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RYE, N.Y. – The Rye Sustainability Committee is considering a “cool roofs” initiative, discounted ultra-low-sulfur diesel and a policy of “leave leaves alone” in its upcoming proposed sustainability plan for the city.
The plan will define initiatives the city can follow aimed at energy efficiency and renewable energy, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, promoting green building practices, waste reduction and recycling, and community awareness.
“There are dozens of initiatives, and there’s just no way to do all of them, ever,” Sarah Goddard of the Rye Sustainability Committee said Wednesday night in outlining some of the proposals to the Rye City Council.
In the past, the committee helped implement a ban on plastic bags in the city, making Rye the first municipality in Westchester to do so.
Goddard said the city should look into purchasing ultra-low-sulfur biodiesel for Rye’s municipal diesel fleet, including Department of Public Works vehicles, through Hudson Bio Fuels. This type of biodiesel reduces pollution, is more energy-efficient and can be purchased at a discount.
The committee is looking to nearby Mamaroneck’s pilot program to “leave leaves alone,” in which a special mulcher is used to break up and spread leaves left on the grass during the fall. “You don’t have to cart the leaves away,” Goddard said. “You save on trucking costs, and also it’s a pesticide- and fertilizer-free way of providing nutrients for your open spaces.”
A “cool roofs” initiative could be implemented in Rye to reduce the amount of energy absorbed by a roof, thereby cutting down on air-conditioning and heating costs at city schools and other public buildings, Goddard said. To create a cool roof, a preferably flat roof of a building is painted with a special white coating material that has high solar reflectivity and high infrared emissivity. “It’s a very simple way to achieve cost savings,” Goddard said.
The committee is also looking into potential funding opportunities through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, including purchasing energy-efficient versions of equipment like air conditioners, printers and faxes for a rebate from the state.
Coming up, the Rye Sustainability Committee and the Rye Country Day School Environmental Auxiliary Committee are hosting a “green screen” of the documentary “No Impact Man.” The star and creator, Colin Beavan, will be present at the screening of the documentary, which examines reducing unnecessary waste. The free event begins at 7 p.m. at Rye Country Day School, 3 Grandview Ave., Rye.
Comments (2)
CREDIBILITY DRAINAGE
I wish Mrs. Goddard success. She seems totally sincere and her issues legitimate. Let me be so bold as to bring up another local sustainability issue here for a moment.
I remember a city council meeting not too long ago where the discussion went back and forth over the need for capital resources to maintain a large municipal vacuum truck to clear and clean storm and other drains in Rye so as to prevent local street ponding and flooding. These giant rolling tank-toped vehicles are very very pricy but are supposed to save lots of man-hours and lead to more efficient and thus more top level maintenance of city subsurface infrastructure with the same number of city employees. That’s the theory anyway.
But that theory, and the theory that city DPW staff follow routines that bring that cause them to regularly inspect and remedy clogged storm drains, is regrettably apparently just another municipal false promise. (Like reliably clearing snow from sidewalk access to crosswalks for schoolchildren.)
Across from the bus stop at the Rye Train Station is a small grass island surrounded by permit holder parking spaces. Signs saying “Park front wheels to curb” are displayed. All of us who favor this grass island locale know about “the drain.” It’s directly opposite the MTA elevator and in line (sort of) with the service department of Rye Ford up the hill in the distance. “The drain” has been blocked for months. So when it rains all the cars parked along the line opposite the bus stop get flooded. This requires permit holders to soak their shoes (or remove them) when they return in the evening to get in their cars after even a moderate rain.
This morning I pulled into the spot directly in front of “the drain.” It’s going to rain later today so I took my ice scraper out and dug into it as far as the grating would allow. The soils and debris in it were soft and very easy to remove but I could only go down a few inches. I couldn’t raise the grate with the ice scraper – a steel crowbar would be required – but I could see that this apparently wasn’t a full blown “vacuum truck” project at all but more like a bucket and shovel job. A bucket and shovel job simply undone for months and months and months.
Much has been said (over and over) about the need to maintain the MTA parking lots so people don’t break their ankles in the pot holes or crossing the large stretches of broken blacktop. These would require zero major restorations, just simple attention and routine maintenance. You know, no major dollar project, no bond indenture required, just the kind of regular thing Rye taxpayers pay their taxes to have done by the DPW.
Now I personally know that more than a few former and current city council members favor parking around this same small grass island. So they know already about “the drain.” Maybe I could ask that one of them would speak up and second my proposal that this very small service be done. Or they could make a phone call. That, after all, would surely be within the bounds of “putting the city’s interests first.” No?