Failure of leadership

Chico City Councilmen Dan Herbert and Steve Bertagna, both of whom are in tight election races this season, had a rare opportunity to garner the appreciation of all Chicoans who want their city to be a leader in combating global warming Tuesday night (Oct. 17), but they muffed it.

Despite listening to a parade of 34 speakers at that evening’s council meeting, including Chico State University Provost Scott McNall, urging them to support Mayor Scott Gruendl’s request that the city sign onto the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, they balked. (So did Councilman Larry Wahl, but he’s not running for anything and so had little to lose politically. It got approved anyway, 4-3.)

Herbert and Bertagna’s hesitation concerned procedure, they protested, not content. City staff had not had time to provide a report on the matter, they said, so they didn’t know enough to make a decision.

They were being disingenuous. The agreement is short and clear and easily understood. As many of the speakers pointed out, it commits the city to nothing more than establishing a task force to study how to implement certain general policies “such as” improving energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gases, promoting walkable communities and transportation options, erecting “green” buildings, and so forth. The agreement is largely symbolic and commits the city to no specific approach or action.

Nobody in the packed council chambers spoke against the agreement. Students and professors, doctors and business people—all simply wanted their city to become a leader in what they saw as an all-important global effort. They noted that 316 cities representing more than 50 million Americans had signed on, with more joining every day. They cited California’s leadership on global warming and the many progressive steps Chico already has taken and pointed out all the ways these steps, like those taken in other communities, saved money.

Herbert and Bertagna supposedly believe in this stuff. They’ve supported all of the city’s energy efficiencies, including putting solar panels at the wastewater treatment plant and on the downtown parking structure. And both men talked at length about all the things they’d done in their own homes. Why they didn’t see the wisdom—both political and environmental—of voting for the agreement is a mystery.