TO, TO TO, RIGHT, RIGHT.
NOT RIGHT NOW, BUT, YOU KNOW, WITH THIS ROUND OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO BE MAKING KIND OF POLICY AND PROGRAMMATIC RECOMMENDATIONS, WE'RE THEN GONNA, YOU KNOW, IN LINE WITH THE, UM, SCHEDULE THAT THE CITY HAS FOR, FOR BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS, WHICH LAST YEAR I THINK WAS BY THE END OF MARCH, WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY'LL DO THIS YEAR, UM, MAKE SPECIFIC BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS.
AND SO THAT DOESN'T MEAN THERE'S NOT OVERLAP, BUT I, I WOULD JUST SUGGEST THAT WE MIGHT BE BEST SERVED BY KEEPING THOSE SEPARATE SO IT'S CLEAR LIKE WHERE WE'RE ASKING FOR NEW MONEY THAT ISN'T ALREADY IN THE BUDGET AND WHERE WE'RE ASKING FOR THE CITY TO DO THINGS WITH EXISTING RESOURCES.
ANY OTHER THOUGHTS ON, ON THIS ONE, OR CAN WE MOVE TO NUMBER TWO? ALL RIGHT, SO I'LL MOVE WITH NUMBER TWO AND I DON'T SEE ANY KIND MY SCREEN WITH A HANDS UP.
SO IF, UH, ANYBODY HAS ANY, ANY QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO SPEAK UP.
UH, SO NUMBER TWO, UH, PROVIDE CITYWIDE INCENTIVES FOR BUYING AND LEASING AVS TARGETED ONLY TO LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES.
SO, UH, THIS ONE IS IN LINE WITH GOAL NUMBER
[01:05:01]
ONE AND STRATEGY TWO.SO THE, THE THOUGHT PROCESS, UH, BEHIND THIS ONE IS THAT THERE'S, THERE'S ALREADY GOOD PROGRESS IN, IN TERMS OF, ESPECIALLY IN TERMS OF FEDERAL, I THINK STATEWIDE INCENTIVES.
THERE'S, THERE'S A T C U I THINK LIKE INCENTIVE, BUT IT, IT GETS KEPT, I THINK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR, BUT ESPECIALLY WITH A FEDERAL INCENTIVE.
THERE'S, THERE'S GOOD PROGRESS, UH, BUT THERE'S NOTHING THAT SEEMS TO BE TARGETED, UH, SPECIFICALLY TO LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES.
SO, YOU KNOW, WE WERE THINKING THAT TO LEVEL THE PLAIN FIELDS, UH, PLAIN FIELD, LIKE WE SHOULD TARGET A CITYWIDE, UM, INCENTIVE THAT ONLY FOCUSES ON LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES.
UH, BECAUSE ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE WERE DISCUSSING WITH AUSTIN ENERGY TOO IS THAT IF YOU MAKE THE INCENTIVE CITYWIDE INCENTIVE THAT IS BASICALLY AVAILABLE TO ANYBODY, THEN YOU GET SITUATIONS WHERE MORE THE HIGH INCOME GROUPS THAT ARE MORE KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT THE WHOLE, LIKE EV WORLD, THEY'RE THE ONES SUPPLYING, AND THEN YOU LEAVE THE LOW INCOME COMMITTEES WITHOUT GETTING THE INCENTIVES.
SO, UH, AUSTIN ENERGY WAS ALSO ON BOARD WITH THIS ONE TO, TO TARGET IT TO ONLY LOW, LOW INCOME, UH, UH, PEOPLE.
ANY, ANY THOUGHTS ON, ON THAT ONE? WELL, AND I GUESS THE OTHER THING TO ADD IS THAT, YOU KNOW, LIKE RIGHT NOW THE, THE, THE EV COMMUNITY TENDS TO BE MORE THE HIGH INCOME COMMUNITY.
SO THAT'S ANOTHER REASON THAT IF YOU TARGET, UH, LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES, YOU'RE ALSO CREATING THAT, UM, EXTRA AND ACCELERATION OF EVS IN, IN, IN THE COMMUNITIES.
UM, CHRIS, IF, IF WE LIKE JO TAKING INSPIRATION FROM WHAT CABO WAS SAYING, LIKE IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS IS DIRECTED AT, SPECIFICALLY AT AUSTIN ENERGY, WHO WE THINK MIGHT BE THE MOST LIKELY TO HAVE BUDGET.
UM, I MIGHT THROW OUT, YOU KNOW, JUST SWITCHING UP THE LANGUAGE OR MAYBE THE MEANING TO SAY LIKE, AUSTIN ENERGY WILL CREATE AN INCENTIVE PROGRAM SPECIFICALLY FOR CAPPED CUSTOMERS FOR BUYING AND LEASING.
THAT'S A GOOD, YEAH, THAT'S A GOOD THOUGHT.
AND THEN HARRIS, IF YOU HAVE A
I JUST, UM, WANTED SOME CLARITY AROUND THE LANGUAGE.
I THINK WHEN I ORIGINALLY READ IT AND READ TARGETING, I WAS THINKING ABOUT MARKETING.
UM, AND IN, UM, THE CONVERSATION, IT SOUNDS LIKE IT IS A LITTLE BIT OF BOTH, A LITTLE BIT OF MARKETING TO CERTAIN COMMUNITIES, AND THEN ALSO HAVING MAYBE, YOU KNOW, A CAP OR SOME SORT OF, UM, UM, SOMETHING THAT WE PUT OUT WHERE ONLY CERTAIN COMMUNITIES ARE ABLE TO APPLY.
SO JUST MAKING THAT CLEAR, THOSE CLARIFICATIONS AROUND THE LANGUAGE FOR THAT.
SO I GUESS CAN, CAN YOU, CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT AGAIN, STEPHANIE, IF YOU DON'T MIND? YEAH, IT, UM, I WAS JUST SAYING THAT WHEN I READ THIS AND I SEE TARGETED, I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT ABOUT MARKETING, UM, OKAY.
TO CERTAIN COMMUNITIES AND IN THE CONVERSATION, IT SOUNDS LIKE, YES, THAT IS ONE OF THE THINGS, OH, I SEE.
WE DEFINITELY WANNA MARKET TO CERTAIN COMMUNITIES, BUT ALSO, UM, MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE, YOU KNOW, MAKING SURE IT'S ONLY AVAILABLE TO, TO CERTAIN COMMUNITIES AS WELL.
UM, I LIKE WHAT WE'RE DOING BY TRYING TO, YOU KNOW, SORT OF DIVERSIFY THE EV CUSTOMER BASE, UM, AS FAR AS LIKE LOW INCOME, I GUESS.
LIKE, ARE WE TALKING LIKE, YOU KNOW, SOME KIND OF SPECIFIC NUMBER HERE, LIKE 60 TO 80% OF LIKE MEDIAN, YOU KNOW, HOUSEHOLD, UH, YOU KNOW, INCOME OR SOMETHING LIKE, UH, SORT OF WHAT NUMBER ARE WE THINKING ABOUT HERE? BECAUSE ULTIMATELY THAT'S PROBABLY HOW IT'LL BE IMPLEMENTED, RIGHT? YEAH, THAT'S, THAT'S A REALLY GOOD POINT.
AND I WAS ACTUALLY GONNA, I THINK THAT'S WHY I WAS TRYING TO SUGGEST THAT WE SPECIFICALLY CALL OUT CAP CUSTOMERS, BECAUSE THAT'S SOMETHING THAT LIKE, WE DON'T HAVE TO MAKE UP WHAT THAT DEFINITION IS RIGHT NOW, IF YOU THINK IT DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH.
YEAH, I MEAN, THAT'S, THAT'S MY FOLLOW UP QUESTION.
LIKE, WITHOUT REALLY HAVING KIND OF STUDIED THIS A LOT, LIKE, IS THAT SOMETHING WE'RE JUST COMFORTABLE WITH OR, UM, DO WE WANNA NARROW THAT DOWN EVEN MORE? I MEAN, MAYBE IT COULD BE SOMETHING THAT'S ROLLED INTO THE STUDY THAT'S IN NUMBER ONE, OR THE ASSESSMENT, I MEAN,
[01:10:02]
HMM.I GUESS THE ONLY THING THAT I'M A LITTLE BIT, THE ONLY, THE ONLY RISK WITH THAT WOULD BE THAT IF FOR SOME REASON THE FIRST ONE DOESN'T GO THROUGH, OR IT, IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME, THEN THIS, THIS INCENTIVE, YOU KNOW, MIGHT TAKE A WHILE TO HAPPEN.
SO, IS IS THERE, IS THERE LIKE A POTENTIAL RISK YEAH.
OF THAT? I GUESS MY 2 CENTS ON THE WHAT UNIVERSE OF, OF PEOPLE TO TARGET, AND I WOULD SUGGEST REPLACING THE WORD COMMUNITIES WITH RESIDENTS, BECAUSE INCENTIVES WILL GO TO AN INDIVIDUALS, NOT TO A COMMUNITY.
UM, IT IS, YOU KNOW, I APPRECIATE MAYBE THE, THE INSTINCT TO GO TO THE LOWEST INCOME, BUT THOSE FOLKS VERY WELL LIKELY MIGHT NOT EVEN HAVE A CAR OR BE LOOKING TO PURCHASE A CAR.
AND, AND AN INCENTIVE WON'T, LIKE, IT WON'T, IT WON'T BE ENOUGH TO CHANGE IT, RIGHT? LIKE, A LOT OF TIMES, LIKE JUST THE COST OF INSURANCE IS LIKE A BARRIER TO, TO CAR OWNERSHIP.
UM, STILL, THERE'S STILL A, A LARGE UNIVERSE THERE THAT PROBABLY AREN'T CURRENTLY IN THE MARKET FOR AN EV BECAUSE OF COST.
SO I, I WOULD SUGGEST GOING HIGHER THAN CAP WOULD PROBABLY BE APPROPRIATE WITH THIS.
BUT THAT'S, YOU KNOW, JUST MY TAKE.
AND I WOULD ALSO ENCOURAGE YOU TO MAYBE SPECIFY FOR NEW AND USED VEHICLES.
RODRIGO, DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD? YEAH, I THINK, UM, ANOTHER PART OF THE CONVERSATION DURING OUR WORKING GROUP WHEN WE WERE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION ABOUT, UH, AN INCENTIVES PROGRAM IS, UM, ALSO PROVIDING SOME KIND OF LIKE NAVIGATION HELP.
BECAUSE THERE, THE IDEA WOULD BE THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, THERE'S LOW TO MIDDLE INCOME RESIDENTS WHO MAYBE ARE INTERESTED IN EVS, BUT FOR EXAMPLE, THEY MAY NOT KNOW HOW TO TAP INTO THE NEW FEDERAL, UM, RIGHT.
YOU KNOW, THE NEW FEDERAL, UH, REBATES OR TAX CREDITS.
AND, AND THE IDEA WOULD BE TO STACK THINGS SO LIKE THEY COULD TAP INTO A FEDERAL INCENTIVE, A STATE INCENTIVE, AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT, THERE WOULD BE A CITY INCENTIVE THAT'S ONLY FOR A CERTAIN INCOME, YOU KNOW, BELOW A CERTAIN INCOME THRESHOLD.
SO THERE WOULD NEED TO BE SOME KIND OF NAVIGATION HELP AROUND THAT.
AND I THINK MAYBE LIKE NUMBER THREE IN SOME WAY COULD POTENTIALLY ASSIST WITH THAT, UM, JUST BECAUSE YEAH, NUMBER THREE IS MORE, YOU KNOW, THAT CREATING THAT, UH, EDUCATION AND CLARIFICATION ABOUT EVS AND THE WHOLE PROCESS KIND OF THING.
SO, I MEAN, WE CAN CONSIDER, YOU KNOW, POTENTIALLY LIKE TYING THOSE TWO TOGETHER OR, YOU KNOW, JUST THE FACT THAT WE'RE PROPOSING BOTH, UM, JUST KIND OF MAKING, MAKING THAT HAPPEN.
I THINK, I THINK THAT THE, THAT EDUCATION PORTION ABOUT THE INCENTIVES IS, IS VERY IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY FOR LOWER INCOME COMMUNITIES THAT TEND TO NOT BE AS INFORMED, I THINK WITH, WITH THESE KIND OF INCENTIVES.
ANY OTHER, SORRY, JOHN ON, DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR HAND UP? IT'S, IT'S LIKE THINGS POP UP AND THEN THEY DISAPPEAR.
YEAH, NO, I, I HAD TURNED IT OFF.
'CAUSE I THINK MY, MY THOUGHT WAS THE SAME THING ABOUT LOOKING AT NUMBER THREE AND IT, YOU KNOW, IT DOES SAY THAT IN THERE ABOUT, UH, AWARENESS ABOUT AVAILABLE INCENTIVES.
SHOULD WE MOVE TO NUMBER THREE NOW SINCE IT'S KIND OF WHAT WE'RE DISCUSSING? YEAH.
YEAH, SO THIS ONE, I MEAN, YEAH, WE WE'RE KIND OF TOUCHING IT ON NOW, BUT THIS ONE IS, IS AROUND CREATING A,
[01:15:01]
A COALITION AND, AND YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE FEEDBACK THAT WE WERE GETTING FROM, UM, CAMERON FROM AUSTIN ENERGY AND THE, AND THE LATEST WORKING GROUP IS THAT, YOU KNOW, YOU DEFINITELY WANNA, IF YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT REACHING OUT TO THE COMMUNITY AND, AND, YOU KNOW, EDUCATING PEOPLE AND, AND, AND THINGS LIKE THAT, YOU, YOU WANNA BE DOING THAT THROUGH ORGANIZATIONS THAT ALREADY HAVE TRUST IN THE COMMUNITY.YOU KNOW, YOU DON'T WANT TO JUST KIND OF GO OUT THERE AND, AND SAY KINDA WHAT'S, WHAT'S, WHAT'S BEST FOR THAT FOR THEM, KIND OF THING.
SO, UM, YEAH, SO WORKING WITH ORGANIZATIONS AND, AND, AND ALSO LOCAL AMBASSADORS THAT ROD RICO ADDED THERE THAT ALREADY HAVE TRUST IN COMMUNITY TO PROVIDE EDUCATION ON CLARIFYING THE EV CHARGING PROCESS, UH, RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT AVAILABLE INCENTIVES AND INCREASED COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT BY PROVIDING SYSTEMATICALLY EXCLUDED GROUPS CAREER AND EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES, FOCUS, FOCUSING ON EVS AND THE EV INFRAS CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE AND THE, THE LANGUAGE AROUND, UH, PROVIDING, YOU KNOW, OPPORTUNITIES FOR, UH, CAREER, CAREER AND EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES.
THAT ALSO CAME, UH, FROM DISCUSSIONS WITH LARRY FROM THE, THE, THE PREVIOUS WORKING GROUP CALL, UM, JUST BECAUSE HE WAS KIND OF, HE WAS KIND OF MAKING THE POINT THAT, YOU KNOW, THIS IS NOT ONLY ABOUT HAVING THOSE COMMUNITIES BEING ABLE TO ACCESS SOME SORT OF EV EITHER A CAR OR, OR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, BUT ALSO, YOU KNOW, MAKING THEM PART OF THE WORKFORCE SO THAT THIS BECOMES KIND OF LIKE A, UH, SUSTAINING A LOOP, UH, KIND OF THING.
SO, GOING A LITTLE BIT BEYOND WHAT WE WERE THINKING IN INITIALLY, UH, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, IN REGARDS TO THE WHOLE LOGIC IN, IN THIS ONE IS THAT, YOU KNOW, I FEEL LIKE WE FEEL LIKE A LOT OF THE, AND THIS IS ALSO LIKE REFLECTED IN THE CLIMATE, CLIMATE, UH, CLIMATE PLAN, THAT, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THE, THE SITUATION ABOUT EVS IS A LITTLE BIT THE MIS MISUNDERSTANDING ON HOW IT WORKS, TALKING ABOUT INCENTIVES, WHAT INCENTIVES ARE AVAILABLE, ESPECIALLY NOW THAT, YOU KNOW, MORE INCENTIVES ARE COMING ONLINE, AND THEN EVS, THE PRICE OF EVS ARE GOING DOWN AND, YOU KNOW, DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE RANGING ANXIETY, YOU KNOW, SO THAT KIND OF THING.
I THINK IT'S, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT TO, UM, TO HAVE SOME MASSIVE, UH, EV ADOPTION.
IS THERE, IS THERE ANY THOUGHTS ON THIS ONE? YEAH, I THINK SIMILARLY WHAT KAI KAIRA SAID BEFORE IS JUST LIKE, WHO WILL CREATE THE COALITION? YOU KNOW,
YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK AS FAR AS LIKE THIS WHOLE, LIKE IF YOU TALK ABOUT EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE, I DEFINITELY THINK THAT THAT WOULD BE MORE AUSTIN ENERGY THAN CAP METRO, UNLESS WE'RE THINKING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, FROM LIKE A, A PUBLIC TRANSIT SIDE, SORT OF WHAT DOES THE STATE EV INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THAT LOOK LIKE, YOU KNOW, BUT I'M NOT AN EXPERT IN THAT, SO I CAN'T SPEAK TO IT.
