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Last Friday, the City of Clearwater collaborated with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy to promote 6 new electric vehicle charging stations installed at Coachman Park as part of the city’s Greenprint 2.0 sustainability plan.
The Driving on Sunshine Roadshow event fulfills 4 of the 8 core topics of the city’s updated sustainability plan. Clearwater sustainability specialist Melody Yin emphasized that community outreach is high on the list among the initiative’s goals.
“The reason why we are having this celebration is also because we are really about talking to the residents, getting community engaged, and making sure that they know their other options as well. So it is an EV event today, but we also talk about climate-friendly community. So for people who are not able to afford an EV, what are some of the other options that they can do to help the planet.”
Clearwater sustainability manager Cassie Cordova agrees but reminds us that it’s up to municipalities to lead the way despite the strong headwinds.
“This is the future. So you know, it’s not a matter of if we do it, it’s when we do it, right? And municipalities have to lead it because eventually, 50 years from now, it’s not going to be an option, so we have to put in the infrastructure for our own fleets. There’s just a lot of difficulties for everybody to get their hands on vehicles. So even municipalities who have tried ordering vehicles, you know, we’ll put in the order and we have to cancel that because there’s just no supply.”
Greenprint 2.0’s first timeline target for 2025 includes goals to reduce building energy use, implement climate adaptation ordinances, and introduce urban agriculture programs. The targets become more comprehensive and significantly bolder as the timeline approaches 2050.
