[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Vatican trip + upcoming events

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Appelbaum, Matt

Colleagues – I’m sure you’ve seen the good article in the Camera regarding my trip to the Vatican on your and Boulder’s behalf, so I won’t repeat the gist of it.  I do believe that it was a great honor for us to be invited, and a good council decision to support our attending the event.
 
On the night prior to the first day, I along with the other US representatives were invited to a reception at the residence of the US Ambassador to the Holy See.  It was a good chance
 to meet many of the other mayors (plus Gov. Brown), as well as a number of the embassy staff.  I then attended a dinner held by ICLEI at which perhaps 20 or so mayors and others from ICLEI cities were represented.  The conversation generally concerned actions the various cities are taking regarding climate change and how cities can play an important role at the upcoming COP21 in Paris in December.  This latter issue was a continuing theme through the various meetings, and as I’ve noted, it was extremely important
 for the Pope to recognize that cities are where the (often only) real action is taking place on climate change.
 
The first day at the Vatican consisted of numerous short presentations by various cities, focusing on their climate change mitigation strategies and/or their actions regarding human trafficking and related economic equity issues.  Thus there was much talk about decarbonizing electric power supplies, reducing energy demand, affordable housing, income inequity, transit and bikes, etc.  The strongest statements on both days came from Gov. Brown, although
 NY Mayor de Blasio wasn’t far behind.
 
The second day was a session on sustainability; both days were run by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.  Again there were presentations by many cities, although this time there was an opportunity to ask questions and offer comments, which I took advantage of several times.  Given the brevity of the presentations I don’t think one could learn much about the various efforts the cities were undertaking, but it was still interesting to hear about the breadth of the efforts and determination of so many cities to make a difference.  Of particular note to me were the repeated references to a lack of affordable housing.
 
I think I met all of the US mayors, and had particularly long conversations with the mayors of Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco and some of their staff.  I also chatted with the mayor of Minneapolis about certain energy concerns we share, the mayor the Vancouver (Canada), and the mayor of Bristol, England, whom I’ve previously gotten to know.  Several of these cities, including San Jose, CA, are struggling with affordable housing issues, and so I chatted with them about that at some length.  It’s always hard to know how much of the efforts of other cities can translate to Boulder since, in this case, these other places are much larger and much more urban, but it’s still helpful to get some sense of how they are approaching problems that affect all of us.  I’d just add that I also had a nice conversation with the mayor of Stockholm; when I asked during the session how other cities handle the understandable community concerns over adding growth and density, her response was that this simply was not an issue in Sweden!
 
The only minor disappointment – besides not getting a selfie with the Pope! – was that we were not asked to present during the meetings.  Frankly, I think we have a more interesting story to tell than most.  But the US delegation was the largest, and obviously not all of us could be given a speaking opportunity.
 
As for Rome
well, it’s Rome, but I wouldn’t highly recommend visiting while it is intensely hot (high 90s every day) and insanely crowded with tourists.
 
Regarding some upcoming events, I’d like to let council and the community know about two of them in particular.
 
First, as part of our membership in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), Boulder has been invited to a summit the beginning of October.  I had suggested that we send our CRO (chief resilience officer), but Jane made it quite clear that both staff decided, and the Foundation required, that mayors attend.  Mr. Rockefeller clearly knew how to select prime locations, since this will be held at the Foundation’s retreat center
 in Bellagio, on Lake Como in northern Italy.
 
In theory, the Foundation will pay for the trip.  But our city attorney has noted that our new rules might indicate that we cannot accept that reimbursement, so I think we will be asking council for advice.  It may be that our rules accidentally make it difficult for us to accept travel funding from organizations in which council has a role in some way, but if that is the case then we similarly will have a problem with CML, NLC, and others, so this needs to addressed – and fixed, I think.
 
Obviously I’ll need to do some significant homework before attending this meeting so I can get fully informed of our current efforts and future plans regarding resilience.  If any of my council colleagues have some thoughts about this please connect with me.
 
Second, the National League of Cities will be sending a small delegation to the COP21 in Paris, and they’ve invited me to join them – again, quite an honor for Boulder.  And NLC will be paying for the trip (subject, presumably, to the same considerations as noted above regarding the 100RC).  NLC is working with ICLEI since ICLEI is essentially going to be the coordinator of city efforts and ICLEI is recognized by the UN and has been given access to some of the key events.  I had long thought, and discussed with Jane, that it would not be worth our time and money to attend the COP21 unless we were part of a delegation that would, in fact, have some reasonable access to the events and key players, so this gives us that opportunity to at least some extent.  I hope that our staff, particularly David Driskell, will similarly get invited to attend as part of a delegation of one of the climate change organizations we belong to.
 
Again, I see all of these invitations and activities as strong recognition of Boulder’s considerable efforts in climate change mitigation, adaption, and resilience.  And the council and the entire community should be very proud of their efforts and continued support of our innovative and much-admired actions.
 
--Matt