October 29, 2024
Re: Item 6.1: Please plan to increase funding for San José Climate Smart program Dear Mayor Mahan, Vicemayor Kamei, and City Council members:
Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley—a local group of 2500+ parents, youth and allies—appreciates the work of the Environmental Services Department, the Community Energy Department, the Transportation Department, and other City departments towards achieving San Jose’s vitally important climate goals. However, we remain concerned that the 2024-2024 budget cut funding for the Climate Smart San José program, and we urge you to plan ahead to increase funding for the program in the next fiscal year.
The Climate Smart program is vital to achieving the City’s pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2030—just five years away. In the meantime, our children and communities face growing climate threats, such as extreme heat, unhealthy levels of indoor air pollution from gas appliances, degraded outdoor air quality from gas cars and climate-fueled wildfires, and rising sea levels.
Given ongoing environmental injustices (such as the lack of adequate tree canopy in our East side neighborhoods) and the existential threat of the climate crisis, we must do more to mitigate the climate pollution we generate and that requires increasing Climate Smart funding.
Therefore, we ask that you prioritize our health, safety, and climate stability by significantly increasing the Climate Smart funding next year. In particular, consider increasing the capacity of the Environmental Services Division by boosting the number of staff in the department who can go out into the community to engage them in Climate Smart San Jose programs.
Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley has been a proud partner of the City in achieving our climate smart goals, and we stand by to support staff in this important work in the coming year. Please do your part by providing the needed funding.
For our children, communities and climate,
Linda Hutchins-Knowles (she/her)
Co-founder and T eam Coordinator
Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley