Mayor Rybak notes that he will veto an anti-war resolution if passed by the city council.
I would like to see our Mayor and city council pass a resolution much more specific and much more positive, as well as good for the city in many other ways.
I would like thee mayor and city council to pass a resolution to free Minneapolis from the grip of the coal and oil industries which are at the heart of much of our pollution, urban sprawl, and geopolitical crisis.
Even foggy San Fransisco recently initiated a $100 million solar power project which will net the city huge savings over time and a measure of energy independence starting immediately.
This project will begin to free that city from the grip of pollution-intensive energy sources managed by corporations which are really not about providing good services and products for people, but about extracting money from people any way they can.
So here are some topics for a real anti-war resolution....
RESOLUTION TOPIC 1: SUSTAINABLE URBAN ENERGY
Minnesota has a rich supply of clean energy: wind alone could power our state -- probably make us an energy exporting state. Solar technology more effective all the time. Solar panels in Minneapoliscould supply energy on-site everywhere.
This is the most effective way to get energy, and creates the most resilient energy supply possible as well. Natural disaster or terrorist attacks can disrupt the fragile and brittle infrastructure we currently use, but scattered-site sources can be set up to function even if the grid goes down.
RESOLUTION TOPIC 2: SUSTAINABLE URBAN PLANNING
The Mayor and City Council should also set in motion a vigourous plan to encourage small businesses within walkable, bikable neighborhoods. Urban villages must be the norm, not the exception. This alone can save energy and cut down on pollution.
RESOLUTION TOPIC 3: SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORTATION
3A: WALKABLE, BIKABLE CITY
The city leaders must resolve to support the cleanest, healthiest forms of transportation available for the widest possible use in the city. Our infrastructure and traffic laws must encourage and reward walking and biking. Businesses that use Human Powered Vehicles must be acknowledged, supported, and held up as examples to the rest of the community. Pollution-intensive, petroleum-intensive, and coal-intensive forms of transportation must be reduced to a minimum.
I continue to work to establish a transportation co-operative in Minneapolis to provide affordable, clean transportation. Council members Dan Niziolek and Dean Zimmerman have been helpful, and Lisa McDonald has been helpful as well. The city needs to make such a project a real priority in terms of policy and budget.
So far the city has done nothing to promote and integrate HPVs or small electric neighborhood vehicles into the transportation network.
The Greenway and other such projects will wither away if we do not work to create an integrated sustainable transportation system. As it is, the Greenway is a fragile and temporary venture which is vulnerable to being thrown on the development scrap-heap. Left as it is, it wil continue to be misunderstood and under-utilized. The expansion and development of the Greenway is vital, but only as part of a fully-integrated plan to encourage walking, biking, and use of public transportation over an auto-based system.
3B: FOSSIL-FUEL-FREE CITY FLEET
The city fleet must become fossil-fuel-free. This can be accomplished using current renewable technology, and should be an intensive project, implemented immediately. Wind and Solar sourced electricity could power some vehicles. Some small service vehicles could be HPVs. Other vehicles could be powered from biomass fuels grown locally. The city should enlist the state-supported and private Univeresities and Colleges in the area to do ongoing research into implementing, monitoring, and improving technologies related to this project.
RESOLUTION TOPIC 4: FOSSIL-FUEL-FREE HOME HEATING
City leaders must resolve to encourage the use of clean corn-burning stoves in the city. A well-educated and much-experienced green leader pointed out to me yesterday that grain silos fallen into disuse should be re-used. Local farmers can be contracted to grow non-GMO corn using sustainable farming methods to fill those silos. The corn could be carried by HPV to homes throughout the city from various distribution points.
I easily haul up to 500 or 600 pounds on my HPV -- year-round -- and I know this can be done. Good jobs can be created, the local economy strengthened, pollution reduced, and our city can make a real, profound statement against war and for peace.
Efficient corn furnaces are only one alternative to fossil-fuel home heating. There are many more possibilities.
There is more, but this post is intended to stimulate our leaders and my fellow citizens to think of more ways we as a city can pass a real resolution for peace-making is this war-dominated season of "peace on earth". More ideas, anyone?
QUESTION: what is lean and green and red, white, and blue all over?
ANSWER: a real, true American patriot!!!
-- Gary Hoover -- pedaling for peace all over town from King Field
