COLUMBIA, 3/10/11 (Beat Byte) --
"EPA Climate Showcase: City Green: The
District" is the grandiose name of an
EPA-funded project to "reduce greenhouse gas emissions for commercial buildings
in the central downtown area" Columbia City Council members are scheduled to
approve Monday night.
At the same time, they'll likely approve $1.25 million to buy land for yet another giant parking garage, this one at the other end of downtown, near Short Street and the redevelopment-ready Regency Hotel.
At the same time, they'll likely approve $1.25 million to buy land for yet another giant parking garage, this one at the other end of downtown, near Short Street and the redevelopment-ready Regency Hotel.
These strange cross purposes seem yet another indication
of how City Hall's guiding mantra these days -- make money on every
project, no matter how outlandish or unpopular -- makes less and less
logical sense.
Presumably designed to fulfill a Visioning goal that
Columbia reduce waste and conserve energy, the EPA-funded project comes
with $285,000 attached, with Columbia one of 25 communities
selected to receive the funds (shades of GetAbout Columbia, $25 million and few
projects later).
City Green's stated goal is to generate "cost-effective
and persistent greenhouse gas reductions while improving the environmental,
economic, public health, and social conditions in a community."
But how that goal squares with filling up two new 8-story
parking garages and several others besides -- day after day, week after week,
month after month, and year after year -- remains a miracle yet to be
witnessed.
Maybe the City will spring for hydrogen and electric
powered vehicles for all.
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