“GreenStep cities is a tool and process for helping cities plan for changes and challenges in the 21st century. Unfortunately many cities planning for the future are using 20th century models,” said Bill Mittlefehldt, the state energy coordinator who oversees the GreenStep program for nine northeastern Minnesota counties.
Mittlefehldt was addressing about two dozen people who attended the April 28 GreenStep meeting held at the Cook County Community Center.
Mike Kedrowski, a junior at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) majoring in urban studies with a minor in environmental studies, moderated the meeting and presented a report about the city’s GreenStep progress.
Kedrowski talked about the work the city had done to become a GreenStep community, citing the newly built rain gardens, eco friendly businesses, and the work of the Safe Routes to Schools committee and Moving Matters, among others.
Kedrowski has served for 12 weeks as the city’s GreenStep intern and worked with Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP) president George Wilkes, CCLEP treasurer Rick Schubert, and Grand Marais City Administrator Mike Roth to develop the information he distributed at the meeting on the 28 posters that were hung on the walls in the conference room.
As Kedrowski talked, introducing each of the 28 topics that ranged from “efficient existing public buildings” to “renewable energy,” Wilkes wrote down comments from the public about what they would like to see done—or what the city has already done—about each of the subjects.
However, when the subject of private land ownership came up and the idea of the government possibly placing easements on that property, one woman said, “Why would anyone want to give up their private property? What can you do on your private property anymore without a permit? You don’t own the mineral rights. You don’t own the water rights. Pretty soon we will be like Russia where they don’t allow private property ownership. This is all about Agenda 21.”
Agenda 21 was adopted in 1992 at the United Nations. Some its goals are combating poverty, changing consumption problems, demographic dynamics and sustainability, protecting and promoting human settlement development and integrating environment and development in decision making.
When a few people started to protest about the lady’s comments, Kedrowski said this was why public meetings were being held and he welcomed any and all voices for or against the GreenStep program.
Grand Marais is one of 65 cities in Minnesota to join the Minnesota GreenStep program out of 850 cities statewide, said Mittlefehldt.
“These 65 cities tend to be the more organized and effectively led cities in Minnesota. Being a GreenStep City demonstrates vision, teamwork and commitment. These will help attract more public and private funding in the future,” said Mittlefehldt.
The Minnesota GreenStep program is comprised of five categories: building and lighting; land use; economic and community development; transportation; and environmental management. Within these categories are 28 sustainability best practices. For a city to be counted it must complete at least one to two actions from at least four options in the best practice category.
Cities that join GreenStep aren’t rewarded in any way financially nor do they receive a legal benefit, but Mittlefehldt said Grand Marais will be one of several cities recognized for achievement at the June conference of the League of Minnesota Cities that will be held in St. Cloud.
“My thought is that this will help the city attract state, federal and private funding in the future, thanks to the demonstrated teamwork and vision,” said Mittlefehldt.
Where did GreenSteps come from?
GreenStep Cities was created to help cities become eco-friendly and energy efficient. It came out of discussions hosted in 2007 by Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams. In those discussions a topic that came up was how the state could accomplish its goals for the Next Generation Energy Act, which called for reducing energy consumption and investing in renewable power. This led to the idea of sustainable cities program, which was undertaken by the Minnesota Legislature in 2008.
In June of 2010 Minnesota GreenSteps began and as of today, 65 cities statewide are participating.
“The GreenStep process involves sharing Best Practices for cities. So those communities that join the state dialogue and learning process can save money and protect the environment and build more jobs,” said Mittlefehldt. “This makes the decision to become a Green Step City very important to our communities. Many communities have not been planning for a change. Change will hurt those communities who do not engage with this planning process.”
At the meeting’s end, Wilkes was asked who funded him and why? “I don’t receive any funding. The whole point of this is to make our community a better place to live. I understand that you are concerned about public spending,” he answered.
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