The City of Santa Clarita was one of 15 cities honored at the 2007 Mayors’ Climate Protection Awards Program by the United States Conference of Mayors. The awards recognize and honor mayors for outstanding and innovative practices that mayors are taking to increase energy efficiency in their cities, and to help curb global warming.

Mayor McLean on behalf of the City of Santa Clarita received recognition for Santa Clarita’s commitment to green building and developing a bias toward green building among City staff through the creation of the Transit Maintenance Facility.

“The City is proud to be nationally honored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors for its outstanding dedication to energy efficiency and promoting environmental sustainability, and helping raise environmental awareness,” commented Mayor Marsha McLean. “This recognition is great for our community's reputation nationally,” she said.

Winning cities were chosen from a pool of over 100 applicants based on the following criteria: mayoral leadership, creativity and innovation, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and/or improved quality of life in their community.

Other communities recognized include New York, Seattle, Honolulu, Austin, Chicago, Santa Barbara and many others.

"It’s amazing to see the variety and scope of projects that mayors have created in their cities to take action in protecting our planet. We’re very happy to honor mayors for their admirable efforts, and many will serve as examples for other cities, large and small," commented Tom Cochran, Executive Director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The City constructed one of the worlds only LEED Gold certified buildings using rice straw-bales, solar and other energy efficient and innovative technologies.

Completed in May 2006, the 12-acre Transit Maintenance Facility includes a 22,000 square foot administration building, a 25,000 square foot bus maintenance building, bus wash facility, diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations, and parking to accommodate 110 buses plus 163 automobile parking spaces. The Transit Maintenance Facility is located in the Rye Canyon Industrial Park.

For more information about the U.S. Conference of Mayors, please visit, www.usmayors.org. For additional information about the Transit Maintenance Facility, please visit http://www.santa-clarita.com/cip/.