Midtown Burner

I) City Council

I woke up late this morning - at 8:50. I intended to be downtown by 9AM to meet with group opposed to the Midtown Burner. There is a possibility that the Minneapolis city council will consider adding to their agenda at the last minute a specific proposal that Kandiyohi
may need- more time to purchase the burner from the city.

I quickly cleaned up to go, got some clothes on, and then ran to the LRT station on Franklin. I got there just minutes after a train went by. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one. Jen was there with her daughter and we waited 35 minutes without a train showing up!! She decided to drive downtown and find parking, and offered me a ride since she was recruited to go to City Hall as well. Still not sure why the LRT was down, but dozens of people were late to the meeting because of it!

Even more fortunate, the council did NOT add this to the agenda. I did witness the entirety of the meeting. The city is doing nice things like Earth Hour 2008, though it is more symbolic than long-term in solutions.

They also approved some "sidewalk improvements" on Broadway Avenue in north Minneapolis. I personally think that is even more symbolic, and will assess business owners on that street excessively for little gain. I have walked on the sidewalks of Broadway in the summer, and didn't see much foot traffic to garner such an "improvement." But I don't live on north-side, so I will have to talk to others about this innovation.

It was good to see all the support against the burner show up. Greens like Farheen Hakeem were there and Phillips neighbors of all political persuasions! I am thankful we had such great organizers like Carol Pass, Dave Bicking, and others whom I should know their names! Cam Gordon ( Ward 2- Green ) and Gary Schiff ( Ward 9 - DFL ) both thanked us for being there. These two council members have shown adamant support for the people of East Phillips on this issue.

The big issues with the burner are

1) That the particulate matter in East Phillips is already excessive. Burning even wood would make things exceedingly worse
2)That there isn't enough wood in the Twin Cities to support this, and it would have to rely on more toxic treated woods, and possibly garbage in the long-term.

But we need more to contact our council members and Mayor Rybak to let them know where we stand! More info here:http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd9thxh2_48gfvnmb8p
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II) Cavlan discussion

Last but not least, I run into Michael Cavlan ! His son's 18th birthday today and they were out and about. Michael has been heavily participating in preparation for the Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee on behalf of the Peace Movement.

He was quite thankful that Minneapolis has Cam Gordon on the city council, as he is working to stop a so-called "Free speech committee" to oversea protesters during the convention. The ordnance proposed by Mayor Rybak and Council Member Gordon, would ask any group of 25 or more to voluntarily apply for a permit any time they intended to protest anything during the RNC. Council Member Ralph Remington is opposed to this, believing no group should have to apply for a permit for "free speech."