on March 25, 2008 by Staff in Latest, Comments Off on Golden receives sustainability award

Golden receives sustainability award

The City of Golden received notification today that the Golden Sustainability Initiative is the Gold Winner recipient of the prestigious Community Outreach/Public Education award through the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) Local Government Awards Program.

Golden Mayor Jacob Smith and Golden Urban Renewal Authority (GURA) Executive Director Mark Heller will be presented with certificates for their achievements with the project at the DRCOG Annual Awards Dinner on Wednesday, April 30 at Belmar Center, 405 S. Tellar St., in Lakewood. The event begins at 6 p.m. and the awards dinner program starts at 7 p.m. In addition to the Local Government Awards, DRCOG will honor other individuals for their contributions to DRCOG and the region.

The City of Golden launched its 10-year sustainability initiative during a town hall meeting at the end of February 2007, which was followed by four months of intensive discussion and research by seven community working groups. Golden used a highly distinctive bottom-up, grassroots approach led by citizens to set City policy in seven different areas of sustainability, several of which forward the transportation, water quality and air quality goals laid out in DRCOG’s Metro Vision plan. In finalizing 10-year sustainability goals and programs to meet those goals, citizens were kept informed and participated via regular updates on a dedicated page of the City’s website, publicly-viewable Yahoo! Groups, scheduled weekly public meetings, articles in the local paper and City newsletter, and by calling the Golden Urban Renewal Authority’s office with questions/comments.

After four months, the seven working groups recommended adoption of ambitious 10-year sustainability goals on energy use, transportation, water, economic development, and other areas. The groups made 65 concrete program recommendations. Golden City Council immediately referred 15 of the recommendations to staff for more detailed review, created a Citizens Sustainability Advisory Board to ensure implementation, and committed significant funding for staffing and other investments related to achieving the sustainability goals.

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