Katherine Gajewski, Philadelphia’s New Director of Sustainability speaks in West Mt. Airy in Northwest Philly. She reveals five tactics as to how she will implement Mayor Nutter’s Greenworks Plan to turn Philadelphia into America’s Greenest City – including the appointment of a community Outreach Coordinator.
“Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim. [S]He’s the neighborhood bully. (Bob Dylan, Neighborhood Bully)
Though certainly not a “neighborhood bully” in the conventional sense of the term, Katherine Gajewski is one focused agent of change. In speaking to West Mt Airy Neighbors’ (WMAN) monthly gathering of just a few committed folks in Northwest Philly, Gajewski demonstrated a key strategy towards realizing Philly’s dream of becoming America’s “greenest city”: going from community to community and from ‘hood to ‘hood to coordinate the city’s ambitious (overly ambitious?) 15-point plan. I don’t think Philadelphia can become green without this kind of synchronous, systemic action. To that end, she told us that she intends to appoint a dedicated Outreach Coordinator to connect with each locality’s sustainability efforts.
Considering that the Greenworks plan is 80 dense pages and contains 169 (!) initiatives Gajewski is smart to follow this strategy. She called it a living document – “dates will change” and metrics will also change. She admitted that Philly came into the game late, and is trying to build off the work of other major cities. Her key strategies also include:
- Identify external business, government partners
- Prioritize and divide the plan and divvy up “departments and lead agencies” to help
- Create project teams
- Identify champions across government departments and agencies.
- Stay in contact with community groups
Katherine Gajewski called it a vast “plugging in exercise”, with the goal of “having a presence throughout the City.” It is too early to handicap her success in implementing the Greenworks initiative. But we do know that it will only work if local communities – like yours and mine – join her strategy of going “hyperlocal” and coordinating efforts at the grass roots level.
However, I also would like to call her to task for perhaps taking too heavy an analytical approach – to divide up the plan and prioritize – rather than taking a systems approach, which many change theorists say is called for in such a complex effort. (The analyis of the part can be the enemy of the understanding of the whole.) This might mean, for example, considering how the plan’s goals interact and intertwine, as well as taking the necessary step of changing our society’s culture and mindset, which is rooted in a carbon based economy that involves everything from taking long showers, driving cars to big box stores, eating nonlocal food, leaving lights on at all times, treating our local forest with disdain, etc… We didn’t hear enough from her about looking at the “big picture”.
Still, we are grateful to Ms. Gajewski for coming out to West Mt. Airy on a quiet moonfilled August night. I for one, would not bet against her chances of making great strides towards the ultimate goal of being number one. We look forward to hearing from her again and meeting the new Outreach Coordinator, when s/he is appointed.
