By Adam Swift
In the face of rising tides, storm surges, and coastal flooding, the city council’s newest subcommittee will address climate sustainability and resiliency.
Councilor-at-Large Juan Pablo Jaramillo will chair the new Climate, Sustainability, and Workforce subcommittee. He will be joined on the subcommittee by Councillor-at-Large Marc Silvestri and the three ward councillors who represent coastal neighborhoods – Ward 1 Councillor Joanna McKenna, Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky, and Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya.
“I think it is an opportunity for our city to take a leap into the 21st century and have a conversation about the very real needs of our residents and homeowners,” said Jaramillo. “It’s no surprise to anybody that rising climate change is creating catastrophic effects around the globe, and we are not any different. What we used to call 100-year storms are happening every 20 years or so.”
Jaramillo said the climate crisis needs to be tackled at the local, state, and national levels.
“We must do our part in the way we do business all throughout, from the way that we build, that we dispose of things, to the energy that we consume and how we consume it,” he said. “Only if we play our role as one of 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth will we have a chance to meet the carbon emission goals that the state is already behind in meeting and to meet the climate resiliency and sustainability standards that our residents deserve.”
Jaramillo said he believes the new subcommittee is an important opportunity for the council and the city to have more in-depth conversations about how to tackle the climate crisis.
“This is a long overdue board in the city,” said Silvestri. “As a coastal environment, we need to take this head on.”
McKenna noted how Pearl Avenue and other areas in her ward have been inundated with water.
“People are losing cars, foundations are falling apart,” she said.
While McKenna said she supports the establishment of the committee, she added that she is disappointed by the lack of help and communication from state and federal leaders. McKenna said she is still waiting to hear from Congresswoman Katherine Clark’s office about a meeting last year concerning a seawall in the city.
“These people are going to lose their houses because Congress is not listening to us,” said McKenna.
Guarino-Sawaya said she has never seen the ocean come up as fast into the Riverside and Point of Pines neighborhoods as it has recently.
“The past three days we haven’t even had big storms, and water has come up and over on Riverside every single day this week,” Guarino-Sawaya said on Monday prior to Tuesday’s storm. “We need to act now.”
