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DRAFT Minutes - SNG Environment Committee

Monday, April 18, 2011, 6:55 to 8:55 PM
Matthews Center
Will be submitted for approval at 5/23 meeting.

Attendees: Michael Trdan, Jim Scheidt, Rick Greenwood, Carol Greenwood

General Business
Assign Minutes - Carol
Approved 3/18/11 minutes
1/23/11 minutes (Muessig) & 2/28/11 minutes (Trdan) have not yet provided these minutes
Next Meeting - 5/16/11, Matthews Center – Room reserved through May (Subsequently
changed to 5/23/11
Environment Calendar – more additions. Will be sent out later.
Budget: Proposals and Plans
Remaining Funds are as follows:
Education $ 1856.22 AFTER $220.00 spent for two paychecks to
Amanda Lee for “Make Seward Green” (What was Amanda's 3/31 paycheck)
See minutes (attached) for further detail.
Stewardship $ 4000.00 ($1000 transferred to education, as approved by board per
Trdan).
The committee approved $50 for Wild Ones as a co-sponsorship for the Movie
“Chemical Reaction” (See minutes) Not yet paid.
The committee approved a modest subsidy to the Seward Community Garden (Hub of
Heaven) to assist them in holding a community composting workshop. This will depend on
whether they have an interest in receiving this assistance. Jim reported they have signed a lease
for the garden space. Jim will check to find out if any plots are left, and if there is a waiting list.
Energy $12,000, of which $7000 is committed: $2000 of which is committed to
Center for Energy, thanks to Development Committee). $1000 of this has been given to
CEE to subsidize marketing of the Community Energy Services Program. Doug Wise
has not yet pinned down with CEE/CES how the second $1000 will be spent. Carol met
with Doug in late April to discuss this. No specifics yet. It was suggested that Doug
Wise be invited to attend the 5/23 meeting.
(See Below - SNG Housing Program. Energy Conservation/Efficiency.)
Per Trdan: The board approved the following proposal:
– To use $5000 of the Energy Funds as follows:
` $3000 to subsidize the first 20 households ($150.00 @) AFTER they : schedule
and receive a Home Energy Visit, and follow through with one or more of the following
improvements recommended by the MCEE-CES auditors.
Perform complete weatherization of home – caulk, seal, foam bypasses, install
door and window gaskets and seals, as needed.
Install storm windows in homes lacking this feature
Upgrade/install insulation in homes with deficient insulation
Replace old furnace or boiler with new furnace or boiler
All Seward homeowners who have received a home visit would be eligible for this
subsidy. (Single family, duplex, or fourplex if owner lives in building). Work would be
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completed between 9/10 and 12/11. The request for this grant must be made by
9/20/11, and the homeowner will be required to provide progress reports.

$2000 to subsidize the first 10 households ($200 @) to complete installation of

a solar thermal domestic water heating system. Attendance at a “Make Mine Solar
H2O” workshop would also be required. A workshop is planned on May 2 at
Matthews Center, 6:30 to 8:30. See calendar.

Cash $ 15.00

Other discussion: Other ideas for education, stewardship and energy funds. If you
don't provide input, decisions will be made as to expending our funds before they
disappear. We have a resident in Seward who can produce video/web presentations
(including You Tube type pieces), and may have an interest in working on ideas with us.
Any other ideas for shifting money around are welcome until the decisions are made.
One idea could be “Conservation is sexy” - hunky guys doing weatherization,
insulation work, installation of programmable thermostats, hanging clothes outside,
etc. and a woman saying things like, “my guy knows how...”. Any ideas for lines,
participants, etc.? Some mini-marketing on this has gotten favorable reviews. We are
looking into getting some folks together to work on it.

