Karen writes: > I agree with you that education is the best remedy. Do you think there is > a means that the city could employ that could encourage environmentally > friendly behavior for all of our residents? Can we make something like a > "requirement" that each property needs to have a certain percentage of green > on it? This could include trees or grass? How about an "environmental > education seminar" that would be mandatory for each homeowner that teaches > about the benefits of being friendly to the earth.
I think the city does something like this (well, not the mandatory "education seminar," which sounds vaguely Cambodian), with commercial properties. The city has a 20-percent (I think) standard for green space in commercial site-plan reviews. I know here in King Field, this requirement has forced a couple of auto-related owners (Elwood Automotive on 40th & Nicollet, and the place at 36th & Lyndale), to actually tear up some asphalt and install grass and plants. I share Karen and Dean Z.'s general concern, though - we need a "no net loss" of greenspace in our city. The problem, of course, is that if everyone makes an individual decision to pave, we all hang together. But I'm not sure what the most effective, democratic solution is. I agree with Dean and Karen that education is sorely needed, but I think the lesson will be better received if the instruction is voluntary, not mandatory. David Brauer King Field _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
