Driven by the UMD’s go-green group ‘UMD for Clean Energy’, some on our city council are mulling to give tax break for ‘green’ businesses in the city, according to this Washington Post report. This has however raised concerns from some, including the outgoing mayor Brayman, who think giving such breaks may cause the city residents pay extra tax dollars. It will remain to be seen if the residents will brace for such tax increase, especially during such difficult economic times. I wonder if the City will ask the residents to take part of a survey to such decision, similar to the one that the city did for a proposal on having city’s own police a few year’s ago.
Irrespective of the ‘green’ business issues, the city can and should continue pursuing other initiatives on making our city a greener place to live. That includes giving financial assistance to residents for making their houses more energy efficients. Most importantly, the city and the neighborhood associations can launch ‘green awareness’ campaigns among the city residents to encouraging them to adopt greener friendly approaches towards their city and its environment.