New/Ongoing Business

Work Flow - Responsibilities needing Commitment - who will do work? Always cc ALL
involved on these tasks.
Minutes
Agendas - Carol
Contacts and Space Reservations, Speaker outreach - Carol
Communications and webpage - act as contact and communicate with others. Webpage needs
update. Kerry Cashman, a new staff person, has been hired, to take Mike Rollin's position
Carol will have a discussion with her, probably after this meeting. Other jobs: Communicate
with other SNG committees and organizations in and outside neighborhood. Send agendas,
minutes, and calendar items to SNG staff for inclusion on webpage. - TBD –
Information about the compost collection and enhanced recycling pilot
projects needs to be put on the SNG website. Mike will check E-Democracy, the Profile,
and local print news to publicize both programs. He will look for the compost pilot map
to have it be publicized on these outlets.
Information about Make Seward Green needs to be put on the website.
SNG Board Delegate - communicate motions and resolutions to Board; communicate board
decisions to Environment Committee members – Mike Trdan
Ideas for encouraging more neighborhood activism on behalf of our local environment?
Research alternate funding –
Conservation Partners Legacy Grant Program – Improve habitat for wildlife (DNR)
(http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/grants/habitat/lessard_sams/2011/rfp.pdf)
Environmental Partnerships Grant (DNR) (Need to partner with larger entity)
Will there be a Climate Change Innovations Grant? Community Power, MWMO?
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PCA grants? Any other ideas? Rock Tenn or other private businesses and foundations.

King’s Fair - planning and what to promote – Saturday, 9/17/11 is the date. How about the theme
“Celebrating Local - Food, Business, Neighborhood Resources for a Resilient Neighborhood” . Any
other ideas? We want info about the Composting and Enhanced Recyling programs, Make Seward
Green and our other projects to be presented at King's Fair (Signs and Learning kits available from
Hennepin Co.) No King's Fair planning committee established yet.
We also want to do a better job this year reducing the garbage (and increasing
composting/recycling) at King's Fair. We need compost captains. Maybe we can get a business to
sponsor this . Mike will find out the style and size of recycling available (for free) from Hennepin
County (deposit required) and will reserve containers for 9/17. He thinks he can pick them up
himself. He will also plan how many volunteers will be needed to attend the recycling and
composting bins, coordinate this with Matthews staff, and work to get volunteers. He attended a
master recycler/composter event the Tuesday preceding the EnvComm meeting.
Possible additional activities – a geo cache route that includes environmental features around
Matthews, Seward School, and neighboring Green Yards of willing homeowners. Several people have
expressed approval about this idea. We need some volunteers to carry this out. Scavenger hunt
requiring visits to participating exhibitors.
A shredder truck to shred sensitive documents that neighbors bring? Will this involve a diesel
truck. Carol has submitted some of these ideas (geocache and shredder truck) on the Seward E-
Democracy site. Mike will check out costs, noise, and emissions for a shredder truck. (Note that
U.S.Federal had a shredder event on 5/7/11.)

Carol will discuss this with the new community coordinator, Kerry Cashman, kerry@sng.org.

Energy Conservation/Efficiency – Housing

Format & process for Conservation and Renewable Energy grants needs to be worked out in
detail. Carol will discuss this with Doug, doug@sng.org.

Community Energy Service Workshops and Visits – New Workshops coming up!!
Thursday, April 28, 6:30, 1200 26th St. W., Jefferson Community School
Wednesday, May 4, 6:30, 1919 31st Ave. S. South High
RSVP with Kyle Boehm, kboehm@mncee.org, or 219-7334

A major re-structuring of CEE data bases needs to be done before those attending workshops
and/or receiving home visits are listed as being members of the Seward Energy Challenge team. (See
below and minutes) CES LAWN SIGNS are available for those who have received a home visit.
Carol has 4 more to distribute. Look for signs on our neighbors lawns.
Upcoming Workshops for Community Energy Services (see above, and minutes) - The
Environment Committee continues to support this program. Join your neighbors at a Community
Energy Services Workshop and sign up for a home visit. After you do that, sign on to the Energy
Challenge. For upcoming workshops, go to: http://www.mnenergychallenge.org/Community-
Energy-Services/Upcoming-Workshops.aspx
Doug Wise, our housing coordinator, will help you with any home improvement projects
and with obtaining loans for which Seward and other Minneapolis residents are eligible. Go to
www.sng.org/housing.html and for Center for Energy info on this go to:
http://mncee.org/programs_residential/nrp/neighborhood_pages/index.php?page=039
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The information about the Environmental Inspection Grant is no longer correct. Check with
Doug for further clarification.

