REDMOND, OR -- A sustainable city conserves resources and energy, and is efficient and livable. That's the foundation of the "Sustainable Cities Initiative," which kicked off Friday in Redmond.
Professor Nico Larko tells KBND it's a joint venture between the city and the University of Oregon. "The students, instead of working on hypothetical projects, are coming to the city and learning on the ground with the people who are here, with the professionals who know these issues, with citizens who are going to be affected by these issues." Those issues include marketing city utilities and Roberts Field, and creating safe bike and school routes.
Redmond Mayor George Endicott says many of the projects "Are things that have been on the boards for a long time, and we just don't have the resources to do them. So, we can make a pretty reasonable investment and get a huge return."
He adds, "For a community the size of ours, there's a lot of work that needs to be done all the time, and we don't always have the resources to do them. I think we're spending about $375,000; but of that, we get about 40,000 man-hours of time to devote to all these different projects." That translates to about $.09 per hour of labor.
