Last weekend I was following along behind a het couple
on Yale Place near Loring Green condos when the woman
leant over a hedge to look closely at what for her was
the first green sign of Spring.
Her joy and excitement were ostensible as she pulled
her mate tighter with her interlocked arm and
whispered in his ear. Ah Spring! I felt a pang of
envy.
We're fast approaching that time of year when the buds
on trees will begin to pop open green and the world
for a short time will take on the appearance of a
canvas by Seurat and the grayness of the past winter
will give way to a panoply of colors.
Unfortunately for the close neighbors of Minnehaha
Academy's North Campus this may be the last Spring for
many of them to view this scenery through the windows
of their homes. For some of the elderly who find it
harder to get around this will be the last!
Shortly, Minnehaha Academy will begin an expansion
project that will precipitate the cutting down of 28
old growth oak trees. The fact that the campus will be
reforested with 131 new trees is little consolation.
Yesterday, the final appeal of the neighbors to
forestall this destruction was defeated in Zoning and
Planning Committee. Only two council people voted to
uphold the neighbors' appeal; Lisa Goodman and Jim
Niland.
I asked Jim Niland after the meeting if it was true,
as I had read in the supporting documents, that if MA
were or had been willing to reorient their proposed
expansion that most of these trees would be saved. He
said that was how he understood the matter.
In the documents I read there was mention made of the
fact that the neighborhood had asked if MA could do
just that. The response of their Grand Poobah was "No"
further explaining that the students would not then
have a view of the river.
In a bit of levity, neighborhood people suggested that
they were students and ought not be gazing out the
window daydreaming during class anyway. I chuckled,
recalling the countless hours I spent gazing out the
window bored by geometry and algebra.
The fact is that 85 of the closest neighbors to the
Academy have signed petitions opposing the project but
because of how neighborhood organizations work, their
opinions carry no greater weight in terms of the vote
than those at the farthest reach of the neighborhood.
To my understanding, after all was said and done in
the Longfellow Community Council, this disparity was
discussed and there is some talk that this should be
addressed in the future. But that is the future.
There is the sense I get that these people opposed to
the project are being marginalized as a tiny minority
standing in the way of progress. It's like Highway 55
all over again. Lined up against them are the Planning
Dept., their city councilperson, and the Mayor.
I sat next to a mayoral aide during the previous Z&P
meeting taking copious notes and inferring it was just
"some people".
Last night at the DFL mayoral candidate forum I heard
much talk about the environment. The Mayor spoke of
empty rhetoric and how she does the hard work of
bringing people together and getting things done. The
Mayor lives just down the road apiece so she knows
exactly whats going on here. Maybe she ought to have
her driver detour that green Crown Victoria onto 47th
Avenue so she can envision, if she's capable of vision
that is, what her neighbors' new view will be.
I took home Lisa McDonald's literature to read and she
trumpeted her undying support for the environment and
how she would work to protect the 'urban forest' and
wanted to make the city cleaner and greener. Well this
project will make the city less green and less clean
and yet she chairs the committee and sits on the
planning commission that gave final approval to this
project.
As for R.T. I love you for your work with the lakes
and the airport and of all the candidates you come
closest to my ideal when it comes to the environment
but I have to wonder where you are on this one. Maybe
if I had a phone I would be courting DFL delegates,
but as it is I'm left to cry out in the wilderness, as
it were.
My grandmother lived almost all the time I knew her at
3038 48th Av, across the street from Danebo nursing
home, and just a 200' from one of the oaks that will
come down. I remember the beauty of the Academy's
property from my childhood. This is a beautiful spot.
Like a park, the opposers said. It would be as if
MCTC, instead of replanting all their pine trees for
their library expansion, moved into Loring Park and
cut down all the oaks surrounding Ole Bull.
Now this is private property and theoretically MA can
do whatever they want vis a vis the trees. The CUP
they seek is for their building. But shortly after
this they will be approaching the city to approve $12
million in bonds(I believe that's the number) through
the city's authority. This doesn't cost the city a
thing except to use a portion of their bonding
allotment. I say, the price of MA getting those bonds
approved MUST be a serious attempt to save those
trees.
At the last meeting of Z&P before yesterday's, MA and
the orchestrators of their corporate cause brought
along a group of students to view government in
action. I am wondering what impression they took away
from that meeting. What I saw was pure cynicism. I
wondered if anyone had ever asked these students how
they felt about destroying these trees. My guess is
"NO". What message does that send to youth?
My guess is also that if all the facts were presented
to the students of Minnehaha Academy and they were
able to discuss these matters among themselves, we
might see a changed design process. These are the
people who ultimately will be most affected by the
decisions we make today. Them and their children and
their children's children. If we owe it to them to
provide the best education possible and leave them out
of the loop on this we will have failed in our
mission.
I don't know what can be done at this point except to
throw out these thoughts. The weather appears to have
finally turned, people are pulling out there bikes,
inflating tires, tuning up: I would suggest to all you
bikers and walkers that you check this spot out before
they tear down these trees. The 21A bus goes within a
block of MA and damn near every bus line in the city
connects somehow with it so there's no excuse why
everyone couldn't get there. And on public transit or
by bicycle.
Might be a good way to wrap up Earth Week.
Save a tree!
Tim Connolly
Ward 7
P.S. And be mindful that the north side of Olson Hwy.
between Bryant and Emerson in the old Sumner-Olson
projects will soon be denuded for the glacially paced
Hollman Redevelopment.
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