Environmentally Smart

We have the opportunity to create jobs and save our environment by considering how the City uses its resources. Other cities convert their solid waste byproduct, methane, for use as energy. St. Petersburg should do the same.

Rather than purchase signs made from pure metals, the City should use recycled materials, such as recycled plastic, for hard plastic street poles for neighborhood street signs. The City could recycle paper, plastic and aluminum at every City facility and contract with private companies for the manufacturing of city products, such as waste bins, poles, wheel stops, benches, tables, decking for city use creating green jobs in the City. There is plenty of space available for such businesses in the Dome Industrial District.

The City can restart and expand the curbside recycling. I worked with Marjorie Ruth when I was a neighborhood association president to bring curbside recycling into the Old Northeast. Residents actively participated. There simply is not enough landfill to waste it on recyclable materials.

Living in the Sunshine City in the Sunshine State, we should be leading the nation in solar energy panel design, manufacturing and installation. We know all about Miami-Dade's construction standards so we should be showing the rest of the nation how it can be done and how it can be linked to the power grid.

Water is a precious resource. The City of St. Petersburg leads the nation with its reclaimed water program for grass lawn watering. Rather than resting on our laurels, however, we need to seek more ways to conserve potable water. Island countries and nations have used cisterns for drinking and grey water (flushing) needs. We can learn from our island neighbors and begin to implement similar systems. Once again our City is looking at critical conservation measures because of a drought. It is time for a real water policy that addresses the short and long term needs of our City and our Tampa Bay region.

Power plants in the Tampa Bay area account for most of the pollution in Tampa Bay. It is time the US Environmental Protection Agency enforced its rules and stopped giving permits for these power plants to pollute. Simply enforcing regulation would clean up both the air and the water. The City of St. Petersburg should be carefully monitoring and advocating against all power plant requests for permission to pollute. Likewise, the City should not be seeking permission to pollute, either. For too long the City's deep well waste water injection has threatened the aquifer. We must work diligently to find solutions so we are not polluting our water, our air, or our land.