Councilman Bill Peduto will be one of the sponsors the Three Rivers Bioneers conference that will be held in Pittsburgh this weekend. The mission of the conference is to foster a local movement of citizens and organizations who strive to cultivate sustainable communities in the Three Rivers bioregion through social justice, ecological health and innovative solutions.  The conference will take place from Friday, October 16 to Sunday, October 18 at the Pittsburgh Project.

The keynote speakers of the conference are Greg Boulos, the Western Director of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, and Khari Mosley, the Director of Green Economic Initiatives for G-TECH strategies.  Other speakers broadcast via satellite from the National Bioneers Conference include Andrew Weil and Michael Pollan.

For more information, or to register for the conference, visit the website.

Last Saturday, Councilman Bill Peduto spoke to the Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania Township Commissioners Association, presenting to them his plan for LED street lights in Pittsburgh.  The organization is made up of council members and other government leaders from local boroughs, whom come together to discuss issues within their respective boroughs.

Councilman Peduto’s goal is to make Pittsburgh a model for LED lighting, which can then spread to the boroughs around the City.   Read more about Councilman Peduto’s plan for LED lighting in Pittsburgh in A Bright, Green Idea for Pittsburgh

View Councilman Peduto’s presentation here.

Check out this short clip from a keynote address “Going Green Makes Economic Sense,” given by David Gottfried at Stanford University.  David Gottfried is the founder of the U.S. Green Building Council.  Gottfried discusses how green building is being linked to the bottom line. He says that bankers and Wall Street will eventually begin to demand green certification standards because of the value of investments in green building.

An Associated Press story published this weekend, Pittsburgh Reinvents Itself through Green Economy, discusses the growing presence of green technology in Pittsburgh, and the resulting transformation of Pittsburgh’s previous image as a smoky, post-industrial city.

The article highlights the fact that over 2,600 green companies have made Pittsburgh their home, and according to the Pittsburgh Technology Council, of the 183,000 technology jobs located in Pittsburgh in 2005, one-third of them were in green technology. The article also notes that “green jobs may also help reverse Pittsburgh’s massive population decline,” as green technology companies continue to grow and create new jobs.

Councilman Bill Peduto believes that this is Pittsburgh’s opportunity to become a leader in the rapidly expanding world of green technology. “Pittsburgh could become a model not just for the Rust Belt, but for post-industrial cities throughout the world,” He said.

The article references Councilman Peduto’s green legislative efforts, including a bill recently approved by City Council that will require LEED certification standards to be met in projects that use city TIF financing. Councilman Peduto has continuously fought to further a green agenda in City Council. He introduced a plan to bring LED lighting to the city, saving both large amounts of energy and taxpayer dollars, and has also fought for environmental issues like hillside cleanup and preservation. Councilman Peduto was one of the driving forces behind the creation and implementation of the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan, among many other green legislative achievements in his 8 years as a City Councilman.

Check out the full article to learn more about green technology in Pittsburgh.

On Tuesday, Pittsburgh City Council gave unanimous final support to a bill that will help encourage more green building within the city.

The new amendment to the city building code states that any project that receives aid in the form of TIF (tax-increment financing) subsidies, will have to ultimately meet the LEED silver rating standards.  Projects that utilize this subsidy and do not obtain the LEED silver rating will be fined in the amount of 1% of the construction costs of the project.  Building projects that are 10,000 sq. feet or greater, or whose cost exceeds more than $2 million dollars will be subject to this amendment, along with any renovations to city-owned buildings totaling more than $2 million dollars.

The Green Building Alliance, who worked closely with Councilman Bill Peduto on this amendment, praised it’s passage yesterday.  Executive director Holly Childs said, “It is exciting to see the City of Pittsburgh moving forward to protect our natural environment and the health and safety of City residents and workers.  We are very pleased with today’s vote and will work with Councilman Peduto and Pittsburgh City Council to pass legislation that incentivizes and promotes green building.”  
To read more from the Green Building Alliance about the passage of the amendment, visit the press release here.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette also praised this legislation in an editorial yesterday.  The editorial commends the amendment’s insistence on using the LEED certification standards for building, as opposed to a similar bill that recently received overwhelming support in the state House in Harrisburg.  The editorial also praises the long-term savings that such environmental standards create, by creating buildings that use less energy and natural resources.

Read the Post Gazette editorial here.

