12/16/2006

To the Editors

Natural Home Magazine

I was interested to see your article on “America’s Best Eco-Neighborhoods” in which you list a Minneapolis neighborhood as one of the ten best.  I thought you might be interested in hearing about our community and its initiatives.  Southeast Como is the neighborhood directly to the east of Marcy-Holmes in Minneapolis and is likewise situated next to the University of Minnesota, has similar access to great transportation options, is only 20 minutes walking distance further from downtown and has offered a variety of home and rental improvement programs. 

In addition, residents of Southeast Como have taken on a broader and more holistic approach to environmental issues, believing that along with the more mainstream projects, we as members of both our own neighborhood and of the global community need to start addressing environmental issues in real and significant ways.  With our committed volunteers we have taken a slightly broader vision, one in which we can use our community as a pilot to:

• Break down barriers and show that real change is possible
• Educate our neighbors and others about issues that affect them, provide information on new possibilities and support them with unfamiliar technologies
• Provide a forum and a means to pull mutually concerned neighbors and outside partners together to advocate for change
• Show that a traditional inner-City community can be transformed and retro-fitted to become more environmentally friendly and that we can actually reduce our environmental footprint 
• Increase public greening and improving the health of our urban forest,
• Prove that existing individual residential properties can take part of their energy needs totally “off the grid”
• Debunk the myth that only new construction can have green components or that only the wealthy can afford renewable energy
• Work with City, County and State official to change the way they do business when it comes to environmental projects

Through initial funding from Minneapolis’ Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP), Southeast Como made a unique commitment to this vision by using some of these limited resources to create two key neighborhood positions: a full-time Environmental Coordinator and a Part-Time Community Garden Coordinator.  Even as that initial funding has faded, we have managed to get some smaller grants to keep these positions viable for the past five and half years.  As far as we are aware, we are the only neighborhood in metro area that has full time staff devoted to environmental issues.  Beyond the first couple of years when we received some funding from another Southeast neighborhood, Southeast Como has been responsible for this position that has served an area broader than our own boundaries.  This action has been fundamental in letting us pursue unique and true change oriented environmental initiatives, some of which are listed below.

Sign Me Up for Solar: A Southeast Como Solar Pilot Project – This solar heated water program was designed to bring the idea of renewable energy options to the average homeowner and existing structures, debunking the idea that renewable systems only can be installed in new construction or are too expensive.  We opened this pilot program to any resident, landlord or business in or near to Southeast Como in the Cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul or Lauderdale. 

Working with a vendor who was able to give us a bulk rate and benefiting from a State sales tax exemption and the two-year federal tax credit, we initially had 39 interested people sign-up (195% of our original goal).  A subsequent 20 people placed down payments to move the project forward, and as of this date 5 have been installed, and over half of 15 more have been started.   This project has caused the City of Minneapolis to review the permitting process needed for these renewable system installations and Minneapolis helped the program by waiving the permit fees for the pilot participants.  This pilot is also being used by the Green Institute and Renew Northfield as model project to change City and State Policy.

Southeast Minneapolis Environmental Inventory – The goal of this air quality project was to monitor and track the impact of industry on local community health by understanding that air pollution is not a localized problem.  Being near major older industrial areas located in the heart of Minneapolis-St. Paul our communities have a disproportionate share of “smokestack” industries.  By reviewing, mapping and tracking air permit cycles we have been able to open up  dialogue with various businesses and have been prepared when air permit renewals come up for public hearing.  This has enabled the community to influence permit requirements (local residents have generated over 1,500 public comment letters on air pollution permits) and even change the way some businesses operate.  This project has benefited the whole region and has been brought up as a model by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), the City of Minneapolis and others in the State.

Good Neighbor Agreements – By opening dialogue with neighboring industry and having a full-time environmental coordinator who can work in a proactive way with these businesses, we have been able to negotiate good neighbor agreements with two key industries – one resulting in more than 99% control of pollutants and the other resulting in the reduction of more than 670 tons of airborne solvents annually - and are in the process of working with a third.

Power Plant Improvements – By leveraging community involvement and co-founding the Clean Energy Now! coalition of concerned partners, we helped to leverage over $1,000,000,000 in proposed plant improvements (the Metropolitan Emission Reduction Project – MERP) at the Xcel Highbridge and Riverside Power Plants.  They are now committed to converting the metro power plants from their 1940’s era coal burning equipment to new natural gas fired units and installing modern pollution controls at a slightly newer third plant.  This represents the largest emission reduction project in the State’s history.

