While the city of Hoboken begins a push for car-free living with the expansion of The Hop, acity shuttle bus, and the promotion of the Corner Cars program, there’s one group emerging in Hoboken that encourages an even greener lifestyle.
The Committee for a Green Hoboken is beginning to make some headway in Hudson County, pushing residents to live a green life, and also promoting a green agendaon the city’s policy level.
The Committee is an offshoot of the Hoboken Quality of Life Coalition, a non-profit organization whose goal is to make life better for those in the mile-square city.
For more information on the Committee for a Green Hoboken, visit QLCHoboken.org.
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Banning bags
The environmental issues that face Hoboken can often be found on the forefront of the city’s agenda. In November, Mayor Dawn Zimmer hosted students from the All Saints Episcopal Day School in City Hall, who stated their case for Hoboken to ban plastic bags or establish a fee for usage through the city. The issue has yet to resurface, but Zimmer asked the children for their full support if the issue emerges at a future City Council meeting.
The issue of plastic bags is something that the Committee and Chartier have kept their eye on, with the hope of one day addressing it in Hoboken.
“There’s actually a documentary being screened on the West Coast, and I’m trying to bring it here,” Chartier said. “It’s called ‘Bag It.”
The bags just add to environmental clutter, so activists tend to encourage people to bring reusable bags to the grocery stores instead.
Chartier hopes before any drastic decisions are made,the Committee for a Green Hoboken can sit down with the stakeholders, such as the business community, to see how a ban or fee would impact their businesses.
“I don’t like to force anything on people,” he said. “It shouldn’t be up to one group of people to say that we should ban bags. However, I personally hate them [plastic bags].”
Cities like Washington, D.C. have begun to tax the use of plastic bags. According to one report, the bag tax dropped usage from 22.5 million bags per month to 3 million in Washington. However, if a ban ever was introduced in Hoboken, it could become a controversial issue, as the plastic bag industry staged their own fight to protect their interests in cities like Washington and San Francisco, Calif.
Events
While the organization is still trying to get its name out to the public, the Committee for a Green Hoboken uses simple yet informative events to get their members together.
“We’ve had a ‘green drinks program,’ which is really just a meeting forum for people who want to talk to other people interested in a greener city,” Chartier said. “We’ve gotten involved with other committees like People for Open Government, the Hoboken Housing Authority, and have dealt with the City Council and the mayor’s office.”
Other events include tours and explanations of different green aspects of life in Hudson County.
The group toured the Hoboken treatment plant of the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, the entity that controls wastewater in northern Hudson County, and then held a roundtable discussion about storm water management. The group also toured green buildings and held a panel discussion.
Green development
Many developersreceive incentives to attain LEED certification on future buildings. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a highly coveted recognition awarded for building owners whose properties are deemed to be environmentally friendly.
Chartier said that the group is looking to establish a “green permit program” which would make building in Hoboken easier if developersguaranteed that a project would achieve LEED recognition.
Recycling and other initiatives
Chartier believes with a high rate of resident turnover, Hoboken could benefit from an education program about ways to improve the environmental quality of life in Hoboken.
“There’s a lot of new residents that come into town, and it falls on the landlord to explain when to put out garbage and recycling,” he said. “We’re trying to do an information campaign and also to change the recycling in town.”
Chartier said the model comes from other cities across America, like San Francisco, Ca., which recently changed the garbage pickup to include more pick ups for recycling.
The Committee for a Green Hoboken is also involved with the uptown farmers market, which runs near 14th and Hudson streets in warmer weather seasons.
The group is also looking to screen a documentary and host a question and answer session about the proposed natural gas pipeline, which, if built,will travel along the southern border of Hoboken in Jersey City.
Chartier said the group has grown over the last few months, but is still “establishing a network of connections.”
The group has approximately 200 members on the distribution list, with 20 to 30 “regulars” and “active members.”
For more information on the Committee for a Green Hoboken, visit QLCHoboken.org.
Ray Smith may be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com