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Boston City Hall goes green

Mayor Walsh had City Hall turned green in support of the Paris Agreement tonight.

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Rock on Marty! Proud of our city.

Um hello these are LED lights. They probably consume less electricity than you are currently using in your apartment .

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God, I hope you're being sarcastic.

High power, commercial LEDs that wash an entire building in light still use kilowatts of electricity combined. The only environmentally friendly option is no extraneous lights at all.

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Less posturing, more policy. What do our building codes require or incentivize with respect to energy efficiency and roof top solar? What percentage of old housing stock hasn't been inspected for energy efficiency and insulated? Do we have targets to reduce transportation emissions and a plan to get there? What is the giant ocean retaining wall going to cost and will be able to drive on it?

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My friend owns a Tesla sports car. It accelerates like a bullet. He can drive to NY on a full charge, recharge and drive back.

My neighbor has a mini 2-seater. He uses it for driving around town. His wife drives a sedan. He gets great mileage and can park it in spots sedans won't fit. He commutes by commuter rail. They take the sedan for trips out of town.

The world needs solutions in three areas, electricity generation, heating and transportation

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He's worried about the Chinese burning coal and putting lead in infant formula and we have middle class families who can't afford to stay in the City and a bunch of zombies walking all over Mass Ave and Melnea.

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Yeah, and I doubt there's a lot of people working on the 7th and 8th floor, where the indoor lights are still on.

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Especially since the lights in most offices at City Hall are motion activated. There are cleanup crews that work the building well into the evening, not to mention evening community meetings, etc. that take place there, and the staff required to attend those meetings (landmarks, transportation, BPDA, and council committees, etc). Even though most business there ends at 5 PM, there are people there 24/7 for one reason or another.

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No. They should be demonstrating PROGRESSIVE TECHNOLOGY and making it cool to get rid of those 120 year old dinosaur light bulbs that are killing American efficiency because some backward morons don't get them.

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Mayor W: I believe in sustainability, conservation, and eco-friendly policies, so let me blast expensive non-essential christmas lights on a building to get my point across. I love the mayor, but these half-baked City Hall ideas are embarrassing

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Just when you thought it couldn't look more evil.

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Let's stop building in the Seaport then, it'll be underwater in 20 years.

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The effect is awesome. The baizuo can take a leap with their weak-ass message, though.

Do blue next, for the cops.

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Your message would be much more relevant if a second person backed your non sequitur.

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They're just people with a job.

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Is not sufficient

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I remember Mayor Menino faking a move to an "environmentally friendly" small chauffered car before going back to a huge gas guzzling SUV. Of course the dutiful media, many hired later as six-figure spokesman for city departments, laughed at the switch. It was Ok, because Menino was a nice guy. What is Walsh being driven around in? Hopefully a Tesla.

Also, a Boston Police cruiser is stationed, running, 24/7 outside each Mayor's home. What do they use outside of Marty's mansion in Cedar Grove? The old Crown Vics (many still in service) were comfy but terrible on gas. I'm not sure about the new SUVs but they run 24/7 with heat in the winter, a/c in the summer and radio to stay awake. It's like Leonardo DiCaprio taking a private jet to Europe to lecture on the subject. Do as I say, not as I do. Hilarious.

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I'll believe there is a crisis when the elite acts like there is one in giving up their jets, limos, mansions, and other toys which do more to harm the environment in a day than an average person does in a year.

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True story about Ken Olsen (founder of DEC):

A DEC employee was traveling by plane to a conference. He was seated in first/business. He needed to use the restroom but the lav was occupied so he walked back to coach to use the coach restroom. As soon as he crossed the bulkhead he saw Ken Olsen (who's a huge man) jammed tight in a coach seat. He immediately scrammed back up the aisle.

Here he was, a mid-manager at the company flying first class, while the CEO was flying economy. Not a common occurrence, but it happens.

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You were really a state trooper? And you're suggesting BPD shouldn't protect the city's top elected official?

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He lies. We know he lies. Just go back to the business of "I would pull someone out of the car if their SSN didn't match their birthplace".

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He'll be just as well protected if the police obey the no-idling law.

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So what will Boston do?

* Reduce transportation emissions by encouraging cycling and walking? Not last week's mayor.

* Roll out a Community Choice Aggregation program with an increased renewable default, as over a dozen cities and towns throughout the Commonwealth have done? Austin Blackmon, Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space for the City of Boston, says no way.

* Host an international conference with policy makers from places like China to encourage further action, share strategies, and otherwise help drive down emissions? Cancelled that earlier this week.

Mayor Walsh has made grandstanding on this issue a priority, and Boston has made small improvements around the edges, but to make real progress the city is going to have to enact policies that ultimately increase spending from both its own budget and the budget of the occupants, both residents and businesses.

We can fight climate change, but we can't take all the necessary actions at zero cost.

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There are plenty of things to reduce emissions that cost practically nothing. Making some streets pedestrian only costs a few bollards. Making protected bike lanes costs a few buckets of paint. Solar panels will save us money in the long run. Installing a congestion toll during rush hour would make us millions per year.

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I'm not disagreeing with those suggestions, but to be clear:

* Ped only streets cost more than a few bollards -- it's a substantial change and requires considerable effort, outreach, and care. Yes, low cost in infrastructure requirement, but non-trivial staff time and it's not clear how much of a climate impact an individual project (say, the size of Downtown Crossing) would actually have.

* Protected bike lanes cost on the order of $100,000 per mile to install, plus maintenance costs. Long lines cost $1/foot for paint, more than that for thermo. Each stencil (those bikey characters) cost on the order of $600. The "protected" means about 3' of paint for each linear foot of line, and bollards. And maintenance. I'm not arguing against -- I think it's a good project. But it's far from just "a few buckets of paint."

* Solar panels save in the long run, but you've got to either pay up front or bond. And, cities can't take advantage of the ITC, so they typically lease. Not terrible, and can be done at about $0 cost ongoing, but does require considerable staff time and contract risk for each project. Again, I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying that it's not so easy. And while solar panels are a good thing, Boston could likely get no more than 10-20% of its electricity from solar panels, and that's every rooftop in the city limits, not just government owned roofs.

But yeah, if Mayor Walsh came out next week and said the city was going to focus on those three things, and expend considerable staff time and city budget getting them done, I'd stand up and cheer.

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But that's what happens when you get your cost estimates from ConservativeJackassRepeatingLies.com and not actual sources of cost estimate information.

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All I ask is that when Shirley Leung's climate conference takes place, the attendees will be prohibited from using planes, trains or automobiles to get here.

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I WANT Steve Martin to be there.

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What began with a single east coast mayor, caught on across the world.

Including:
NYC
DC
Mexico City
Wellington
Kingston
Paris

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The irony is that if the Celtics had made the finals then City Hall would be green anyway.

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that we've achieved by not having another 'victory parade' for them.

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Let's, ah say, let's have a nice round of applause for tha outSTANDIN' indoah aiya quality in good ol' City Hall.

What's that now, son? Y'all gettin choked up?

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I didn't think it was possible to make City Hall any uglier, but there we go!

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If the mayor wants to do something for the environment why doesn't he put a moratorium on the cutting down of trees because somebody wants to put in a driveway or build some crappy condos? Or better yet, have developers supply the Parks Department with 2 trees for every condo unit proposed in the city.

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