ALSO, I'M NOT AN EXPERT IN CARS IN ANY WAY, BUT IT JUST, BUT, AND I WAS HESITANT OF MAKING A COMMENT ABOUT THIS TOPIC BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW A LOT ABOUT THIS, BUT I THINK IT'S WORTH THE, THE ATTEMPT, UM, ON THE SECOND POINT, UH, FOR PURCHASING AND LEASING EV FOR LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES, I THINK IT WOULD BE HELPFUL, HELPFUL HAVING, BESIDES BUYING AND LEASE IN SOME SORT OF, UM, I DON'T KNOW IF THE WORD IS INCENTIVE OF OR HELP FOR MAINTAINING OR, YOU KNOW, SUPPORTING, BECAUSE THE REALLY, THE ISSUE IS NOT THE BUY-IN SO MUCH AS IT IS TO LIKE UPKEEPING.
UM, I'VE HEARD ONE OF MY FRIENDS COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW MUCH IT COSTS FOR A HYBRID BATTERY FOR THEIR LEXUS.
AND RIGHT NOW, I MEAN, I, I WAS TRYING TO BUY AN E V AND, YOU KNOW, THERE'S INCENTIVES, UH, LIKE A LOT OF TAX
[01:20:01]
AND WHATNOT, BUT LIKE, TO ME IT IS LIKE EVERYTHING AROUND IT, RIGHT? BEYOND LIKE ONCE I PURCHASED IT.SO, UM, IF I THINK LIKE THIS, I GUESS OTHER PEOPLE WOULD DO THAT TOO.
SO WHAT, AND, AND WHEN I, WHEN I SAY I DON'T KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS TOPIC AND SPECIFIC, I DON'T KNOW WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT A PERSON WITH A EV WOULD NEED, BUT THAT'S THE EXTENT OF MY INPUT.
THE, THE GOOD NEWS IS NOT A LOT.
I HAVE AN EV YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ALMOST ANYTHING LIKE THE TIRES, YOU KNOW, ROTATE YOUR TIRES.
IT'S, IT'S, IT'S VERY DIFFERENT FROM, UH, INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE VEHICLE IN THAT WAY.
IT HAS ALMOST NO MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS.
IT'S VERY, VERY EASY TO MAINTAIN.
I HAVE TWO EVS, AND THE ONLY THING I HAVE TO DO FOR MAINTENANCE IS CHANGE OUT THE WINDSHIELD WIPING IT'S VERY LOW MAINTENANCE.
BUT ON THE POINT THAT FOR EDUCATION, FOR THE LOCAL AMBASSADORS, WE WERE REALLY HOPING TO UTILIZE THE ALREADY ESTABLISHED CLIMATE CLIMATE AMBASSADORS, UM, BECAUSE THEY HAVE THAT, UM, THEY, THEY HAVE THAT TRUST IN THE COMMUNITY.
AND SO WE WERE HOPING TO POTENTIALLY UTILIZE THEM TO FORMULATE SOME SORT OF COLLISION TO HELP EDUCATE PEOPLE ON HOW EASY IT IS TO MAINTAIN AN EV.
AND, UM, SO ONCE YOU GET PAST THAT FEAR FACTOR OF BUYING IT WITH ALL THESE INCENTIVES ON HOW DO I USE IT, HOW DO I DRIVE IT? BECAUSE IT IS A LOT DIFFERENT THAN AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION CAR.
AND THE WAY THAT YOU PURCHASE THE VEHICLES ARE ALSO A LOT DIFFERENT.
A LOT OF THE EVS, YOU DON'T PURCHASE THEM FROM CAR DEALERSHIPS, YOU DON'T PURCHASE THEM FROM MIDDLEMAN, YOU PURCHASE THEM DIRECTLY FROM THE SUPPLIER ONLINE, OR IF YOU PURCHASE AN ON, UM, ONLINE, IF YOU GET A USED ONE FROM CARVANA OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
SO I THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT IF WE COULD HAVE LIKE A WORKSHOP OR A, ONE OF THE, UH, CHARGING STATIONS SET UP A 10 TO HELP PEOPLE LEARN ABOUT EVS AND HOW TO WORK THEM AND HOW TO BUY 'EM.
AND IF WE COULD HAVE SOME SORT OF COALITION WITH THESE CLIMATE AMBASSADORS, HAVE SOME OF US GET INTO THE FRAY, UM, SAME OF OUR SUSTAINABILITY FOLKS, UM, MAYBE A R R FOLKS ENERGY FOLKS.
UM, I THINK IT COULD BE A, A PRETTY AWESOME COALITION.
I THINK I'LL ALSO POINT OUT THAT, UH, I SAW RECENTLY THAT, UH, RIVIAN IS SUPPOSED TO OPEN UP, UH, A SHOP IN AUSTIN.
SO I THINK WITH, YOU KNOW, RIVIAN AND THE, AS MUCH AS I HATE TO SAY THE TESLA PEOPLE, UH, YOU KNOW, THERE ARE DEFINITELY, UH, A FAIR AMOUNT OF, NOT TO MENTION, YOU KNOW, THE TRADITIONAL CAR MANUFACTURERS TOO THAT ARE GETTING MORE INTO THE EV SPACE.
UH, IT MAY ALSO BE SORT OF WORTH EVERYBODY'S WHILE TO ACTUALLY LOOP THEM INTO IT TOO, BECAUSE THEY DO PROFIT FROM US HAWKING EVS TO PEOPLE.
SO WE MIGHT AS WELL HAVE THEM PAY FOR SOME OF THIS TOO, AS WE'RE ESSENTIALLY USING THE CITY BUDGET TO ADVERTISE THEIR PRODUCTS.
THAT'S JUST THE JADED CONSUMER IN ME SPEAKING.
LIKE, TO ME, THIS WOULD SEEM A NATURAL OPPORTUNITY TO USE THE CLIMATE AMBASSADOR PROGRAM, AND I UNDERSTOOD THAT THAT'S KIND OF THE ROLE OF SUCH A PROGRAM.
UM, I, I GUESS MY QUESTION IS HAVE, HAVE WE ASKED STAFF OR ANYONE IF, IF LIKE THAT EXPECTATION IS REASONABLE AND IS THAT A RESOURCE THAT WE CAN CONSIDER SAYING, HEY, LIKE WE, THIS IS A, A, A, A SMALL ARMY OF PRO CLIMATE HUMANS THAT WE CAN DEVOTE TO THESE TYPES OF TASKS? I DON'T, I AM NOT AWARE OF HAVING REACHED OUT TO THEM FOR THIS SPECIFICALLY, BUT, UH, YEAH, I THINK THAT'S A, THAT'S A GOOD COMMENT.
AND, AND I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER IF, IS THERE SPECIFIC, UH, I THINK, I MEAN, DO WE HAVE FULL-TIME POSITIONS FOR CLIMATE AMBASSADOR PROGRAMS, OR IS THAT MORE ON A TEMP BASIS? THOSE ARE TEMPORARY.
OR ZACH, DO YOU GUYS KNOW THEY'RE, THEY'RE TEMPORARY LESS THAN A YEAR.
THE AMBASSADOR, THE AMBASSADORS.
SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, DO WE NEED TO ALSO LIKE, INCLUDE SOMETHING ABOUT
[01:25:05]
YEAH, LIKE AUSTIN ENERGY, LIKE FUNDING, YOU KNOW, THOSE, THOSE POSITIONS IF WE'RE, IF WE'RE WANNA ENGAGE THOSE AMBASSADORS YEAH, THAT MIGHT BE APPROPRIATE.I'M GONNA SUGGEST JUST IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, IT SEEMS LIKE THERE'S, THERE'S GOOD SUPPORT AND INTEREST AROUND THIS, AND I, I WOULD, I WOULD SUGGEST THE WORKING GROUP SHOULD, SHOULD TAKE IT BACK AND, YOU KNOW, ADD SOME OF THE ADDITIONS THAT YOU'VE HEARD HERE, LIKE, HELPING WITH THE BUYIN PROCESS, NOT JUST THE CHARGING PROCESS AND, AND THESE OTHER THINGS.
AND YEAH, TALK TO VARIOUS STAFF ABOUT THAT.
UM, DOES THAT WORK FOR Y'ALL? YEAH, THAT WORKS.
APPRECIATE THE, THE FEEDBACK ON THIS.
DO Y'ALL HAVE MORE? UH, YEAH, I DON'T KNOW ANYBODY FROM THE WORKING GROUP HA HAS ANY FINAL THOUGHTS? WELL, WE HAVE THE OTHER PORTION, THE TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE RECOMMENDATIONS.
DO YOU WANNA, DO YOU WANNA WALK THROUGH THESE EITHER RODIO OR HEATHER? I THINK THIS ONE'S HEATHER.
OH, SORRY, WHAT WERE YOU SAYING? YOU GO HEATHER
UM, SO I COULD START WITH THIS ONE AND MAYBE WE CAN TAG TEAM, UM, RODEO.
THE, SO THIS ONE IS A BIT UNUSUAL, THIS FIRST ONE COMPARED TO THE MAYBE SOME OF THE OTHERS THAT ARE DIRECTLY, UM, OUT OF THE CLIMATE EQUITY PLAN.
THIS CAME UP IN DISCUSSION WITH, UM, SOME FOLKS FROM WALK BIKE ROLE, AUSTIN AND THIS ONE, AND KABA, I THINK, I KNOW WHEN I WAS WORKING ON THESE OR THINKING ABOUT THESE, I WASN'T, UM, EXCLUDING BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO THIS COULD BE SOMETHING THAT SHOULD WAIT FOR LATER, BUT MAYBE IT'S SOMETHING WHERE THE BUDGET ALREADY EXISTS.
UM, BE, WE CAN TALK ABOUT THAT AND THINGS IN BRACKETS ARE ME GUESSING
BUT, UM, SO THE NUMBER ONE IS PILOTING A UNIVERSAL BASIC MOBILITY PROGRAM.
UM, AND THE RATIONALE THAT THAT REFERS TO IS BELOW, THAT'LL COME BACK TO, SO THIS WOULD BE, YOU KNOW, FINDING SOMEONE TO RUN AND OR MANAGE SUCH A PILOT, UM, EDUCATING PARTICIPANTS ON HOW TO USE, UM, THE MOBILITY IT WOULD SUPPORT AND ALSO DOING SOME ASSESSMENT.
SO UNIVERSAL BASIC MOBILITY, WHICH SORT OF ECHOES UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME IN EXISTING PILOTS.
THERE ARE SOME IN PITTSBURGH, LOS ANGELES, OAKLAND, UM, THEY'RE PROVIDING LOW INCOME RESIDENTS OF AUSTIN.
AND WE CAN THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT THRESHOLD MIGHT BE.
IT COULD BE AKIN TO WHAT CAP METRO USES, UM, OR IN LINE WITH THAT PROVIDES THEM WITH DEBIT CARDS, UM, ON A MONTHLY BASIS IN A PILOT, IT WOULD BE FOR A YEAR TO PAY FOR PUBLIC TRANSIT SHARED MOBILITY, LIKE BIKES, E-BIKES AND SCOOTERS.
SOME OF THESE PROGRAMS ALSO INCLUDE, UM, ELECTRIC CAR SHARING PROGRAMS, BUT I'M NOT AWARE OF ONE IN AUSTIN THAT, AND SO WE'VE KEPT THAT OFF BECAUSE, UM, IN ORDER NOT TO ENCOURAGE SINGLE OCCUPANT CAR USE.
UM, SO THIS ONE, UM, THE UNIVERSAL BASIC MOBILITY PROGRAM, ITS RATIONALE IS TIED TO THE CLIMATE EQUI EQUITY PLAN, THOUGH IT'S NOT A SPECIFIC ASK IN THAT PLAN, AND IT'S TIED TO GOAL THREE THAT, UM, ABOUT REDUCING OR INCREASING THE NUMBER OF TRIPS THAT ARE MADE USING PUBLIC TRANSIT, BIKE WALK, CARPOOL, OR AVOIDED BY WORKING FROM HOME.
UM, AND WE HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THAT.
AND THEN THERE ARE SPECIFIC STRATEGIES, UM, IN THERE THAT, THAT ARE ALIGNED WITH THIS AS WELL.
SO, UM, I THINK I'LL JUST KEEP IT BRIEF.
THIS IS SOMETHING, LIKE I SAID, THAT CAME UP MORE RECENTLY IN CONVERSATIONS, UM, WITH WALK BIKE ROLE AND MAYBE OTHERS WERE IN THAT MEETING.
BUT OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS INCLUDING LIKE THAT THIS SHOULD WAIT FOR THE BUDGET PHASE OR IF, IF YOU THINK THERE'S SOME ACTUAL, UM,
[01:30:01]
EXISTING FUNDING WE COULD TAP INTO IF, IF PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN PURSUING THIS ONE.SO IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS, REJECTIONS, UM, WE CAN, WE CAN TAKE THEM
YEAH, I'LL JUST SAY THAT AS SOMEBODY THAT'S, UH, GONE TO UT AS WELL AS, UH, A C C, YOU KNOW, I DEFINITELY THINK THAT PROVIDING PEOPLE, UH, YOU KNOW, FREE IF NOT SUBSIDIZED, PUBLIC TRANSIT, UH, AND, YOU KNOW, MOBILITY OPPORTUNITIES, IT'S DEFINITELY GOOD TO GET CARS ON THE ROAD OR OFF THE ROAD RATHER.
UM, SO YEAH, I THINK, UH, YOU KNOW, THE QUESTION IS THAT LIKE, WOULD THIS BE SOME KIND OF LIKE PRELIMINARY PROGRAM THAT, YOU KNOW, WE ANALYZE AND THEN TAKE TO SEE, OKAY, DO WE EXPAND THE PROGRAM OR WHATEVER, YOU KNOW, UM, SORT OF, YOU KNOW, OR WE JUST DO THIS PROGRAM, RIGHT? UM, AND AT WHAT SCALE I GUESS, UM, YOU KNOW, WHETHER IT'S, YOU KNOW, PREPAID DEBIT CARDS OR JUST GIVE THEM LIKE A CREDIT, UM, FOR THESE DIFFERENT SERVICES.
AND, UM, I THINK WE WENT WITH THE PILOT JUST BECAUSE IT SEEMED, UM, MORE PALATABLE PERHAPS IF IT IS SOMETHING NEW TO, BUT I THINK YOU'RE, YOU'RE RIGHT THAT WE HAVE SOME MODELS AND, AND RIGHT, CITY OF AUSTIN EMPLOYEES DON'T, THEY GET THREE BUS PASSES.
UM, BUT YEAH, AND THAT'S WHY IN THIS, UM, INCLUDED AN ASSESSMENT STEP.
SO LIKE, NEED STAFF NOT ONLY TO MANAGE AND, AND EDUCATE OR DO THE OUTREACH OR OVERSEE OUTREACH, BUT ALSO SOMEONE WHO CAN DO SOME ASSESSMENT.
UM, SO THIS WAS THE PATH THAT I THINK OAKLAND AND PITTSBURGH TOOK DOING A ONE YEAR PILOT.
I THINK LA MIGHT HAVE MIGHT BE RUNNING WITH IT, BUT THEY MIGHT'VE DONE A PILOT FIRST.
UM, SO THIS WAS LIKE THE ROOT OF CAUTION
AND YEAH, THE, THE SCOPE, LIKE HOW MANY PEOPLE, HOW MUCH MONEY PER PERSON, AND THEN OBVIOUSLY THAT DETERMINES THE, THE ASK, UM, IS SOMETHING WE CAN, WE CAN DISCUSS.
THIS WAS JUST A, A, SOMETHING THAT LIKE BASICALLY PLACEHOLDERS AND THE NUMBERS I PUT IN HERE.
I, I, I LIKE THE IDEA SO, UH, POSITIVE ON IT.
UM, I GUESS I'M WONDERING THE FIVE, 500,000, UH, I GUESS I'M SEEING 300 LOW INCOME RESIDENTS AT A HUNDRED DOLLARS EACH AND I'M SEEING HALF AN F D E.
IS THERE, ARE THERE OTHER EXPENSES THAT YOU'RE ENVISIONING? I DIDN'T REALLY KNOW WHAT I MEAN, REALLY MADE UP
I MEAN, THE 300 AT 100 PER MONTH IS, IS REAL OR, BUT THE HALF FT I JUST DON'T, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THAT WOULD COST REALLY.
SO THIS IS SOMETHING WOULD WANT LOTS OF FEEDBACK ON, UM, LIKE WHAT, UM, WHAT THE STAFFING COMPONENT WOULD BE BECAUSE I, IT SEEMS LIKE IT WOULD MOSTLY BE SOMEONE, OR THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT SOMEONE COULD GIVE TO DOING THESE DIFFERENT STEPS, YOU KNOW, LIKE MAKING SURE THE DEBIT CARD DISTRIBUTION IS WORKING AND THERE AREN'T, UM, ISSUES WITH THAT OR WHATEVER MEDIUM WE USE THE EDUCATION COMPONENT OR OUTREACH COMPONENT.
AND THEN THE ASSESSMENT MIGHT BE ONE OF, UM, YOU KNOW, HOW TO DO THAT AND HOW TO EXECUTE THAT WELL.
