Followup from meeting with the City

Betsy Palazzola, Sandra Turner-Handy and I met with Karla Henderson and Marja Winters on Friday. It was a very positive meeting, in our opinion.

1. Reactions to the summit from Karla and Marja:

- the raw conversations resonated
- there seemed to be a wide variety of people with different interests, philosophies, jobs, age, race, income, etc.
- it was educational and interesting - particularly to see that even within the "environmental group" there are different perspectives

- it was good to see that people kept each other accountable with knowledge, information
- felt that the planning group did a good job in representing diverse principles, issues
- it was helpful that the discussions were solutions-oriented. want to know recommendations
- realized that the issues cut across so many lenses and entities that it can be hard to digest

2. Some immediate steps underway:

- The City has created a workgroup to look at improving the Adopt-A-Lot program for next year after hearing about the problems with recent changes to the program at the summit.

- The municipal solid waste task force has been meeting to discuss opportunities for citywide recycling.

- For the longer term, the DWP is reforming the team, really trying to pair community and city expertise. They are working on creating a broader table.

- Green demonstration projects are in the works for the three target areas, such as incorporating energy standards in home renovations.

3. Next steps: There was very high interest in endorsing a State of Detroit's Environment report (like a combination of Ann Arbor's State of Our Environment and the Detroit Food System Report prepared by Dr. Kami Pothakuchi for the Detroit Food Policy Task Force.)

The goals of such a report would be to:
- compile a comprehensive baseline of the current state of the environment and set targets for improvement
- identify policy opportunities and barriers (survey best practices)
- catalog the body of existing initiatives and efforts to improve Detroit's environmental quality
- organize the existing work, opportunities and needs into a comprehensive framework that lays out a sustainability strategy for the city while acknowledging and celebrating the efforts that are already on the ground.


We'd love your thoughts.
Thanks,