“This is going to be very expensive. This is going to cost $2 billion dollars. I don’t know if you thought about this when you approved The Green New Deal at the very beginning.” Ithaca’s new Director of Sustainability Luis Aguirre-Torres said during Wednesday night’s September Common Council meeting.
As the number elicited laughter from the audience, Aguirre-Torres continued his presentation and repeated the figure. “This is going to cost $2 billion dollars. It’s not gonna come from Svante. Just half of it.”
“How do we fund all of this?” Mayor Myrick mused aloud at the conclusion of Aguirre-Torres’ remarks. “Which is, of course; Well, you know. How do you eat an Elephant? That’s one bite at a time. But I think in this upcoming budget we could take several bites out of this elephant. So, we’re developing that budget right now. I thought this was an important time to get an update from Luis in advance of that.”
Common Councilperson George McGonagall sought clarification on the $2 billion figure.
“When you say two billion dollars, you’re talking about for the City of Ithaca?”
“Yes. For the City of Ithaca. Well, and the Town of Ithaca, too.” Aguirre-Torres clarified.
“Huh,” McGonagall replied.
Councilperson Cynthia Brock questioned Aguirre-Torres about a request for a proposal (RFP) for a project manager position to construct a financial instrument on behalf of the city for the Ithaca Green New Deal project.
“I was unaware that the city was putting its name or its commitment behind doing something like this. So I was kind of surprised to hear about the RFP having gone out. I feel very cautious in proceeding this way.”
“Did this come through committee?” Brock asked. “As a pre approved decision that the city was entering into this? Did I miss it, is my question.”
“No, I don’t think so.” replied Mayor Myrick.
“When I hear ‘creative financial instruments,’ I get nervous.” Councilperson Graham Kerslick said of the financial proposal.
Aguirre-Torres’ full presentation can be viewed here and on IthacaCrime.com’s YouTube page. The September 1st Ithaca Common Council meeting does not appear to have been uploaded to the City of Ithaca’s website or YouTube page as of this article posting.