Toxics Reduction/Air Quality/Water Quality Projects “Make Seward Green” - Carol reported
on this as Amanda Lee was unable to attend.
Pesticide/Lawn Chemical Reduction plans – We agreed to sponsor a Movie – A Chemical
Reaction – See a trailer for the movie at this URL:
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2009/10/07/new-eco-documentary-a-chemical-reaction-
the-story-of-a-true-green-revolution/ See budget above.

Amanda has interviewed the first recipients of the “Great Green Lawns” award.
The Regional Manager of Chemlawn needs to be held accountable on the three specifics which
he agreed to:
He will warn anyone concerned about nearby chemical applications ahead of time. (Has he
followed up on this?).
He sent two Materials Safety Data Sheets detailing lawn chemicals being applied up to six
times a summer to neighborhood customer’s lawns. Do we need more MSDS's? According to
best lawn care practices, this is overkill for established lawns.
When will he meet with the Environment Committee to discuss Chemlawn’s practices,
including their marketing plans for more sustainable lawn care practices. (What dates do we
want to propose to him?) (See minutes for additional discussion).

We have begun the part of the project giving recognition to neighbors who incorporate
sustainable practices in their yards. The first Great Green Yards award was given to neighbors at 26th
St. and 35th Ave. Amanda Lee has interviewed Tim and Cindy and has developed a write-up about
their yard. Tim & Cindy are deciding which gift certificate they want ( Birchwood Cafe, Welna
Hardware, and Mother Earth Gardens.) (See minutes for further)

We need to provide residents and businesses with a list of the “Green” lawn care services.
This will involve researching whether they are merely greenwashing or have significantly better
products and practices.

Reducing Use of Scented and Toxic Cleaning and Personal Care Products -Another
component of this program is to educate neighbors about greener and safer cleaning and personal care
products that they can substitute for the more toxic ones that impact both storm sewer and sanitary
sewer water and local air quality. See discussion in minutes. Any updates on this?

Wood Burning - See minutes for discussion. The Committee recommended education for the
neighborhood about violations of woodfire ordinances and the deleterious health effects of
woodsmoke. We also wish to advocate for more efficient woodburning devices for indoor heating,
since the great majority of older fireplaces and stoves are inefficient and lose more heat out the
chimney than they provide to the home. We also wish to discourage outdoor woodburning. Has the
SNG Board voted to support this and to pass our concerns along to our councilperson (for
consideration by the City)? We would suggest that a staff person from Environmental Services
attend a future meeting to discuss this with attendees. We are also using Click-Fix to communicate
with city staff about this. http://www.seeclickfix.com/search?q=woodsmoke&at=Minneapolis
%2C+MN Mike recommends a draft letter be submitted to the board to clarify what action we
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recommend they take in communicating about this to city staff.