UM, SO YEAH, THAT, THOSE ARE THE RESOURCES THAT I WOULD ENVISION.
BUT IF THERE ARE OTHER ONES THAT OTHER PEOPLE CAN THINK OF, WE COULD CONSIDER THAT IN COMING UP WITH A NUMBER.
YEAH, I MEAN, I, I GUESS JUST KIND OF IN, IN THE VEIN OF TRYING TO THINK LIKE, IS THIS SOMETHING THAT CAN HAPPEN NOW VERSUS, OR YOU KNOW, I SAY NOW YEAH, SOME SOMETIME IN, WITHIN THIS FISCAL YEAR AS OPPOSED TO, UH, AND SORRY, THE, THE, THE UPCOMING FISCAL YEAR THAT WE'RE ABOUT TO ENTER AS
[01:35:01]
OPPOSED TO THE ONE AFTER THAT, YOU KNOW, IF IT'S NOT ACTUALLY HALF A MILLION DOLLARS IN EXPENSE, IF IT, IF IT MAYBE IS JUST, YOU KNOW, AN EXISTING, UM, STAFF PERSON, UH, TAKING, YOU KNOW, OR A COUPLE STAFF PEOPLE CONTRIBUTING SOME OF THEIR TIME TO THIS PROGRAM.AND THEN WHAT LOOKS LIKE IT WOULD BE, WHAT, $30,000 IF MY MATH SERVES ME, YOU KNOW, IT'S, IT'S PRETTY LOW EXPENSE IN TERMS OF THE DIRECT, UH, COST.
UM, ALTHOUGH THAT WOULD BE 30,000 PER MONTH.
AND YOU WANNA DO THIS FOR A YEAR? YEAH.
I WAS NOT READING THAT PROPERLY YEAR.
I WAS LIKE, THIS SEEMS SO SMALL,
LIKE I THINK PIT ONE OF THE CITIES DID A SMALLER PILOT GROUP OF MAYBE A HUNDRED PEOPLE.
UM, AND YOU KNOW, THOSE NUMBERS ARE CERTAINLY ADJUSTABLE.
UM, AND I WAS THINKING, YOU KNOW, THINGS LIKE FRINGE BENEFITS AND I DON'T KNOW IF HAVE TIME PEOPLE EVEN WHAT THEIR BENEFITS ARE, BUT, UM, YEAH, THE BASELINE AT THIS LEVEL OF LIKE SERVICE 300 PEOPLE FOR A YEAR WOULD BE ABOUT 360,000.
NO, I MEAN, TO SENSE, TO MAKE IT DO AWAY MAYBE I, I THINK JUST THEN YOU, I WOULD SUGGEST LIKE BEFORE WE PUT THIS INTO A PROGRAMMATIC KIND OF RECOMMENDATION, LIKE TALK TO THE APPROPRIATE DEPARTMENTS AND SEE IF THERE'S THAT KIND OF FUNDING AVAILABLE.
UH, AND IF THE ANSWER'S NO, THEN THIS MIGHT BE BEST PUT FORTH AS A BUDGET RECOMMENDATION.
DO YOU THINK, UM, THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND CAP METRO ARE THE MAIN PEOPLE TO INVOLVE, OR I PUT IN SUSTAINABILITY, UM, THINKING OF MAYBE STAFFING OR THE CLIMATE APP AMBASSADORS, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE TRANSPORTATION AND CAP METRO MIGHT BE THE GO-TOS TO START WITH.
ZACH, DO YOU WANNA SPEAK TO THAT? YEAH, I, I WOULD AGREE.
UM, ARE THERE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OR THINGS WE SHOULD CONSIDER? YEAH, I GUESS THIS ISN'T NECESSARILY LIKE A RECOMMENDATION LANGUAGE, BUT I KNOW LIKE PUBLIC TRANSIT OBVIOUSLY IS CAP METRO, YOU KNOW, SHARED BIKES AND E-BIKES.
I KNOW, YOU KNOW, WE'VE GOT THE B CYCLE PROGRAM, WHICH I THINK NOW IS JUST METRO BIKE.
BUT DO WE HAVE ANY SORT OF LIKE PUBLIC SCOTER, SCOTERS OR SCOTER PROGRAM? DOES ANYBODY KNOW? OR IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WOULD HAVE TO BE LIKE A PRIVATE PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP? I DON'T THINK WE DO, BUT THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS IT'S A DEBIT CARD AND NOT LIKE A BUS PASS.
WELL, FOR ONE REASON THERE'S ALREADY SORT OF A FREE BUS PASS PROGRAM THAT SERVES SOME NEEDS, UM, WHICH MIGHT ALSO INCLUDE THE BIKES.
BUT MAKING IT, I MEAN THIS, I DON'T KNOW HOW THEY DETERMINE HOW PEOPLE ARE USING THAT MONEY, BUT, UM, YEAH, CAN LOOK INTO THAT.
I'M, I'M USED TO BEING A SCAMMER, SO EVERY TIME I SEE PREPAID DEBIT CARD IS JUST LIKE, MY ALARMS JUST GO OFF.
LIKE, NAH, I THINK WE SHOULD JUST PARTNER WITH THE PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING THE SCOTERS.
'CAUSE OTHERWISE IT JUST GETS, YOU KNOW, UNLESS YOU HAVE TO LIKE, YOU KNOW, REPORT BACK WITH LIKE HOW YOU SPENT THE MONEY, LIKE I REALLY DON'T, YOU KNOW, UH, YEAH, THERE MIGHT BE SOME LIKE RECEIPT.
UH, YEAH, I THINK, YOU KNOW, WHAT COULD POSSIBLE IS HAVING LIKE, YOU KNOW, SOME KIND OF BID THAT'S ACCEPTED RIGHT BY THE CITY, LIKE SOME KIND OF R F P, LIKE, HEY, WHAT SCOOTER COMPANY WANTS TO, YOU KNOW, PARTNER WITH US ON THIS PILOT OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT BETWEEN LIME BIRD, LYFT, GOD KNOWS WHO ELSE WILL ENTER THE SPACE.
YOU KNOW, THERE'S A, A LOT OF, UM, A LOT OF COMPANIES I THINK WOULD BE WILLING TO, TO PARTNER WITH THE CITY OF AUSTIN ON A PILOT LIKE THIS.
AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, PARTNERING WITH THEM WHEN CAP METRO HANDLES EVERYTHING ELSE, UM, WE'LL JUST MAKE THINGS LIKE WAY EASIER TO MANAGE
NO, THERE'S NEEDS TO BE SOME KIND OF, UM, BUT IF IT WERE A PARTNERSHIP, IT, AND THAT'S WHERE THE STAFF COMPONENT LIKE ALSO COMES IN, I THINK, LOOKING AT THOSE RECORDS.
UM, BUT YEAH, WE'LL NOTE A POSSIBLE PARTNERSHIP WITH A SCOOTER COMPANY.
I MEAN, FRANKLY, I FELT LIKE THE CITY OF
[01:40:01]
AUSTIN COULD COME OUT WITH OUR OWN PUBLIC, YOU KNOW, RAZOR BASED SCOOTERS OR WHATEVER.LIKE, IT'S PROBABLY NOT THAT HARD IN 2023 TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE A SCOOTER WITH AN APP, BUT, UH, IT'S PROBABLY BEYOND MY PAY GRADE, WHICH CURRENTLY IS ZERO FOR THE CITY.
BUT YOU'RE NOT GETTING YOUR CHECK FOR THIS WORK.
YOU NEED TO TALK TO HR ABOUT THAT
UM, I THINK OCCASIONALLY I GET SOME FREE FOOD.
IS THERE A PROGRAM OR AN ATTEMPT TO CONSOLIDATE ALL THE, ALL THE SCOOTER COMPANIES UNDER ONE UMBRELLA THAT THE CITY MANAGES AND, YOU KNOW, LIKE ONE APP FOR ALL SCOOTERS THAT THE CITY CAN TAKE A PORTION OF IT TO ON SIDEWALKS AND WHATNOT? HAS THERE EVER BEEN ANY ATTEMPT LIKE THAT? I KNOW THAT LIKE CITIES THEMSELVES, RIGHT? UM, I REMEMBER LIKE THE CITY OF SAN ANTONIO WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE LIKE, SOME OFFICIAL SCOOTER THING, OR I THINK THEY WERE JUST LIKE TAKING BIDS FROM DIFFERENT SCOOTER COMPANIES.
SO I THINK MAYBE THAT'S HOW THAT WORKS.
LIKE SCOOTER COMPANIES GET CERTIFIED BY THE CITY TO HAVE LIKE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF THEIR SCOOTERS IN THE CITY.
SOMETIMES IT KIND OF SEEMS LIKE ANYBODY WITH SOME VC MONEY CAN JUST, YOU KNOW, POP OUT SCOOTERS, LIKE IT'S NOBODY'S BUSINESS AND JUST THROW 'EM ON A CORNER.
I PERSONALLY HAVE FELT THAT BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, I REMEMBER THE CITY WAS REGULATING, YOU KNOW, RIDE SHARING FOR A LITTLE BIT BEFORE, YOU KNOW, THE, UM, THE STATE LEGISLATURE IN THEIR, YOU KNOW, INFINITE ENCOMPASSING WISDOM DECIDED THAT THAT WASN'T A GOOD IDEA.
UM, BUT I FEEL LIKE FRANKLY, YOU KNOW, AT THIS POINT, I THINK WE SHOULD ALL SEE SCOTERS AS LIKE, YOU KNOW, A PUBLIC RESOURCE THAT SHOULD BE USED AND NOT NECESSARILY SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BE PRIVATIZED WHERE VCS ARE EATING OFF OF US, BUT MM-HMM.
I'M GONNA SUGGEST WE NEED TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONE.
I'LL, I'LL TRY TO, I CAN DO THIS ONE QUICKLY IN THE INTEREST OF TIME.
SO, UM, THIS IS A SET OF RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO EXTREME HEAT MITIGATION AND RESILIENCE.
UM, A LOT OF THIS COMES FROM EXISTING WORK THAT, UM, EITHER THE SUSTAINABILITY OFFICE OR THE OFFICE OF RESILIENCE HAS DONE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UT AUSTIN, UH, UT HEALTH, GABA AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS TO IDENTIFY, UM, HEAT VULNERABILITY ACROSS THE CITY.
UM, AND IT ALSO TAKES INSPIRATION FROM OTHER PROGRAMS THAT HAVE BEEN PILOTED IN OTHER AREAS THAT FACE EXTREME HEAT, LIKE THE CITY OF PHOENIX OR THE CITY OF TUCSON OR CITIES IN, UH, NEW MEXICO.
SO THIS FIRST ONE IS THIS, UH, COOL CORRIDOR IDEA.
UM, YOU KNOW, WE CAN CALL IT SOMETHING ELSE, BUT, UM, ESSENTIALLY THE, UM, THE DEFINITION OF A COOL CORRIDOR, AS, YOU KNOW, APPROACHED BY THESE OTHER CITIES IS ESSENTIALLY KEY PEDESTRIAN OR TRANSIT ROUTES.
SO KEY, YOU KNOW, MOBILITY CORRIDORS THAT HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED BECAUSE OF VARIOUS FACTORS, EITHER, UM, YOU KNOW, THEY, THEY ARE WITHIN LOW-INCOME NEIGHBORHOODS THAT HAVE HIGH HEAT VULNERABILITY.
THEY ALSO HAVE, YOU KNOW, HIGH MOBILITY KIND OF RELATED ISSUES.
UM, AND, UM, YOU KNOW, THIS SOCIOECONOMIC SLASH CLIMATE INDICATORS CAN LEAD TO A CITY IDENTIFYING CERTAIN CORRIDORS THAT ARE HIGH TRAFFIC CORRIDORS THAT ARE IMPORTANT FOR CONNECTIVITY.
AND ESSENTIALLY WHAT THE CI, WHAT THESE CITIES ARE DOING ARE JUST TARGETING INVESTMENTS IN COOLING OR SHADE INFRASTRUCTURE ON THOSE CORRIDORS TO PROVIDE, UM, SOME KIND OF LIKE CONTINUOUS, YOU KNOW, SHADE OR COOLING BENEFIT ON THAT CORRIDOR.
AND, YOU KNOW, THE IDEA IS TO START CONNECTING THESE CORRIDORS.
UM, SO THE RECOMMENDATION STARTS WITH DESCRIBING, YOU KNOW, WHAT THIS WOULD BE, HOW THEY WOULD BE IDENTIFIED.
IT ALSO SUGGESTS, YOU KNOW, THE INITIAL LOCATIONS TO PRIORITIZE BASED ON A PREVIOUS HEAT VULNERABILITY STUDY THAT THE CITY DID WITH NASA.
UM, AND I THINK NOAH WAS INVOLVED TOO.
SO THERE'S ALREADY NEIGHBORHOODS IDENTIFIED THAT ARE HIGH PRIORITY BASED ON THESE VARIOUS INDICATORS.
AND ESSENTIALLY THE INVESTMENTS IN THESE COOL CORRIDORS WOULD INCLUDE.
UM, SO YOU CAN SCROLL DOWN A LITTLE BIT, I THINK, CHRIS, YOU'RE CONTROLLING IT.
YEAH, SO IT'S JUST A LAUNDRY LIST OF THINGS THAT WOULD BE PRIORITIZED ALONG THESE CORRIDORS, WHICH WOULD INCLUDE, YOU KNOW, DROUGHT TOLERANT TREE PLANTINGS, UM, UPGRADED, UM, METRO STOPS THAT INCLUDE SHADE AND OTHER, UM, YOU KNOW, GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE
[01:45:01]
AND COOLING AMENITIES, THE INSTALLATION OF SHADE STRUCTURES, UM, DRINKING FOUNTAINS NEAR, YOU KNOW, PUBLIC LOCATIONS THAT ARE NEAR THOSE CORRIDORS.SO THE IDEA IS TO HAVE THESE CORRIDORS ALSO CONNECT INTO KEY LOCATIONS IN THE COMMUNITY, LIKE SCHOOLS OR PARKS OR REC CENTERS, UH, TRAILS, ET CETERA.
UM, AND THEN OTHER, YOU KNOW, A WHOLE BUNCH OF OTHER GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS THAT ARE ALREADY OUTLINED IN SOME EXISTING DOCUMENTS THAT THE CITY OF AUSTIN HAS DEVELOPED, LIKE THIS GREEN STREETS DOCUMENT.
AND THEN THERE'S THIS OTHER, UH, TOOLBOX DEVELOPED BY C 40 THAT HAS JUST LIKE A LAUNDRY LIST OF ALL THESE DIFFERENT THINGS THAT CAN HELP MITIGATE HEAT.
UM, SO THAT'S THE FIRST KIND OF RECOMMENDATION IS TO LIKE, STAND UP THIS PROGRAM AND I START IDENTIFYING THOSE CORRIDORS AND WORK WITH COMMUNITY GROUPS TO UNDERSTAND, YOU KNOW, WHAT THOSE IMPROVEMENTS SHOULD BE.
AND THEN THE SECOND PIECE WOULD BE TO DEVELOP A DEDICATED SHADE FUND.
SO MAYBE THIS IS LIKE A BUDGET RECOMMENDATION, UM, BUT AS YOU, AS SOME OF YOU MAY BE AWARE, THERE WAS A $2 MILLION, YOU KNOW, SHADE INVESTMENT, IT'S LIMITED TO PARKS, AND IT'S A ONE-TIME INVESTMENT THAT'S PART OF THIS NEW BUDGET.
BUT WHAT, WHAT WE'RE PROPOSING HERE IS THAT THERE NEEDS TO BE A, LIKE A DEDICATED SHADE FUND THAT IS AN ONGOING, YOU KNOW, PART OF THE BUDGET AND IT WOULD FUND THESE COOL CORRIDORS AS WELL AS OTHER, YOU KNOW, URGENT SHADE NEEDS, UH, BASED ON COMMUNITY INPUT.
SO A AND B WOULD GO HAND IN HAND THE, THE COOL CORRIDORS AND THE SHADE FUND TO IMPLEMENT THE COOL CORRIDORS IDEA.
AND THEN C UM, ALSO COMES FROM SOME WORK THAT WAS DONE WITH THE CITY, UM, UT HEALTH AND GAVA, WHICH IS TO DEVELOP LIKE A COMPREHENSIVE HEAT MITIGATION AND RESPONSE STRATEGY.
SO, YOU KNOW, CONNECTING THE DOTS BETWEEN, UM, THE PREPAREDNESS ELEMENT, THE HEAT MITIGATION ELEMENTS, AND YOU KNOW, THIS COOLING AND SHADE AND GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AS WELL AS, YOU KNOW, THE PUBLIC HEALTH ELEMENTS AND THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE ELEMENTS.
SO CURRENTLY THAT DOESN'T EXIST.
THERE'S NO, YOU KNOW, AS FAR AS I'M AWARE AND BASED ON CONVERSATIONS I'VE HAD WITH STAKEHOLDERS, THERE'S NO LIKE COMPREHENSIVE HEAT STRATEGY.
