Green Chain Stores -- and a need to do more

I recall seeing that Pullman WalMart was saying they were delayed while re-designing for a more green building. This item from NYTimes gives more perspective on the green chain store trend.

" Wal-Mart, meanwhile, has taken the most successful techniques from prototype stores and incorporated them into all new stores, and it continues to experiment with “high-efficiency” stores that save 20 to 45 percent in energy costs when compared with more traditional stores."

While I'd like to see P&Z grab onto this trend and institutionalize it. I note that we need to do more structurally to green Moscow, see for example, my comments on a broader vision of how we classify thoroughfares in the new Comp Plan to capture bike and pedestrian ways.

' “There’s no such thing as a green building with a full parking lot,” said Seth Kaplan, vice president for climate advocacy at the Conservation Law Foundation. “That’s just an unavoidable truth.” ' Hear, hear!

(Added Nov 18.) President-elect Obama speaks to delegates at Global Climate Summit, a 2-day event arranged by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to break gridlock on the issue ahead of next month's United Nations Climate Change Conference:



(end addition)


I'd like to see the Mayor latch onto the Obama win and our pressing need to address energy security and the environment in a new way. Less (foreign and non-renewable) energy dependence would help our foreign policy. Less carbon-based energy dependence would help our climate. I'd like to see her require all City departments and Commissions to develop short- and long-term changes to reduce the City's (and its residents') energy consumption.

We have a little bit of this thinking in the Legacy Crossing overlay zone where we require that if there is covered car parking there is also covered bike parking. (And Legacy is also part of the strategy in that it stipulates 3-story buildings, inherently boosting density and thereby reducing trip distances.)

A direction that the Mayor and the Transportation Commission could consider is that the Palouse region needs a region-wide mass transportation system with a common vision and shared goals. Presently the region has some services, offered by three companies and funded by a combination of grants, university contributions, governmental contributions and fare-box collections. This funding mix, combined with the multiple operators isn't very stable or
coordinated, and it fails to serve a number of populations.

A new solution could be built on ideas from the current offerings, but needs a regional vision.

A new vision for the system could be to create a sustainable transportation network that provides practical alternatives to use of the personal automobile for residents of the Palouse Region.

It might be implemented with a series of goal, such as:
* within in Pullman and Moscow, all residents would be within walking distance of a bus stop

* the system would serve communities that have significance commerce/work relations within Pullman and Moscow

* The system would offer to-work transportation for employees/ customers/ students of the 10 biggest destinations in the Palouse region

* the system would offer services to people with disabilities who may otherwise be place-bound

* the system would increase the economic welfare of lower income residents

* the system would connect to other transportation networks, including regional airports