Redwood City focuses on youth and climate

During Monday’s meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Chris Beth and Library Director Derek Wolfgram detailed a number of ways the city has supported its young people from educational and recreational services, youth spaces and child care to police department diversion programs, engaging youth on policy discussions, and providing young people with development and career opportunities.

Community members, from parents and educators, have expressed support for the programming. According to a staff report for Monday’s meeting, 90% of teachers said Project REACH, an after-school enrichment program, helped support students’ social and emotional needs while 93% of parents said the program had a positive impact on students. The program is credited with improving reading skills by three grade levels in the first year of participation.

Hundreds of thousands of children’s items are checked out of the library system each fiscal year and more than 2,000 teens visited the Downtown Library Teen Center last year alone. About 29,000 children attended youth-oriented library programming and another 33,300 people attended all-age or family programming in fiscal year 2022-23, a respective 79% increase and 63% increase from fiscal year 2021-22.

“It may seem that the entertaining and educational activities offered are all fun and games but in fact, there’s a serious pedagogy underlying this work and our staff carefully crafts events, activities and curricula to support early literacy development, foster wellness and personal growth to support equitable access to resources regardless of background, economic status, identity, ability or neighborhood and provide pathways to reduce negative outcomes,” Wolfgram said.

Similarly, Public Works Director Terence Kyaw said the city has seen progress on implementing the city’s Climate Action Plan since its adoption. When feasible, the city has replaced some of its fleet with electric vehicles with support from Pacific Gas and Electric grant programs and has encouraged energy and water conservation through rebate programs, free upgrades, kits and evaluations, and distributing educational materials and hosting workshops.

Greenhouse gas emissions inventories — completed and released two years after the inventory year, meaning 2019 figures are the latest available — show that while the city’s emissions were up from 2017 levels, 2019 levels are still 19% lower than 2005 levels. The goal is to reach 50% 2005 levels by 2030.

Much of that progress is thanks to Peninsula Clean Energy’s clean electricity portfolio. Officials expect COVID-19 to have an effect on 2020 inventory levels given retail changes that led to greater commercial hauling.

Looking ahead, the department plans to develop and execute a coastal flood risk plan for its developed areas. A study into the city’s current infrastructure and future risks is expected to be completed in November. Staff is also developing a plan to maintain and expand the city’s urban forest. And the city’s disposable foodware ordinance is expected to take effect next October with education support coming from the county.

“The Redwood City Climate Action Plan aims to join hands between city staff and community to prepare the environment for future generations,” Kyaw said.

Councilmembers were largely appreciative of all efforts detailed by the three city officials. Councilmember Alicia Aguirre suggested staff better communicate that progress, specifically those made around conserving water, to residents as a way to highlight why their efforts are important and valued.

On climate initiatives, Councilmember Chris Sturken said he was excited to see the city’s urban forest plans move forward, particularly in his district where residents have raised concerns about the lack of tree canopy. Sturken also encouraged staff to conduct strong outreach to businesses between Broadway and El Camino Real about environmental programming.

He also underscored the importance of incentivizing the public to use public transit instead of single-occupancy vehicles to help reduce transportation-related emissions. Doing so is vital if the city is to reach its goal of reducing emissions by 50% of 2005 levels.

“We have a lot of work to do and I would argue that takes a transition to [public] transit,” Sturken said.

The council also encouraged staff to continue collecting data on various issues including child care spaces and needs, program participation and youth diversion programs, and metrics for gauging the success of climate initiatives to help inform future decision-making.

Councilmembers also expressed an interest in further partnering with school districts and nonprofits on youth-related and climate issues. They also shared support for holding a forum with those groups on youth mental health.

“Mental health issues don’t go by the school hour but the schools spend more time than we do with our young people,” Mayor Jeff Gee said. “So how we blend those all together, how we support our young people together is probably an important conversation.”