Residents fighting for future entrepreneurs at Roof Depot site

Indoor urban farm supporters question why city is ignoring engaged community members who don’t want public works at Roof Depot

TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) members (left to right) Steve Sandberg, Dean Dovolis and Karen Clark discuss the way their proposed indoor urban farm site will benefit local residents.

by Tesha M. Christensen

You don’t get a second chance after a building is torn down, and that’s why the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) says it is working so hard to save the 230,000-square-foot Roof Depot structure from the wrecking ball.

Architect Dean Dovolis doesn’t want to look back and say, “It could have been a community development.”

Instead, he firmly believes, “This is the right place to provide a future for the community.”

Dovolis designed the first rendition of the East Phillips Indoor Urban Farm (EPIUF) in 2014 that would have used all 7.5 acres at the Roof Depot site (1860 E 28th St.). 

Childhood
Elevated Blood Lead, Arsenic, and Per Capita Income

And then he designed the 3-acre proposal, the 2-acre proposal and the 1-acre proposal as supporters sought a compromise with the city who purchased the property out from under them in 2016 after threatening to acquire it through eminent domain if necessary. 

Dovolis has been working in the Phillips neighborhood since starting DJR Architecture in 1985, and has designed multiple affordable housing and other projects, including the Phillips Aquatic Center, and East Phillips Park Cultural and Community Center. 

This indoor urban farm is yet another  community-driven venture that would address racial disparity, provide economic development and fit within the city’s own plan for development along the Hiawatha lightrail line and Midtown Greenway, Dovolis pointed out. Little Earth Resident Association (LERA) is partnering in project, which would offer job training and employment to local residents, as well as a local food source. Other supporters in this diverse neighborhood include Tamales y Bicicletas, a grass-roots Latino-led neighborhood organization; South East Homes, the first East African specialized chemical health treatment program in North America; the Sierra Club, the Green Team, Women’s Environmental Institute, East Phillips Improvement Coalition (EPIC), and Seward Co-Op.

The neighborhood vision for the site includes the renewal of the Roof Depot building into an agribusiness powered by an immense solar array on the roof. The year-round, indoor urban agricultural space would be based on a collaborative farming model and support small, culturally specific businesses owned by local entrepreneurs. 

Growing food locally in a manner similar to that of Holland would cut down on what’s being shipped to Minnesota from California, and keep that money in the local community, pointed out Dovolis. If you introduce fresh fruits and vegetables into people’s diets, the number of disease and health issues go down significantly. This benefits society as a whole.

The indoor urban farm would offer jobs that local residents can fill, thereby cutting down on traffic while offering employment within the neighborhood. A bike shop could be situated right on the Greenway. The site would also provide very affordable mixed-use housing.

This would completely alter the area currently known by residents as “the intersection of death” for its toxic fumes and high rate of traffic accidents.

“You have a wide range of young entrepreneurs that want to be a part of this and create a future,” stated Dovolis. “It’s very hard to make that figure through a water works job. For that reason, we can’t give up.”

PLACE TO PUT HYDRANTS OR OFFER AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND FOOD?

“The city says we want a place to put our snow, sand, hydrants,  manhole covers and records. They just want a storage place,” stated Karen Clark, who recently retired as the neighborhood’s state representative. She’s lived in the area for 40 years. “How can you turn down this gift of incredible community involvement?”

The city’s water maintenance facility, known as the East Water Yard, is currently located on 2.4 acres in Ward 3 at Hennepin Ave. E. and 5th Ave. N. It dates back 120 years and is the hub for maintaining the city’s 1,000 miles of water mains, 16,000 valves, and manholes covers, and 8,000 hydrants.

Replacing the maintenance yard is the last major unfinished piece of a 25-year-old master plan for updating the city’s Department of Public Works facilities – but the East Phillips neighborhood group wasn’t informed about this until after it had fashioned an innovative plan for the Roof Depot site and started asking city officials for support, pointed out EPNI supporters. They were shocked to learn the plan was made without consulting local residents, and they scoff at the request now to help pick out plants for the site as being true community engagement.

The Water Distribution’s 100 maintenance staff at the East Phillips location (corner of Hiawatha and 26th St.) perform valve operations, greasing and packing of hydrants, street manhole repairs, main water repairs, and leak detection. The city expects 68 heavy equipment vehicles to go in and out several times each day from the Roof Depot site. 

Steve Sandberg has been told by city representatives that they will gain efficiencies by locating public works operations at one site. “You don’t gain anything by consolidating fire hydrants and manhole covers in a sand lot,” he remarked. 

Brad Pass also questions whether this is a big need. “I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 50 years and I’ve never seen them replace a fire hydrant,” he observed. 

Pass mentioned that he and supporters of the urban farm project are accused of being against clean water. “That’s absurd. We absolutely favor clean water,” he said. “We would also like to breath clean air, which will be further compromised by the additional diesel trucks and commuting workers at an industrial storage facility in our residential neighborhood.” 

He continued, “There will be no water treated at the Hiawatha site and the city should be able to find a nonresidential site to store their sewer pipes, sand-salt mix and manhole covers, or at least allocate 19% of their 16+ acres at the Hiawatha site to something positive and good for this traumatized community.” 

