A District 1 Success!!

Last fall, residents from Afton View Apartments came to our office to see if there wasn't a way to provide access to Highwood Hills Rec Center facilities for children this winter. In collaboration with Kathy Lantry's office and the St. Paul Parks Department, the Rec Center has been open Monday and Wednesday afternoon for kids to meet, play, and do homework. Over 50 children per afternoon have a chance for positive fun in a safe and welcoming atmosphere.

This is the kind of thing we can accomplish when residents and the District Council work together!!

Planning for Eastside 3M site

Doug Karle and I have tag-teamed to represent District 1 on the 3M Redevelopment Advisory Committee. City Council President Kathy Lantry and Council Member Dan Bostrom convened the committee in January to provide community input on the future of the 7th and Arcade 3M site. Working with the St. Paul Port Authority, which will be marketing the site, the approximately 30 Advisory Committee members have had a site tour and three meetings that introduced the site and developed principles for redevelopment. The 3M site consists of nine parcels that total approximately 45 acres, including buildings and vacant land. Redevelopment options may include re-use of some buildings as well as new construction. A historic work group is evaluating the 3M properties for a potential National Register nomination.

This week, all East Siders have the opportunity to participate in community design workshops to develop workshops to develop options for the 3M site. The workshops will be held on two days: February 25 and 26, at Carpenters' Union Hall, 700 Olive Street in Williams Hill Business Center. Stop by from 5pm to 7pm each day to review the proposals and offer your comments. Call Robyn Dixon at (651) 224-5686 for more information.

Check out the project website at http://www.sppa.com/3M/ for all materials and more information on the process.

Garneth Peterson - District 1 Board Member and resident.

Environmental Concerns in District 1

We've had a lot of things come up lately in our neighborhood that have environmental concerns at their core. Because of our location near 3M, along the river bluffs, and with Pigs Eye Lake inside our borders, we have folks very active around environmental issues. We have folks with private wells and septic systems, and concerned about how pollution may affect their health. We have the city's environmental magnet school within our boundaries, taking advantage of being close to Battle Creek Park, and young people, regardless of where they live, tend to name the environment as one of their major concerns.

But we also have people in the district who don't see how environmental concerns relate to their lives.

So we conducted a survey of residents to see what their main concerns were and here are the big three: Water and air quality, the economy, and toxic waste.

In the next tier of concerns were waste reduction, recycling and general pollution.

The District Council partners with Eureka Recycling to help residents recycle effectively... how does this benefit people who are more concerned about their household budget? By removing the recyclables from your trash, you should be able to reduce the amount of trash you have for pick up. In my house, we went from one trash service to another, and a smaller bin and cut our garbage hauling costs to 1/3 what it was before.

The District Council partners with Eureka Recycling and the City to hold a community clean-up every year. Here we also help people reduce the amount of stuff they may be putting in the trash or paying to have hauled away. A lot gets reused by folks who are in need - check out our October blog...

We have also held workshops on home energy savings, and we can refer people to organizations that will help them make home improvements that will save them money AND help the environment.

We work with Metro Transit and with the City to make sure there are transportation choices available for all our residents. Alternatives to driving a car save money, and help our air and water quality.

And we have partnered with the Watershed District and with local schools to teach kids about pollution solutions for our surface waters. (Here's a photo attached of work that kids at Battle Creek Middle School have done to clear invasive species from our wooded areas, and learn about taking care of the environment - thanks to the Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District for the photo!)

A healthy environment makes for healthier residents. We are committed to listening to neighbors, working with our partners, and making decisions that will provide us all with a healthier future. How are you willing to work with us?

Concerns about Battle Creek Water Quality

Once again, we have made the news... Battle Creek is one of several local waterbodies that has shown negative affects from the salt solutions that Public Works and MnDOT apply to our roads to de-ice them. The increasing salt levels in Battle Creek have a negative impact on the plants and animals that live in the stream, but we may have other concerns. The salt is not washed out by the stream, and into the Mississippi River (which would be bad enough), but it tends to stay local.

Since there are homes in Highwood Hills that are on private wells, there is concern that the salt infiltrates into the ground water and releases heavy metals that normally would be bound up in the soil. The MPCA is investigating.

This is an issue we need to keep an eye on added to the perfluorochemical contamination from 3M's old landfills...

Minimize your own use of salt to clear ice - at least!!