UM, SO BASICALLY THIS RECOMMENDATION IS TO DO THAT AND, YOU KNOW, INVOLVE THESE DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS AND, AND SOME, UM, YOU KNOW, TIDBITS ON WHAT COULD BE IN THAT STRATEGY, NOT JUST LIKE THE RESPONSE PIECE, BUT IT SHOULD ALSO INCLUDE PREPAREDNESS AND MITIGATION AND THINKING ABOUT RESILIENCE, YOU KNOW, HOLISTICALLY.
ANY QUESTIONS OR THOUGHTS ON THOSE BITS? I JUST WANNA SAY I LOVE IT.
I THINK IT'S SO NEEDED AND IT'S SO SPECIFIC, UM, TANGIBLE COOLING CORRIDORS.
UM, IT'S, IT'S VERY WELL THOUGHT OUT.
UH, RODRIGUEZ, I DON'T KNOW IF MY EMAIL HELPED YOU OR ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION WHEN YOU WERE REACHING OUT ABOUT YEAH.
AND THIS WAS WHAT YOU'RE REACHING OUT ABOUT, RIGHT? UM, WHERE WE COULD FURTHER THIS, SO MM-HMM.
YEAH, JOHN, I THINK, UM, MAYBE WE NEED TO HAVE A ADDITIONAL CONVERSATION BECAUSE WE, I DON'T KNOW IF WE HAD LIKE, THE KNOWLEDGE OF LIKE DESIGN STANDARDS AND BUILDING CODES AND, UM, WE WEREN'T ABLE TO COME UP WITH A SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATION AROUND THAT.
BUT I THINK IT COULD BE ADDED TO THIS LIKE, SUITE OF RECOMMENDATIONS.
WE JUST DON'T, LIKE, I'M NOT PERSONALLY NOT AS FAMILIAR WITH THOSE PARTS OF LIKE THE DESIGN GUIDELINES.
YEAH, WELL WE WE'RE CURRENTLY REWRITING THE DESIGN GUIDELINES.
CURRENTLY THEY ONLY APPLY TO THE CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT, BUT I THINK WE'RE, WE'RE HOPING TO GET IT A BIT MORE CITYWIDE.
AND, UM, I JUST GOT THE CONTACT INFO FOR THE FOLKS THAT ARE WORKING ON THE STREETSCAPE, UH, PORTION.
SO IT'S DEFINITELY SOMETHING TO CONNECT THEM WITH AND I THINK IT'S SOMETHING WE CAN GET IN THE SECOND DRAFT.
YEAH, I DEFINITELY, UH, WANNA ECHO WHAT CHARLOTTE SAYS.
UM, AS SOMEONE THAT RIDES MY BIKE A LOT, UH, SOMETIMES DURING THE AFTERNOON WHEN THINGS START GETTING IN THE, THE LITTLE, YOU KNOW, TRIPLE DIGIT PHASE, UH, BASICALLY IT JUST CONSISTS OF, YOU KNOW, PEDALING LIKE A MANIAC FROM TREE TO TREE
UM, SO YEAH, I THINK, YOU KNOW, WORKING WITH PAR, UH, OR YOU KNOW, PAR HAVING A SHADE FUND IS GOOD BY DEFINITELY THINK, YOU KNOW, SORT OF DOUBLING DOWN ON CAP METRO AND HAVING THEM BE A PART OF THESE CONVERSATIONS.
BECAUSE I'VE SEEN LIKE A LOT OF, UH, SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSATIONS WHERE CAP METRO IS LIKE, HEY, WE UPGRADED THIS, UH, YOU KNOW, THIS, THIS BUS SEAT OR YOU KNOW, THIS BUS STOP SEATING WHERE YOU'VE GOT, YOU KNOW, MORE VISIBILITY FOR WHERE THE BUS IS COMING FROM AND PEOPLE ARE LIKE, BRO, YOU JUST TOOK AWAY OUR SHADE, YOU KNOW,
SO, UM, I THINK OBVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW, AS THE TREND TOWARDS GLOBAL WARMING
[01:50:01]
CONTINUES AND SORT OF THESE RECORD TEMPERATURES THAT WE SEE BECOME MORE OF THE NORM, UM, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO CREATE THE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR PEOPLE TO NOT SUFFER FROM HEAT STROKE AS MUCH, UH, IS PROBABLY GOOD.SEE THAT ANNA HAS HER HAND UP.
THIS, THIS IS MORE OF A QUESTION, I GUESS, TO BAN FORMATTING.
AND I WILL ADMIT THIS IS LIKE GROSS IRONY COMING FOR ME.
'CAUSE I, I ONCE WROTE LIKE A 300 PAGE PHD TOPIC ON THE PHD THESIS ON THIS VERY TOPIC.
UM, BUT IS THIS TOO LONG FOR SOMETHING THAT WE SUBMIT TO, TO THE CITY? AND I MEAN, THIS LIKE, IS AN HONEST QUESTION.
LIKE, CAN WE SUBMIT SOMETHING THIS COMPREHENSIVE AND DETAILED? LIKE, I THINK IT'S AWESOME.
I MEAN, I THINK THIS WOULD NOT BE TOO LONG.
CERTAINLY IF THIS WAS LIKE A DEDICATED RESOLUTION, UM, GIVEN THAT WE'RE GONNA TRY TO PACKAGE ALL THESE TOGETHER.
UM, YOU KNOW, IF IF THERE'S A WAY TO BE MORE CONCISE, THEN, THEN GREAT, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, I ALSO THINK LIKE, LET'S NOT PUT OURSELVES IN AN ARTIFICIAL BOX.
LIKE WE CAN SEND IT HOWEVER WE WANT, BUT LET'S NOT MAKE THEM ALL THIS LONG
UM, BECAUSE WE DO WANT, WE DO WANT PEOPLE TO, TO READ THE, THE, THE KIND OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS, THE HIGHLIGHTS.
UM, AND I, I'M NOT SURE IF, IF Y'ALL DID THIS IN THE, IN THE KIND OF FORMAT THAT WE HAD BEFORE, WHICH WAS LIKE BRIEF RECOMMENDATION.
AND I SAY BY BEFORE, I MEAN OUR LAST ROUND OF BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS, UM, THERE, THERE WAS THE RECOMMENDATION AND THEN THERE WAS THE, UM, JUSTIFICATION OR, OR I FORGET WHAT THE TERMINOLOGY IS HERE.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, I WOULDN'T NECESSARILY SAY THAT THIS IS RATIONALE, IT'S MORE JUST DETAIL.
BUT, UM, YEAH, IT, I THINK USE, USE THE WORDS YOU NEED, CUT WHAT YOU CAN.
AND, AND THEN THE OTHER QUESTION, CHRIS, I GUESS THIS IS MORE FOR ZACH, RIGHT? LIKE THIS IS THE TYPE OF WORK THAT LIKE DEV NGI DOES, I THINK OR DID AT LEAST SEVERAL YEARS AGO.
UM, SO I'M JUST CURIOUS IF LIKE ANY OF THIS DOVETAILS WITH WORK THAT'S LIKE MAYBE ALREADY BEING PLANNED FOR THE, UM, UT CLIMATE COLLAB, OR MAYBE YOU GUYS HAVE ALREADY ASKED THAT, AND SO THIS IS NOT A QUESTION FOR THE WHOLE GROUP CAN YEAH, I WOULD SAY THIS EXACT THING HAS BEEN DISCUSSED AND TALKED ABOUT AND, BUT IS THIS SPECIFIC PROPOSAL LIKE HAPPENING? LIKE NO.
NO, BUT IT'S LIKE YOU'RE IN THE RIGHT BALLPARK AND THERE'S PEOPLE THAT ARE TRYING TO WORK ON THIS AND DO THINGS THAT ARE SIMILAR.
SO I WILL JUST SAY I, I ALSO LOVE THE IDEA AND I'M, I'M GLAD MONTOPOLIS IS IN THERE.
I LIVE RIGHT NEAR RIVERSIDE AND, UH, IT'S HORRIBLE.
SO, AND THERE IS A RATIONALE STARTED AT THE BOTTOM.
IT'S JUST DIDN'T GO INTO IT IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, I THINK.
UM, BUT PEOPLE CAN LOOK AT THAT OR PROVIDE FEEDBACK TO ONE OF US INDIVIDUALLY, UM, OR NEXT TIME WE TALK ABOUT THIS.
WHAT I'M GONNA SUGGEST, UM, IS, IS THAT IF EACH GROUP CAN MAYBE TAKE A WEEK OR SOMETHING, UM, TO TRY TO, YOU KNOW, AT LEAST INCORPORATE WHAT THE, ANY EDITS THAT YOU, THAT YOU CAN, UM, BE SURE THAT YOU, YOU'D BE LIKE TO TAKE OUT OF THIS CONVERSATION.
AND THEN WE WILL SEND EVERYTHING AROUND.
AND THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN'T KEEP EDITING, BUT SO THAT EVERYBODY CAN JUST HAVE THE DOCUMENTS WITH ANY LINKS AND, AND JUST START GETTING FAMILIAR.
UM, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, OF COURSE WE CAN WE'LL SEND AROUND AGAIN.
AND I THINK WE, WE JUST NEED TO BE BETTER ABOUT SENDING THINGS AROUND IN ADVANCE, COLLECTIVELY PUTTING THAT ON.
ARE, ARE WE PERMITTED TO SHARE DOCUMENTATION IN BETWEEN MEETINGS WITH EVERYONE? YES, BUT WE NEED TO NOT DO THAT DIRECTLY.
WE NEED TO SEND THEM TO ROHAN AND HE WILL SEND THEM AROUND AND, YOU KNOW, EVERYBODY CAN LOOK AT THEM INDIVIDUALLY, YOU KNOW, UM, WE WOULDN'T WANT, WE WOULDN'T WANNA END UP WITH MORE THAN A QUORUM WORKING ON, ON THE DOCUMENT BETWEEN
[01:55:01]
MEETINGS.SO, AND IF YOU'RE NOT ON THE WORKING GROUP, I DON'T THINK ANY OF THE WORKING GROUPS ARE NECESSARILY IN DANGER OF REACHING THAT, THAT POINT.
SO IF FOLKS DO WANNA LIKE, JOIN ANOTHER WORKING GROUP, THEN, THEN THAT'S OKAY, BUT LET'S JUST MAKE SURE THAT THAT'S, UM, YOU KNOW, DON'T DO IT AD HOC OR ELSE WE MIGHT END UP IN TROUBLE.
HOW MANY PEOPLE WAS QUORUM AGAIN, JUST FOR 10? F Y A 10 IS QUORUM, SO WE CAN HAVE UP TO NINE IN ANY GROUP.
SO I, I DON'T THINK WE'RE ANYWHERE NEAR THAT ON ANY OF THEM.
UH, Y'ALL HAVE REALLY SET THE BAR.
UM, ARE, ARE YOU GOOD TO, TO MOVE ON TO, TO THE NEXT GROUP? JUST A QUICK QUESTION, KAVA, LIKE THE, UM, IS IT OKAY TO INCLUDE ONES THAT MIGHT BE BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS AND NOT POLICY OR PROGRAMMATIC FOR NOW AND DEAL WITH WHETHER TO KICK IT DOWN LATER? I, I MEAN, THAT'S A DECISION FOR THE, THE GROUP.
I, I WOULD SUGGEST WE KEEP THEM SEPARATE SO THAT WE CAN GET THE ATTENTION ON THE THINGS THAT WE WANT TO MOVE FORWARD NOW.
NOW, IF IT'S SOMETHING THAT'S NOT GONNA MOVE FOR, YOU KNOW, THE BETTER PART OF A YEAR, THEN, THEN WE CAN MAKE THAT RECOMMENDATION AND, AND WE CAN, WE, YOU CAN STILL ALLUDE TO IT HERE, BUT YOU KNOW, I THINK IF WE CAN FOCUS THESE ON, ON, ON POLICY AND, AND PROGRAM ACTIONS, YOU KNOW, I, I JUST, I THINK THAT WOULD BE CLEANER.
UM, BUT YOU KNOW, IT'S UP TO US ALL TO VOTE ON THESE THINGS.
LAST QUESTION IN REGARDS TO THE QUORUM.
SO IS THAT, IS THAT LIKE 10 PEOPLE WITH LIKE FROM THE G A C GROUP OR IS THAT YEAH.
AND TO CLARIFY, YOU CAN HAVE NINE.
ANYBODY NOT ON THE J S C DOESN'T COUNT.
Y'ALL ARE, Y'ALL ARE DOING AWESOME.
UM, ANNA, DO YOU WANNA GO NEXT? UH, SURE, HAPPY TO.
I CAN SCREEN SHARE OR AM I SUPPOSED TO SEND IT IN TO SOMEBODY? I MEAN, YOU CAN, YOU CAN JUST SCREEN SHARE IF THAT, IF YOU CAN GET THAT TO WORK, WHICH YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO.
THAT'S A REALLY GREAT QUESTION.
UM, AND I SAY YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO, BECAUSE YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES WEBEX DECIDES TO HATE PEOPLE AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING.
UM, SORRY, I'M IN PART MOMENT.
I'M JUST TRYING TO LIKE, MAKE SURE THIS IS SUFFICIENTLY LARGE.
UM, CAN FOLKS, ARE FOLKS ABLE TO SEE THIS? IS THAT BETTER? OKAY, AWESOME.
YEAH, I THOUGHT TWO THUMBS UP.
UM, SO, SO WE ARE THE WORKING GROUP, UM, FOR NATURAL SYSTEMS AND FOOD AND PRODUCT CONSUMPTION.
UH, I THINK WE DEFINITELY FEEL THAT THESE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE, ARE IN A, A DRAFT FORM.
SO WE CERTAINLY ARE ARE I THINK, BEHIND WHERE WE HAD INTENDED TO BE.
SO I, I THINK WE'LL, WE'LL START WITH THAT.
BUT WE WANTED TO PRESENT AT LEAST KIND OF WHERE WE'RE AT TODAY AND PROVIDE AN ACCURATE PICTURE OF, OF SOME THINGS THAT WE'VE DISCUSSED.
SO WE HAVE ABOUT SEVEN RECOMMENDATIONS.
UM, YOU KNOW, THERE'S BEEN SOME TALK INTERNALLY ABOUT WHITTLING THEM DOWN.
UH, AND I THINK THERE'S STILL SOME QUESTIONS, UM, GIVEN THE, THE BREADTH OF THE, THE MATERIAL WE HAD TO COVER.
I THINK WE STILL HAVE SOME QUESTIONS.
YOU'LL SEE SOME HIGHLIGHTED HERE ABOUT WHETHER THESE, THESE MERIT INCLUSION, WHETHER WE, WE REALLY HAVE ENOUGH INFORMATION ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF THESE ITEMS. UM, SO IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON ANY OF THESE, UH, ABOUT THE CURRENT STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION, PLEASE, PLEASE SPEAK UP.
UM, 'CAUSE WE'D LOVE TO HAVE THAT.
UH, STARTING OFF WITH THE FIRST ONE, I THINK ONE THEME THAT WE SAW THAT, THAT CERTAINLY HAMPERED OUR EFFORTS, UM, WAS WE HAD TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME FIGURING OUT, YOU KNOW, KIND OF THE STATUS OF STUFF.
I KNOW EVERYBODY'S IN, IN THAT SAME BOAT.
UM, ONE OF THE IDEAS THAT GOT FLOATED WAS TO HAVE MORE DATA, UM, AND SPECIFICALLY THROUGH, UM, UPDATES TO THE DASHBOARD.
UH, AND SO, YOU KNOW, I THINK THE, THE THINKING HERE WAS HAVE SOME MORE DATA.
OBVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW, THERE'S SOME TRADE OFF BETWEEN DOING THE WORK AND, AND THE ACCOUNTING OF DOING THE WORK.
AND SO WE'RE TRYING TO HIT A, A CORRECT BALANCE THERE.
SO, UH, WE, WE FRONTED, UM, BIANNUAL OR EVEN QUARTERLY UPDATES.
ALL RIGHT, I'LL MOVE TO THE NEXT ONE IF I DON'T HEAR ANY COMMENTS JUST IN THE INTEREST OF TIME.
[02:00:02]
UH, SO OUR SECOND ONE WAS, PARDON ME, TO INCORPORATE IN INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE INTO SPECIFICALLY THE A LAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGY, UM, WITH OF COURSE, APPROPRIATE COMPENSATION.I THINK THIS ONE, THE CURRENT STATUS WE HAVE IS, UM, UH, CHARLOTTE HAS REACHED OUT TO STAFF TO CLARIFY THE, THE CURRENT STATUS OF THIS.
SO THIS ONE'S KIND A, A MAYBE, YOU KNOW, IF THIS HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED, THEN WE WOULDN'T PUT IT IN AS A RE UH, RECOMMENDATION.
I'LL TAKE THAT AS NO FURTHER QUESTIONS ON THAT ONE.
UH, THIRD ALL HOLD, HOLD THAT.
DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING? NO, JUST, I WAS JUST GONNA SAY THAT I THINK THAT THAT PRESENTATION CAME TO J S C LAST MONTH AND I BELIEVE IT WAS, UH, IT WENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL, UM, COMMISSION THIS MONTH A COUPLE WEEKS AGO.
AND IT'S GOING TO COUNCIL, UM, AT AUGUST 31ST.
