Des Moines Register, IA
11-02-07
The environmental-activist mayor
But Des Moines' Frank Cownie says he's not 'a nut-ball tree-hugger.'
By MELISSA WALKER
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Frank Cownie's first campaign for mayor was built on a platform that increased
energy use. His second has been decidedly different.
Cownie, elected in 2003 on a promise to reactivate hundreds of Des Moines
streetlights that had been turned off to save money, has since become an
outspoken advocate for the environment.
In three short years, he has become a high-profile champion of hybrid vehicles,
"green" tax breaks and other earth-friendly efforts. A national group includes him
among the top 20 most environmentally active mayors in the United States, "one
of a handful of mayors who are doing the down-and-dirty work that a lot of local
government staff do," said Annie Strickler of the International Conference on
Local Environmental Initiatives of Oakland, Calif.
Cownie, 59, admits that he's no expert. Neither is he "a nut-ball tree-hugger," as
he told attendees at an environmental event last month at the Science Center of
Iowa.
"I think one of the main things I can do as mayor is let people know that there's
an urgency ... that there are things that we can do today individually, collectively,
in our homes, in our places of business, and working with government, it'll start
making a difference," he said.
The transformation has led some to speculate that Cownie has his sights set on
higher office, something he'll neither confirm nor deny. First, he must repel a
ballot challenge Tuesday from Diana Newberry, 34, a laundry worker with no
previous elected experience.
Cownie makes it clear that if he's re-elected, a second term will focus even more
sharply on using City Hall to create eco-policy.
Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University, said
the environment has become a popular issue with politicians, in part because "it
seems to be something that voters and citizens really can't argue with."
Cownie insists that his interest in ecology is nothing new. His family planted trees
and respected the environment while he was growing up, he said. And he
remembers when he would yell out the car window at litterbugs as a boy.
He has adopted a slide-show version of Nobel prize winner Al Gore's "An
Inconvenient Truth," rides his bicycle about 1miles to work two or three times a
week when weather permits, drives a Toyota Prius, picks up litter, recycles, has
switched to compact fluorescent lights, and had an energy audit on his 1910-era
brick home that showed the furnace was twice as big as needed.
But he also owns a handful of other vehicles that include a rarely driven classic
Corvette, an old Ford van and a Chevrolet Suburban.
Then there's the century-old family business, Cownie Furs.
"We don't handle any endangered species. We don't handle anything where
there's not responsible people raisi ng" the animals, said Cownie, who felt the
backlash of anti-fur environmentalists in 1997 when vandals targeted his store.
Cownie also has been criticized for the rundown condition of a summer cabin he
owns on Pine Island in northeastern Minnesota, and for his vote for a coalburning ethanol plant at home. He is also one of only two council members who
prefer to get paper copies of all official documents.
"We were on opposite ends when it came to the ethanol plant, but other than
that, he seems to be on track when it comes to the environment and what people
need," said Joe Henry, a south-side real estate agent and former City Council
candidate who supported Cownie's first mayoral bid.
For the most part, Cownie's public record supports his environmental agenda. He
created a task force to focus on energy and environment issues, helped create a
plan to plant 100,000 trees within the next 10 years, pushed for "green design"
tax breaks, and encouraged employees to suggest ways the city can become
more environmentally friendly. He also supported a plan to add trees and flowers
throughout downtown and a garden in front of City Hall before he was on the
council.
Others say Cownie has shown concern about water runoff and related issues
since his days on the plan and zoning commission.