MCCC To Observe Campus Sustainability Month With Activities On Oct. 20-21

Blue Bell/Pottstown, PA — Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) will join hundreds of colleges and universities across the country to celebrate Campus Sustainability Month with activities on Oct. 20 and 21.

The newly expanded national Campus Sustainability Month (CSM) builds on 12 successful years of Campus Sustainability Day activities. Coordinated by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), CSM is designed to inspire students and other campus stakeholders to become sustainability change agents.

This year, MCCC will hold Campus Sustainability activities on Tuesday, Oct. 20 from 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. in the South Hall Lobby at the College’s West Campus, 101 College Drive, Pottstown, and on Wednesday, Oct. 21 from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center Atrium at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. All activities are free of charge and are open to the public.

Wednesday’s event coincides with a Sustainability Career Day for high school students, presented by Communities in Motion, a foundation of the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVF).

Both days will feature informational and interactive exhibits on a variety of “green” topics, including alternative energy, e-waste collection, alternative transportation opportunities, green office products, RecycleMania, electronic and rental textbooks, farm to table produce, a sustainable Price Is Right style game, a raffle with sustainable prizes, and much more. MCCC’s Medical Assisting students will also be collecting gently worn coats to benefit local community organizations.

In addition to these activities, the West Campus event will also include information about Bike Pottstown, the new Sustainability and Innovation Hub, and an ecosystem display by MCCC Biology students. The Central Campus event will feature acoustic music, solar telescope demonstrations, and hydrogen car presentations by MCCC’s Engineering students.

On Wednesday, Oct. 21, MCCC will also host a video conference presentation by Dr. Cable Green, Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons, from 12:20-1:20 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101 at Central Campus and in South Hall 221 at West Campus. During his presentation, titled “Open is Sustainable,” Dr. Green will provide an overview of open licensing and open educational resources (OER) and will explore new OER projects that are pushing open education further into the mainstream.

Join MCCC’s Campus Sustainability Month conversation by sharing ways you’re going green using the #mc3green hashtag on social media.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Considers Plans To Replace Allegheny Tunnels In Somerset County

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has revived plans to replace the Allegheny Tunnels in Somerset County, a project that has been talked about for nearly two decades.

The turnpike commission is considering six options for abandoning the 6,070-foot-long tunnels, longest on the turnpike mainline. Three would involve building new tunnels and three would carve an open highway through the mountain either to the north or south of the existing tunnels.

Preliminary cost estimates for the “cut” options range from $242 million to $345 million, while estimates for the tunnel options range from $537 million to $694 million, according to turnpike consultant L.R. Kimball. Annual maintenance costs for a tunnel would exceed $3 million, several times what an open highway segment would cost.

Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said the cost differential was just one of several factors the commission will consider in choosing a preferred option, possibly in the spring.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/12/24/Pennsylvania-Turnpike-considers-plans-to-replace-tunnels-in-Somerset-County/stories/201412230034

Baltimore City Council Approves Tax Break For New Apartments

Developers converting older office buildings into apartments or building new complexes could get a significant tax break under a measure the Baltimore City Council approved Monday.

The legislation is aimed at addressing a glut of vacancies in office buildings downtown, encouraging new or converted apartments in six other neighborhoods, and drawing new residents to the city.

The list of requirements to qualify for the tax break is short: The development must be in one of the seven areas, must be a project involving at least 50 apartment units, and must have an environmentally friendly certification.  Supporters said this tax break would be more “predictable” for developers, who typically have to lobby City Hall for individual incentives.

“It can open up the development market to outside developers,” said Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, which lobbied for the credit.  “Before, developers had to know the system in order to access some [tax] credits. It will create more predictability and transparency.”

Read more:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-apartment-tax-incentive-20130408,0,332010.story