My committee for the Mayor’s Young Professional Kitchen Cabinet had the pleasure of hosting a guest at our meeting tonight – Brewster Rhoads, who is Governor Strickland’s representative for the Southwestern Ohio region. What a ball of energy! Brewster wowed us with countless reasons that we should all be bragging about how progressive and cutting edge our city is and I’d like to share a few of them right here.
Did you know that by the end of 2010, the percentage of power used in the city of Cincinnati that is generated from renewable energy will be the highest of any metropolitan area in the US? The future ‘front porch’ of our city, the ever-anticipated Banks project, will be majorly powered by solar power. Wonder why suddenly The Banks is receiving a big chunk of the economic stimulus money? No, not to build more parking garages. It’s to make it a truly green development. Shovel-ready, renewable energy projects – we got one! Yea Earth!
“What?” you say, “Cincinnati?!? Green and progressive?!? No way, I still remember going Christmas shopping at Pogue’s with my mother and spending the whole day downtown. It was a special event. There were department stores with deluxe window dressings and the streets were bustling. But not anymore. This city is dead. It will never be like that again.” Wellll, take another look my friend. Just as the decline of this once great city took many years, it will take more than just 3 years to get it back. But we are moving in the right direction, without a doubt. And a huge part of the renaissance that continues to pick up speed in the Queen City is our role in the state of Ohio’s vision to be the Silicon Valley for renewable and progressive energy. It is mandated that by 2025, 25% of the energy sold in the state of Ohio must have been generated from a renewable source. And half of that energy (so 12.5% overall) must have been generated IN Ohio. But how do we accomplish such an aggressive (but oh-so Earth friendly) goal? Brewster has a plan.
Ohio is the capital of auto parts manufacturing. No other state supplies (or supplied, as the case may be) the auto factories as heavily as Ohio. “Oh crap,” you say, “and just LOOK at the auto industry! We’re doomed!!!”
Now let’s look at the glass half full. The empty auto parts manufacturing facilities come along with a highly skilled workforce that is currently serving your fries at Burger King. And 12.5% of the energy consumed in our state must come from renewable sources in 15 years… which means lots of windmills and solar panels.
Have you seen the monstrous windmill in Cleveland on the shores of Lake Erie? We’re going to be seeing a lot more of these in the coming years. And we have to get the parts from somewhere. These towers are chock full of finely machined parts and gears. Not to mention the 300 foot towers they are mounted atop. Do you think it makes sense to ship these towers from China? Of course not. European companies that have already developed some of the technology are actively shopping for US sites to manufacture their products. And guess where they’re doing a lot of the looking? Yes, ma’am. It’s round on the ends and high in the middle…
And what about all this education spending we’re hearing about? Did you know that when public schools in Ohio build new or improved schools that they must be LEED silver certified in order to receive state funding? In the next three years, Cincinnati Public Schools will have 12 LEED silver schools – more than any other district IN THE COUNTRY. Not highest percentage, highest number of schools. I love it!
A few other cool tidbits: Cincinnati is the only city in the state of Ohio that offers a 15 year tax abatement to property owners that build their new building LEED certified. Talk about incentive to go green.
And remember all the press about the Emerald Ash Borer invading the area, effectively wiping out ash trees in our neighborhoods? Well, the powers that be in the city have worked out a great plan to resolve this issue. As the Parks district is going around and cutting down the dead and dying trees and replacing them with new, they are sending them to a mill in Chillicothe. The mill is processing the trees into lumber and returning them to a women and minority owned business in Wyoming (the city on the west side of I-75, not the old West), where they are made into furniture, flooring and wall paneling for the new schools. And all for the same price of pressed board furniture from China. Yea Earth!
So before you start poo-pooing our wonderful, diverse, progressive and growing city, think on some of these points. They are improvements and they continue each and every day due to the energy and dedication of citizens who care enough to make it happen rather than sit at home and commiserate about back in the good ol’ days of McAlpin’s and Crosley Field. I’ve no doubt those were good times, but I’ve also no doubt we’ll get back there again and very soon! Yea Cincinnati!
…stay tuned for a blog entry about my trip to the Materials Recovery Facility a couple weeks ago, complete with photo documentation…
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