Tomorrow, City Council will vote to give final approval to legislation that would ultimately lead to the construction of more green buildings within the City of Pittsburgh.

The legislation, authored by Councilman Bill Peduto, would require that any developers who use city TIF (tax-increment financing) subsidies achieve at least a LEED silver rating for that building project.  If the subsidy is used by the developer, and LEED silver rating not sought for the building, that developer will be fined in the amount of 1% of the construction costs.  Any buildings constructed by the city would also be required to achieve this environmental standard, if they are larger than 5,000 square feet or cost more than $2 million dollars.

Prior to authoring this legislation, Councilman Peduto wrote the city’s first green building ordinance, and was the co-founder and co-chair of the city’s climate action plan.  He also authored the Hillside Preservation Act.  When it comes to creating innovative green policies, and fighting to protect our environment, no one can match Councilman Peduto’s record in city government.

View the legislation here.

On Tuesday, Councilman Bill Peduto’s series of 5 reform bills designed to end pay-to-play politics was passed by the Pittsburgh City Council – but the reform will not stop there.  At a press conference later that day, Councilman Peduto introduced a 10 point plan to reform the Pittsburgh City Government, in conjunction with the re-launching of the Reform Pittsburgh Now PAC.

The passage of the reform legislation on Tuesday was the largest action taken against pay-to-play politics by Pittsburgh City Council since the adoption of the Home Rule Charter, but Pittsburgh’s First Reformation of Local Government will continue with the 10 theses of reform introduced on Tuesday.  This theses on the Structure and Reformation of Government details areas of emphasis to continue to bring true reform to Pittsburgh, such as attacking waste, fraud, and abuse, and creating a firewall between politics and government.  Reform Pittsburgh Now also provides a report card, which tracks the votes of every City Council member, and the Mayor on progressive government reform issues.

Reform Pittsburgh Now was originally launched in 2007 by Councilman Bill Peduto, and the re-launched website works to empower the citizens of the City of Pittsburgh by giving them the tools to track the actions of their elected officials, and speak out for change.  The website provides an email forum that allows users to voice their opinion to all members of Pittsburgh City Council and the Mayor with the click of a button, and will also be a source of information about progressive issues.

Visit Reform Pittsburgh Now today, and be a part of Pittsburgh’s First Reformation of City Government – it cannot happen without the involvement of citizens like you!

Read about Tuesday’s press conference, Reform Pittsburgh Now, and the passage of Councilman Peduto’s reform bills:

• Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Council Passes Government Reform Package
• Pittsburgh Tribune Review – Limits on Pittsburgh Campaign Donations Approved
• Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Pittsburgh Council Approves Reforms; Peduto Pushes for More

Last week, Councilman Bill Peduto spent time in two of the elementary schools in Pittsburgh, the Linden Elementary School and the Imagine Environmental Charter School at Frick Park.

At the Liden School, Councilman Peduto read three books to a classroom of elementary children.

At the Imagine Environmental Charter School, Councilman Peduto was a guest speaker at  an assembly.  During his presentation he explained the international movement Earth Hour, which occurred last Saturday night.  He also discussed the image of Pittsburgh as the “smokey city,” and his goal of changing this image.

He addressed a very captive audience, which had many questions for him after his presentation.  For more pictures of both events, check out Councilman Peduto’s Flickr page!

Phipps Conservatory

Once again Pittsburgh has become the focus of a New York Times story.  On March 31, the newspaper published “The Greening of Pittsburgh” which details the emergence of green technologies in our city.

The article discusses the role of the Green Building Alliance, and many well-known  Pittsburgh landmarks, including The Children’s Museum and Phipps Conservatory.  Check out the article to learn more about Pittsburgh’s green side – you may learn some surprising facts about your own city!

Today there were two news stories in Pittsburgh regarding the signs of our times.

KDKA News published a story about the amazing response to Earth Hour 2009.  The international event had a record number of participants, and the City of Pittsburgh joined in last night from 8:30pm – 9:30pm.  Last year, Councilman Bill Peduto sponsored the City of Pittsburgh as one of only 370 cities worldwide that participated, but this year the movement spread to thousands of cities around the globe.

Another story written by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mark Belko discusses the increasing numbers of neon sign advertisements that are popping up all over the downtown Pittsburgh skyline.  Councilman Bill Peduto believes that there must a better balance between the architectural integrity of our skyline and corporate sponsorship illuminating from it. Check out the story to read more about Councilman Peduto’s stance on the issue.