Next Great City: Philadelphia - Volume IV, Issue XIII

Does your company have a brilliant energy savings product that could also help save the planet? You can get funding to move that energy-efficient service or product into the marketplace, thanks to the Greenworks Pilot Energy Technology (G-PET) Program. The G-PET program, funded with $430,000 of federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, offers the financial incentive to jump start new, energy efficient services and products within the city of Philadelphia. The awards, administered by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), range from $50,000 - $150,000, and are to be used by city-based companies to offset costs associated with implementation of pilot projects. Applications will be accepted until July 31, 2010.

To learn more about grant qualifications please visit: http://www.sep-energy.org/gpet/gpet.htm

Finding a parking spot for your bike during a trip around the city may have just gotten a little easier. The Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) and the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities have recently started installing bike rings on older parking meters.

As parking meters are phased out and replaced with parking kiosks, PPA is planning to install a total of 1,500 new bike parking rings around the city. Funded through Philadelphia's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, the project supports the growing community of bicyclists in Philadelphia by creating more safe, convenient locations to lock up. 

After a trip to the grocery store, you can now recycle more than just the bag you brought your food home in. The Bring it Back Philly campaign, spearheaded by Keep Philadelphia Beautiful (KPB), allows you to conveniently recycle plastic shopping bags, dry-cleaning bags, bread bags, wraps from paper towels, bathroom tissue, napkins, and diapers. Select supermarkets and pharmacies will have recycling bins to drop off your plastic bags and wraps.  The plastic is then refashioned into products for building construction, backyard fencing, or even for recycled plastic bags.

A message from Andy Sharp of the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers:

Despite Pennsylvania's new budget, there is no mechanism in place to fund the state's ailing roads, bridges, and mass transit systems. While members of the House Transportation Committee have been busy goading their colleagues to find a funding source, there has been little sense of urgency to do so. In fact, many observers doubt that a plan to fund transportation will be reached this year, since many state senators and representatives are reluctant to raise taxes or user fees.

Regrettably, this will have a detrimental effect on SEPTA. Due to a lack of state funding, SEPTA is unable to proceed with New Payments Technology, which would enable riders to use smartcards on the system. Also, SEPTA has had to defer the long-overdue rehabbing of the City Hall Broad Street Line Station, as well as the Regional Rail extension to Wawa. What's more alarming is that SEPTA will be unable to work on aging substations and bridges, which if malfunctioning, could lead to major service disruptions.

If you're a SEPTA commuter, or even a driver who doesn't want to see more traffic on the roads, now's the time to contact state legislators and demand transportation funding. Let's not wait until another bridge collapse or major SEPTA service disruption to find a way to fund transportation.

Andy Sharpe is the Communications Director at DVARP, the Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers. DVARP is an independent member-supported organization that has been advocating for improved and expanded rail and transit service in the Delaware Valley for 25 years. DVARP is currently working hard pushing for rail and transit funding. If you'd like to help, contact him at sharpe@dvarp.org.

As the Pennsylvania's General Fund budget is finalized, details of the $28 billion dollar plan indicate that we have avoided the worst case scenario for environmental and conversation programs in the Commonwealth. Thanks to protests from across the Keystone state, cuts were avoided for environmental funds like Growing Greener and the Keystone Recreation, Parks and Conservation Fund, which are used to preserve open space, protect streams and rivers, and restore polluted land. 

Although it could have been worse, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) are facing some steep cuts as a result of the budget deficit. Reducing the budgets of the agencies responsible for implementing programs to protect the health of our environment and communities, comes at a time when Pennsylvania faces numerous threats to our waterways, open space, and human health from a boom in natural gas drilling. 

Cuts to the agencies came with the more positive news that the budget included a promise to develop a severance tax on natural gas drilling. Although we won't have the details until October, the tax would help to offset impacts to our environment and communities from gas extraction.

• Backers pessimistic over Pennsylvania alt-energy bill 
• Semilla Arts Initiative works to create something from nothing
• SEPTA price increases go into effect
• Philadelphia Streets Department gets the job done with less money
• Pa. budget sent to Rendell
• Philadelphia-area companies line up to reduce energy use

• Tuesday, July 13, - 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. - Philagreen Hospitality Association Summertime Seminar, Penn's View Hotel, Front and Market St.
• Wednesday, July 14, - 6:00 - 3:30 p.m. - Dr. Vandana Shiva:"Earth Democracy," Academy of Natural Sciences,1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Friday, July 16, - 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Building One PA, Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, 750 East King St., Lancaster City
• Saturday, July 17, - 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. - 2010 Tire Round-up Program