Waste Reduction - Seward Neighborhood Enhanced Recycling and Curbside Compost

Collections Project Updates - Mike Trdan
Mike recommends that SNG urge the city to work with vendors to provide sources for
compostable bags of the appropriate size for collections.
Mike reported the timeline for the introduction of the compost and recycling pilots (3/15 to 3/18
for introductory materials, 3/29 for the first collection) and showed the educational flyers/brochures
that were mailed. He and other Seward residents additionally hand flyered the recycling pilot area.
Unfortunately, the “How to Recycle” guide for 2011-2012 went to everyone in Seward, including those
in the pilots, thus potentially contributing to confusion as to which directions were to be followed.
There have been problems with coordinating trucks and routes—for example, using garbage
trucks to collect cans, glass, plastic, then repeating the route for paper fiber, thus making up to 1400
stops for 700 participating households. and repeating the same route with four or more trucks per day
(garbage, yard waste, compost, standard recycling for people who haven't signed up for a pilot study,
and two recycling pilot trucks . People have a problem when they see what appears to be a garbage
truck picking up recycling. The trucks have no sign differentiating them from regular garbage trucks.
Mike met with city and county staff to discuss this. There are 704 ddwelling units in our area, with 539
structures (389 cards sent back from 539 structures.) 298 of these households wanted one or 2 carts.
150 didn't freturn the careds. We need data to be able to track the non-responders and follow up with
block coordinators.
We have lawn signs left over from the early efforts in Minneapolis to engage volunteers in the
first recycling program, and if SW&R would fund stickers, these can be re-used. Mike will send a
more detailed pdf with information about participation and ddata that can be used to pin down people
who are active in block groups. We should also have SW&R subsidize stickers for re-using the old
blue recycling bins for the Recycling Pilot.. Mike will talk to Cam and Robin to communicate to Susan
Young (SW&R) to produce such stickers. Recycling markets are good now—Aluminum now 85
cents/pound. SNG should consider aluminum collection for a fund raiser. Tom Troskey is the person at
Waldorf to communicate with about paper drives.
Welna is selling garbage and compost bags. We should publicize the sizes and prices. Multiple
small bags for composting work well, so there is no need to get one large one. Dakota Co. has a list of
bag vendors. Paper bags and milk cartons also work for compost that isn't too wet.
If you are not yet participating in the Compost Collection Pilot Study or the Enhanced
Recycling Collection Pilot, contact Minneapolis Solid Waste and Recycling to sign up
(Minneapolis Solid Waste & Recycling Customer Service (612) 673-2917
A map of the Enhanced Recycling Pilot Area and information about the notification letter and
reminder campaign were sent to everyone on the Environment Committee list. Questions remain as to
the marketing and SNG funding/responsibilities for this program. Letters have been sent to residents in
the two areas and many of our neighbors are already participating in one of the other program. Join
your neighbors, if you are in the relevant area. (See minutes for previous discussion).

Renewable Energy
Matthews Center Solar Installation - Rick Greenwood – None. Suggestions? Nothing new.
See minutes for previous discussion. Any update by Erik Rehm, MPS, on the previous engineering
study done at Matthews to see if the structure can support another 1 kWh array of PV panels? No.
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Make Mine Solar H2O Program (bulk buying program for solar hot water heating) – Be sure
to attend our Solar H2O Workshop, May 2, 6:30 to 8:30, at Matthews Center. Thanks to
Terry Barnes who has made arrangements for scheduling and publicizing this event. See minutes for
further discussion.

Solar at Seward Montessori (and three other Minneapolis schools) - See minutes. The
ribbon cutting will be held at one of the schools participating in the “Schools Going Solar” grant in
Minneapolis. See minutes. The ribbon cutting will be held on Tuesday, May 17, 9:30 a.m. At
Pillsbury School, 2250 Garfield St. N.E.

Solar in the Parks - Solar projects are planned for parks in Minneapolis, to be installed this
spring. Any update? Mike said that Scott Vreeland reported two more park buildings are getting solar.
Clean-up in honor of Earth Day – Scott congratulated volunteers who participated and thanked
Birchwood Cafe for supplying coffee and baked goods.

Updates for older ongoing projects

Arsenic Removal in Seward – Work will begin in early May on properties in the South
Minneapolis Residential Soil Contamination area. As of March 9, records show one property and the
fire station remain in Seward. There may be one or two additional properties in Seward, depending on
home owners' decisions.
URL for map www.epa.gov./region5/site/cmcheartland look for map link on right side of page.
Up to 100 properties remain to be cleaned up in South Minneapolis. For more information, contact
Leah Evison, 651-757-2898, , evison.leah@epa.gov
EPA open houses: Wednesday, April 20, 5:00 to8:00 pm, 2307 17th Ave. S., and Thursday, Ap0ril 21,
11:00 to 2:00, 3451 Cedar Ave. S.

Hiawatha Power Line Plans – Any updates? Noone reported. See minutes.

HERC expansion – Any updates? No. See minutes.

Power pole issues – Any updates? No. The SNG Board is on record encouraging further
discussion of this issue with Xcel by the EnvComm.

Problems with City Inspection approaches to yard and garden regulation - We need a
recommendation to send to the SNG Board to pass on to our city council in regard to aspects of these
problems. Wording? We strongly recommend that someone from Inspections be requested to attend an
Environment Committee Meeting to lay out the various code “violations” they ticket relating to yards,
gardens, and household exteriors, and ways for residents to receive assistance by the deadline. We
secondly recommend that the ticketed resident be given three weeks from the postmark of the notice
(All Notices should be Mailed) to comply. Mike suggested that a letter be drafted suggesting changes
for the board to sign.