SO IT MAY BE, YOU KNOW, IT, IT MAY BE TOO LATE FOR A, A FORMAL RECOMMENDATION THERE, BUT, UM, I HOPE TO GET SOME CLARIFICATION ON WHAT THAT PROCESS, UH, INCLUDED IN TERMS OF, UM, LEVERAGING THE TRADITIONAL LAND MANAGEMENT KNOWLEDGE.
YEAH, I DON'T THINK IT CAME UP AT THE, 'CAUSE I ACTUALLY DO REMEMBER, UH, HEARING IT HERE AND THEN ALSO HEARING AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION.
I DON'T THINK, UH, ANYBODY EVER ASKED ABOUT INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE.
WELL SHOUT OUT, SHOUT OUT TO CHARLOTTE FOR, UM, FLAGGING THAT ONE.
'CAUSE I YEAH, WE, WE AGREED THAT, THAT SOUNDED LIKE SOMETHING TO LOOK MORE INTO.
ANYTHING ELSE TO ADD CABO OR CHARLOTTE ON THAT? NO, YOU CAN, YOU CAN KEEP GOING.
UH, THE THIRD ONE WE HAD WAS TO MAKE PERMITTING PAPERWORK FOR COMMUNITY GARDENS AVAILABLE IN SPANISH, UM, AND HAVE AN OUTREACH PROGRAM TO GO ALONGSIDE THAT.
UH, THIS IS ACTUALLY, WE STILL HAVE SOME CONVERSATION ONGOING IN THE COMMENTS AS, AS YOU CAN SEE HERE.
UM, AND SO CHARLOTTE, ANYTHING TO ADD SPECIFICALLY ON THIS ONE? YEAH, UM, YOU KNOW, COMMUNITY GARDENS ARE, UM, A GREAT WAY TO, UM, TO DEVELOP COMMUNITY IN NEIGHBORHOODS, UM, REDUCE FOOD INSECURITY, UM, AND, YOU KNOW, MAKE GOOD USE OF, OF URBAN, UH, YOU KNOW, GROW HEALTHY FOODS AND VEGETABLES.
ANYWAY, THEY, IT'S, THEY'RE PERMITTED ALL THROUGHOUT THE CITY.
AND THIS IS, UM, WAS OUTLINED IN THE STATE OF THE FOOD SYSTEM REPORT THAT, UM, WE'VE ALLOW URBAN FARMS AND, AND COMMUNITY GARDENS, BUT THE ONLY, UM, THE PERMITTING IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH.
AND SO, UM, WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE, YOU KNOW, PRETTY FAIR AND SIMPLE TO, TO JUST MAKE THAT PERMITTING AVAILABLE, UH, IN SPANISH AND HAVE A PLAN FOR, FOR OUTREACH TO, UM, ENABLE SOME COMMUNITIES, UM, IN SPANISH SPEAKING AREAS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THOSE QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, FIRM DISAGREEMENT.
UH, THIS ONE, UM, WAS TO EX UNDER THE, THE GUISE OF, SORRY, UNDER THE CATEGORIES OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY, EXPLORE THE IDEA OF PILOTING A SALES TAX HOLIDAY SPECIFICALLY FOR THRIFT STORE SHOPPING AND REPAIR SERVICES.
SIMILAR TO THE BACK TO THE SCHOOL, SORRY, BACK TO SCHOOL SALES, UH, TAX HOLIDAY WEEKENDS THAT WOULD ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO AND PARTICIPATE MORE IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
CHARLOTTE, DID YOU WANNA SAY MORE ON THIS? I MEAN, I THINK THAT THAT ESSENTIALLY COVERS IT.
THE IDEA IS THAT WE WANT TO DIVERT, UM, WASTE FROM LANDFILLS.
SO PART OF THAT IS ENCOURAGING THIS PARTICIPATION IN THIS, IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY.
AND SO, UM, EVERY YEAR THERE'S A NATIONAL THRIFT THRIFT STORE SHOPPING DAY, NATIONAL THRIFT DAY OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
IT'S AUGUST 17TH, SO IT'S JUST PASSED.
UM, BUT, YOU KNOW, DOING SOMETHING LIKE A, SOME KIND OF PROGRAM INCENTIVE OR PROMOTION WITH THAT ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO, UM, EITHER SHOP AT THRIFT STORES OR MAYBE EVEN REPAIR ITEMS THAT MIGHT OTHERWISE GO TO THE LANDFILL SOMEHOW.
UM, THERE'S ALSO PROGRAMS WITH, UM, LIKE FIX-IT CLINICS.
I MEAN, THERE, I THINK THERE'S SOME THINGS THAT COULD BE DONE TO, UM, TO REALLY KIND OF PLAY UP THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND, AND, YOU KNOW, GET MORE PEOPLE IN INTRODUCED TO, UM, YOU KNOW, UPCYCLING AND, AND REUSE.
AND I THINK, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING LIKE A, A SALES TAX HOLIDAY IS AN EASY
[02:05:01]
SOUNDBITE TO MAKE, UM, FOR, FOR PR.UM, AND, YOU KNOW, WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE GOOD TO EXPLORE, UM, MAYBE A PILOT WITH THAT WELCOME COMMENTS OR FEEDBACK.
YEAH, I THINK, UH, I THINK I LIKE THE IDEA FOR SURE, YOU KNOW, UM, I THINK WHETHER IT'S LIKE A NATIONAL THRIFT STORE DAY OR SOMETHING, YOU KNOW, THAT'S DEFINITELY A GOOD, UM, CANDIDATE FOR A DAY TO HAVE A SALES TAX HOLIDAY.
I GUESS IT'S LIKE SALES TAX HALL.
'CAUSE I KNOW LIKE THE BACK TO SCHOOL ONE IS LIKE ALWAYS INSANE AT EVERY OUTLET MALL, UH, WHENEVER THAT HAPPENS.
IS THAT LIKE A, A STATE THING? A CITY THING THAT THEY DO A STATE THING? SO IF THE, SO THIS WOULD BE LIKE SOMETHING THAT THE CITY DOES FOR SALES TAX.
I'M JUST CURIOUS HOW THAT WORKS.
YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK IT WOULD IMPLY FUNDING IN THAT, UH, I GUESS THE CITY WOULD COVER THE SALES TAX.
WE'D HAVE TO WORK OUT THE, THE DETAILS AND LOGISTICS OF HOW THAT WOULD WORK.
YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK THRIFT SHOPPING IS DEFINITELY PART OF THE, UH, AUSTIN HIPSTER MYSTIQUE FOR SURE.
SO I THINK, YOU KNOW, SORT OF, UH, ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO HIT UP THRIFT STORES, WHETHER THEY'RE, YOU KNOW, ON SOUTH CONGRESS, UH, OR IN THE HOOD, RIGHT? I THINK, YOU KNOW, IT'S JUST A, A BENEFIT FOR, UH, BUSINESS OWNERS IN ENTREPRENEURS IN AUSTIN.
SO I THINK IT WOULD BE SUPER COOL FOR SURE.
I THINK IT'S JUST, YOU KNOW, WHETHER YOU HAVE THRIFT STORES BECOME PART OF A PROGRAM THAT THE CITY ADMINISTERS, RIGHT? UM, OR IF, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE CITIZENS, YOU KNOW, GIVE THEIR RECEIPTS BACK TO BE, UH, YOU KNOW, TO GET A REBATE FROM THE CITY, YOU KNOW, UM, I WOULD BE INTERESTED TO SEE WHAT THE PROGRAM LOOKS LIKE, BUT, UH, I THINK IT'S SUPER COOL FOR SURE.
HI, CAN I JUST SAY ONE THING? UH, YEAH, WELL I WAS, I THINK MAYBE STEPHANIE HAD HER HAND UP AND THEN MELISSA, SORRY.
MY, IT WAS JUST CONCERNING THE SALES TAX AND USUALLY THAT'S HANDLED BY THE LEDGE, AND SO KIND OF FIGURING OUT HOW WE WOULD, WE WOULD DO THAT AND HE WOULD COVER THAT.
UM, AND THEN THE ONLY OTHER THING WAS POTENTIALLY IF THERE'S GONNA BE A PILOT LIKE THIS, IT MIGHT BE GOOD TO WORK WITH THE, UM, THE MINORITY CHAMBER GROUP OR SOMEBODY ELSE LIKE THAT WHO'S INTERESTED IN LIKE HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES AS WELL.
YEAH, I KNOW, UH, SORRY MELISSA.
YEAH, AND I WAS ALSO GONNA ADVOCATE, UM, FOR THAT FIXIT CLINIC AND, UM, NOT JUST WITH RIFT STORES, BUT ALSO FOR THE BUY NOTHING GROUP.
THEY BECAME REALLY POPULAR DURING THE, UH, QUARANTINE AND WHERE PEOPLE WERE NEEDING TO BUY SOMETHING, BUT THEY WERE TOO AFRAID TO GO TO STORES.
AND SO, UH, LOCAL GROUPS SORT OF FORMED THEIR OWN COALITION OF SHARING GOODS AND SERVICES WITHIN THEIR COMMUNITIES.
UM, THAT'S JUST SOMETHING THAT'S DONE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA, BUT THAT SEEMS LIKE SOMETHING THAT COULD BE PROMOTED MORE THROUGH NEXT DOOR OR THROUGH, UM, THE AR SOCIAL AND PLAN OBSOLESCENCE.
THAT SHOULD BE SORT OF THE VERNACULAR WITH EVERYONE WHEN IT COMES TO BUYING, BUYING ANYTHING NOWADAYS.
SO, UM, I DON'T KNOW IF THAT COULD BE INCLUDED IN SOME OF THE LANGUAGE AS, AS, UM, FUELING THE FIRE FOR ADVOCATING FOR SECONDHAND PURCHASING AND FIXING, UH, BROKEN THINGS AND MAKING THINGS REPAIRED VERSUS BUYING NEW.
SO THAT'S ALL I WANTED TO SAY.
UM, SO THAT, ALONG WITH OBVIOUSLY JUST THE REGULAR GREATER AUSTIN CHAMBER, THEY'RE LIKE A BILLION CHAMBERS I SUPPOSE.
UM, BUT YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK, YOU KNOW, UM, COORDINATING AN EFFORT WITH THEM, UM, WOULD BE COOL IN THAT, YOU KNOW, EVEN IF WE DON'T NECESSARILY GET ANY FUNDING FOR IT, AT LEAST SORT OF, YOU KNOW, CREATING THIS COMMUNITY PUSH TOWARDS, UH, YOU KNOW, HIGHLIGHTING, UM, YOU KNOW, CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOCUSED BUSINESSES IS DEFINITELY
[02:10:01]
A PLUS FOR SURE.THANKS FOR THOSE COMMENTS GUYS.
WAS THERE ANY, ANYBODY ELSE THAT WE MISSED? YOU KNOW, I'LL JUST SAY I WAS JUST LOOKING UP SALES TAX 'CAUSE I, I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT SALES TAXES AND APPARENTLY WE HAVE A 1% CITY OF AUSTIN TAX AND ALSO A 1% SPECIAL TAX.
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE SPECIAL TAX IS.
UM, SO YEAH, AND, AND I, I KNOW THAT SOMETIMES THE STATE IS VERY LIKE, PRESCRIPTIVE ON LIKE WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN'T DO IN TERMS OF, LIKE, I KNOW WITH PROPERTY TAXES THERE'S MOSTLY THINGS YOU CAN'T DO.
SO I, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE RULES ARE AROUND LIKE THIS SORT OF HOLIDAY.
SO, UM, I'M, I'M IN SUPPORTIVE, IT, OBVIOUSLY I'M ON, I'M ON THIS GROUP, BUT IT JUST KIND OF OCCURRED TO ME LIKE, BOY, WE BETTER GET SOME, LIKE, MAYBE SOME LEGAL ADVICE
I'M LIKE, WHAT? WHAT'S POSSIBLE? UM, SO JUST FIGURED I'D SAY THAT.
WELL, I THINK THAT GIVES US SOMETHING TO FIGURE OUT AT OUR NEXT WORKING GROUP MEETING.
SO MOVING ON TO THE NEXT GOAL.
BARRING ANY LAST MINUTE? NO, UH, MOVING ON TO THE NEXT GOAL.
UM, THESE TWO NEXT SCHOOLS ARE FOCUSED ON THE AUSTIN RESOURCE RECOVERY PLAN AND CAME OUT OF, UM, SOME REALLY GREAT WORK THAT KABA DID.
UM, AND IN PARTICULAR, UH, I THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT THAT SHE FLAGGED THAT THE, THE AUSTIN RESOURCE RECOVERY PLAN, UM, SETS OUT THIS GOAL TO BASICALLY HOLD, LIKE WASTE CONSTANT, UM, AS OPPOSED TO SOMETHING A LITTLE BIT MORE AMBITIOUS, WHICH WOULD BE ACTUALLY DECLINING OVER TIME.
AND SO WE WERE IN FAVOR OF ADVOCATING FOR A LITTLE BIT MORE AMBITION IN THIS PLAN TO SAY, OKAY, RATHER THAN JUST SAYING LIKE, HEY, WE'RE GONNA LIKE HOLD OUR WASTE FLAT.
IT, IT WILL GO DOWN KADA WANNA ADD ANYTHING? YEAH, I MEAN, I, I GUESS THE ONLY THING I'LL ADD IS THAT THIS IS, THIS DISPOSAL RATE GOAL IS SOMETHING THAT THERE IS A VERY LITERAL, LITERAL PLACEHOLDER IN THE CLIMATE PLAN THAT WE'VE BEEN, UH, WAITING FOR.
SO, UM, YOU KNOW, I THINK THERE'S, THAT'S WHY THAT'S, WELL, IT'S INCLUDED IN THE PLAN ALSO BE THE, THE A R R PLAN.
'CAUSE A R R SAID BACK WHEN THE CLIMATE PLAN WAS UNDER DEVELOPMENT THAT THIS, THAT THEY WERE WORKING ON THIS.
SO, YOU KNOW, IT CAME AS A BIT OF A SURPRISE TO ME THAT, YOU KNOW, THREE YEARS LATER THAT ALL THEY
UM, AND I JUST WILL ACKNOWLEDGE THAT, YOU KNOW, THE CURRENT TREND HAS BEEN INCREASING, YOU KNOW, COVID WAS TERRIBLE FOR, FOR WASTE.
UM, THAT SAID, YOU KNOW, EVEN IF ALL WE CAN DO IN THE NEXT YEAR OR TWO IS HOLD IT STEADY AND THAT'S, YOU KNOW, A WIN COMPARED TO THE STATUS QUO, THAT THAT CAN'T BE OUR, OUR MEDIUM AND LONG-TERM GOAL.
SO I'M ASSUMING DISPOSAL RATE WHERE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WASTE TO A LANDFILL, RIGHT? OH, GOOD QUESTION.
SO, UM, THIS IS ACTUALLY OLD DISPOSAL.
SO CURRENTLY CITY OF AUSTIN HAS A ZERO WASTE GOAL THAT IS ABOUT DIVERTING, UH, WASTE MATERIAL FROM THE LANDFILL.
SO IN OTHER WORDS, RECYCLING IT, REUSING IT, OR COMPOSTING IT.
UM, AND, AND THIS IS IS KIND OF A, I THINK THE NEXT, THE NEXT STEP IS TO NOT JUST SAY, LET'S, LET'S USE A LOT OF THINGS AND DISPOSE OF THEM VIA RECYCLING OR COMPOSTING.
IT'S LIKE, LET'S DISPOSE OF LESS THINGS BECAUSE EVEN RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING AND, YOU KNOW, MAYBE RECYCLING IN PARTICULAR HAS, HAS A LOT OF LIMITATIONS AND, AND ASSOCIATED CHALLENGES AND SUCH WITH IT.
SO, UM, I THINK, YOU KNOW, SAN FRANCISCO I THINK IS ONE THAT, THAT USES THIS DISPOSAL RATE AS, AS MORE OF THE TARGET OF TRYING TO REDUCE, YOU KNOW, ESPECIALLY SINGLE USE KIND OF MATERIALS IS USUALLY WHAT'S TARGETED.
SO, SO WOULD THAT BE LIKE VIA MOSTLY REUSING, UH, THINGS AND THEN YEAH, JUST POTENTIALLY, YEAH, BECAUSE I'M KIND OF WORKING, LIKE, I'M WONDERING IF WE ALSO NEED TO KINDA WORK UPSTREAM THERE WITH YES.
PEOPLE THAT ARE LIKE DOING THE MATERIALS.
THIS, THIS WOULD DEFINITELY REQUIRE UPSTREAM OF THE END.
[02:15:01]
END CONSUMER HAS A ROLE TO PLAY, RIGHT? WE, WE DO CHOOSE THE THINGS WE PURCHASE, UM, TO, TO A SIGNIFICANT EXTENT.BUT, YOU KNOW, ALSO THERE, THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS, A LOT OF DECISIONS THAT GET MADE UPSTREAM AND, AND SOME OF THAT'S FAR UPSTREAM AND SOME OF IT IS NOT THAT FAR.
