S A N TA M O N I C A
REFLECTING THE CONCERNS OF THE COMMUNITY smmirror.com
INSIDE
Homeless Man Attacks Vets, SM Memorial PAGE3
May 31 – June 6, 2019 Volume XXI, Issue 45
Nearly $1 Billion for Climate Action Plan Santa Monica aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050 By Sam Catanzaro Earlier this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that global atmospheric carbon reached 415 parts per million, surpassing levels not seen in recorded history. In light of this news, Tuesday night the Santa Monica City Council adopted a nearly billion-dollar Climate Action & Adaptation Plan (CAAP), a roadmap to achieving an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and reaching community-wide carbon neutrality by no later than 2050. “This is a practical and ambitious plan to achieve water self-sufficiency by 2023, zero waste by 2030, and carbon-neutrality by 2050 or sooner,” said Mayor Gleam Davis. “Santa Monicans set the bar for local stewardship of
our planet and I’m confident we will continue to do so with this plan to guide us.” In addition, the CAAP includes plans for adapting to climate change and developing resilience to more frequent hot days, coastal smog conditions, and impacts from wildfire. The plan, which staff estimates will cost over $800 million over the next decade, includes both major investments and simple things residents can do in their day-to-day lives to make a difference, advancing existing initiatives to enhance community wellbeing, smart city innovation, transportation, public health and social equity. In their past two past two biennial Capital Improvement Program budget cycles, City Council has already approved over $383 million in funding to support climate action and adaptation projects over the past two biennial Capital Improvement Program budget cycles The Climate Action section of the plan is centered around three sectors: Zero Net Carbon Buildings, Zero Waste and Sustainable Mobility. The Climate Adaptation section
Photo: Santa Monica OWL.
A rendering of what the Santa Monica coastline could like during a storm with future rising sea levels. Notice the waves pushing up all the way to the landward end of the parking lot.
focuses on community resilience to climate change through four sectors: Climate Ready Community, Water Self-Sufficiency, Coastal Flooding Preparedness and Low Carbon Food & Ecosystems
“Meeting the climate crisis head on reaches beyond protecting our coastal community and doing the right thing for the planet,” says Dean
CLIMATE, see page 17
Uncertain Future of Recycling in Santa Monica Contract with recycling provider to expire July 1 By Cailley Chella Santa Monica has received awards for its high levels of environmental sustainability. It’s one of the greenest cities in California, if not in the entire U.S. The City’s goal is to have been to have a 95 percent landfill diversion rate by 2023, and they’ve been inching towards that since the rate was 71 percent ten years ago. The landfill diversion rate currently sits at 81 percent. But when it comes to recycling in 2019, the answers aren’t so straight forward. The City has run a pretty aggressive recycling campaign, urging residents to “go green,” but despite this, the market for recycled materials isn’t as lucrative as it has been in years past. California used to sell more than 60 percent of their recyclable materials to China but due to recent laws enacted to address to environmental concerns, China has lowered their intake of recycled materials dras-
TAX
Photo: Allan Company.
The Santa Monica recycling processing center run by Allan Company.
tically. Now, the value of things like mixed paper have been cut to just 10 percent of what they were raking in just one year ago, down from $100 per ton to $10 per ton. That means recycling costs are going up, because companies can’t make as much of their money back by selling the materials, It also means that plastics like bags, yogurt tubs and soap dispenser bottles are now considered residue, not recycling. And recycling companies are throwing the new costs onto cities, and therefore, residents. So, whereas recycling used to be a steady revenue stream averaging an income of $350,000 a year, last year revenues dropped
to $300,000 a year, and it’s being projected that the city will spend $200,000 for the current fiscal year. On Tuesday night, the Santa Monica City Council took at look a new contract with Allen Company, a California based company for recyclable materials processing services for the Public Works Department and the company that currently runs recycling services in the city. Their current contract expires June 30. If the proposed seven year contract were to be approved, anticipated costs would total $950,000 or more annually. “If council [approved] this contract, Santa Monica’s recycling costs could increase from $25 a ton to approximately $67 a ton,” said Manager of Santa Monica’s Resource Recovery and Recycling Division,Chris Celsi. That contract was based off the current market rates for recycling, only allowing for reduced rates if the market “goes back up,” so they can sell the recycled material at a higher cost. Councilmember Sue Himmelrich seemed to find the provision of a potential lower cost unideal, saying, “Until some rocket
scientist or some mad scientist comes up with some plan for recycling that nobody has thought of so far, it’s just gonna keep getting worse…so there’s no upside.” But the rest of the council disagreed. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all. “What about the future of compostables?” Councilmember Ted Winterer asked. The contract also included a provision that Allen Company be moved to a new location, with its current processing center now in a building big enough to also have a buyback center attached, but the council was unsure about this stipulation as well. “Why do we need a buyback center,” Councilmember Winterer inquired. “I can’t see us not having a buyback center here in Santa Monica, especially when we pride ourselves so much on being a city that recycles a lot,” Councilmember Ana Maria Jara countered. But some sort of a solution was crucial, as the power at the current recycling center is going out on July 1 no matter what. “We are up against a deadline so if we go back to the drawing board there are some
RECYCLE, see page 7
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