Fayetteville Beats Santa Barbara for Most Sustainable

The City of Santa Barbara lost out to Fayetteville, Arkansas in an inter-city showdown convened by the U.S. Conference of Mayors over sustainability and climate control. While Santa Barbara was one of five finalists-and received an honorable mention for its efforts to conduct its business in a more environmentally sustainable fashion-Fayetteville took the top prize for developing a series of new downtown bike paths and walking trails carved out of the backyards of downtown residents. About one hundreds cities were vying for top honors. Mayor Marty Blum was on hand to represent City Hall at the mayor’s conference last weekend-held in Los Angeles-but missed out on this year’s Solstice festivities as a result.