East Phillips Urban Farm proposal is a prime example
The city of Minneapolis presented an evaluation of its “Green Zone” Initiative July 12 before the City Council’s Public Health and Safety Committee. Unsurprisingly, it failed to explain why the city didn’t follow its Green Zone priorities by pushing a Public Works yard expansion in East Phillips, a Green Zone neighborhood that opposed the project.
The Public Works plan would have brought more diesel and car exhaust into a low-income, diverse neighborhood already suffering from bad air and high levels of asthma, the exact opposite of Green Zone priorities.
The city created the Northside and Southside Green Zones more than six years ago, on April 28, 2017. It describes the zones as an “initiative aimed at improving health and supporting economic development using environmentally conscious efforts in communities that face the cumulative effects of environmental pollution, as well as social, political and economic vulnerability.”
The East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) fought for years to secure the city-owned lot, known as the Roof Depot site, with plans to repurpose an old warehouse into affordable housing, an indoor urban farm, business and non-profit spaces, a large solar array, and more.
It fit Green Zone goals. Regardless, the city fought it at every turn.
Council Member Robin Wonsley (2nd Ward) summarized the Green Zone presentation in an email to constituents.
The dominant theme was that the city needs to back the title “Green Zone” with more staffing and resources for it to be meaningful. There has been one employee responsible for the entire Northside and Southside Green Zone since its inception, and the city has not adequately funded or supported the program. …
The fight over the Roof Depot site was a perfect example of the current weaknesses of the Green Zones program. The Roof Depot is located entirely within the Southside Green Zone, yet the city was planning to move forward with a highly polluting development there despite massive community opposition. The city called something a Green Zone and then attempted to commit a huge act of environmental violence within that very same Green Zone. This massively damaged public credibility about how seriously the city takes its own designations. The Green Zones deserve to be funded, supported, and respected.
Robin Wonsley
Green Zone strengths
The evaluation cited three Green Zone strengths.
Strength #1: Green Zone committees “have generated significant, tangible community leadership for environmental justice issues in each community,” it said.
Comment: Also true is that community leaders who already had environmental justice expertise signed up to volunteer on Green Zone committees. The irony is that the city is taking credit for generating “community leadership for environmental justice,” but hasn’t been listening to them.
Strength #2: The evaluation said the Green Zone designation is attracting “targeted investments by City departments and other influential partners.”
Comment: Here, the city cites examples such as free home energy squad visits in Green Zones, free home inspections for asthma triggers, or free or discounted trees. These are good programs. With EPNI’s Roof Depot proposal, however, the city had an opportunity to partner with the neighborhood on a game-changing project, boosting economic development, affordable housing, and a sense of community. The city not only passed, it actively opposed it.
Strength #3: The evaluation said: “Some City departments are proactively considering ways to grow their efforts.”
Comment: The Green Zones have been in place for six years. City departments are only now “proactively considering” ways to grow Green Zones? Where has the leadership been?
The presentation on current Green Zone weaknesses was short and to the point.
In summary, it said Green Zone committees don’t trust the city; feel a lack of buy-in from city departments; and believe they lack “teeth” and “adequate resources” to meet their mission.
The evaluation made five recommendations. Only one included new money to directly support Green Zone neighborhoods, and it’s a very modest amount.
Recommendation 1. Create a Public Dashboard to “increase the City’s accountability to eliminating environmental injustices in the Green Zones.”
Comment: The city has shown a willingness to ignore its Green Zone commitment, its resolution to address racism as a public health emergency, its resolution to make reparations to Black and Indigenous community members, and its commitment to “dismantle institutional injustice and close disparities in health, housing, public safety and economic opportunities.”
City leaders seem immune to embarrassment. Not sure a dashboard will change that.
2. Adopt near-term policies to accelerate changes that enshrine “the protections the Green Zones vision represents and explicitly acknowledges the environmental disparities faced by Green Zone community members…”
Comment: This is an admission the city has failed its Green Zone commitments. It’s restating them here and saying: “We really mean it this time.”
3. Increase Staff Capacity: Invest in City staff capacity to build internal awareness, alignment, and collaborative action in support of the Green Zones vision. At least 2 FTEs [full-time employees] + a dedicated GZ liaison in each department.”
Comment: This is the only recommendation with dollars attached for Green Zone support.
4. Lean into Green Zone momentum: “Lean into collaborations that already have momentum and seed those that are critical missing pieces.”
Comment: “Momentum” is an odd word choice here. The evaluation said Green Zone committees don’t trust the city and don’t have adequate resources. Where’s the momentum?
The evaluation cited the Public Works Department as one of a handful of collaborations with growing “momentum.” The Department says its “new Transportation Racial Equity Framework will consider environmental equity.”
Comments: The irony here is that Public Works had been working on its Transportation Racial Equity Framework at the same time it was working to ram through its maintenance yard expansion in East Phillips, a Green Zone neighborhood that didn’t want the extra pollution.
5. Broaden Stakeholders: Make Green Zone committees more inclusive, including non profit and businesses representatives, and residents more representative of Native, immigrant, and refugee communities.
We’ll check back in a year or two to see what’s changed.
healingmnstories.wordpress.com 
Excellent summarizing here, Scott. Really appreciate your ability to lay things our succinctly. Only wish more people understood the many places you write about. If they did, we’d have a better state and a much better state of affairs here in Minnesota.
Miigwech niibowa! Thanks a bunch!
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