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) – When the University of Minnesota received approval for a new football stadium; we were & continue to be actively involved with the development of the project.  This includes having our Environmental Coordinator become an active participant in the require EIS process.

Local Resource, Global Vision – We have always taken the approach that environmental health may start locally but is truly is a borderless issue.  With that in mind, we have allowed our staff and office to act as a resource for other neighborhoods that lack environmental staff to address their specific challenges, regardless of their ability to help provide funding.  We also send out an eco-newsletter bi-annually to local businesses on how they can get involved in the community and have presented at numerous conferences – such as the Neighborhood Sustainability Conference in 2002 and 2004 as well as the Air Water and Waste Conference in 2005 presenting our successes.  Our website has been a source of information and resources and has hosted the Environmental Inventory for any to use.  One of our current goals is to find the humans resources needed to bring our website more up-to-date and review the inventory information.

Windsource – Through aggressive marketing of the Windsource program (where residents can sign-up with Xcel Energy to require that some or all of their electricity come from wind generated power) Southeast Como represents 4.27% of all MN customers and 8.4% of just the households located in the 55414 zip code area.

Community Gardens – A visible asset of any active community, Southeast Como has a number of community gardens located throughout the neighborhood. Of particular interest are our 20+ year old community garden, our new gateway garden built in response to the 911 tragedy, our partnership gardens with Van Cleve Park and Tuttle K-8 School, and two organic vegetable gardens – one whose primary gardeners are residents of the nearby married student housing and a second where volunteers raise vegetables that are mostly donated to local senior neighbors.  The Southeast Como gardens recently won a series of local and national awards. 

Greening Businesses, Greening Community – Our Community Garden Coordinator has been able to provide landscape assistance to over 13 local commercial properties.  In addition we have participated in various tree planting programs, community clean-ups and other more typical greening events.  Generating an amazing 704 volunteer hours in 2005 and 567 hours in 2006.

Organic Lawn Care Program – Opened up to adjacent neighborhoods, this year long program included workshops and free organic lawn care maintenance products.  An amazing 150 participants received over $50 worth of organic fertilizer and attended the workshops.  Participants gave the program rave reviews.

Wetland Remediation – Bridal Veil Pond - located in an adjacent industrial area – is fed by an underground creek that runs through Southeast Como.  It is a remnant of the once vast peat bogs and wetlands that covered this area of Minneapolis.  As such, reclamation of this polluted site is one of our goals and working with other partners, it has taken the first step with non-native plant remediation.

Walk to Work Initiatives – We are starting to work with other neighborhoods and the University of Minnesota to encourage more of the thousands of employees that work at the University and the neighboring industries and businesses to live in the local communities.  Not only could they walk to work, this would reduce traffic, fuel consumption, related costs, reduce emissions and free up the time normally lost to commuting.

Como Cookout Annual Community Event – This annual neighborhood event co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota offers outreach, information and entertainment designed to bring neighborhood residents closer together and welcome new student residents.  Recently we have added an environmental angle with our organic tomato tasting contest (from our community gardens) as well as worked to reduce event waste by 50% with added recycling and composted waste bins.

Funding – We continue to actively seeking funding to continue our initiatives and expand our vision of real change towards an environmental community.  In the meantime we have managed to leverage our creativity into some support from the Bush Foundation, Tree Trust, Office of Environmental Assistance, McKnight, Headwaters and Community Powers.  But even while that limited support has helped keep us operational, we could be described as a small environmental underground movement, operating on shoestring budget and moving forward through the sheer will of visionary people, dedicated community volunteers, and a lot of renewable human energy. 

Change won’t come to those that wait quietly, but to those that that work patiently.

We are always happy to talk to others about our programs, are always looking for those that want to help and encourage you to take a look at our website at www.secomo.org for more information.  Better yet, come out and take a tour sometime of our Solar Pilot Program.  Those shiny black panels are a testament to the sheer determination of those that moved the program forward and the real willingness of average people to embrace the changes we all need to undertake if we are to make a real positive difference for the next generation.

Wendy Menken

President

Southeast Como Improvement Association