Longfellow Community Council (LCC) 3/20 meeting
SAVE NRP GOES TO STATE:
Board and Save NRP committee members Don Hammen, Dwayne Townsend, Marcea Mariani and Stacy Behm reported on their continued efforts on behalf of the embattled Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP). Hammen told the board that 15 resolutions supporting NRP came out of Senate District 62 caucuses and that sub-caucuses supporting NRP would be going on to the Minnesota State DFL Convention in Rochester.
Townsend reported that Neighbors4NRP, a coalition of 24 neighborhoods at last count, introduced a bill to the House (HF3821) and Senate (SF3643) for extending the tax increment funding districts, getting that money to NRP, and limiting changes to the NRP governance structure. The senate tax committee is scheduled to vote on the bill on March 31. According to Townsend, Neighbors4NRP is seeking to get that date changed because NRP Director Bob Miller will be at Harvard University talking about NRP.
Mariani pointed out that one of their next challenges is selling NRP to out-state residents who are unclear about the benefit of a program used only in Minneapolis. Board member Judy Corrao said that Neighbors4NRP might want to offer its help to other cities in Minnesota to start an analogous program in their neighborhoods.
Townsend said that the resolution put forward at the Senate District caucuses asked that other local governments in the state be given help to implement similar programs in their communities.
BIOMASS BURNER DEBATE GENERATES HEAT
Kim Havey from Kandiyohi Development Partners (Kandiyohi) presented information about the proposed Midtown Eco Energy (MEE) project. According to Havey, Kandiyohi responded to a request for proposals from the City of Minneapolis to design a heat and power facility in the Phillips neighborhood in spring 2006. Kandiyohi was awarded control of the site.
Havey told the board that MEE would create 20 new jobs with an average salary of $63,000 per year and that they “would most likely be union.” Havey also emphasized MEE’s use of local wood waste for fuel, its carbon neutrality under the European Union’s protocol, and its reduction of green house gas emissions when compared to the coal, oil and, natural gas boilers that MEE’s technology would replace. Havey asserts that MEE has met the MPCA’s standard that emissions be equal to or lower than any similar facility in the U.S.
East Phillips Improvement Coalition President Carol Pass spoke against the burner. One of Pass’ primary objections to the burner was the additional pollution that would enter an already-beleaguered neighborhood. East Phillips is a designated Superfund site because of arsenic contamination from nearby pesticide plants. The neighborhood is also home to an asphalt plant and a foundry. Pass asserted that the neighborhood has the highest rates of childhood asthma in Minneapolis. She further contended that putting a biomass burner in East Phillips is a breech of the MPCA’s environmental justice policy.
Pass also objected to what she characterized as a lack of transparency from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Kandiyohi, and MEE toward neighborhood residents. Pass produced a technical support document from the MPCA for MEE that stated that the biomass burner “will be a major source of hazardous air pollutants.” Pass told the board that this document is stamped “not for public comment.” According to a resolution by East Phillips Neighbors that Pass gave to the board, MEE had acquired “a number of official approvals before most area residents were aware of the nature of the proposal.”
VOTE ON BY-LAW CHANGES: The board will hold a vote on proposed changes to LCC by-laws at its April 21 annual meeting at Minnehaha Academy. The by-laws and proposed changes are on the LCC website.
NEXT: Board meeting, April 17, 2008
MEETINGS: 3rd Thursday monthly, 6:30 p.m. check www.longfellow.org or call 612-722-4529 for meeting location
CONTACT: 722-4529, “www.longfellow.org”:http://www.longfellow.org
BORDERS: Mississippi River to Hiawatha Ave., Minnehaha Park to 27th St. railroad tracks
last revised: March 27, 2008