Buy Local: Hidden Business Treasures of District 1

Join the District 1 Community Council and your neighbors at Conway Rec Center, March 23 at 5:30p to Explore the Hidden Business Treasures of our area. Learn about what businesses there are in your own backyard that you may not have known about.

There will be time to meet the board of directors and talk about your concerns. And we will be electing new board members. There are several openings on the board, so if you are interested in serving the community, contact Betsy at 651.501.6345 or district1council@aol.com.

Please join us for an evening of positive thinking about where we live.

Our Snyders is Closing...

You may have heard that Snyders Drugs is reducing the number of stores it has in the Twin Cities... well, wouldn't you know that our SunRay Snyders is one of the stores destined to close - it will happen in March.

Now we have Michaels, Bally's, Snyders, and several small shops closed or closing in SunRay shopping center.

Our office hears a lot of complaints from residents about store vacancies and the types of stores we have in our area, but what are residents doing about it?? Do you buy from our local stores? Do you ask the store owners to stock what it is you want? Or do you travel out to Woodbury to shop??

Here's an idea... if you used Snyders for your prescriptions consider transferring those prescriptions to Cub Pharmacy in SunRay or to Walgreens on White Bear. If you visit some drug store in another neighborhood, try shopping locally.

And join us in March for our Annual Meeting where we are encouraging everyone to BUY LOCAL - really local. Support our businesses if you want to prevent further closures...

Concerned about Traffic in your Neighborhood?

If you are concerned about the speed of traffic in your neighborhood, we now have a way for you to be a part of the solution. We have PACE CAR bumper stickers available at the office. 

With this bumper sticker you are saying that you will drive the speed limit or less in your neighborhood and in everyone else's, too. You set the pace for the cars who share the road with you.

Research shows that most of the time, the people who are speeding on neighborhood streets are actually people who LIVE on those neighborhood streets. Pace car programs help us to become more conscious of our own speed and become models for other drivers.

We have other tools in our toolkit of traffic calming, so if this issue is a concern of yours - be in touch!

Update on Marathon Petroleum Proposal

Marathon Petroleum Company has asked for an extension for their proposals to add a railyard along Battle Creek (see our December blog for a discussion of their original proposal). They will need a variance for the work they propose - they are asking to be exempt from some of the requirements around wetland mitigation. The city has said that a technical report is necessary to explain why they think they can't meet these mitigation requirements.

So the deadline has shifted and should be around the end of March, though the city could extend that to May... we will keep you informed when we know when the public hearing will be...

Stay tuned...

District 1 Honors Neighbors

Every year, the district councils have a big event in January where we honor folks in our neighborhoods who have done amazing things to make our communities great places to live. There is a buffet, speeches by the Mayor and other interesting individuals, and then presentations of the awards by our own council member and President, Kathy Lantry.

This year District 1 honored Jodi Inlow, Joe Lindgren of the Little Oven, and the congregation of Progressive Baptist Church. Jodi was honored for her work on the Council's Board of Directors, with Henry Park, with the Totem Town Community Garden and with our annual Community Clean-Up. Joe Lindgren was honored for his contributions to community events as a business owner in our area, and for the improvements Little Oven made to their parking situation. Progressive Baptist Church was honored for their long-standing commitment to helping young people in our community, and especially for the College Tour they sponsor for young people each year.

People like these honorees are a huge asset to our community! If you know of people in the neighborhood who should be recognized for the great work they are doing, let us know!

Disposing of Old Prescriptions

Maybe you have heard the news that our waters have become contaminated by caffeine, antibiotics and a lot of prescription drugs. Maybe you have also heard that the contamination is having an effect on the wild life that inhabits these waters, and on us when we drink tap water drawn from these waters.

Well in the February 2 issue of the Star Tribune the "FixIT" column has a set of instructions on how to keep our old prescription drugs out of our surface waters. Karen Youso talked to folks from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and they say you should dispose of these in the trash -- but you need to make sure that no one else is tempted to use them after disposal, and you need to make sure your identifying information isn't on the prescription bottles.

They suggest that you keep the drugs in their original containers with the safety caps in their childproof position, but that you black out your name on the labels. Also you should add a little water to pills, or a little flour, salt or nontoxic powdered spice to liquids. Tape the containers shut or put them in an opaque container and throw them in the regular trash.

In the trash, these items will be incinerated at a high temperature, which is the only safe way to dispose of them. Burning them at home is a REALLY BAD idea - you shouldn't be burning any home trash anyway. And be sure NOT TO FLUSH them - this is a major way this stuff gets into our surface waters.