HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-SCJC-2024-05-13
Sustainability & Climate Justice Commission Agenda
Date Monday, May 13th
Time 5 pm
Location City Hall Council Chambers
Watch Online https://www.youtube.com/@CityofIthacaPublicMeetings
Commission Member Attendees
☒ Scott Doyle
☒ Christine O'Malley
☒ David Kay, Chair
☒ Iris Packman
☒ Tanya Saunders
☒ Alexander Travis
☒ Aaron Fernando
☒ Siobhan Hull
☒ Nick Goldsmith
☒ Fernando de Aragon
☐ Kris Haines-Sharp - Common Council
Liaison
☒ Pierre Saint-Perez- Common Council
Liaison
☐ Rebecca Evans – City of Ithaca Staff
☒ Savannah Vega – City of Ithaca Staff
Agenda Item Timestamp
1. Call to Order: David Kay 00:02:10
No recorded sound for the first 1:30 minutes of the YouTube video.
Motion to amend agenda because Rebecca Evans cannot be here today to give her
presentation. Proposal to take out Agenda Item 3.1 (adding to a later meeting) and adding
Agenda Item 4.2 “Commission Agenda Planning for 2024;” this was approved.
The March and April meeting minutes were unanimously approved.
2. Public Comment 00:07:03
Public comment from Tom Hirasuna, Co-chair of the Climate Reality Greater Finger Lakes Region
New York Chapter and keeper of the Ithaca Green New Deal Scorecard. Expressed support for
City Staff and the Commission on the passing of Justice50 and invited Commission members to
reach out.
Public comment from Robert Bland, Associate Vice President for Energy and Sustainability for
Cornell University. Spoke about the Ithaca Energy Code Supplement and how it relates to
Cornell’s current district energy system. Requested further discussion on accommodating
Cornell’s request to use their current energy system under the Code.
Commission Response: Commission members expressed a desire for further discussion on how
commission members can interact with the public, organizations, and the press. They do not
want to go deep into any discussions now. They asked Robert Bland if this is a time-sensitive
request.
3. Announcements, Reports & Presentations 00:22:15
Presentation: The Justice50 Climate Justice Communities Survey by Savannah Vega 00:22:15
Background information
o Why do we need the survey?
o Survey Goal
o Climate Justice Community (CJC) Definition adopted by Common Council in 2022
o CJC Criteria
o NYS’ Disadvantaged Communities Definition
o Project Timeline
o Hub and Spoke Model
Commission Discussion 00:34:16
o Introduction of two Master of Public Administration students at Cornell who will be
helping the City design this survey process.
o Molly Corley
o Johanna Van Fleet
o Guiding Questions
o What is the best process for designing a household survey to identify CJCs?
o Who would like to be on a special commission workgroup to help design this
process?
o Do you have any other thoughts or considerations to share?
o Some Commission Questions/Comments – not a comprehensive list.
o Can this survey be a way to engage community members in the IGND, Justice50,
and participatory budgeting as well?
o Scrubbing the data will be very important.
o How often will this survey need to be done? High renter population might make
this tricky. Will there be a way to track if someone moves?
o Climate Jobs Institute may be interested in supporting this.
o How can we use other existing data to map this?
Public School Data
o Do we want a representative survey or a household-by-household survey?
Can we just focus on neighborhoods that are not already included in
broader disadvantaged communities definitions?
o Be careful of not surveying people we already have data about.
o What are we going to offer people in return for their participation?
o We need to be clear about why the city is collecting the information and what
they are going to do with it.
o Definitions
What is the definition of “neighborhood”?
What does “benefit” or “service” communities mean?
• Maybe including something in the survey that gets at this?
o Resources:
Iris’ NYS’ survey she mentioned
Look at the way the census does data collection
o Commission members interested in being in the work group:
Siobhan Hull
Aaron Fernando
Alex Travis
Tanya Saunders
Iris Packman
David Kay
4. New Business: Agenda Setting for Future Meetings 01:07:00
o Commission Chair and City Staff would love to have commission members bring their own
expertise to the Commission.
o Commissioners discussed possible topics to contribute to the commission agendas.
o Commissioners also indicated that other community members outside the commission could
share their expertise.
5. Meeting Wrap-up: David Kay 01:23:00
Next Meeting is scheduled for June 10th.
Adjourned meeting at 1:25:36.