City of Cincinati | 7
staff and business as well as community lead-
ers who all had mutual interest in environ-
mental issues.
They began by establishing baseline data
involving energy usage, water consumption,
emissions and more. In order to monitor the
results they might achieve, there had to be a
measurement of where they were at that mo-
ment. “My philosophy is you have to docu-
ment what you’re doing. It’s not enough to
just talk about doing something to feel
good... there had to be data to be demonstra-
tive in what we’re trying to achieve.”
Their efforts coalesced with the secur-
ing of federal grants associated with stimu-
lus strategies. The city directed a portion of
those funds to improve city buildings and
fleet operations, but also determined to hire
someone with oversight of all their sustain-
ability activities and Wendell Hardin was
appointed as Winston-Salem’s Sustainability
Director. Hardin was a former City Planner
in Prescott, Arizona. In Arizona, Hardin had
helped coordinate that community’s focus
on sustainability processes, securing signifi-
cant achievements which included a 25% re-
duction in water usage which was a very big
deal in this very dry area of the country.
Of course, Winston-Salem isn’t afflicted
with such water shortages, nor does it suffer
from the degree of atmospheric degradation
that hovers over some city skylines. The en-
vironmental deficiencies that plague some
communities, which compel certain urgen-
