Lobbying for climate change

Contending that San Diego must move quickly to fight climate change, City Council members lobbied Mayor Kevin Faulconer Wednesday to accelerate progress on the city’s controversial climate action plan proposal.

The council members — David Alvarez, Todd Gloria and Marti Emerald — expressed frustration there’s been no visible progress on the plan, which Gloria proposed in February, since Faulconer became mayor in March.

“Acting now to address climate change by implementing a strong climate action plan will ensure we take the most economical and effective steps for our city,” Alvarez said.

Members of Faulconer’s staff said Wednesday that they plan to unveil a revised version of Gloria’s plan in September and that the proposal is on track for public hearings in early 2015, the same timeframe envisioned when Gloria created his draft plan.

Faulconer has said he plans to make changes to Gloria’s proposal, which has been criticized by business and development groups for requiring property owners to make their homes and commercial buildings more water and energy efficient before they can sell them. But Faulconer hasn’t provided any specifics.

Faulconer included hiring a sustainability program manager to help implement the plan in the city budget adopted last month.

“We agree that climate change is an important issue and we’re perplexed that a few council members are trying to politicize this,” a Faulconer spokesman said.