By Brett Rosenberg
September 12, 2005

Salt Lake City Mayor Ross "Rocky" Anderson presented a local political perspective of using the elements of smart growth to achieve air quality goals, at the Environmental Protection Agency's Air Innovations Conference in Chicago last month. The Conference, a forum for communicating integrated and innovative approaches for improving air quality, drew over 300 attendees from cities and government agencies as well as private and non-profit organizations from almost every state.

Anderson spoke in detail of his initiative called "Salt Lake City Green," which he said was "developed from scratch" and which includes many different city programs in support of sustainable development, economic growth and improved air quality. Several programs within the Salt Lake City Green initiative involve harmonizing the often disparate parts of city operations, activities and design to attain the ultimate goals of achieving better environmental quality, a vibrant and diverse community with healthy, active citizens, and economic growth. Through what Anderson referred to as "practical environmentalism," the city has looked at various policies and activities of the city's government to set priorities and find specific areas where practical measures could be taken. Among the programs and projects that resulted were:

A very successful light-rail line was built (and is due to be expanded further), which now transports 130,000 people a day.

A campaign was undertaken to improve pedestrian safety and make the city safe and attractive for walking. Specific measures included new LED lights at pedestrian crossings and orange flags that walkers could carry to help drivers see them. Pedestrian injuries decreased by 37 percent.

An exercise competition was organized among city government workers, who formed "green teams" and used pedometers provided by the city to show how many steps they took each day. Both the fitness and the morale of the employees improved noticeably.

New bike lanes and bike racks were provided to encourage bicycling.

The city sued to block a new freeway that would have aggravated air-quality problems that result from the topography of the city's natural setting.

Various measures involving natural gas for city vehicles, the promotion of energy-efficient lighting, and the promotion of recycling have made city operations more environmentally sound.

Salt Lake City is Utah's largest purchaser of wind-generated electricity, reaping both economic and environmental benefits. The city also recovers methane from its wastewater treatment plant for reuse. Anderson has set a goal for the city of complying with the Kyoto Protocol to limit the effects of global warming, and encourages other cities to do the same even if the federal government does otherwise.

In describing these programs at the conference, Anderson expressed that, "The message we try to spread is that we all share responsibility, at all levels of government. We have the means to make a huge difference; we just need the will to make it all happen." What has happened in Salt Lake City includes more pedestrian traffic, reduced vehicular traffic and subsequent tail pipe emissions, increased energy efficiency and better overall air quality.