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Community Leader Stresses Dialogue; Environmental Leadership at Art Exhibition

Special to the Emeryville Connection
November 2007

Wareham's Development's Rich Robbins Touts New Building's Features

Community dialogue and converging thoughts about protecting the environment, science and the arts were the unlikely combination of topics touched on at this year’s 21st Annual Art Exhibition Luncheon. Wareham Development’s Rich Robbins delivered the keynote address at the Luncheon held on Thursday, October 25th, at the new EmeryStation East building.

Robbins began his remarks by stating that while we can “agree to disagree, we must disagree respectfully” and not lose sight of the fact that at the end of the day it’s all of our jobs to leave the world a better place than we found it. Robbins cited the unique environment we work in, and Emeryville’s history of proactive public-private partnerships.

“Polarization is the single greatest threat to freedom of speech,” he continued, stating that dialogue and connections are needed if we are to find commonality in purpose and move the community forward.

Robbins then moved on to a discussion of environmental issues and the role the development community can play in mitigating negative environmental impacts. According to Robbins, buildings generate 40% of all CO2 emissions, and it is incumbent upon the development community to recognize this and take steps to reduce this output. One different way that Wareham approaches this is through extensive landscaping, greening the building with organic gardening and making the roof as green as possible. Use of turbines, solar and cogeneration are other ways Wareham is attempting to mitigate environmental impacts, along with operable windows so workers can control their environments as much as possible.

Robbins stressed that he felt City Councils and planners should incorporate some sort of ‘bonus’ system for developers based on design, use of solar power, CO2 mitigation, incorporating more green space, using less asphalt and other environmental factors. He also cited the popular Emery Go Round bus service, supported with parcel taxes paid primarily by the business community, as a major factor to mitigating environmental impacts. “It’s free, reliable, and is used by over 850,000 people annually,” he noted.

Robbins concluded by stressing the incredible promise advanced scientific research holds for the future. “There are brilliant people in biotechnology and we need to nurture these people and provide them the means to find solutions to modern problems.” Robbins, a strong believer in the benefits of stem cell and other advanced scientific research, was a leader in lobbying for the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to locate in Emeryville, and donated space in the Emery Station building for its first office.

Robbins emphasized that the best still lies ahead and the future is bright. “Great things are achieved through dialogue.” “The glass is definitely half full, not half empty.”