What's the climate action plan, Mayor Faulconer?

On Monday, September 22, city-council president Todd Gloria followed through on his Sunday promise to environmental activists. Gloria said he would push mayor Kevin Faulconer to take action on the city's “Climate Action Plan,” introduced during Gloria's stint as interim mayor before Faulconer assumed the office but given little notice since.

On Monday, the full council backed the Environment Committee sub-group in adopting a resolution urging Faulconer to move toward implementation of the plan.

Already, the matter has been delayed — Gloria originally envisioned final approval by early 2015, but recent statements from the mayor's office indicate the earliest timetable for adoption has been pushed to later in the spring.

Activists, including Environmental Health Coalition policy advocate and city Economic and Environmental Sustainability Task Force member Kayla Race, applauded the move.

"Dozens of public meetings have guided the climate plan’s development over a four-year process. It’s all complete — now we’re just waiting for the mayor to take action," said Race in a statement issued shortly after the council's 5-3 unofficial party-line vote (Marti Emerald was absent from the session) backing the plan. "We hope mayor Faulconer will make a concrete commitment now to support the plan and the years of public input that has gone into it so our city can get to work on effective solutions."

Faulconer's office has made no mention of the plan since late July, when spokesman Craig Gustafson said in a statement that progress was being made "on the same timeframe as was planned by the previous administration."