SOME OF IT IS LIKE, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S GOING ON AT OUR LOCAL RESTAURANTS, FOR EXAMPLE, UM, AND, AND HOW THEY PACKAGE THINGS OR WHATEVER, BUT ALSO OTHER, YOU KNOW, RETAIL, UM, YOU KNOW, STORES CAN, CAN MAKE DIFFERENT DECISIONS ABOUT THE KIND OF THINGS THAT THEY CHOOSE TO PURCHASE.
PURCHASE, RIGHT? SO THERE'S, I THINK THERE'S A ROLE ALL ALONG THE CHAIN.
AND JUST TO COMMENT, CHRIS, UH, IN THAT A R R PLAN, ACTUALLY THEY DO HAVE WASTE AUDITS, UM, THAT HAVE ACTUALLY GONE THROUGH AND SORT OF DONE THAT ANALYSIS OF LIKE, WHERE IS OUR WASTE COMING FROM? AND IT GETS, IT GETS QUITE SPECIFIC AND I THINK
AND THIS, AND THIS IS MORE OF A, OF A DIFFERENT COMMENT, AND I KNOW ANNA, WE, WE HAD DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THIS IN THE PAST, BUT, YOU KNOW, I WONDER IF LIKE, UH, POTENTIALLY HAVING, UM, DISCUSSIONS TO PUT A LITTLE BIT MORE PRESSURE IN THE SENSE THAT, YOU KNOW, LIKE THE, ESPECIALLY FOR THE WASTE GOING TO THE, TO THE LANDFILL, THAT THAT GENERATES METHANE.
BECAUSE I THINK, YOU KNOW, RIGHT NOW THE TYPICAL WAY TO ACCOUNT FOR, UM, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS FROM LAND, FROM, FROM METHANE IS TO USE THE A HUNDRED YEAR GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL.
BUT, YOU KNOW, GIVEN THE URGENCY OF CLIMATE CHANGE THAT WE'RE SEEING NOW, YOU KNOW, THERE'S MORE AND MORE ENTITIES CHOOSING TO USE A 20 YEAR OLD GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL, AND THAT JUST MAKES METHANE EMISSIONS THREE TIMES WORSE THAN IT'S REALLY BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR.
SO I WONDER IF THAT'S SOMETHING THAT YOU GUYS THOUGHT OF POTENTIALLY EXPLORING TO, TO ADD ADDITIONAL PRESSURE TO, TO THE WASTE.
SO THAT WAS, YEAH, THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT I CERTAINLY FLAGGED.
UM, KIVA, WE HAVEN'T HEARD BACK ON THAT SPECIFIC ITEM, CORRECT? I, I HAVEN'T HEARD BACK ON, ON ANY
I DO KNOW THAT THEY RECEIVED THEM AND THEY HAVE BEEN MAKING SOME CHANGES TO THE PLAN, AND I THINK THEY HAVE KEPT A, A, A LIST THAT THEY PLAN TO REPLY, UM, REPLIED TO FOLKS, UH, WITH SAYING, YOU KNOW, WHAT THEY INCORPORATED OR, OR NOT.
UM, BUT THAT, THAT'S AS MUCH AS I KNOW.
NO, I, I WILL JUST KIND OF POINT OUT THAT YES, THE METHANE FROM ORGANICS IS DEFINITELY AN ISSUE, BUT THE WHOLE KIND OF CONSUMPTION, UM, SEGMENT OF THE CLIMATE PLAN IS, IS ALSO INTENDED TO ADDRESS SCOPE THREE EMISSIONS.
UH, IN OTHER WORDS, EMISSIONS THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, RESULT FROM THE PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF ALL OF OUR, OUR GOODS.
SO, UM, WASTE HAS EMBODIED EMISSIONS IN THEM, SO REDUCING IT REDUCES EMISSIONS UPSTREAM AS WELL.
AND, AND FOR THAT MATTER, I MEAN, EVEN PLASTICS HAVE NOW BEEN SHOWN THAT THEY, NOT SURPRISINGLY SINCE THEY'RE MADE OF FOSSIL FUELS, THEY RELEASE C O TWO AS THEY DEGRADE.
SO IT, IT'S METHANE, BUT IT'S ALSO OTHER EMISSIONS, RIGHT? YEAH, ABSOLUTELY.
BUT YEAH, CHRIS, IF YOU WANNA LIKE CHAT OFFLINE, I ACTUALLY RAN SOME NUMBERS ABOUT LIKE, WHAT, WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF, YOU KNOW, IF THESE NUMBERS WERE MADE USING THE A HUNDRED YEAR RATHER THAN THE, THE 25 YEAR NUMBERS, THEN UM, YEAH, THAT WOULD SUGGEST THAT THAT WASTE IS ACTUALLY OUR THIRD LARGEST CATEGORY OF EMISSIONS.
UM, BUT I THINK BEFORE I RAISE THE ALARM BELLS, WE'D PROBABLY WANT SOME CLARIFICATION ON THAT.
I DID THE NITROUS OXIDE NUMBERS TOO.
UM, AND, AND I DID THE COMPOSTING NUMBERS BECAUSE COMPOSTING ACTUALLY CAN PRODUCE EMISSIONS, BUT MUCH SMALLER EMISSIONS IF YOU DO IT RIGHT.
UH, SORRY,
UM, SO ANY OTHER QUESTIONS SPECIFICALLY ON, UH, THE A R R DISPOSAL RATE RECOMMENDATION? AWESOME.
SO THEN THIS BROUGHT UP THE NEXT POINT, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS REALLY QUITE SUBSTATIVE, UM, AGAIN, THAT, THAT KIBA BROUGHT UP, WHICH WAS THAT THEY HAVE THIS PLAN AND THEY'RE LIKE, OKAY, OVER THE NEXT, LIKE SHORT TERM, WHICH IS THREE TO FIVE YEARS, WE'LL DO THIS STUFF.
AND WE ARE KINDA LIKE, HEY, HOLD ON.
LIKE THERE'S LIKE A CLIMATE EMERGENCY GOING ON.
UM, WE THINK WE NEED TO PICK UP THE PACE HERE.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, WE NEED TO HAVE SOME NEAR TERM GOALS.
AND THOSE ARE LIKE ZERO TO TWO YEARS
[02:20:01]
KIBA, YOU WANNA FILL IN MORE CONTEXT HERE.I MEAN, THEY HAD ZERO TO FIVE AND, AND THEN I GUESS FIVE TO 10 YEAR GOALS, AND THAT, THAT DOESN'T REALLY ALIGN WITH THE, THE CLIMATE PLAN.
SO, ALL RIGHT, I'LL, I'LL TAKE THAT AS PEOPLE BEING IN FAVOR OF NOT SLOWING DOWN CLIMATE ACTION.
UM, ANY, NO, GOING ONCE, TWICE.
THIS GETS US TO OUR LAST RECOMMENDATION, UM, WHICH WAS SPECIFICALLY TO PROVIDE, TO PROMOTE CLIMATE FRIENDLY FOOD CHOICES.
UM, SO THESE COULD, BUT DON'T HAVE TO SPECIFICALLY BE VEGETARIAN OPTIONS, BUT THINKING ABOUT, YOU KNOW, REPLACING BEEF WITH BEANS, I THINK IT SAYS IN THE CLIMATE PLAN, UM, AND A WHOLE HOST OF, OF OTHER OPTIONS.
UH, AND THEN SPECIFICALLY, UH, CHARLOTTE I THINK WROTE THE TEXT ON THIS AND, UM, UH, WAS ABLE TO SITUATE THIS WITHIN SPECIFIC, UH, SPECIFIC PROGRAMS. UH, CHARLOTTE, YOU WANNA FILL IN MORE HERE? YEAH, I THINK THIS IS, THIS IS ONE THAT WE, WE DO NEED TO, UM, PUT SOME MORE, UM, PENCIL TO PAPER ON.
UM, DEFINITELY THE CLIMATE PLAN CALLS FOR, UM, UH, YOU KNOW, INCENTIVE OR ENCOURAGING PRO CLIMATE FOOD CHOICES.
AND THOSE, UH, TYPICALLY TEND TO BE, UH, MORE PLANT-BASED OPTIONS.
UM, SO WE'RE MEETING WITH, UM, HAVING SOME MEETINGS WITH THE FOOD TEAM AND, UM, TO JUST LEARN ABOUT SOME OF THE PROGRAMS AND SOME OF THE, UM, COMMUNITY, UM, UH, PARTNERS AND NONPROFITS THAT ARE DOING SOME OF THESE WORK ON, UH, ON THE GROUND.
THERE'S A LOT OF PROGRAMS AROUND, UM, VEGETABLES AND FRUITS, LIKE DOUBLE UP FOOD BUCKS.
UM, THERE'S SOME FARMER'S MARKET THINGS.
SO, UM, THIS, THIS ONE IS SOMETHING THAT I THINK IS IMPORTANT TO DO AND IT'S NOT FULLY FLESHED OUT NOW, BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, THIS IS SORT OF OUR, OUR FIRST, UH, FIRST STAB AT THE, UM, AT THE RECOMMENDATION HERE AND WELCOME ANY
YEAH, I THINK THAT THAT'S GREAT.
UH, YEAH, I'LL MAKE THIS QUICK.
UH, YEAH, NO, I THINK IT'S A REAL GOOD RECOMMENDATION.
THE ONLY THING THAT I WOULD SAY, YOU KNOW, CURRENT, YOU KNOW, CERTAINLY, UH, PLANT-BASED PROTEIN IS GOING TO CAUSE A LOT LESS EMISSIONS THAN, YOU KNOW, ANIMAL-BASED PROTEIN.
UM, BUT I DO THINK THAT IN ADDITION TO PLANT-BASED PROTEIN, YOU KNOW, SPECIFICALLY CALLING OUT, LIKE YOU SAID, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES, UH, WILL ALSO BE IMPORTANT JUST BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, UM, FRUITS ARE A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF, UH, THE HUMAN DIET TRADITIONALLY, AND THEY'VE BEEN REPLACED BY FRUIT-BASED JUICES MADE WITH HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHICH IS NOT EXACTLY THE SAME THING, YOU KNOW? SO, YEAH.
UM, I THINK THE REASON WE WANTED TO ZERO IN ON THIS IS ACTUALLY, UM, IN THE, IN THE, LIKE EMAILING IN THE PRESENTATIONS, AT LEAST THE PRESENTATION I WAS AT IN IN DECEMBER, IT SEEMED LIKE, UM, UH, THE PUBLIC HEALTH WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY WELL FOCUSED ON THE FRUITS AND VEGETABLE COMPONENT OF THIS BECAUSE IT, THEY CAME TO IT FROM A, YOU KNOW, VERY SPECIFIC HEALTH AND DIETARY NEED PERSPECTIVE.
AND WE FELT LIKE THAT THEY SEEMED TO HAVE THAT IN HAND.
AND SPECIFICALLY I THINK WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS MISSING WAS PERHAPS THE REST OF THE MEAL.
SO LIKE IF YOU'RE HAVING, YOU KNOW, A, A NICE SALAD AND FRUIT AND THEN YOU'RE STILL HAVING A STEAK, WE THOUGHT MAYBE THERE WAS SOME ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT ON THE CLIMATE STUFF.
YEAH, THAT TOTALLY MAKES SENSE.
YEAH, AND I, I, I WOULD ADD TO THAT, THAT, YOU KNOW, FOR PEOPLE THAT DO CHOOSE TO EAT, UH, MEAT, JUST KIND OF SPECIFYING, UH, OR CONSIDERING SOMEHOW IN LIKE SAYING THAT INCENTIVIZE PEOPLE TO GET IT FROM REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE.
UM, 'CAUSE THAT'S SOMETHING THAT'S, THAT IT'S GROWING QUITE A BIT AND I THINK CAN HAVE SUBSTANTIAL REDUCTION IN EMISSIONS TOO COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL WAYS OF FARMING RA UH, ANIMAL RAISING.
YEAH, I THINK THAT'S A GREAT POINT, CHRIS.
YEAH, I, I DON'T KNOW, I'VE, I'VE SEEN MIXED RESEARCH ON THE ACTUAL EMISSIONS REDUCTION OF, UH, YOU KNOW, THINGS LIKE GRASS FED AND, AND, AND EVEN I, I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE, MAYBE THERE ARE SOME PRACTICES THAT ARE, UM, REALLY MOVING THE NEEDLE, BUT I, I WOULD JUST BE A LITTLE CAUTIOUS ABOUT PUTTING DOLLARS BEHIND THAT.
I THINK THERE'S, IT'S ONE THING TO MAYBE MESSAGE ON IT, BUT YEAH, I, I, I WOULD BE CAUTIOUS ON THAT.
[02:25:03]
I KNOW IT'S NOT FOOD, BUT WHAT ABOUT DEVELOPING INCENTIVES FOR RETAIL THAT PROVIDE REFILLABLE SERVICES? SO JUST TO, YOU KNOW, MINIMIZE, UH, DISPOSABLE RATES.YEAH, I'M, I'M CERTAINLY SUPPORTIVE OF THAT.
I THINK THAT PROBABLY WOULD FALL UNDER, UM, WELL, LET ME JUST MAKE, I THINK THIS WOULD BE PERHAPS A NEW AND SEPARATE RECOMMENDATION.
UH, SORRY JOHN, I'M LIKE BUTCHERING YOUR SUGGESTION
YEAH, YEAH, REFILLABLE SERVICES, LIKE JUST DEVELOP INCENTIVES FOR RETAIL THAT PROVIDES, UH, REFILLABLE SERVICES.
YEAH, WE, WE, THAT'S A, A GOOD SUGGESTION.
YOU KNOW, I REMEMBER DURING, UH, I WANNA SAY IT'S LIKE DURING THE, THE REALLY BIG BLIZZARD TWO YEARS AGO, LIKE A A, WHAT A LOT OF BREWERIES WERE DOING WAS, THEY WERE JUST LIKE, BECAUSE I GUESS BREWERIES PRODUCE LIKE A LOT OF WATER OR SOMETHING, I'M JUST, YOU KNOW, MORE USUALLY CONCERNED WITH THE END PROCESS THAN THE BREWING PROCESS, I SUPPOSE.
BUT, UH, THEY DID LIKE A LOT OF STUFF WHERE THEY WERE LIKE GIVING OUT WATER TO LIKE PEOPLE AS LONG AS YOU BROUGHT YOUR OWN CONTAINER.
UM, SO, YOU KNOW, I THINK CERTAINLY DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO HELP CUT DOWN ON LIKE SINGLE USE PLASTICS WITH LIKE, YOU KNOW, WATER BALLS AND STUFF LIKE THAT.
UM, AND THEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO EXTRAPOLATE THAT FROM JUST SORT OF THAT PROCESS TO LIKE, YOU KNOW, MORE PROCESSES AT LARGE TO, UH, YOU KNOW, REDUCE, YOU KNOW, PLASTIC WASTE OR, YOU KNOW, ANY OTHER TYPE OF WASTE WOULD DEFINITELY BE COOL.
I'D LIKE TO MAKE A COMMENT BACK ON OUR PLANT-BASED PROTEIN.
THERE IS A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF LOBBYING EFFORTS FROM THE MEAT AND DAIRY INDUSTRY TO DEINCENTIVIZE THE PURCHASING AND CONSUMPTION OF PLANT-BASED PROTEINS.
IT SEEMS LIKE, AND THERE WOULD BE, I THINK IT WOULD BEHOOVE A, A GOOD EFFORT TO WASH SOME OF THOSE, UM, LOGGING EFFORTS AND PROPERLY EDUCATE PEOPLE ON HOW GOOD AND HEALTHY PLANT-BASED PROTEIN ACTUALLY CAN BE FOR YOU AND HOW MUCH PROTEIN PEOPLE ACTUALLY NEED VERSUS THE OVERCONSUMPTION OF PROTEIN THAT YOU GET FROM, FROM MEAT PRODUCTS AND DAIRY PRODUCTS.
UM, JUST SOME LIKE CORRECT SCIENCE AND EDUCATION ABOUT THE, UM, THE BENEFITS AND, AND NOT JUST FOR HEALTH, BUT ALSO FOR ENVIRONMENTAL.
I THINK, I THINK MELISSA, OUR, OUR AIM HERE SPECIFICALLY WAS TO SEE, YOU KNOW, CAN WE GET SOME OF THESE PROHEALTH EFFORTS THAT ARE ONGOING? CAN WE SORT OF SNEAK IN OR, OR OUTRIGHT PUT PRO CLIMATE, UM, POLICIES IN.
BUT YEAH, MELISSA, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'RE AWARE THE, THE ONE THE MILK INDUSTRY WAS, WAS TRYING TO, OR DAIRY INDUSTRY WAS TRYING TO, UH, STOP, YOU KNOW, UH, PLANT-BASED MILKS FROM USING THE WORD MILK, THEY THOUGHT PEOPLE MIGHT BE, OR THEY, SO THEY CLAIM PEOPLE MIGHT BE CONFUSED, SO IF YOU'VE ACCIDENTALLY BOUGHT SOME, SO OH, IT'S SOMEWHERE
UM, I DID JUST WANNA FLAG ON, ON THIS ONE FOR THOSE WHO, UM, YOU KNOW, MAYBE IN THE LAST GROUP WERE, HAD SOME ITEMS THAT WERE AROUND INCENTIVES AND YOU WERE LIKE, IS THIS A BUDGET THING OR NOT THE WAY WE WROTE IT HERE, UH, COULD, COULD BE USED, UM, YOU KNOW, DEVELOP THE FRAMEWORK FOR THE INCENTIVE AND THEN THE NEXT STEP IS TO ACTUALLY FUND THAT PROGRAM.
