Letter to City re: ecological Dry Cleaning
[essentially the same thing was sent to the Fire Chief… I’ve distributed copies to various other folks to spread the meme. -Thomas]
Thomas Leavitt
P.O. Box 7095
Santa Cruz, CA
95061-7095
408-591-3342
thomas@thomasleavitt.org
http://www.thomasleavitt.org/
December 2nd, 2002
Chief Belcher
Santa Cruz Police Department
155 Center St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Dear Chief Belcher,
Recently, the Santa Cruz Sentinel ran an article (see: http://www.santa-cruz.com/archive/2002/November/24/biz/stories/01biz.htm) on Mission Dry Cleaners, a local business that has recently converted to the “GreenEarth” dry cleaning system from the standard, highly toxic perchloroethylene based process used by every other dry cleaner in the county. It immediately occured to me that the City could put ecological values into action by sending its dry cleaning business their way, if it wasn’t doing so already.
I’ve checked with Connie Robertson in purchasing, and she indicated that the City has no contracts with this business and that the Police Department and the Fire Department are the two entities which have dry cleaning needs. Therefore, I’m contacting you and Fire Department Chief Ron Price with this suggestion. I’m aware of the value of the Police Department’s current contract (approximately $25,000) via my work with the Living Wage Advisory Committee, and it is my understanding that this falls under the city’s threshold for a formal bidding process ($50,000); it is also my understanding that this means it is essentially up to the discretion of the purchasing manager of each department to solicit bids for work to be done on the city’s behalf, and to establish criteria for acceptable bids. Thus, it would seem that it is within your department’s discretion to either request that your current vendor commit to implementing this technology within a reasonable time (say six months) or to redirect your business to Mission Dry Cleaners.
While I appreciate the latter’s willingness to take the lead on this issue, I also appreciate the current Police Department vendor’s commitment to complying with the Living Wage ordinance. I understand that your department has a longstanding relationship with them and that they have an comprehension of your needs that another vendor might not have, so either choice would be a positive development in my view. If there is a way the City can assist its current vendors with this transition (perhaps through some form of economic development assistance), I would encourage that as well, given that this is clearly a significant capital investment on the vendor’s part.
Regards,
Thomas Leavitt
cc: Mayor, City Council, City Manager
