Mayor of Fairfax addresses presidential convention

by David McCorquodale, Green Party of Delaware

Pam Hartwell Herraro addressing the 2012 Green Party Presidential Nominating Convention

Pam Hartwell-Herraro, the current mayor of Fairfax, California spoke at the Presi­dential Nominating Convention of the Green Party. Her talk highlighted some of the points covered in the last Green Pages issue (“What happens when Greens run the town”), but also had some news. She started by mentioning that a fourth member of the five-member non-partisan-elected city council had joined the Green Party. Since the mayor is a council member and chosen by the council majority, Fairfax will continue to have a Green mayor for years.

Hartwell-Herraro went on to illustrate the various ways in which the town is trying to operate on Green principles. Her proudest achievement was negotiating a trash-hauling contract which insures that 94 percent of the waste will be diverted from landfills to recycling, possibly the best standard in the nation. Other economic initiatives include: a fair wage ordinance, the banning of national chain stores within the city limits, and the introduction of “fair bucks”, a system of local currency which may only be spent in Fairfax, insuring the money circulates within the community.

Hartwell-Herraro maintains that a strong local Green Party isn’t the reason for such success; it’s that the residents of Fairfax have a green outlook and so Greens running for council fit what its citizens want in their council members. But the list of accomplishments show what can be done when Greens are in charge.