Press Releases

For Immediate Release • April 21, 2009
Staff Contact: Rigo Leal, Public Information Officer, 303-651-8840
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Council Members Learn Cutting-Edge Practices at Green Cities Conference

April 21, 2009 - To continue Longmont's momentum toward environmental sustainability – "going green" – City Council Members Sarah Levison and Brian Hansen are attending this week's Green Cities Conference in Portland, Oregon, sponsored by the National League of Cities (NLC).

In recent months, the City of Longmont has put a greater emphasis on adopting environmentally sustainable practices and the conference adds to the City's knowledge base.

“NLC's Green Cities Conference marks the beginning of a new stage in the green cities movement by engaging cities and partners in efforts to share green best practices. ‘Going green’ can help a city generate new jobs and create a vibrant, livable community for all who live there,” says Kathleen Novak, NLC president and Northglenn mayor.

Longmont Council Member Sarah Levison agrees with Novak. "There's a real entrepenurial spirit here that can transformative for a community like Longmont," Levison says. The information available at the conference is so cutting-edge that it cannot be found with google searches, according to Levison.

In recent months, the City of Longmont has put a greater emphasis on adopting sustainable practices that strengthen the city’s economic, social and environmental health.

Some of the recent "go green" initiatives implemented by the City include:

The City's Harvest Fair last October, which provided Longmont residents with a multitude of green ideas from the small things like recycling to more elaborate ideas such as wind and solar opportunities;
Neighborhood Energy Sweeps in which staff and volunteers go door-to-door offering educational materials and free devices that improve water and energy efficiency;
Residential Energy Audit Program (REAP) subsidized by the City subsidizes that provides suggestions in improving home energy consumption;
Free sprinkler inspections and recommendations to improve system efficiency; and
PACE EnergySmart in conjunction with the City of Boulder and Boulder County, which offers rebates to incent small businesses to make green improvements.

In addition, Symbiotic Engineering, a Boulder-based engineering company is a vendor at the conference. This firm is currently working with the City of Longmont to develop an innovative tool to measure the carbon output from City operations as well as community wide in the Longmont using their Carbon City Model. This information will assist the City in prioritizing energy efficiency programs for our citizens and connect those programs with other community and neighborhood revitalization efforts.

The NLC considers local elected officials as first-line stewards of the environment and it sponsors the conference to give those elected representatives the tools and knowledge necessary to preserve, protect and restore environmental quality. City representatives and those that work with them will find everything in one place to launch or enhance green initiatives in local communities. NLC supports the efforts of local elected officials by:

Developing an advocacy platform that protects municipal environmental interests and facilitates their compliance with federal laws and regulations;
Providing research on environmental issues;
Offering workshops that provide new and updated information, and explain new requirements, and
Serving as a clearinghouse for what cities are doing to "go green."

The National League of Cities is the nation's oldest and largest organization devoted to strengthening and promoting cities as centers of opportunity, leadership and governance. NLC is a resources and advocate for 19,000 cities and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans.

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