Mayor Newsom Announces San Francisco Ranked #1 in US City Rankings for Sustainability
(June 7, 2005)
San Francisco – San Francisco and Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that the city has been rated as the #1 in a peer-reviewed study called the SustainLane US City Ranking, which was officially released today by the non-partisan group.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom: "San Francisco is honored to be awarded by SustainLane (as a result of) its comprehensive sustainability US City Rankings study," said Mayor Newsom. "Sustainability is important not only for protecting citizens' health and ensuring a great quality of life here in San Francisco, but also for boosting the local economy with jobs and services in everything from clean technologies to fresh food and green building products produced in California."
After five mayors (including Mayor Newsom) from the top ten cities in its study were awarded Thursday at the United Nations World Environment Day event in San Francisco, SustainLane is providing this week complete US City Rankings on 12 categories for 25 cities. The results of the study are available on the web at www.sustainlane.com.
Said Mayor Gavin Newsom: "I'm a guy who drove an electric car for four years. I'd like to see no fossil burning fuels. I'd like to see zero CO2 emissions. I'd like to see no polluting power plants in or around San Francisco. I'd like to see tidal harvesting and wave harvesting of renewable energy, solar panels on every municipal building. I'd like to see comprehensive curriculum in our schools as it relates to environmental stewardship. I'd like this city to be the example for the rest of the country."
About the SustainLane US City Rankings
The SustainLane US City Rankings measure 25 US cities' cumulative performance and programs across 12 economic development and quality of life categories. The index, developed by the Bay Area, non-partisan organization SustainLane (www.sustainlane.com), integrates 20 public and non-governmental organizations' (NGOs) data inputs (US EPA, US Census, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Working Group, Smart Growth America, Trust for Public Land) on each city with 18 qualitative inputs gathered from city interviews and surveys. Participating cities have confirmed that the peer-reviewed study is the first and most comprehensive US city sustainability performance benchmark.
US cities comprising SustainLane's top ten ranking (two tied) in order: #1 San Francisco; #2 Portland, Oregon; #3 Berkeley; #4 Seattle; #5 Santa Monica; #6 Austin; #7 New York; #8 Chicago; #9 Oakland; #10 Minneapolis (tied); #10 Denver (tied).
Other cities' rankings include: http://sustainlane.com/cityindex/citypage.php?page=1&name=other
#12 Boston; #13 Madison; #14 Philadelphia; #15 San Jose; #16 Sacramento; #17 Scottsdale; #18 Los Angeles; #19 Pittsburgh; #20 Atlanta; #21 Chattanooga; #22 Jacksonville; #23 Albuquerque; #24 Detroit; #25 Houston
Categories of data and information analysis utilized for ranking purposes include: Transportation; Air Quality; Tap Water Quality; Food and Agriculture; Land Use; Zoning; Planning; Green Building; Energy/Climate Policy; Solid Waste; City Innovation; and Knowledgebase. These scores were combined into a cumulative ranking.
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Contact:
Gloria Chan (415) 355-3733
Warren Karlenzig (415) 518-7575
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Department of the Environment
City and County of San Francisco
11 Grove Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Telephone: (415) 355-3700 | Fax: (415) 554-6393
Email: environment@sfgov.org | www.sfenvironment.com