coldwell banker cb - Watertown Daily Times

8B Sunday,March 2,2008 WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
PROGRESS 2008
BUSINESS UPDATE
SLU makes commitment to go green
Housing council focuses
on affordable residences
CANTON — For more than
26 years, the St. Lawrence County
Housing Council, 19 Main St.,
has been working to help residents
of St. Lawrence County
get access to decent and affordable
housing.
The 14-member staff focuses
on four areas: helping first-time
homeowners purchase and
keep properties; providing financial
assistance and guidance
for the renovation of substandard
residences; managing
rental properties including several
for older residents and people
with disabilities; assisting
communities with planning,
and obtaining grants for downtown
revitalization and infrastructure
improvements. Since
1981, the housing council has
brought more than $40 million
in grants to the county, many of
which have been supplemented
by local contributions.
In the past year, 152 households
participated in the council’s
homeownership classes
and 57 families purchased their
first homes with the assistance
of the council’s homeownership
staff. The owners of 28 homes in
Edwards, Morristown and
Stockholm were able to make
critical repairs to their homes
with the help of the council.
Two hundred twenty-four people
currently live in apartments
managed by the council’s property
management team. Community
facilities team members
have recently completed or are
engaged in projects in Potsdam,
Heuvelton, Edwards, Canton,
Hermon, and the tri-town area.
The housing council is a charter
member of NeighborWorks
America, a nationwide network
of 240 trained and certified
community development organizations
at work in more
than 4,000 communities across
America. Working in partnership
with others, Neighbor-
Works organizations are leaders
in strengthening communities
and creating affordable housing
opportunities for low-andmoderate-income
families.
The council’s executive director
is Chris Rediehs. The agency
has 14 employees, up from eight
five years ago, and five 10 years
ago.
The council is supported by
administrative fees, grants, and
donations. More information is
available at www.slchc.org.
CORE UNIVERSITY VALUE: College continues to develop Environmental Action Plan
CANTON — As St. Lawrence
University President Daniel F.
Sullivan recently noted in a message
to the campus community,
significant progress is being
made toward the university’s
goal of producing a smaller carbon
footprint and being a better
environmental citizen.
“In 2006, after a year-long
process of thoughtful discussion
on campus and within several of
its committees, our board of
trustees approved, with great enthusiasm,
a resolution to adopt a
commitment to the environment
as a core university value,” he said.
“This institutional commitment
to living and promoting a more
sustainable lifestyle extends from
our curriculum to procedural,
procurement and building efforts
aimed at reducing consumption
and waste while increasing energy
efficiency.”
In 2007, Sullivan joined colleagues
at American colleges
and universities in committing
to“carbon neutrality” in its campus
operations by signing the
American College and University
Presidents Climate Commitment.
“As students, faculty, and
staff continue to make changes
in their activities and operations,
we’re seeing real movement
toward a smaller carbon
footprint,” he stated.
Specific examples cited by
Sullivan include continuing development
of an Environmental
Action Plan, with leadership on
campus and collaboration by all
facets of the community, including
students, faculty, staff and
alumni; the decision to purchase
only appliances rated with the
Energy Star label; a plan under
way to purchase electricity from
renewable sources through renewable
energy credits.
“We have decided to purchase
only energy-efficient appliances
labeled Energy Star, and to ensure
a minimum of 15 percent of
our electricity is generated with
renewable sources by September
of 2008,” Sullivan stated. “In
pursuit of these goals, we have
recently replaced all of the washing
machines on campus with
Energy Star machines and have
become an Energy Star Partner.
This partnership will enable
greater measurement, tracking
and improvement of energy efficiency
across campus. We have
also already begun to purchase
electricity from renewable
sources through our purchase of
Renewable Energy Credits: 50
percent of the electricity for the
student center for 2007-2008 has
been purchased from New York
hydroelectric facilities and 50
percent of the electricity for the
Johnson Hall of Science for 2007-
2009 has been purchased from
national wind farms.”
Sullivan also said that the next
steps in honoring the Climate
Commitment include developing
a plan to achieve climate
neutrality; completion of a
greenhouse-gas inventory; and
shifting the University’s energy
needs to renewable sources.
“Our recent movements toward
sustainability give me confidence
that signing the American
College and University Presidents
Climate Commitment was
the correct decision for St.
Lawrence,” Sullivan stated. “With
Conservation Council, administrative
operations and the many
committed faculty, staff, students,
administrators and alumni
leading the way, I know we will
reach all of the goals of the climate
commitment while creating
a better university and a better
world. In closing, I wish to
thank the entire university community
for your efforts toward a
sustainable campus and society,
and ask that you continue to
push us forward.”
At the U.S. Green Building
Council’s Greenbuild International
Conference and Expo held
in the fall, former President Bill
Clinton announced that the Clinton
Climate Initiative was partnering
with the American College
and University Presidents Climate
Commitment. This partnership
was created to help colleges that
have signed the commitment
with funding for energy-efficiency
projects. Five global financial institutions
have pulled together $5
billion to be shared with colleges
and universities through performance-contracting
with energy
services companies; the money
saved from the improvements
will be used to pay back the financial
firms. The arrangement relieves
academic institutions from
having to provide the initial capital
investment to make the upgrades,
which is important because
improvements often have
long payback periods. St.
Lawrence is not only eligible, as a
climate commitment signatory,
to receive the benefits of such a
partnership, but has been chosen
asapilot institution, thereby guaranteeing
financial assistance and
expediting projects.
In the fall, the Sustainable Endowments
Institute gave the university
a “green grade” of B-minus
when it issued its second
College Sustainability Report
Card for 200 public and private
universities with the largest endowments,
ranging from $230
million to nearly $35 billion. The
report card is the only independent
sustainability evaluation of
campus operations and endowment
investments. St. Lawrence’s
grade placed the university in the
top third of all schools evaluated.
The cumulative grade distribution
for the 200 schools was A, 3
percent; B, 28 percent; C, 42 percent;
D, 25 percent; and F, 2 percent.
Grades were determined by
reviewing publicly available information,
conducting surveys
of appropriate school officials,
and then assessing performance
across 39 indicators in eight main
categories.
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