Climate Change, Global Warming, and the Built Environment - Demand 14x Stimulus in Your Community

Implement the 14x Stimulus plan in Your Community!

What if there was a way for states, cities, and counties to leverage each $1 of federal stimulus money spent to generate $14 of private spending, create 14 times the number of jobs, reimburse the federal government $3, and get $1 back to boot? Well, there is a way, the ‘14x Stimulus’ plan.

Please urge your representatives to implement the 14x Stimulus Plan in your community. It takes just a moment to voice your support on this crucial issue.

Thank you!

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February 09, 2010

Subject:

To maximize the economic effect of state and local stimulus funds, I urgently call for your support of the '14x Stimulus' plan, available for download at http://www.architecture2030.org/downloads/14x_stimulus.pdf. The plan allows states, cities, and counties to leverage each $1 of federal stimulus money spent to generate $14 of private spending, create 14 times the number of jobs, reimburse the federal government $3, and get $1 back in the process.

For example, if a city or county invests $1 million of its stimulus dollars and $1 million in additional state stimulus matching funds ($2 million total), the plan would generate $28 million in local private spending and create 434 new jobs. The federal government would be paid back $6 million in new taxes, triple its investment, with an additional $2 million in new tax revenue going into city, county and state coffers. An incredible return on investment. The more money invested, the greater the return.

The private building sector represents 93% of total U.S. building stock while the public building sector represents only 7%. The economic health of every US industry is tied to the private building sector, especially housing. In order to capture the job-creation and private-spending potential of the private building sector, the new 14x Stimulus plan encourages households off the sidelines and into the renovation and home-buying market. However, there are many other benefits to the plan, including:

* reduced risk of mortgage failure, 
* increasing home values,
* more disposable income for homeowners,
* jobs to those who will pay federal taxes,
* a new market for material and product manufacturers, and 
* dramatically reduced home energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan, which is being proposed by Architecture 2030 and its partners ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, RESNET, and Veterans Green Jobs, is a state/local version of Architecture 2030's 'Two-Year, Nine-Million-Jobs Investment Plan'. The effectiveness of the national plan in creating jobs and private spending has prompted these groups to propose a public/private partnership to strategically focus stimulus dollars that will enable a full-scale building industry revival while simultaneously addressing energy and greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The result is that, with a single solution, we can address the economic crisis, move the country toward energy independence and begin to tackle climate change.

There are few opportunities that come along that allow us to so effectively leverage taxpayer dollars to address several major crises at once, but this is definitely one. We cannot afford to let this opportunity slip through our fingers.

We hope we can count on your support, and look forward to working with you in promoting the 14x Stimulus plan and the vital recovery and opportunity it offers our nation.

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If you prefer not to use this form:
Click here to look up contact information for your state and federal representatives.
To download a .pdf version of the letter, click here.
For a .doc version of the letter, click here.
For a .pdf of the Plan, click here.