GRAPEVINE – Since 2007, the city has belonged to an international organization which has the stated purpose of promoting “sustainable development.”
Last fall, Grapevine resident Carl Young, who says he represents the NE Tarrant Tea Party, questioned the city’s continued involvement with the organization.Now known as ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, when the organization originally was formed in 1990, the letters stood for the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives.Young told the City Council in October that he had a problem with the city’s membership in ICLEI and said the organization had a tie to the United Nations. “This is not a good group of people to be involved with,” he said.Later, Young explained his belief that ICLEI is an “outside group of individuals trying to control our development without the community having some say.” He asked, “Are we giving up our rights?”In response to Young’s questions, Assistant City Manager Jennifer Hibbs sent him a letter explaining why Grapevine belongs to ICLEI paying $600 a year for membership.“As an ICLEI member, the City sets emissions reductions targets and ICLEI provides the necessary software to track progress ... towards those targets as well as expert staff assistance in achieving those goals,” Hibbs wrote. “The reductions in emissions have resulted in energy cost savings in addition to the environmental benefit.”She added that ICLEI also “gives us a worldwide network to discuss our sustainability efforts and share ideas.”Don Knapp, spokesman for ICLEI-USA headquartered in California, said last week that there are many cities, counties and other local governments that belong to the organization. The group’s website lists more than 1,200 worldwide with 16 cities in Texas. Those in the local area in addition to Grapevine include Coppell, Dallas, Denton, Irving and Richardson.ICLEI offers technical support to those cities to help them address their energy needs and uses in a sustainable fashion, according to Knapp. “Sustainability,” he said, “means meeting the needs of the present without sacrificing the future.” That includes the environment, economy and equity, he added. “All three need to be in balance and looked at together, not separately.”As for ICLEI dictating what the local governments should do, Knapp called that notion “absurd.” He said “ICLEI is not a conspiracy theory to take any private property or anything like that.”Helping communities “is always from the bottom up,” Knapp said. “How cities and counties do it is in line with their own ideas and goals.”Benefits to local members vary from city to city, Knapp said, but Grapevine has taken advantage of the group’s software program in tracking energy use and greenhouse gas emissions as well as participating in training sessions and networking with other similar communities.Young said Hibb’s letter was what he expected, but he still questions why the city is paying to belong to the organization.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
