Prepared remarks delivered by Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter at the official launch of the EV Spot Network: EV Spot Charging and Evie Carshare.
Good morning everyone – thanks for joining us.
It’s incredible to be surrounded by so many leaders who stand together for this exciting announcement.
Mayor Frey: our thanks to you and the City of Minneapolis for your ongoing partnership, and for joining us in this important effort to build a sustainable future for all our residents.
Senator Smith: thank you for your leadership, and for being with us on this historic day for Saint Paul, Minneapolis and our entire community.
In 2019, we passed Saint Paul’s Climate Action & Resilience Plan.
This plan lays the foundation for our vital climate work, building on Saint Paul’s long history of environmental stewardship with our residents, businesses, governmental units, and community partners.
It focuses on strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the energy we use in buildings, and the fuels that we use for transportation.
To ensure everyone thrives as we become a more resilient city, our plan identifies and prioritizes actions to help our most vulnerable populations, lower-income residents, and communities of color.
While there is much work ahead, we know that addressing our climate crisis requires that we engage in action today through real, practical solutions that are accessible and improve people’s lives.
And as we gather this morning, we stand together to take a vital step forward in this critical work.
Today, we are officially launching our EV Spot Network: the nation’s first 100% renewably-powered and municipality-owned electric vehicle carshare fleet and network of curbside charging stations.
Our EV Spot Network has been built with the input of our community, and will serve those who have limited transportation options and are at a higher risk of being negatively impacted by the climate crisis.
Our EV Spot Network leverages federal dollars and philanthropic support to create jobs to support working families and facilitate a stronger local economy, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality.
And, our EV Spot Network reflects our commitment to realizing real, practical solutions for our community in support of our climate action work.
I want to thank our Federal partners, the City of Minneapolis, Hourcar, Xcel Energy, East Metro Strong, the American Lung Association, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the McKnight Foundation for your support and belief in this project’s ability to have a real impact on the lives of residents in our community.
I’d also like to acknowledge and thank Paul Schroeder (pronounced Shroder), Executive Director of HOURCAR for offering the vision for this new program more than 4 years ago.
I also want to thank our City’s Climate Advisor, Samantha Henningson, who is a world-class project manager who helped lead this massive body of work. We simply would not be here today if it weren’t for her tireless efforts and leadership.
And, I like to thank Russ Stark, our Chief Resilience Officer, who I’ve challenged from day one to make our climate work accessible and impactful for our entire community.
Russ – today marks an incredible step in Saint Paul’s climate action work, and through your leadership we remain poised to ensure a resilient and sustainable future for our city.
I’ve challenged you and our entire team to ensure that all the benefits that come from our work to address the climate crisis flow to everyone in our community.
Today, we’re taking this next step in keeping that promise.
Thank you again, please join me in welcoming Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
