 Alexandra Kanik
The Ohio River out of its banks in Louisville, 2018.
Dayton mayor Whaley says her city prioritizes practical solutions that solve multiple problems, like building bike lanes that reduce traffic and increase property values, or incentivizing energy efficiency measures that reduce emissions and lower utility bills.
These Ohio Valley mayors, all Democrats, are pushing for sustainability in states that have passed legislation disadvantaging renewable energy and subsidizing fossil fuel, and during a federal administration that has dismantled many environmental protections.
“Our biggest crisis is carbon footprint,” said Cincinnati’s Cranley. “So if we can reduce it by 50% by 2035 or whatever, that can’t happen unless we do it at the federal level. Even if the federal government said we wanted to do it, they would need the cooperation and collaboration of local governments around the country. We can do so much without a federal partner. I think we could do more with a federal partner,” Cranley continued, laughing, “But it really is up to us, and there’s no excuse not to act.”
Pandemic Disarray
In a September research paper in the National Tax Journal, economists estimated that American cities could be in for revenue shortfalls of 5.5% to 9% due to the coronavirus pandemic, with variation between cities depending on factors like dominant industries and the local severity of the pandemic. Collectively, 150 representative cities could face general revenue shortfalls of $55.3 billion in fiscal year 2021.
Louisville, Pittsburgh, Dayton, Cincinnati and Youngstown are all members of a nonprofit organization called Climate Mayors, which was founded in 2014 but which gained traction following Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. from the Paris Agreement.
“In the situation that we’re faced with right now, [mayors] recognize we are going to need to rebuild their economies, so how do we do so in a way that is sustainable and resilient to future shocks, and really does benefit the community in terms of health and economic growth?” said Climate Mayors director James Ritchotte.
Whaley told NPR in April that Dayton would furlough more than 400 city employees — 25% of its workforce — to cut costs.
But the push for sustainability couldn’t wait. Whaley said she looks for opportunities for cost-saving sustainability measures amid the economic devastation she’s facing. “The city, because of the budget issues, had to close two of our golf courses, and now we’re looking at those for solar array,” she told a Climate Mayors forum.
In Louisville, budget cuts led to the closure of the city’s sustainability office and its integration with the advanced planning division. At the time, Louisville climate activists told WFPL News that the change wouldn’t mean much, since sustainability efforts had long been underfunded anyway.
The city has been rocked by months of protests over racism in policing, but brownfields program manager Smith said she remains committed to prioritizing sustainability.
“Climate change is part of all of these issues. COVID is our current shock right now,” she said. “Our next shock is probably going to be climate-related, whether that’s another pandemic, which are often driven by climate change, or whether that’s huge weather events, or changes in the economy, changes in migration due to climate change.” Even as some people doubt that now is the time to focus on climate change, Smith continued, “We don’t have the luxury of putting climate change on the back burner.”
Respect Past, Embrace Future
Of the Climate Mayors’ 468 members, most are Democrats, and just under half represent cities with populations under 50,000.
One of those is Morgantown, a West Virginia college town of about 30,000 people. According to Mayor Ron Dulaney, who serves part-time, doing energy efficiency work in West Virginia, long a bastion of the coal industry and requires a bit of tactful messaging. “You almost have to tie it to the economic benefit in terms of the argument. It is such a politicized issue, unfortunately.”
For more than a decade, the city’s nonpartisan council has taken advice from a volunteer Green Team comprising local scientists, academics and concerned citizens.
| 