Windsource Xcel has proposed to the PUC that the Windsource charge be upped to $5.00
per 100/kWh. We think this is highly unreasonable. What can we do to object to this?
Forty eight Seward residents signed on to Windsource as part of their Energy Challenge. How
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about all you other Windsource users? Sign up with our team for the Energy Challenge. We have
Windsource window clings for your house or car. Contact Carol if you would like one.
Did you get your coupon booklet from Windsource? Look for “Something Good Is In the Air”,
a coupon booklet sent from Xcel to participating Windsource subscribers to thank them for their
support of green power and explaining some of the environmental benefits of wind power.
Latest actual additional cost for Windsource this month: 86 cents per hundred kilowatt hours.

Energy Challenge - Seward is in 4th place on the Energy Challenge – But we've added 5 more
team members. Good Job, neighbors. We now have 154 members (added a member since last month),
saving $94,843 and preventing 1,082,738 lbs of CO2. Go to our team page to see what we're doing.
Carol will discuss communicating with team members with Neely Crane-Smith at CEE.
See above for an update on our CES Workshop numbers. Go to:
http://www.mnenergychallenge.org/Teams/Neighborhoods/Seward_Mpls.aspx
to see how we’re doing.
We need a techy guru to help Mike Rollin install an Energy Challenge Widget on the
Environment page. http://www.sng.org/env.html Check out our links and reports.
Energy Challenge Signs: Please do not throw away, if you still have one. They are
reusable. If you are NOT going to post your sign, please contact Carol who will try and get it picked
up. Otherwise, we are out of signs (last one went to Jim, whose other sign had been “borrowed”.

Green Space/Local Food - Any updates re Community Garden (Hub of Heaven), Peace Garden,
Growing Lots Urban Farm (see: http://growinglots.blogspot.com/ ) Great video tour for Growing
Lots on the Profile site. Any parkland or commercial greenspace updates? Plans for spring at these
projects? Jim reported that a five-year lease for the garden space was signed, and thought the
information should be on their website, which can be linked to from the SNG website (SNG.org).
Their website is supposed to have information about: their budget, work days, and plot fee.

Mayor Rybak would like to see community composting sites in each neighborhood. We need
the good soil that comes from compost to reinvigorate our local food gardens. Lots of spring clean-up
yard resources sitting at the curb in the bags around Seward should be offered to neighbors or garden
sites that compost. Why not offer your excess to a neighbor, or check with Jim Welna. He has a great
small portable compost bin.

Growing Lots Urban Farm: Update from Urban farmer Stephan? Stephan plans to operate the
farm again this coming growing season. He may have to move his farm this year or next but plans for a
site closer to Coastal Seafoods. Stefan will again have CSA shares, so get a move on. He is at:
http://growinglots.blogspot.com/
CSA Fair at Seward Coop – In spite of the weather, this event was packed, lots of great
farmers, many delivering in Seward. Also, many offering half shares for two-people households. We
even have another urban farm starting in Phillips.

Homegrown Minneapolis – Any updates? Cam says just a few more steps before this program
is put into effect. We link to this on the Environment Page.

Transition Towns - Sustainability – Peak Everything Transition Phillips -

http://transitionphillips.groupsite.com/main/summary – Some nice work being done by folks in
Phillips, some of whom we met at the Sustainability events.
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Reports from Alliance for Sustainability government and neighborhood conference.

Terry, Philipp, Mike, Cam, and Carol went. I saw a map indicator that showed 6 or 8
Seward folks at the event. Reports? Mike said that ECCO neighborhood reported about their compost
collection pilot. Sarah Pallmeyer also was at the event and discussed recycing bin re-use/replacement
with Mike. Carol and Mike participated in compost/recycling sampling surveys that Hennepin county
conducted, and also helped present information about our neighborhood's Environment Committee
activities.

Meeting Adjourns
Check the SNG website at www.sng.org,
for further information contact Carol at carolgwood@comcast.net