Fri 1/20 @11AM-2PM
Red bikes and green space don’t seem like a natural combination but those are one of many fruits blossoming behind Sustainable Cleveland’s ten-year initiative, which was created with the simple goal of establishing a vibrant livable city with thriving businesses and a flourishing natural environment.
Every year the department focuses its energy on one topic with a Cleveland committee, made up of dozens of organizations, identifying initiatives to be completed during the calendar year. For 2017, the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability is celebrating the Year of Vibrant Green Space, which quite simply is hoping to educate residents on the importance of creating thriving green spaces for their family and community.
Those programs and goals will be announced at the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability kickoff event scheduled Fri 1/20 @ 11am to 2pm under the rotunda at city hall. CoolCleveland talked to the mayor’s Chief of Sustainability Matt Gray about the Year of Vibrant Green Space.
Before we get into the new initiative, let’s go back to 2016’s Year of Sustainable Transportation.
I thought it went really well. I think a lot of some really key lynchpin type initiatives got under way. Our plan was to launch Bike Share in 2016 and that happened. It was a successful rollout partnering with Bike Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, University Hospitals and many others. That was a big success. Also, working with NOACA, we hosted a Commuter Choice Challenge. The whole idea was to get organizations throughout the city to see what they can do to kind of support their own employees, as well as visitors, to their facilities using sustainable transportation and alternative commuting. That was great. We had more than 30 organizations participate, really doing some innovative stuff. Also, we had a selfie contest, which was fun. We had over 200 submissions from people doing any form of sustainable transportation.
In terms of tangible evidence for the Year of Sustainable Transportation, BikeShare stood out with red bike stations located all over the town.
It was about 25 stations now throughout the city, and the idea is moving forward to expand that system to more parts of the city. There’s just more access to it.
Looking ahead, tell us about the goals behind the Year of Vibrant Green Space.
First, what is a vibrant green space? We see that as an accessible and active public space that benefits all and that connects people to nature and one another. So it’s not just green space but how do we activate that space so it’s good for everyone. This year was delegated as the Year of Vibrant Green Space way back in 2011 because this is the 100-year anniversary of the Metroparks. So it aligned really well, and there will be a lot going on this year in the Metroparks. The idea with all of these celebrations is to make sure everyone, whether it’s a resident or business, can engage in the topic. So it’ll be a variety of issues going on throughout the year to help people do that.
The renovation of Public Square comes to mind, but does that count as vibrant green space?
Right, Public Square is one example, but this is really vibrant green space throughout the community. Often when we talk about the equity issue and access, the goal is almost to have everyone within a ten-minute walk to be able to walk to a vibrant green space in the city. Compared nationally, the city is doing OK on that front, but I think we can still do better. One aspect is existing green space: How do we improve that so it’s more of a destination and there are more activities there? Also, looking forward, are there areas of the city we want to activate? Is there vacant land we want to turn into a more vibrant green space?
Considering the foreclosure crisis hit Cleveland pretty hard, it would seem as though open land is widely available.
It’s really continuing work that’s been going on for years now. Cleveland Neighborhood Progress’s Reimagining Cleveland project helps us lead. There are, I think, close to 100 different plots of vacant land that were reimagined into mostly green space. There’s about 200 community gardens and urban farms in the city now, which we would consider a type of vibrant green space. So, it’s continuing that work but it’s also looking right at our city parks. We have a lot of city parks. Some are in better shape than others. We’re going to look at those holistically and then ask which ones do we need to invest in? And finally, vacant land. There are still many thousands of parcels that are vacant. Prioritizing and looking at those and saying, are there opportunities — especially in neighborhoods — that need it most to activate that space through green infrastructure, through trees or some type of orchard. There are many different ideas but it’s really kind of strategically looking at the whole city.
What determines if the Year of Vibrant Green Space is a success?
There are a few things. As the year progresses, I think it’ll evolve. One is on trees. There’s a huge focus right now on rebuilding our urban forest. Since WWII we’ve lost about half of the trees in the city of Cleveland. I think one measure of success is to see how far we get in implementing that. Another one is around native plants and pollinators. One example is we’re going to have a mission around milkweed for monarchs. And I’d say the last piece is, we’re working right now with the Trust For Public Land and many others on assessing the whole city for green infrastructure. Where does it make most sense to increase the amount of green infrastructure? Hopefully that all gets completed and then we start on the road to implementation. I think starting late spring and early summer, the idea is to launch some initiatives that make it kind of easy for folks to engage on this topic.
It just sounds like Cleveland will continue to go green in 2017.
Exactly.
[Written by John Benson]
theyearofvibrantgreenspacekickoff
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