Mayor Mary Manross carries Green Building message to South Lake Tahoe, California

June 22, 2008 - PRLog -- Mayor Mary Manross carries Green Building message to California

Scottsdale’s environmental initiatives continue to draw interest.On June 13, 2008, Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross, 2007 winner of the “Mayor’s Award for Energy Efficiency”, spoke to a special session of the South Lake Tahoe, California City Council.  Mayor Mike Weber was very pleased with the presentation.  “Mayor Manross spoke with both passion and conviction.  Her willingness to spend the time with our community leaders will help us to energize our environmental initiatives and to include them in our General Plan.”   Mayor Pro Tem, Jerry Birdwell, praised Manross’s proven track record.  “Mayor Manross is recognized as a leader in the area of green building and sustainability and we wanted to learn how she has been so successful in Scottsdale.”    

Mayor Manross was also a speaker at a Sustainability Town Hall hosted by U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell June 16th at SkySong, the ASU/Scottsdale Center for Innovation.  Panelists representing renewable energy, utility, and economic development interests discussed local and national sustainability initiatives.

On June 30,  Mayor Manross has been invited to be the Keynote Speaker at the Southern Arizona Solar Energy Development Conference in Tucson, focusing on the emerging solar energy industry in Arizona.

During her State of the City speech Mayor Manross called for the establishment of an office of Energy Initiatives to conserve and to save taxpayer dollars.  The proposed office has been included in the recently passed 2008/2009 fiscal budget.  She has also called for creation of a LEED certification program for existing buildings.

Under Manross’s leadership Scottsdale is recognized for its environmental initiatives.  The city is protecting nearly one third of its land area in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.  It was the first city to be accepted into the EPA’s rigorous Environmental Track program and the first city in the nation to formally establish a goal that all new city facilities meet the “gold” standard for LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.