The agencies involved in transportation management may have different names in each community. Generally they will fall under the following categories: regional transit authority, municipal transportation or traffic agency, regional or state air quality control agencies, and regional or state departments of transportation.

• Does your municipality have a travel demand management policy?
• If yes, list the programs your municipality has in place to help citizens reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and auto emissions e.g., walking and bike paths, shuttle services, public transit system, car pooling/car sharing, auto inspections, etc.
• Describe why each program came into existence and its current goals.
• What have been the principal strategies used to achieve citizen participation? Which have been successful and why? Which have been unsuccessful and why?
• How is success measured? Include the numerical targets of the program. If there are no targets, how might targets be established?
• What percentage of citizens participate in each program?
• What percentage of VMT reduction is achieved through each program?
• What has been the participation in each program over the last three years? Have participation and VMT reduction rates increased, leveled off or decreased? Please explain what is causing this trend.
• Do certain neighborhoods have successful participation in VMT programs? Why is this? Please describe what has been learned.
• What incentives are there, if any, for VMT reduction, e.g. avoided municipal and state penalties for air quality compliance, increased revenues to transit authorities from fares, increased prosperity of the city through quality of life improvement from reduced traffic congestion and noise pollution, city ordinance offering incentives to citizens to participate in natural resource conservation as a principle of community sustainability, etc.?
• Which transportation agencies benefit from VMT reduction, e.g., transit agencies selling fares, transportation departments in avoided costs of road maintenance and new construction, traffic agencies responsible for improving traffic flow, etc.?
• If fiscal benefits are derived from reduced VMT how could these be calculated and projected over time, e.g., avoided penalties, increased fares, operational efficiencies of maintaining current roads, etc.?
• Are there any policies that these agencies have to reinvest these financial savings into creating greater VMT reduction? Please describe. If not, how might the municipality encourage the establishment of such a policy?
• What disincentives are there, if any, for VMT reduction, e.g., loss of revenues from toll collection, funding to particular agencies based on total automobiles serviced, etc.?
• Are there any municipal policies for assuring that incentives to VMT reduction are enhanced, and disincentives eliminated? If not, how might these be pursued?

Back to Citizen Sustainability Assessment

The agencies likely to be involved in energy conservation will generally fall under the following categories: municipal energy office, state energy office, electric utility, gas utility.

• Does the municipality have a sustainable energy policy that includes residential use? If no policy exists, how could one be established?
• If yes, how is residential energy conservation encouraged? How is using renewable energy encouraged? Please describe the policy and programs.
• List the programs your utility(s) and municipality have in place to help citizens develop more sustainable energy households. e.g., home energy audits, appliance rebates, free energy saving fixtures, building codes promoting energy insulation, green energy products enabling easy use of renewable energy, etc.
• Describe why each program came into existence and its current goals.
• What have been the principal strategies used to achieve citizen participation? Which have been successful and why? Which have been unsuccessful and why?
• How is success measured? Include the numerical targets of the program. If there are no targets, how might targets be established?
• What percentage of citizens participate in each program?
• What percentage of energy is conserved and is of a renewable source?
• What has been the participation in each program over the last three years? Have participation, conservation and renewable energy use increased, leveled off or decreased? Please explain what is causing this trend.
• Do certain neighborhoods have successful participation in energy conservation and renewable energy use? Why is this? Please describe what has been learned.
• What incentives are there in the municipality/state/utility, if any, for providing energy conservation and renewal energy products, e.g., utility compliance with state public service commission to provide energy conservation programs, avoided costs of expanding infrastructure, financial incentives provided by the municipality for selling green power, city ordinance providing incentives for utilities to participate in natural resource conservation as a principal of community sustainability, etc.?
• Which energy utilities benefit from energy conservation or sale of renewable energy, e.g., utilities supplying their own energy that can avoid infrastructure expansion for peak demand, utilities that promote conservation to create financial capability for households to purchase green power at a premium, utilities that wish to maintain customer loyalty or develop a competitive advantage by providing conservation services, etc.?
• If fiscal benefits are derived from energy conservation or sale of green power, how could these be calculated and projected over time, e.g., energy needed to be saved to extend the life of the current facilities by a certain number of years, operational efficiencies of energy generating plant, cost efficiencies from reaching a certain volume of green power sales, etc.?
• Are there any policies that the utility has to reinvest these financial savings into creating greater energy conservation or reducing rates for green power? Please describe. If not, how might the municipality, perhaps in cooperation with the public service commission, encourage the establishment of such a policy?
• What disincentives are there in the utility, if any, for residential energy conservation, e.g., loss of revenues from less energy being used, etc.?
• Are there any municipal policies for assuring that incentives to energy conservation and sale of green power are enhanced, and disincentives eliminated? If not, how might these be pursued?

Back to Citizen Sustainability Assessment

The agencies involved in water management may have different names in each community. Generally they will fall under the following categories: municipal public works, water bureau, county or regional water agency, waste water treatment plant.

• List the programs your community has in place to help citizens conserve water. e.g., free water saving fixtures, information campaigns, etc.
• Describe why each program came into existence and its current goals.
• What have been the principal strategies used to achieve citizen participation? Which have been successful and why? Which have not been successful and why?
• How is success measured? Include the numerical targets of the program. If there are no targets, how might targets be established?
• What percentage of citizens participate in each program?
• What amount of water does each program conserve?
• What has been the participation and amount of water conserved for each program over the last three years? Has participation and conservation increased, leveled off or decreased?
• What neighborhoods have the most successful residential participation and water conservation?
• What neighborhoods have the least successful residential participation and water conservation? Why is this? Please describe what has been learned.
• Are the municipality's storm drains and sewers combined? If so, would water conservation help alleviate any problems of combined sewer overflows?
• What incentives are there in the municipality, if any, for water conservation e.g., regulatory compliance with state or regional targets, avoided costs of building new infrastructure such as wells or wastewater treatment facilities, city ordinance committing to natural resource conservation as a principle of community sustainability, etc.?
• Which service providers benefit from water conservation? e.g., city water department from reduced costs to meet peak water demand, waste water treatment plant from reduced operating costs and extended life of current facility, etc.
• If fiscal benefits are derived from water conservation, how could these be calculated and projected over time, e.g., gallons of water needed to be saved to extend the life of the current facilities by a certain number of years, operational efficiencies of water treatment plant, etc.?
• Are there any policies to reinvest these financial savings into increased water conservation? Please describe. If not, how could a policy be put in place?
• What disincentives are there in the municipality, if any, for residential water conservation, e.g., increased revenues based on residential water use, financial obligations to pay off water treatment plant based on resident fees, etc.?
• Which service providers do not benefit from water conservation, e.g., city water department who increase revenues from volume of water supplied, companies that build city wells, etc.?
• Are there any municipal policies for assuring that incentives to water conservation are enhanced, and disincentives eliminated? If not, how might these be pursued?
• If the municipality has created disincentives to water conservation, what can be done to remedy this, e.g., renegotiate contracts with service providers based on incentives in water conservation, redesign policies, etc.?

Back to Citizen Sustainability Assessment