Mayor to travel to Turkey to attend climate conference

BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer

Palo Alto Mayor Vicki Veenker will go to Turkey in November for a climate change conference, but not without her colleague on the board of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District questioning the $93,200 the agency is spending on the trip.

“It just bothers me, when I don’t have enough money to feed my constituents, that we’re going and spending this much money,” Solano County Supervisor Monica Brown said at a meeting on Oct. 6.

Veenker will go to the conference with Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, Hopkins’ chief of staff and four Bay Area Air Quality Management District employees.

Veenker said the conference, which she attended last year in Brazil, has been helpful for making connections with other mayors.

“We can share best practices literally around the world,” she said on Tuesday.

The United Nations conference is from Nov. 9 to 20 in Antalya, Turkey, a seaside city on the Mediterranean.

Costs include:

• $15,000 for Veenker and Hopkins to travel

• $32,000 for four Bay Area Air Quality Management District employees to travel

• $1,200 for Hopkins’ chief of staff to fly

• $10,000 sponsorship with the Climate Registry

• $35,000 contract for logistics services with a network organization known as ICLEI

ICLEI is arranging meetings, panels, credentials and events, said Deputy Executive Officer of Public Affairs Viet Tran, who is going on the trip.

Bay Area Air District Executive Director Philip Fine said it’s important for local agencies to attend the conference because the federal government isn’t addressing climate change. He said the agency is spending less money on accommodations and sponsorships than the last two years.

“We’re being very frugal about it, but international travel does cost money,” Fine said.

This will be Fine’s third time attending the conference. Only Brown, the Solano County Supervisor, voted against the trip. She said local governments are feeling the strain of federal bud get cuts, and elected officials should pull back from optional expenses.

“I just think it’s a bad look at this stage in the game,” she said.

The Bay Area Air District is funded by property taxes, grants and a $6 fee on all cars registered in the Bay Area. The agency’s goal is to improve air quality and public health, and the board is working to ban the sale of natural gas water heaters.