I'm a little suspicious of this item (Item 20) on today's Riverside City Council agenda:

"Clean and green: A plan outlining initiatives to make the city more environmentally friendly is up for approval. The goal of the plan is to improve air quality, reduce traffic, increase use of parks and preserve the environment."

Excluding the effort to reduce traffic, these sound like every "good intention" that the Democrats use to pave the road to socialism.

I'll be interested to hear the details of these initiatives.  I bet they take away my freedom and give more control to the government.  I hope I am wrong.  I would also be curious to find out if Loveridge, Melendrez or Hart asked this to be put on the agenda.  Mayor Loveridge (D) put this on the agenda.  I guess it was part of his 2007 State of the City speech.

In addition, it should provide a chance to see if our new councilmen, Mike Gardner (Rep. *pictured above), Chris Mac Arthur (Rep.) and Rusty Bailey (Ind.), favor an over-burdensome regulation approach or an incentive/market based approach to the push to be perceived as "green."

They also have this expenditure on the agenda that would get the Al Gore seal of approval.

Green house: The council is expected to approve selling property in the Eastside neighborhood for $1 to Habitat for Humanity Riverside. The nonprofit agency plans to build an affordable, environmentally friendly home on the property, to be sold to a low-income family. This is the first green home Habitat for Humanity Riverside has built. Recycled and nontoxic materials will be used to build the house. If approved, the Redevelopment Agency will contribute $204,845 toward the project, which includes the donated property and other costs.

Nothing too outrageous, but I'd still rather see them spending $204,845 toward fighting crime near University Dr.

The Riverside City Council meets Tuesday in the Art Pick Council Chamber at City Hall, 3900 Main St. The afternoon session begins at 3 p.m. with public hearings, followed by public comment, the Redevelopment Agency consent calendar and closed sessions. The evening meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.