The Georgetown press scoop enjoyed a rare and exclusive chat with the Vice President after his tour of the city. L-R: Beth Wade (Community Impact), Matt Loeschman (Wilco Sun), Ann Marie Ludlow (Advocate) Keith Hutchinson (City of Georgetown), Mayor Dale Ross, VP Al Gore; and Chris Foster, Georgetown manager of resource planning and integration.
Georgetown was honored August 14 to welcome former Vice President Al Gore who walked the downtown square with Mayor Dale Ross to learn about the City and our move to 100 percent green energy.
The Vice President’s staff contacted Mayor Ross a few weeks prior about a stopover in route to Houston to provide training on a climate conference. The VP’s hush-hush stop took about two hours, during which he and Mayor Ross went over growth, and the technical and scientific aspects of the city’s plan. Chris Foster, who played a key role in developing the city’s renewable energy strategy shared with the former VP the many technical aspects of the strategy. The former VP was very proud of our city’s long-range planning and fact-based decision making; something he feels is lacking in too many municipalities and larger government bodies.
Ross was asked not to announce the visit as the mission was to film Georgetown and learn more about our renewable energy. “The certainty of a crowd would have distracted from the footage,” the Mayor said, “which focused on what we call ‘the Georgetown way.’ We strive to set aside national politics and make fact-based decisions that are in the interest and for the benefit of the people of Georgetown who elected me and Council to serve them.”
The Vice President’s views on climate change are well-known, and since leaving office he has committed himself to several organizations to that end, namely as Chair of the Climate Reality Project. In recent years, Gore has become less active on the national political scene as he’s turned his attention to environmental causes.
Mayor Ross admits, “Not every guest to Georgetown shows up with a film crew, but as the principle ambassador and diplomat for the city, it is my job to be hospitable to everyone who visits ‘the greatest city on planet Earth’ and share with them all of the wonderful aspects of our city that makes it such a blessing to live here; whether it’s a national political figure or a school teacher looking to move here.”
The two men visited the Square and talked about the legacy of Dan Moody and the first successful prosecution of the KKK in the courthouse on the square; historical figures like Sam Houston, who moved to Texas from Gore’s home state of Tennessee, and Davey Crockett who left Tennessee to fight at the Alamo. But, the Mayor says the conversation consistently returned to the ability of Georgetown to avoid the common government pitfall of planning for one or two fiscal cycles, and looking ahead by decades.
Politics aside, the Mayor feels we all have a moral obligation to leave the planet better than we found it, and renewable energy helps in that regard. While some feel green energy is a progressive idea, Mr. Gore believes the benefits go beyond the obvious clean air to economic development, rate stabilization for utility customers and industry incentives to drive new and support existing businesses.
Personally, Ross says, they had several off-the-record chats and he was pleased to go beyond the many misconceptions about Al Gore the man. “He had a reputation for being a bit stiff, but he is very gracious, warm, easy to talk to and has a great sense of humor. We talked about his home state of Tennessee and the common history between our two states. He made everyone feel like he was just a neighbor or a friend and doesn’t carry himself like a VIP. He is a committed public servant and a man with passion.”
The two also discussed the contracts Georgetown negotiated for 20-25 years of wind and solar power with no escalations in the pricing over the terms of the contracts for the energy the city purchases. Mr. Gore showed great affinity for the science and technology of renewable energy. “He knows the minutiae—the details and the facts and this showed in his discussions with Chris Foster. This has been his venture for some time and it is clear that he has moved on with purpose from the national spotlight,” Ross said.
The Mayor reflected on seeing film crews in town is getting to be a regular thing after Director James Redford visited Georgetown and filmed here last year for his HBO special (premiering in January 2017). “We’ve reached the regional, national and even global stage and these visits help us paint the picture of the special place in which we live and call home. It can never be under-appreciated to have people with Gore or Redford’s reach telling the story of Georgetown.”
Mayor Ross confesses he will continue to shamelessly promote Georgetown, camera crews or not. “My office is a non-partisan position and that’s how I’ve tried to govern. I do my best to tune out national politics because we’re focusing on what’s best for us in Georgetown.”
