From the Ground Up

At the Ecology Center

Talented Duo Join Ecology Center Staff

By Jenny DiDomenico

Stephanie Feldstein is the Ecology Center’s new Development Director.

Growing up in Chicago, Stephanie always enjoyed doing work in the assistance of others. She cites a special concern for animals in her youth behind her current interest in earth issues. “Even as a child, I wanted more people to be more aware of how their choices affected other people, animals, and the environment. I mostly did my part by informing people around me and trying to set an example with how I lived my own life.” Today, she’s graduated from turning the water off when brushing her teeth to raising money for the Ecology Center’s Environmental programs.

Stephanie’s previous position was coordinating membership, donations, and events for the Humane Society of Huron Valley, where she worked for four years. She enjoys what she does, and her excitement about the Ecology Center is contagious. “I like getting people interested in what the Ecology Center does and am eager to help us keep doing it...Our members contribute to our work because they care about what we’re doing and, often as a result of their relationship with the Ecology Center, they do other things in their lives that are environmentally friendly.”

Next door to Stephanie sits Tawny Gapinski, who returns this fall as the Ecology Center’s Environmental Educator.

As the youth outreach element of the Center, Tawny is responsible for introducing area students to her spirited, “hands on” approach to composting, recycling, and other pertinent issues. Growing up in central Michigan and travelling the U.S., Tawny developed an appreciation for the beauty of the natural environment. A childhood spent hiking and swimming these areas may be the reason she’s here today. “A love for the outdoors naturally develops into a desire to protect wild areas. For me, this love began before I could read.”

When asked about her interest in educating local youth, she points to a love for sharing valuable information. She tries to put a new spin on environmental issues and to update and create new programs in education. Tawny’s enthusiasm for what she does permeates her teaching style and incites children to an interest in the environment as zealous as her own. “Its a joy to go outside with a group of students and explore a pile of rotting, bacteria-laden, vegetative waste,” she says, with an earnest appreciation for the value of education. “How many people can say that?”

Major Bank Makes Commitment to Purchase Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Ohio Savings Bank/AmTrust Bank, one of the top ten mortgage lenders in the U.S., has committed to replacing company vehicles with environmentally friendly hybrid electric vehicles wherever feasible. The bank estimates that it will purchase 24 hybrid electric vehicles in the next two years. “Our objective in making the switch (to hybrids) is to do our part to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil,” said Gerald Goldberg, co-chairman of the board of Ohio Savings Bank. “Though individually it may seem like it won’t make a difference, imagine what would happen if all of the companies in Cleveland, or in the state of Ohio, or even better, across the country, did the same.”

“In the past few months, two of our senior executives in Cleveland have started driving hybrids, we have a third hybrid based at our Boca Raton, Florida branch office, and we plan to convert many company issued cars over to the hybrids within the next two years,” said Goldberg. “While we’ve had standards in place regarding company-owned vehicles in the past, such as a minimum fuel economy, adopting the policy of purchasing only hybrids makes a much stronger statement.”

Environmentalists have applauded the decision and have called for other corporate fleets to follow the Ohio Savings Bank’s lead. The Ecology Center and the Clean Car Campaign have been working to persuade corporate fleet buyers to invest in hybrids, and the Ohio Savings Bank decision is the first major corporate commitment in this regard.

“At this crucial time in our world history we need innovative leadership from all sectors of our economy to both strengthen our national security and safeguard our environment for future generations,” stated Jeff Gearhart of the Ecology Center.

Hybrid electric vehicles combine gasoline and electric drive systems to achieve 50% greater fuel economy compared to standard vehicles. Based on the typical yearly miles driven for these vehicles, the Ohio Saving Bank will be saving over $1,000 per year, per vehicle on fuel costs. Hybrid electric vehicles also qualify for a variety of state and federal incentives, including a $1,500 “clean-fuel vehicle” IRS tax deduction. Hybrid electric vehicles currently available include the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight and Civic. In 2003 Ford will begin selling a hybrid electric version of its Escape.

Take Advantage of the IRS Tax Credit for Clean-Fuel Vehicles

When you purchase a hybrid electric vehicle or another qualifying alternative fuel vehicle, you can qualify for a “clean-fuel vehicle” IRS tax deduction. The federal government provides this adjustment to your gross income. The Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and Honda Civic Hybrid qualify as “clean-fuel vehicles” under the incentive, which is available through 2005. Starting at a $2000 tax credit in 2001, the value depreciates over time until program is phased out.

For information on claiming a business deduction for purchase of clean-fuel vehicles, please visit www.cleancarcampaign.org. And please note that the federal government also provides a tax credit up to $4,000 for qualifying electric only vehicles with four or more wheels. Hybrid vehicles do not qualify for this tax credit.

Ecology Center, Sierra Club Win Important Ann Arbor Parks Vote

By Mike Garfield

On November 5, Ann Arbor residents overwhelmingly approved a renewal millage for the non-routine maintenance of the City’s parks. Some observers had assumed an easy victory since City voters have historically supported parks millages. But the fate of this proposal grew less certain in October after the Ann Arbor News surprisingly, and then repeatedly, editorialized against the plan.

The proposal was straightforward. The millage will continue the previous level of funding provided by the expiring millage it was designed to replace, and will pay for things like planting and caring for trees, landscaping, resurfacing playgrounds, repairing electrical systems, and restoring natural areas.

Before putting the replacement millage on the fall ballot, the Ann Arbor City Council passed a resolution that provides greater accountability in dealing with millage funds. At the urging of the Huron Valley Group of the Sierra Club and the Ecology Center, Council members specified that Parks Repair and Restoration millage funds can be spent only on work done in City parks, they capped City overhead charges at 2%, and they clearly defined the activities that can be paid for with these funds so that millage money can’t be “raided” for other purposes.

The proposal was endorsed by virtually all the City’s public officials. No local group or organization, apart from one business, publicly opposed this parks millage. Unfortunately, this one business happened to be the local newspaper, the Ann Arbor News.

The News printed editorials and columns attacking the Parks proposal by misrepresenting the position of millage supporters, and refused to print several letters to the editor in support of the proposal. It refused to print articles written by the Ecology Center and the Sierra Club, despite attacking us for urging that all of the Parks millage money actually get spent on parks, instead of being siphoned off for other purposes. Their editors argued we did a last-minute secret fix on the Parks millage ballot language, even though we publicly called for reform over two months before the ballot language deadline.

The News’ managing editor Judy McGovern attacked what she called our “my way or the highway” approach, and blasted Mayor John Hieftje for abdicating power to the environmentalists’ “shadow government.” The paper ran a front-page article on the “remarkable strength” of Ann Arbor’s “tree-town lobby.”

I wish it were all true. Ann Arbor has long been an environmental leader because of the support and activism of the community’s residents, the leadership of its public officials, and the hard work and creativity of public interest groups like the Ecology Center, Sierra Club, and others. But we’ve lost our share of battles, too, and no great advances have come without struggle. Ann Arbor may become a green utopia one future day, but in the meantime, we’ll content ourselves that city voters rely more on common sense than on slanted news coverage for their point of view on environmental issues.

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