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Last Updated: Sep 2nd, 2008 - 20:13:33
AZ West Valley Cities Take The Lead in Clean Air
By Frank Morris
Apr 23, 2008, 20:31
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Avondale and other West Valley cities are making the commitment - the commitment to cleaning the Valley's skies.
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| Image courtesy of Jon Rawlinson |
At a work session last week, the Avondale City Council made known its dedication to reducing county air pollution. "Within the city we're doing us much as we can. I think this is a no-brainer. We continue to have that commitment," Mayor Marie Lopez Rogers said. During the meeting, Holly Ward, a Maricopa County representative, presented information on the county's "Make the Clean Air Commitment" campaign.
The public information effort, which includes the RunningOutofAir.com Web site, "has the goal of encouraging all residents of the county to take action and make the commitment to cleaning the air we breathe," Sammi Curless, assistant to the mayor and council, said in her council report. The Web site is designed to create a network of people and communities committed to improving air quality.
"We believe we are all part of this, part of the pollution problem, but we can all work to make it better," Ward said. During her presentation, Ward informed the City Council that the average hospital stay in 2006 for Arizona residents with asthma was 3.2 days. That same year, the number of Arizonans visiting the emergency room for asthma-related issues was more than 22,000, she said.
Ward also showed council members a 30-second television commercial, featuring a woman holding her breath as she leaves her house on her way to work. On her way, she stops at a coffee shop and runs through parking lots, holding her breath each time to avoid inhaling the Valley's air. "What we don't want to happen is run out of air," Ward said.
"With the simple suggestions outlined on the Web site, Maricopa County hopes to meet its goal of reducing dust particulates by 5 percent each year for the next three years, as outlined in the Maricopa Association of Governments' plan," Curless said. Ward warned that Maricopa County could lose up to $7 billion in highway funds if it does not improve its air situation.
A county-wide initiative
As part of the Clean Air Commitment campaign, county representatives are approaching cities throughout the region asking for their participation. Additionally, air-quality messages in both English and Spanish are being delivered to residents, businesses and organizations via television, radio, print media, the Internet and through community outreach and partnerships, Ward said. Ward promised that if Avondale committed to the campaign, it would provide the city with materials for public outreach and recognize the city on its Running Out of Air Web site.
"We're definitely committed to that. We're actually very supportive of it and we're actually looking forward to their material," said Pier Simeri, a city spokeswoman. "Whatever we can do to support their efforts." Avondale plans to run some of the materials on its Web site, www.avondale.org, as well as on its local cable channel, Cox Channel 11, Simeri said.
"Our mission is just to educate across the board so we can try to control some of this," Ward said. Goodyear, too, is supporting the campaign, said Nora Fascenelli, a city spokeswoman. "Probably the most important thing it means for us is we partner with other entities and stakeholders, like the county, in efforts to improve the quality of life and the quality of the air for everyone who lives and works and visits our city," she said.
On the front page of city Web site, www.goodyearaz.gov, a link to Running Out of Air's site is posted, and city officials are doing what they can to make it "really easy for our local citizens to know how to report a [dust] violation," Fascenelli said. "With so much new construction going on in our expanding city, this is very important to us," she said.
Tolleson also recently approved the Clean Air Commitment and is ready to do whatever it can to improve air quality, Mayor Adolfo Gamez said. "It's becoming a big issue, and it's not just in Tolleson or the West Valley, it's countywide," he said. "Everybody has to do their part to make sure the quality of the air improves, because it obviously can be a health issue."
Those efforts include reducing the amount of dust kicked up by workers, residents and developers, Gamez said. "Every little bit helps, and we need to make sure that it happens," he said. "If people are violating it, we'll have to make sure that they get cited. It's very simple."
In Buckeye, town officials are taking the Clean Air Commitment very seriously, said Ruth Garcia, director of intergovernmental affairs. "We have taken it upon ourselves to take a very active role in environmental issues overall," she said. "For the town of Buckeye, it is [about] action."
For example, Buckeye has established an "environmental taskforce" to look at the use of eco-friendly fleet vehicles and energy efficient light bulbs, she said. "We just became members of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives ... and we are starting a pilot recycle program that we hope to expand to the entire city next year," Garcia said. Those initiatives, in conjunction with the Town Council's recent approval of a dust abatement ordinance, all help to make the air cleaner, Garcia said. "We take great consideration in what we can do to clean up the environment and clean up the air."
Darryl Crossman, city manager of Litchfield Park, said Maricopa County representatives have yet to approach his city about the Clean Air Commitment, but said the program is something Litchfield Park would be interested in. "We're not adverse to clean air," he said.
© Copyright 2008 by Classbrain.com
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