Happy Belated Earth Day!

Earth Day was yesterday. Although I was busy spending the day walking with my kids to school, making them instruments out of recycled products, and talking to kids about conservation programs, we all know that protecting our planet is more than a one day endeavor.

That is why today, the day AFTER Earth Day, is a great day to highlight some of the things I'm proud we in the City of San Mateo are doing to promote a more sustainable City year-round.

During the past 12 months, the City has adopted both a bicycle master plan and a pedestrian master plan that incorporate a vision for making San Mateo more friendly to bikes and pedestrians, and less reliant on cars. The plans include both short and long term goals, and ties into the City's general plan for overall development in our City.

City staff worked hard over a number of years with a great deal of community input to craft these plans, and I was proud to vote to implement both plans.

Earlier this year, the City started the work of drafting legislation to curb the use of leaf blowers, single-use plastic bags, and polystyrene containers. City staff is collaborating with other cities, county agencies, and local neighborhood groups to create a comprehensive plan that will benefit the entire region. Each of these issues is anticipated to come before the City Council for consideration before the end of this year.

So while yesterday was a great celebration to hightlight the importance of protecting our planet, you can see that at San Mateo, we consider every day "Earth Day"!