In his State of the City speech on Thursday, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson proposed a new initiative to spur the development of "green" businesses in Sacramento. Here's the Mayor's remarks:
"Across the country, from the White House down to states and cities, there is a buzz around all things “green.” I believe strongly that Sacramento can become a national leader in the green movement. Think about it: if you want to get into finance, you go to New York. If you want to go into politics, you go to Washington, DC. If you want to get into entertainment, you move to Los Angeles. If you want to get into high tech, you go to Silicon Valley.
My vision is to turn Sacramento into the “Emerald Valley” – the national hub for green business and innovation – where people from across the country come to be at the forefront of the green movement.
We’ll start in the next few months, when I will be launching my only new initiative of the year – a Green Initiative. This will be one of my top priorities. It will also be an initiative that our entire Council can participate in. I’ve reached out to my Council colleagues and hope to engage all of us in this effort.
The initiative is still in development, but there are several areas we will focus on.
We have significant potential to build a thriving green economy. It starts with jobs. Let’s put our citizens back to work by creating more green collar jobs. We’ve had an 87 percent growth in Green Jobs over the past 13 years – number one in California. And, our region has received $220MM in stimulus funding for energy efficiency programs and green job training. We can create both high wage jobs in research and technology, and middle and low wage jobs in industries like weatherization and retrofitting.
My vision is to turn Sacramento into the “Emerald Valley” – the national hub for green business and innovation – where people from across the country come to be at the forefront of the green movement.
We’ll start in the next few months, when I will be launching my only new initiative of the year – a Green Initiative. This will be one of my top priorities. It will also be an initiative that our entire Council can participate in. I’ve reached out to my Council colleagues and hope to engage all of us in this effort.
The initiative is still in development, but there are several areas we will focus on.
We have significant potential to build a thriving green economy. It starts with jobs. Let’s put our citizens back to work by creating more green collar jobs. We’ve had an 87 percent growth in Green Jobs over the past 13 years – number one in California. And, our region has received $220MM in stimulus funding for energy efficiency programs and green job training. We can create both high wage jobs in research and technology, and middle and low wage jobs in industries like weatherization and retrofitting.