The initiative represents a package of policy actions plus a set of voluntary partnerships with 15 communities across the country. The plan includes expanding transportation choices, creating parks, protecting the environment, increasing public safety, and investing in education. It covers areas from revitalizing cities, to reducing congestion, to protecting farmland. Some of the 15 targeted communities already have livability initiatives of their own. Here, at the Presidio National Park, a former Army base in San Francisco, a ground mounted solar system is a refueling station for the park's electric vehicles.
Excess electricity is fed back to the utility.
The Presidio now houses the offices of a variety of environmental organizations. In today's announcement Gore borrows a page from Bush's book - the page that says local communities are their own best sources for ideas on how to solve local problems. It's about enhancing the quality of our lives, keeping our prosperity, and building a stronger sense of community - and doing so in ways that respect local preferences and personal freedoms. As part of the initiative, the federal government is entering into voluntary partnerships with 15 communities across the country to demonstrate how the federal government can best align its resources to support local goals. In these areas, federal efforts will be coordinated across agency lines, providing better service and simplifying access to federal programs.