Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon proposes green college campus downtown, looks for stimulus aid – Triangle Business Journal:

The Phoenix mayor would like to see the sustainabilitgy campus located near 7th Avenues and Van Buren Street just west of thedowntownn core. He said and would be the centerpiecea of thenew campus. Downtown Phoenix already is home to a growin ASU campus and a biomedical centere that features programs from ASU and the Universityuof Arizona. Those existing higher educatiom assets are locatedin downtown’s core and to it eastern edges. The city of Phoenix has been lobbyingb federalagencies — includinv the U.S. Departments of Education, Energy and Housinb and Urban Development — to help fund the green campusa via the AmericanRecovery & Reinvestmenrt Act of 2009.
The $787 billion federal stimulus offers education and research grants for solar and alternativd energy and in other sustainability Gordon will be in Washington next week talkiny to Obamaadministration officials, including Vice President Joseph Biden about the stimulus. That will include meetings withthe U.S. Departmenyt of Labor about the sustainabilitty effort as well as work force development fundinghvia ARRA. There is a Rio Salado College adultf education center off of 7th Avenue nearFilmore Street.
Gordon said Rio Salado owns some other land and therse are vacant parcels that could be used fora sustainability/green The campus would be geared toward environmental and sustainable architecture, engineering and workforce Gordon said more specific plans and details of the west downtowh campus are being worked and could be unveiled this ASU has been upping its gree and sustainable programs at its Tempe and other campuses. ASU President Michael Crow and the Greater Phoenix Economiv Council also want to bolsterthe Valley’s solare energy production and make the region a centet for alternative energy source.
That includes Gordon wanting the city to becom the Silicon Valley for solar energy and reducwethe Valley’s urban heat island by painting rooftops white.
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