Belmont’s Clean Air Campaign: important meeting Wednesday

Sustainable Belmont, our town’s environmental task force, is holding an important meeting this Wednesday to kick start the town’s air quality initiative — an effort to improve the quality of air in town.

The meeting is being held in The Belmont Public Library’s Flett Room at 7:00 PM tomorrow, Wednesday, August, 5, 2009 and will be an opportunity to learn about ongoing grassroots and town efforts to reduce vehicle idling, deploy clean diesel technology, and promote walking to school and bike friendly activities.

Come learn about efforts to improve air quality in Belmont

Come learn about efforts to improve air quality in Belmont

Some background: over the past three years, organizers have worked collaboratively with school officials and parents, town departments, faith-based organizations, and others as part of the Cleaning the Air Campaign. State environmental experts, Belmont’s Chief of Police, Belmont Citizen Forum leadership, and Sustainable Belmont volunteers will discuss progress and plans, and the public is strongly encouraged to participate in shaping 2009-2010 activities.

The agenda for tomorrow evening looks like this:

Presentation on Belmont’s Cleaning the Air Campaign (1 hr. 10 min)
Moderators: Sustainable Belmont members Jeri Weiss, Ian Todreas and Deb Lockett
Guest Speakers:

  • MA Department of Environmental Protection’s Julie Ross
  • Belmont Police Chief Richard Mclaughlin
  • Belmont Citizen’s Forum rep. on proposed new bike path
  • Electric City Cars owner Paul Elwood on electric vehicles in Belmont

Next Steps – Open Discussion (40 minutes)

– Are there any “hot spots” that need attention?

– What would the community like to see happen?

– Education vs. punitive efforts (post cards)

– Steps taken

– Future plans