Community members grew frustrated with the lack of transparency and opportunity for involvement at the Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission meeting on Thursday afternoon.
During the allotted time for public comment, community members addressed the Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission with concerns over one of its subcommittees. Stacey Champion and Tabitha Myers spoke on concerns about the lack of possible community involvement and transparency in the Urban Heat Island/Tree and Shade Subcommittee.
“Given the fact that we are in the bullseye of climate change, I think that this is probably one of the most, if not the most important commissions that the city of Phoenix has,” Champion said.
The voices of the public are not heard in the subcommittee, Champion said. While the origins of this subcommittee began with citizens’ concerns and promotion of further action towards the rising heat and lack of trees in Phoenix.
“All of the subcommittees in the future should have public comment made part of those subcommittee meetings,” Champion said.
In an update from the previous Urban Heat Island/Tree and Shade Subcommittee meeting, Ginger Sykes Torres, the chairwoman of the subcommittee, spoke about the efforts of making the meetings more accessible for the public to attend. There is no action decided yet but there is a possible change in the meeting dates to accommodate a variety of people to attend, Torres said.
Dwayne Allen, vice chairman of the subcommittee, and Torres followed up, discussing the possibility of a change in time of the meetings as well. Volunteer meetings before 5 p.m. are a luxury many community members do not have, Allen said. Changing the time will, “make sure that these meetings are as accessible as possible to the broadest spectrum of people that are involved.”
Allen also said that the community has excitement to participate in this subcommittee. Many people want to participate in the conversation and actions towards cooling down Phoenix. Allen then motioned to expand the subcommittee by one person, to add a dynamic individual who will be an additional contribution. Torres supported the motion which was then voted on during the meeting and unanimously passed.
“I certainly want to make sure we’re making room for individuals who have passion and a desire to serve, especially with background and care for this area,” said Colin Tetreault, chairman of the Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission.
Making it clear to be on the record, Tetreault stated the last meeting for the subcommittee is scheduled for November 2021. The pressure of having an end date is to motivate the subcommittee to “move further” and “move faster,” Tetreault said. He wants to see change now with recommendations and policy without adding on more time. Although depending on the body of work the subcommittee has in November of 2021, the timeline could be expanded.
The Climate Action Plan deadline has been extended a year to November 2021, said Environmental Programs Administrator Nancy Allen. Though the change in deadline does not give much change to the original timeline, Mark Hartman, chief sustainability officer at the City of Phoenix, explained. Initially, there was a two-part plan of making a process and then implementation. This plan has now become one.
The committee is seeking community input as it creates the action plan rather than presenting a list of possible community validation action items to the committee then proceeding with community input, Hartman said. There should be little change in the original amount of time scheduled.
Such community engagement includes the Climate Action Plan Community Survey. The results of the survey are available for public view online along with the other community participation events.
Contact the reporter at shickey5@asu.edu
