Portsmouth Capital Improvement Plan update, news, events
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Portsmouth Capital Improvement Plan update
Seacoast Climate Action submitted four ideas to the Capital Improvement Plan ( see the Oct 14th newsletter). The CIP subcommittee met earlier in November to discuss citizen proposals and how they are going to be handled.
The breakdown shows that the majority of citizen requests were highly local:
104 total requests, 84 unique
46 are eligible under CIP rules, 37 are “better served by other processes or boards”
21 of the 37 already exist (more or less) in the CIP
The majority of the remaining new requests (18) are at a street or neighborhood level: intersections, signals, sidewalks, bike infrastructure
4 items were bucketed under climate
How did our proposals fair? Diagram below from the CIP presentation.
LED lighting is already in the CIP.
Expanding Sidewalks: assigned to the bike/pedestrian workstream. Committee quote:
This is a broad request but can be reviewed as a part of the update to the 2014 Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan, this project could be considered as an addition to the project list. The Updated Bike/Ped Master Plan seeks to consider current community needs and values in its choices and prioritization of projects. There is a current project set aside to fund projects that are listed in the Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan (FY23 # TSM-15-PL-52 "Bicycle/Pedestrian Plan Implementation").
A solar array to offset city power use: assigned to the Climate Action Plan workstream. So was the shadeway idea.
This should be included as part of the Climate Action Plan (CAP) where technical analysis or public input can be completed. This item introduces a climate action capital investment priority in advance of the CAP. The CAP will engage the community and technical experts in a citywide discussion to determine the most impactful climate related investment priorities and timelines for implementation.
Am I happy with this outcome? Not really.
It’s disappointing but understandable that most of the submissions concerned peoples parochial concerns around traffic and safety on their patch, with very few ideas relating to the overall quality of life in Portsmouth or environmental issues.
The bigger disappointment: all climate-related items have been punted down the road, to be folded into Climate Action Plan discussions and evaluated alongside other CAP priorities. Even if the idea could bring benefits sooner rather than later (through cost savings or environmental improvements).
Will this happen with all climate / environmental considerations going forward - “don’t worry about it, it’s the CAPs problem now”? The CAP should not be the only and final word on Portsmouth’s climate change response, especially as the CAP might take a year or more to get going.
Resources
Climate change conversation over Thanksgiving
Tips on how to navigate possibly contentious topics at the Thanksgiving table. Sorry, this would have been more useful last week: maybe bookmark it for next year.
Here’s some good news: you are exactly the right person to talk about climate change with your relatives. You are what communication experts call a “trusted messenger,” which is the idea that people are more likely to believe people they trust and more likely to trust people they are personally connected to.
Clean Energy NH Winter toolkit
Lists all the resources we’ve featured previously, and a few we hadn’t heard of:
Wood banks
Window dressers
Guide to switching suppliers
News
A new report says more local action is needed to reach national climate goals. Where does N.H. stand?
New Hampshire lags neighboring states on energy efficiency and renewable energy standards for electricity suppliers, and is home to the last running coal plant in New England.
Gov. Chris Sununu, who won a fourth term Tuesday night, has said a transition to clean energy is the long-term solution for New Hampshire. But Sununu has opposed a variety of efforts to support emissions reductions, including a regional initiative to reduce emissions in the transportation sector and efforts to raise the state’s renewable portfolio standard.
New Hampshire farms get grants to prepare for climate change
As climate change makes New Hampshire hotter, wetter, and more prone to short-term drought, farmers across the state are finding ways to prepare – and minimize their impact on the changing climate.
Twelve New Hampshire farms have received grants from the state’s 10 Conservation Districts to help make their operations more resilient to climate change.
Events
350NH training: November and December
Attention all 350NH Chapter members past, present, and future!! Join us for a training session on an upcoming Tuesday to get to know 350NH and re-ground together as we plan ahead for 2023. These trainings are an opportunity to learn more about community organizing skills, refresh your 350NH knowledge, and get more involved in a local chapter near you.
Citizen Climate Change Lobby Informational Sessions
Every Wednesday.
A good podcast
Bill McKibben & Ezra Klein discussing how the successful passage of the IRA makes it time to reorganize the climate movement from protest to building infrastructure.
A good cartoon
Karl Jilg for the Swedish Road Administration. Article in Vox.