SO JUST, I DON'T KNOW, AS A SUGGESTION, I WANNA SAY THAT BEFORE THE PANDEMIC, IT WAS MORE COMMON TO BE ABLE TO BRING YOUR OWN CUP TO PLACES AND JUST HAVE, UM, I DON'T KNOW, STARBUCKS USED TO HAVE THAT.
I DON'T KNOW IF THEY PICKED IT UP BACK AFTER THE PANDEMIC, BUT ALL THAT TO SAY, THEY DIDN'T EVEN OFFER ANY, LIKE, SAVINGS.
IT WAS SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE WOULD LIKE TO DO.
SO SOMETIMES THE, THE, THE INCENTIVE IS MAYBE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS UNDERSTANDING WHAT'S STOPPING THEM RIGHT NOW.
I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S LIKE STILL A BACKLASH FROM PANDEMIC, UM, STANDARDS OR IF THERE'S SOMETHING ELSE.
SO SOMETIMES, YEAH, I'M JUST PUTTING THAT OUT THERE BECAUSE THE IDEAS
[02:30:01]
ARE PROBABLY THERE, THERE'S PROBABLY SOME OTHER THINGS THAT ARE STOPPING THEM, AND IT WOULD BE NICE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S STOPPING THEM FROM, FROM OFFERING THOSE, UH, OPTIONS.YEAH, THAT'S, THAT'S AN INTERESTING POINT.
I, I'VE BEEN, I'M ACTUALLY BEEN IN PORTLAND FOR THE LAST MONTH AND, UH, YEAH, IT'S ACTUALLY PRETTY BAD HERE IN, IN THE SENSE THAT EVERYTHING THAT YOU, THAT YOU BUY IN STORES IN OR RESTAURANTS, IT'S ALL LIKE IN PLASTIC AND STUFF LIKE THAT, WHICH I THINK IT IS A COMPONENT OF LIKE THE COVID, BUT IT'S, IT, IT IS SURPRISING TO ME THAT THE, THEY'RE STILL DOING IT TILL THIS DAY.
SO I'M ACTUALLY READING HERE THAT APPARENTLY LIKE DECEMBER OF 2022, CITY COUNCIL RECENTLY DIRECTED STAFF TO IN INCENTIVIZE LOCAL HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY, WHICH IS LIKE RESTAURANTS, BARS, I ASSUME LIKE HOTELS TO, TO CURB THEIR RELIANCE ON SINGLE USE PLASTICS, UM, WITH LIKE A, A BUNCH OF STUFF BASICALLY, YOU KNOW, SINGLE USE PLASTIC BEVERAGE AND FOOD CONTAINERS ARE THE MOST COMMON KIND OF TRASH FOUND IN LOCAL CREEKS.
UM, SO MAYBE WE COULD SEE WHERE THOSE EFFORTS HAVE GONE.
UM, AND THEN NOT ONLY SORT OF, YOU KNOW, USE THAT FOR, YOU KNOW, FIGURING OUT WHAT TO DO IN REGARDS TO THE HOSPITALITY, YOU KNOW, RESTAURANT INDUSTRY, BUT ALSO JUST, YOU KNOW, LIKE WE MENTIONED RETAIL.
UM, YOU KNOW, I THINK THERE MIGHT BE SOME RULE THAT THE CITY OF AUSTIN HAS AS FAR AS LIKE, YOU KNOW, USING, UM, REUSABLE FOOD CONTAINERS FOR, TO GO ORDERS.
UM, I FORGET EXACTLY WHAT IT IS, BUT I THINK IT'S SOMETHING LIKE RESTAURANTS THEMSELVES OR LIKE, I THINK YOU AS AN OUTSIDE PERSON CANNOT BRING LIKE A REUSABLE FOOD CONTAINER FOR THE RESTAURANT TO PUT YOUR FOOD IN OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
IT'S LIKE, I THINK THAT THERE MIGHT BE SOME KIND OF LIKE CONVOLUTED REGULATION OR, YOU KNOW, GROUP OF REGULATIONS THAT ARE AROUND THAT, BUT, UH, THAT MIGHT BE WORTH LOOKING INTO AS WELL.
I THINK YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT, 'CAUSE I'VE, I'VE BOTH GOT A RESTAURANT TO DO IT BEFORE, BUT THEY WERE KINDA LIKE GRUMBLY ABOUT IT AND I, AND THEY SAID, NAH, WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO.
BUT YEAH, I'VE, UH, I'VE WORKED FOR A COMPANY THAT WAS IN LIKE THE REUSABLE TO GO FOOD CONTAINER BUSINESS, AND THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT DOING IT FOR LIKE A OFFICE IN AUSTIN, BUT THEY SAID IT WAS GONNA BE LIKE COMPLICATED.
THEY WOULD NEED LIKE A SEPARATE DISH WASHING LOCATION THAT WAS LIKE, NOT ON PREMISE, AND LIKE THAT THEY COULD NOT GET THE FOOD FROM LIKE OTHER RESTAURANTS AND THEN PUT THEM IN REUSABLE TO GO CONTAINERS THEMSELVES AT THE RESTAURANT WOULD HAVE TO DO IT.
AND IT WAS JUST LIKE, I WAS LIKE, WOW, THE MORE YOU LEARN.
STEPHANIE, DID YOU HAVE, OR SORRY, KAYA, GO AHEAD.
IT, IT PIGGYBACKS ON A COUPLE OF THINGS OTHER PEOPLE HAVE SAID.
I THINK JUST WHEN WE DO FIND OUT WHAT THE RULES ARE AROUND THIS, THERE'S SOME AN EDUCATION COMPONENT THAT'S MISSING, UM, AND VERY SIMILAR TO HOW WE SORT OF CHANGED OUR PRACTICES WITH LIKE BAGS AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
IF PEOPLE KNOW THAT THEY CAN DO CERTAIN THINGS OR CAN'T, UM, WE CAN, WE CAN START TO VEER IN THAT DIRECTION.
I KNOW FOR ME, I TAKE, YOU KNOW, I TAKE MY CUP AND I'M ABLE TO GET LIKE TEA, HOT TEA AND STUFF AT DIFFERENT PLACES, AND I JUST ALWAYS ASK.
UM, BUT NOT EVERYBODY'S GONNA DO THAT.
SO JUST AN EDUCATION COMPONENT ONCE WE FIND OUT WHERE WE ARE.
UM, I KNOW WE'RE GETTING LATE Y'ALL, SO, UM, I'M GONNA TRY TO TRY TO DO THIS SPEEDILY.
APPARENTLY IT DID NOT LIKE WHAT I WAS DOING.
SO SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS, UM, WE HAVE, WE HAVE SEVEN RECOMMENDATIONS, WHICH, WHICH DOES FEEL LIKE A LOT, BUT I'LL, I'LL SOME OF THE, SEVERAL THREE OF THEM ARE, ARE CLOSELY RELATED.
SO, UH, THE FIRST ONE IS I WOULD SAY THE KIND OF MOST, UM, BASIC AND, AND EASILY, UH, ACHIEVED BECAUSE STAFF IS ALREADY PLANNING TO, TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE 2024 ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE.
[02:35:01]
UM, IT WILL BE RELEASED WITHIN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS.UM, UNFORTUNATELY THEIR PLAN IS FOR THAT PROCESS TO TAKE A YEAR.
UM, BUT THEY'RE PLANNING TO TAKE IT THROUGH THE, THE PROCESS TO ADOPT, WHICH INCLUDES BOARD AND COMMISSIONS AND, AND ALL OF THAT.
UM, AS WELL AS STAKEHOLDERS WE'RE, UH, YOU KNOW, POTENTIALLY GONNA SUGGEST, UH, A SMALL AMENDMENT TO THAT THAT WOULD ALLOW, UM, SPACE FOR HEAT PUMPS, UH, FOR HOT WATER.
BUT OTHER THAN THAT, PRETTY MUCH SUPPORT THAT EFFORT.
I THINK WE'VE, WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS ISSUE HERE, BUT IF ANYBODY HAS A THOUGHT ON THAT SPEAK UP.
I'M NOT ABLE TO SEE EVERYBODY RIGHT NOW.
UM, NEXT UP, UM, DID SOMEBODY HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? NO.
THE ENERGY CONSERVATION AUDIT AND DISCLOSURE ORDINANCE, UM, IT CURRENTLY IS IN EFFECT FOR BOTH RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS, IN AND INCLUDING SINGLE FAMILY AT POINT OF SALE, YOU HAVE TO GET AN AUDIT AND, AND DISCLOSE THAT ENERGY AUDIT TO SELLER.
THE IDEA WAS THAT BY MAKING THIS INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO HOME PURCHASERS AS WELL AS, YOU KNOW, UH, TENANTS AT RENTAL PROPERTIES, THAT, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE WOULD BE ABLE TO CHOOSE THE EFFICIENT PROPERTIES AND ENCOURAGE THE OTHER PROPERTIES TO DO UPGRADES.
BUT I THINK WE ALL KNOW WHAT THE, THE REAL ESTATE MARKET IS LIKE HERE IN AUSTIN, AND SO THAT DOESN'T, ISN'T QUITE HOW THINGS PLAY OUT.
UM, SO THIS, THIS ACTUALLY WAS A SUGGESTION FROM, FROM ONE OF OUR, UM, OUTSIDE, UH, WORKING GROUP MEMBERS WHO WORKS AT FOUNDATION COMMUNITIES AND, UM, YOU KNOW, AND I, I AGREE WITH HER TAKE THAT WE NEED TO MOVE TO THE NEXT PHASE, WHICH SOME OTHER CITIES LIKE DC AND NEW YORK ARE DOING, AND, AND NOT JUST KIND OF BENCHMARKING, DOING AUDITING, BUT ACTUALLY REQUIRING UPGRADES.
WHEN, WHEN YOU HAVE BUILDINGS THAT ARE VERY INEFFICIENT,
I THINK WITH, WITH MOST ALL OF, MOST OF OUR RECOMMENDATIONS, WE KIND OF, UM, LEFT THE DETAILS FOR THE NEXT PHASE.
UM, I CAN CERTAINLY, UM, CHECK BACK WITH, UM, WITH KAITLYN WHO, WHO BROUGHT THIS FORWARD AND SEE IF SHE HAS A SUGGESTION BASED ON, I THINK SHE PARTICULARLY THOUGHT THAT THE, THE DC PROGRAM WAS, WAS A GOOD ONE.
THEY ALSO PROVIDE AN INCENTIVE FOR, UH, LOW INCOME PROPERTIES TO ACTUALLY MAKE THOSE UPGRADES.
SO EVERYBODY HAS TO MAKE THE UPGRADES IF THEY'RE PERFORMING POORLY, BUT IF, UM, YOU KNOW, IT'S A LOW INCOME PROPERTY, THEN THEN YOU GET, THEN YOU GET FUNDING TO ACTUALLY DO IT.
UM, BUT I, I DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER OF LIKE WHAT, HOW THAT, WHAT THAT THRESHOLD IS, BUT I CAN MAKE A NOTE THAT WE SHOULD, WE SHOULD ASK ABOUT THAT.
UM, THE NEXT THREE ARE ALL RELATED IN THAT THERE ARE DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR ENCOURAGING, PILOTING THE USE OF THE PASSIVE HOUSE AND OR LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE, UH, BUILDING STANDARDS, WHICH DO GO ABOVE AND BEYOND.
UM, THE ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE IN TERMS AS PASSIVE HOUSE IS, IS MOSTLY, UM, I THINK FOCUSED ON HAVING REALLY TIGHTLY SEALED BUILDINGS THAT, UM, ARE VERY ENERGY EFFICIENT.
UH, LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE HAS OTHER ELEMENTS AS WELL AND, AND MAYBE IS A HEAVIER LIFT, BUT IS ANOTHER REALLY GOOD, UM, STANDARD.
AND YOU CAN SEE HERE THAT, UM, NUMBER THREE IS AN IDEA ABOUT CREATING ANOTHER, UH, DENSITY BONUS PROGRAM THAT CAN THE STACK ON TOP OF THE EXISTING PROGRAMS. SO, UM, THAT WOULD JUST MEAN, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN, I DON'T KNOW, BUILD BUILD SOME ADDITIONAL AMOUNT OF HEIGHT PERHAPS IF YOU ARE BUILDING TO THESE HIGHER STANDARDS IN TERMS OF EFFICIENCY AND SUSTAINABILITY.
UM, AND I'M JUST GONNA GO THROUGH THESE THREE AND THEN FOLKS CAN COMMENT ON ALL THREE OF THEM.
THE SECOND ONE IS, UM, JUST FOCUSED ON CITY OF AUSTIN FUNDED, UH, BUILDINGS AND, UM, NOT NECESSARILY REQUIRING THAT THEY USE THESE STANDARDS, BUT PROVIDING ADDITIONAL POINTS WHEN EVALUATING, UH,
[02:40:01]
RESPONSES TO RFPS.AND THEN THE THIRD ONE IS AN IDEA OF ACTUALLY, UM, PROVIDING SOME INCENTIVE, UH, FUNDING TO, UH, YOU KNOW, FOR, FOR PROPERTIES.
AND, AND THIS WOULD BE MULTIFAMILY, UM, PROPERTIES THAT WOULD ACTUALLY MOVE FORWARD WITH THOSE, UM, WITH THOSE STANDARDS.
AND WE DID HEAR, UM, THIS CAME FROM ONE OF OUR OTHER MEMBERS INITIALLY, BUT, BUT, UM, AGAIN, THE, THE MEMBER FROM FOUNDATION COMMUNITIES DID SHARE THAT, THAT ON ONE OF THEIR RECENT PROPERTIES, THEY, THEY WERE CLOSE TO BEING ABLE TO DO PASSIVE HOUSE, BUT THEY WERE, UM, SHORT OF FUNDS TO DO THE KIND OF LAST, UM, PHASE OF WORK THAT WOULD BE REQUIRED TO MEET THE STANDARD.
AND ALSO, UH, THAT WASN'T, UH, ALSO ACCOUNTING FOR, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR INSPECTIONS AND, AND CERTIFICATION ON THAT.
SO, UM, THIS WAS KIND OF THEIR ESTIMATE OF, YOU KNOW, AN AMOUNT THAT WOULD ENABLE SOME PROPERTIES TO, TO GET OVER THE FINISH LINE, UM, AND, UH, BE ABLE TO AT LEAST DEMONSTRATE THAT, THAT THESE, UM, THAT THESE STANDARDS ARE VERY POSSIBLE HERE.
UM, AND CURRENTLY THERE AREN'T, THERE AREN'T ANY, UM, I'M TOLD MULTI-FAMILY BUILDINGS IN TEXAS THAT ARE, UM, BUILT TO THE PASSIVE HOUSE STANDARD.
SO YEAH, THOUGHTS ON ANY OF THOSE THREE THERE? AND I WOULD ADD THAT OTHER CITIES ARE DOING SOMETHING SIMILAR ABOUT THE PASSIVE HOUSE STANDARDS, SO THAT'S WHERE, UH, TREY WAS GETTING ALL THESE INITIATIVES AND IDEAS AND, UH, AND I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO HIGHLIGHT BECAUSE IT'S SOMETHING THAT'S GOING ON IN THE REST, UH, IN OTHER FORWARD THINKING MUNICIPALITIES AND CITIES.
YEAH, TH THANKS FOR ADDING THAT.
UM, SPECIFICALLY I THINK IT'S MASSACHUSETTS, UM, THAT HAS, UH, THEY, THEY, THEY HAVE SOME EXISTING PROGRAM WITH PASSIVE HOUSE AND I THINK THEY'VE JUST ADDED TO IT, UM, WITH AN INCENTIVE PROGRAM.
SHOULD I MOVE ON? I'M GONNA MOVE ON.
UM, AND, AND, AND AGAIN, I THINK WITH ALL OF THESE WE'RE, WE'RE SAYING MOVE FORWARD IN DOING THIS THING, DETAILS NEED TO STILL WORKED, BE WORKED OUT, AND THAT WOULD BE TRUE OF THIS ONE AS WELL.
UM, BUT AUSTIN ENERGY GREEN BUILDING PROGRAM, UM, YOU KNOW, THEY, THEY DO GO THROUGH, UM, PERIODIC UPDATES.
THEY'VE DONE SOME UPDATING, UH, RECENTLY, AND YOU KNOW, WHAT WE HEARD THROUGH THAT PROCESS, UM, AND IT WAS PARTICULARLY RELATED TO TRYING TO EXCLUDE TOXIC AND NOT CLIMATE FRIENDLY BUILDING MATERIALS FROM THE PROGRAM, WAS THAT STAFF, UM, WAS CONCERNED THAT THEY MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO DO THAT THROUGHOUT THE PROGRAM BECAUSE AT LEAST CERTAIN SMART HOUSING, UM, PROJECTS HAVE TO GET AT LEAST A THREE STAR RATING THROUGH AUSTIN ENERGY GREEN BUILDING.
