Village of Pelham named bronze-level Climate Smart Community, joining 104 others in state
Editor’s note: This press release was provided by the Village of Pelham. The Pelham Examiner publishes press releases in the form received as a service to the community.
Governor Kathy Hochul announced yesterday that the Village of Pelham is now officially certified as a bronze level Climate Smart Community, joining communities around New York State who are taking the lead to meet the economic, social, and environmental challenges posed by climate change.
The Climate Smart Communities program was created in 2009 to provide guidance and technical support to local governments to take locally-driven climate action, while documenting and celebrating local achievement. The addition of 11 new communities in this latest round of certifications brings New York’s total number of certified Climate Smart Communities to 105, an exciting milestone for the program. In an interview with News12, Gabrielle Sasson, co-chair of the Sustainability Advisory Board created by the Village of Pelham Board of Trustees in 2018, said “It’s more and more important to people to live in communities that are making decisions grounded in sustainability and resiliency.”
The Village of Pelham earned its certification by installing its first of five public EV Charging Stations in Pelham’s downtown, replacing all street lights with energy-efficient LEDs, benchmarking the energy use of Village facilities, launching a Food Waste Recycling Program, and partnering with Sustainable Westchester on a host of initiatives like the EnergySmart Homes and Grid Rewards campaign, Solarize Pelham, and the Community Choice Aggregation Program. “Earning this designation puts us in a different class among our municipal peers, and I’m grateful to the local volunteers who’ve led the way,” said Pelham Mayor Chance Mullen. “This work is essential to the long-term health of our community, and it’s only the beginning of our efforts to address climate change at the local level.”
Please join us in gratitude for our volunteers on the Sustainability Advisory Board and Climate Smart Communities Task Force, who made this achievement possible: Gabrielle Sasson, Yenna Chan, Heather Eliezer, Maryanne Joyce, Anna Riehl, Benjamin Smyser, Tom White, Marc Burgess, Ella Burns, Tai Montanarella, as well as all our former SAB/CSCTF members. Trustee Hanan Kamal Eldahry serves as the Village Board’s Liaison to Sustainability.
You can read Governor Hochul’s full press release here:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/
Learn more about the Village’s actions to achieve CSC certification here:
https://climatesmart.ny.gov/
