Just got back from Winchester Hall, where our county commissioners in a 3-2 vote have approved the resolution endorsing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
Commissioner Kai Hagen also told me that he’ll be coming to Step It Up Frederick to read the resolution.
A great step forward for our county! Cheers to the Commissioners (Gardner, Gray & Hagen) who made this happen!
There is an article today in the Washington Post about how Fairfax County Board Chair Gerald Connolly (above) is announcing a series of initiatives in how his county is going to become a Sierra Club Cool County. Sounds great! Also sounds like what our Frederick County Board Chair Jan Garnder is advocating. Let’s make sure it happens here soon!
I just received the following reply from Commissioner Gardner to our invitation for Step It Up. She says:
Dear Toby,
Thank you for the information and the invitation to Step It Up – Frederick. I have noted the date on my calendar and will attend if I am in Town. I may be in Boston watching my son in a play at MIT that same weekend.
I do want you to know that I am preparing a resolution for the County Commissioners to consider which will endorse the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Howard County and Anne Arundel County have recently endorsed this effort through a local executive order/resolution. As you know, the international agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, has been ratified by 141 countries but the United States is not among them. Thus, local jurisdictions are stepping up to take leadership and I believe we should join them.
I would encourage the City of Frederick to endorse the same US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
Jan
Hot damn! Commissioner Gardner is one of the best leaders we have in our community, and this initiative she is taking (that I’ll admit I did not know about) is great! It is one of our events goals! Now we just need to follow her lead and push this over the goal lime!
I’ve gotten to know Jim Gugel, the Director of Planning for Frederick County. He is a great person to talk to about what is going on around the county.
One day I was talking to Jim about biking, and he told me that back in the late 90’s there was a big push for creating a bike network in Frederick County. There was an entire advocacy group and the county government drafted a Bikeways and Trails Plan.
Unfortunately there is no digital copy of the plan, but I have a paper one (and I’ve put up here pictures of the cover and the map). Please click here to see the plan (thanks Ellen!). The plan envisions an entire network of bike trails going across the county much in the style of some of the country’s best bike networks like in Boulder, Colorado.
Why do cars have to always be the only option to get around? For now, our transportation system makes them nearly the only choice. But imagine a world, or at least a Frederick County, where an entire network of bike paths linked the various neighborhoods and towns. Traveling about the county by bike would be safe and convenient.
And an entire new choice of transportation with ZERO carbon emissions would be available. Additionally our young people, who are often isolated without access to a car, would more easily be able to get around. Everyone’s health would benefit from a great form of excercise. And our beatiful county could be even more enjoyed through great bike trips.
When you look at the plan from 1999, it’s all there: a smart approach, right of ways, etc. We just need to urge our leadership to make it happen. If we are serious about global warming and protecting the future of our planet, we need to start at home. Enabling people to get out of the cars and travel at ZERO gallons per mile fuel efficiency seems where we need to start.
I’d like to somehow get a group together to start advocating for this. Anyone interested? Please leave a comment.