AND SO IT IS SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN FOR THEM, A VOLUNTARY PROGRAM AND A MANDATORY, AND THEY KIND OF INTERPRET THAT AS MANDATORY, AND THE STATE DOESN'T ALLOW RESTRICTING OF BUILDING MATERIALS AND MANDATORY CODES.
SO, UM, WE'RE SUGGESTING THAT, YOU KNOW, BASICALLY SPLITTING IT INTO TWO TRACKS SO THAT YOU KNOW, ALL THE OTHER PROJECTS THAT ARE GOING THROUGH THE PROGRAM, UM, THAT THEY, THEY COULD ACTUALLY EXCLUDE SOME OF THOSE MORE TOXIC AND NOT CLIMATE FRIENDLY, UM, BUILDING MATERIALS.
AND I THINK WE ADDED IN HERE, UM, WHICH I THOUGHT WAS A, YOU KNOW, A GOOD, GOOD FLAG FROM CHARLOTTE THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT COULD CREATE SOME EQUITY ISSUE WHERE YOU END UP WITH, YOU KNOW, THE, THE SMART HOUSING, UM, PROJECTS MAYBE WITH MORE, MAYBE NOT MORE THAN THE CURRENT, BUT MORE COMPARED TO OTHER GREEN BUILDING, UM, PROJECTS, MORE OF THESE UN UNSAVORY MATERIALS WHICH CAN HAVE HEALTH IMPLICATIONS.
SO WE COULD ARE ALSO SUGGESTING PROVIDING AN INCENTIVE FOR THOSE, UM, PROJECTS TO MEET THE, MEET THE BASELINE STANDARD, UM, WHICH COULD, INSTEAD OF THE CURRENT STRATEGY TO KIND OF ALIGN WITH, WITH AT LEAST STAFF READING OF STATE LAW, IS THAT THERE ARE POINTS GIVEN FOR NOT USING THOSE MATERIALS, BUT THEY'RE NOT
[02:45:01]
PROHIBITED.SO BASICALLY CREATING, CREATING TWO TRACKS WITH AN INCENTIVE FOR TAKING THE HIGHER ONE.
WELL, IF YOU DID LIKE, UH, LIKE BONUSES AS WELL AS INCENTIVES, RIGHT? I FEEL LIKE THEY'RE PRETTY SIMILAR IN SORT OF HOW THEY OPERATE.
UM, YEAH, YOU MEAN KIND OF LIKE IN THE SAME WAY AS, UM, LIKE A DUSTY BONUS, WHATEVER.
I'M NOT REALLY SURE HOW ALL THAT WORKS, BUT I'M NOT SURE WHETHER THAT'S CONSIDERED LIKE AN INCENTIVE, LIKE A, LIKE A FINANCIAL INCENTIVE OR LIKE, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, I GUESS THERE'S A FINANCIAL BENEFIT FROM IT, SO YEAH.
SEEMS LIKE IT COULD BE, UM, YEAH, I LIKE THAT THOUGHT BECAUSE IT'S LIKE A FINANCIAL BENEFIT WITHOUT A COST TO THE CITY.
YEAH, BECAUSE, BECAUSE THE PROBLEM WITH THE INCENTIVE IS THAT ESSENTIALLY THE TAXPAYERS ARE ON THE HOOK FOR IT, RIGHT? WHEREAS A BONUS IS JUST LIKE, OKAY, WE JUST ALLOW YOU TO BUILD TALLER OR ON A SMALLER LOT.
UM, AND SO THAT'S A SITUATION WHERE THE TAXPAYER IS NOT NECESSARILY ON THE HOOK, BUT WE STILL GET THE, AS CITIZENS, WE STILL GET THE DESIRED BEHAVIOR FROM DEVELOPERS, YOU KNOW? MM-HMM.
ANY OTHER THOUGHTS ON THIS? ALL RIGHT.
UM, OUR LAST ONE IS, UM, AUSTIN ENERGY'S GREEN CHOICE PROGRAM.
I THINK THAT ALMOST EVERYBODY HERE,
BUT, UM, THIS, THIS IS AN ISSUE WE ACTUALLY DISCUSSED A FEW YEARS BACK, UM, BECAUSE AUSTIN ENERGY'S GREEN CHOICE PROGRAM HAS CHANGED SIGNIFICANTLY OVER THE YEARS.
UM, IT, IT PREVIOUSLY WAS A VERY DIRECT, THERE WAS A VERY DIRECT TIE BETWEEN MORE PEOPLE BUYING INTO THE PROGRAM, MORE WIND ENERGY GETTING PURCHASED THROUGH AUSTIN ENERGY, AND I THINK IT, IT DID A LOT OF GOOD.
UM, NOW AUSTIN ENERGY CONTRACTS FOR WIND ENERGY JUST AS A NORMAL COURSE OF BUSINESS, AND WHILE THEY MAY, UM, GET GREEN, GREEN E CERTIFICATION TO KIND OF DESIGNATE CERTAIN FARMS AS GREEN CHOICE FARMS, THE REALITY IS IS THAT MORE OF US BUY AND INTO GREEN CHOICE DOESN'T ACTUALLY, UM, DOESN'T ACTUALLY CHANGE PROCUREMENT, UM, KIND OF CADENCE OR, OR, OR ANYTHING.
AND SO IT'S, IT'S, IT'S, I THINK IN MY MIND A BIT OF A GREENWASHING PROGRAM AT THIS POINT THAT THAT DOES MAYBE SERVE SOME, UH, CORPORATE NEEDS IN TERMS OF LIKE LARGE COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS THAT HAVE GOALS AND THEY NEED TO SAY THEY'RE USING RENEWABLE ENERGY.
BUT, UM, THE, THE PROGRAM COULD BE, I THINK, REVAMPED TO, TO, TO PLAY A MEANINGFUL ROLE BECAUSE THERE STILL ARE NEEDS WHILE PURCHASING WIND AND SOLAR IS KIND OF, UM, YOU KNOW, NORMAL COURSE OF BUSINESS NOW BECAUSE THEY'RE VERY AFFORDABLE.
THERE'S STILL A LOT OF NEED WHEN IT COMES TO ENERGY STORAGE, AND THAT IS STILL A HIGHER COST.
SO, UM, THE SUGGESTION HERE, UH, IS, IS TO USE THAT MONEY IN A WAY THAT IS BENEFICIAL TO OUR CLIMATE GOALS, PERHAPS BY MATCHING THAT WITH, UM, YOU KNOW, USING IT FOR, FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY THAT IS ACTUALLY ALIGNED WITH WHEN WE USE IT VIA ENERGY STORAGE OR SOME OTHER MECHANISM.
KIVA, I GUESS MY QUESTION IS LIKE, DO WE HAVE THAT GRID STORAGE CAPACITY, RIGHT? LIKE, IS THE THING THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN THAT WE NEED TO CONTRACT FOR, LIKE IS THAT STORAGE CAPACITY AVAILABLE ON ERCOT, OR IS THE ASK RATHER LIKE SOMEBODY NEEDS TO BE BUILDING THOSE, THOSE BATTERIES? IT, IT'S ABSOLUTE, WELL, I MEAN, THERE IS STORAGE BEING ADDED, UH, TO THE ERCOT GRID, BUT THIS WOULD BE THE, THE, UM, THE CHANGE WOULD BE AUSTIN ENERGY, UM, CONTRACTING FOR NEW ADDITIONAL STORAGE.
THERE, THERE'S NOT NEARLY ENOUGH CURRENTLY.
UM, YOU KNOW, IT'S REALLY JUST, JUST GETTING STARTED.
SO, AND THAT'S, UM, YOU KNOW, THE SAME ROLE THAT THE PROGRAM PLAYED FOR FOR MANY YEARS, UM, IT WITH, WITH WIND PROCUREMENT, SO IT WAS AUSTIN ENERGY WOULD PUT OUT AN R F P, WE WANNA, YOU KNOW, WE WANT A NEW WIND FARM.
THEY'D GET PROPOSALS, THE WIND FARM WOULD GET BUILT, THEY'D GET THE ENERGY, IT GOES TO THE GREEN CHOICE CUSTOMERS.
[02:50:01]
YEAH.AND SO DOES, LIKE, IS THIS EXPLICIT ENOUGH, I GUESS, RIGHT? LIKE AS WRITTEN, I MEAN, I THINK IT COULD BE MORE EXPLICIT.
UM, LIKE THE THING WE WANT THEM TO DO IS BUILD MORE BATTERIES AND USE THE GREEN SHOW CHOICE PROGRAM TO FUND IT, RIGHT? OR DID I MISS SOMETHING? YEAH, SO ARE YOU SAYING SOMETHING SO BROADER? SO MAYBE JUST TO, UM, YEAH, AND THEN INSTEAD OF ADDRESS CURRENT ENERGY NEEDS, JUST KIND OF SAY SOMETHING ABOUT PROCUREMENT, MAYBE
SO I, I MIGHT SUGGEST I, I DON'T KNOW, UNLESS THERE'S SOME DOWNSIDE TO BEING OVERLY PRESCRIPTIVE IF WE THINK OVERLY PRESCRIPTIVE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE LIKELY TO GET THROUGH.
LIKE TO ME, THIS IS A REALLY, REALLY BIG ONE.
LIKE THIS IS ONE THAT I THINK SIGNIFICANTLY MOVES THE NEEDLE ON OUR CLIMATE GOALS.
YEAH, I THINK THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO MOVE THE NEEDLE IN, IN MULTIPLE WAYS, NOT LEAST BY, YOU KNOW, AS AUSTIN ENERGY, UM, GETS MORE ENERGY STORAGE AS PART OF THEIR PORTFOLIO, THEY'RE GONNA FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE RETIRING THEIR FOSSIL FUEL PLANTS.
SO, UM, YES, IT IS, I THINK THE IMPORTANCE CAN'T REALLY BE OVERSTATED IN THE, THE ENERGY SECTOR THERE.
LIKE I WOULD GO SO FAR AS TO SAY, IF I ONLY GOT TO PICK ONE, I HEARD TODAY THIS, THIS MIGHT, THIS MIGHT BE MY, MY VOTE I, IS THIS, UM, ITEM SOMETHING THAT THE WORKING GROUP FOR THE RESOURCE GENERATION AND CLIMATE PROTECTION PLAN, RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN WORKING GROUP IS GONNA TALK ABOUT FROM THE EUC.
I MEAN, THE WORKING GROUP CAN TALK ABOUT WHATEVER WE WANT.
I CAN SAY THIS IS, IS IT OUT IN THE SCOPE, IS WHAT I'M ASKING? IT'S BOTH IN THE SCOPE AND IT'S A LITTLE MORE DETAILED THAN WHAT IS USUALLY IN THE RESOURCE PLAN, BUT EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE THERE'S SOMETHING KIND OF SPECIFIC IN THE RESOURCE PLAN.
SO I MEAN, YOU KNOW, IT'S WHATEVER COUNCIL ULTIMATELY DECIDES, UM, SHOULD BE IN THERE, BUT I COULD, I COULD SEE PUSHBACK ON IT BEING IN THERE FOR THAT REASON.
I DON'T NECESSARILY AGREE WITH THAT.
I'M JUST, YEAH, TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION BECAUSE I, YOU KNOW, AND THIS MAY BE NAIVE 'CAUSE I'M ONLY A YEAR INTO THE BOARDS AND COMMISSION, BUT I KNOW THAT IT'S SOMETHING THAT THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT COMMISSION IS GOING TO TAKE UP NEXT MONTH.
UM, IF, IF THE R M C KIND OF ALIGNS AROUND IT AND THE J S C ALIGNS AROUND IT AND THE WORKING GROUP OF THE E U C FOR THE RESOURCE GENERATION PLAN ALIGNS AROUND IT, MAYBE THAT'S ENOUGH SUPPORT TO REALLY CONVINCE COUNSEL THAT IT, UH, TO TAKE ACTION ON THIS ITEM.
YEAH, I I WOULD, I WOULD HOPE SO.
I MEAN, UH, THEY'RE COLLECTING, YOU KNOW, UH, THEY'RE COLLECTING THIS MONEY FROM CUSTOMERS.
IT SEEMS LIKE WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING GREEN WITH IT RIGHT NOW.
IT JUST GOES TOWARDS A VERY MINOR BILL REDUCTION, SO MINOR THAT I DON'T THINK ANYBODY, UNLESS YOU ARE A VERY MAJOR ENERGY USER, YOU WOULD NOT NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE.
NO, IT'S ACTUALLY HIGHER, RIGHT? IT'S A, IT'S THREE, OH, I MEAN, THE WAY THE FUNDS ARE USED, SO THEY USE IT TO JUST OFFSET THE P SS A, YEAH, IT JUST BUYS DOWN THE PSA A LITTLE, BUT IT'S SO SMALL THAT IT'S WASTED IN THAT SENSE AND COULD BE USED TO, I THINK, BENEFIT HERE.
WE DID WRITE UP KIND OF JUSTIFICATION, SO I'LL SEND THIS AROUND SO PEOPLE CAN READ THAT, BUT IT'S 9 0 4, SO UNLESS, UNLESS FOLKS HAVE QUESTIONS, I'LL LEAVE IT THERE, OR COMMENTS.
HIDA, I JUST WANTED TO ALSO ADVOCATE FOR THAT.
UM, NUMBER SEVEN ON, UM, HOW WIND POWER AND SOLAR POWER ARE GROWING IN TEXAS.
AND IT COULD, IT WOULD BE EVEN MORE SUSTAINABLE IF WE HAD BACKUP BATTERY STORAGE FOR IT.
AND TO BE ABLE TO DECOMMISSION THESE, UH, FOSSIL FUEL PEAKER PLANTS AND TO RELY ON THE MORE EFFICIENT BACKUP POWDER, UH, BACKUP BATTERY POWERED PLANTS INSTEAD, UM, WHEN WE HAVE THESE PEAK DEMAND SITUATIONS, UM, SOME LANGUAGE THAT COULD EVEN, UH, PROMOTE THIS EVEN STRONGER FOR SAYING HOW MUCH, HOW MUCH MORE EFFICIENT AND INSTANT THAT THE ENERGY CAN BE
[02:55:01]
DELIVERED TO CUSTOMERS WITH BACKUP BATTERY STORAGE VERSUS HAVING TO TURN ON AND IMPLEMENT A PEAKER PLANT IN ORDER TO MEET DEMAND.IT'S A LOT SLOWER AND A LOT LESS EFFICIENT.
I'M JUST MAKING SOME NOTES SO I DON'T FORGET TO ADD THAT STUFF HERE.
I HAVE A QUICK QUESTION, AND I'M ALSO REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS IDEA, BUT JUST TO CLARIFY, IS THIS FOR LIKE UTILITY SCALE STORAGE OR IS IT LIKE SMALLER SCALE? I MEAN, HONESTLY, I, I THINK THAT THAT IS TO BE DETERMINED, BUT IT, IT COULD GO, THERE IS A VERY KIND OF LOOSE PROCESS GOING ON RIGHT NOW AT AUSTIN ENERGY TO CONSIDER POSSIBLE INCENTIVES FOR AND POSSIBLE, UM, RATE STRUCTURE TO ENCOURAGE THE USE OF DISTRIBUTED STORAGE.
THERE'S ALREADY A BUCKET OF MONEY THAT COULD KIND OF GO TOWARDS THOSE INCENTIVES, BUT IF THERE IS A SHORTAGE, THIS COULD BE USED FOR THAT.
I MEAN, I THINK BOTH ARE NEEDED, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, I'M A BIG FAN OF, YOU KNOW, LOCAL DISTRIBUTED ENERGY.
IT'S, IT'S JUST MORE VALUABLE IN A LOT OF WAYS.
BUT, UM, THAT SAID, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE, WE THE CITY HAVE A BUNCH OF EXISTING WIND AND SOLAR FARMS THAT MAYBE IF THEY WERE CO-LOCATED WITH A BATTERY, THAT THAT MAY BE, THAT MAY BE VERY BENEFICIAL IN CERTAIN CASES.
IF THERE ARE, I DON'T KNOW IF ANY OF THEM ARE GETTING CURTAILED, FOR EXAMPLE, BECAUSE OF CONGESTION.
SO, YEAH, I, YOU KNOW, I THINK BOTH, I BOTH WOULD BE USEFUL.
WELL, OUR OTHER AGENDA ITEMS, UM, I THINK THAT WE CAN, I THINK, WELL, ONE OF THEM, ONE OF THEM WAS LARRY AND HE'S NOT HERE, SO WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA PASS THAT ONE BY.
UM, THE OTHER ONE WAS, WAS JUST THE ANNUAL REVIEW, WHICH I KNOW EVERYBODY SAID THAT THEY DIDN'T NEED TO SEE AGAIN.
ANYWAY, UM, I, I WAS THINKING THAT I COULD TRY TO TAKE SOME OF WHAT WE HEARD TODAY AND, AND, AND ADD A FEW MORE BULLET POINTS IN.
AND, AND I THINK I'VE HEARD IT AND I CAN DO IT UNLESS ANYBODY WANTS TO,
WITHOUT OBJECTION OR OBJECT, ADJOURNING THE MEETING.
AND, UH, IF YOU'RE THE, THE KEEPER OF YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS, PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO SEND THEM AROUND.