POLLUTION AGAINST LAW

These city-operated diesel trucks concern neighborhood residents, who have already been fighting the traffic and pollution for years at the Bituminous Roadways asphalt plant and Smith foundry across 26th St. from the Roof Depot.

This low-income neighborhood has one of the highest levels of asthma and arsenic poisoning in children in the state. For every 10,000 people, over 200 are hospitalized because of asthma.  Of the 7,000 children who live in Phillips, about 40% live in poverty and 80% fall into various ethnic groups, pointed out Clark.

That amount of pollution is not allowable in the area, according to Clark, who co-wrote the Clark/Berglin Environmental Justice Law that was enacted by the state legislature in 2008. It requires that any project in this neighborhood be reviewed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to analyze the cumulative pollution effects — not only what will be caused by the new or expanded project. 

Over the years, the law has been applied to projects by the Metropolitan Council, city of Minneapolis, and Abbott Northwestern Hospital, among others.

During a city GAC (Guidance Advisory Committee) meeting last fall, Clark stood up to explain this bill as it relates to the city public works project, and recalls being yelled at by Minneapolis Director of Facilities Design and Construction Bob Friddle, a tall man who rushed at her diminutive figure waving his arms. She walked out of the meeting, along with the rest of the community contingent, in protest after being told she couldn’t speak, said Clark. “It was pretty unacceptable.”

WHY ARE STAFF RUNNING CITY INSTEAD OF ELECTED OFFICIALS?

Indoor urban farm supporters want the city to respond to the big questions they’re posing. 

The city has a policy encouraging community participation. Why aren’t they supporting this community-birthed project? Why haven’t they paid attention to the 400 people who signed a petition in support of the community’s plan or the many people who packed community meetings to support the indoor urban farm? Why haven’t they allowed EPNI to present before the entire city council?

The neighborhood group, in the interest of meeting community needs and those of Public Works, has offered smaller, revised plans, but they don’t see the city doing the same. “There was a lot of compromising on the part of the community,” observed Clark.

Indoor urban farm supporters also want to know why the staff directive written by neighborhood Ward 9 City Council Member Alondra Cano and approved by the entire city council in December 2018 is being ignored and misinterpreted by city staff.

Just who is driving the decisions made at city hall? Members of EPNI don’t think it is the community or even city council members. 

“We’ve started to evolve into a staff-driven city,” stated Dovolis, but that’s not what he wants to see happen. “You can’t let the staff run the political process.”

THEY’RE NOT GIVING UP

In East Phillips, members of EPIC, the community, and EPNI remain determined to fight this level of pollution. After all, they’ve been at this for years.

They staved off the Hennepin County Garbage Transfer Station at Cedar and 28th in the mid 1990s; kept out the Midtown Eco-burner (Cogenerating Plant) in 2007; and convinced Xcel Energy to bury high voltage power lines along the Midtown Greenway in 2009.

In 2010, they celebrated the grand opening of the East Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center which they fought for, funded and designed; and in 2018, after a six-year battle, they came together with other Phillips organizations to save the existing swimming pool and build another in the new Phillips Aquatic Center. 

They say they’re not giving up on the Roof Depot site. The stakes are too high.

“You have one chance to make this work,” stated Dovolis. “When this [building and 7.5-acres at the Roof Depot site] is gone, there will never again be this kind of aggregate land to make this work.”

This article appeared in the April edition of The Alley newspaper.

Roof Depot says no to city’s water yard

by Tesha M. Christensen

For now, the city’s plan to move its water yard along the Midtown Greenway is stalled.

The Roof Depot owners have told city staff that they are no longer willing to sell the site at 1860 E 28th St. in the Phillips neighborhood.

“We don’t know if they chose to lease to someone else or are waiting for the city to raise their offer.  However the current pollution and congestion remains unacceptable! So we shall continue to press the city to respond to our needs and respect their own core principle: Those most impacted by a decision should be involved in that decision,” said Carol Pass of The East Phillips Improvement Coalition (EPIC).

The city’s decision to relocate its water yard maintenance facility from 2.4 acres in Ward 3 at Hennepin Ave. E. and 5th Ave. N. had been met with stiff opposition by Phillips neighborhood residents. They had only recently learned of the city’s plan last fall and mobilized quickly against it.

“In order to grow our city equitably we cannot keep on concentrating industrial uses in the most racially diverse and low-income areas of Minneapolis,” stated Ward 9 City Council Member Alondra Cano in her newsletter announcement about the decision.

She, along with fellow council members Andrew Johnson (Ward 12), Elizabeth Glidden (Ward 8), and Cam Gordon (Ward 2) had opposed the plan to move the water yard.

A statement from Tamales Y Bicicletas credited community pressure for the change. “Let’s remember that the community fought and the community won. ... We want to thank everyone for their hard work and energy.”

Moving forward, Tamales Y Bicicletas hopes that any person, institution or company who wants to move into the neighborhood first sign a Community Benefits Agreement on sustainability, inclusiveness, and employment.

“We will keep building and organizing for a real and lasting vision of environmental justice!” promised Cano on her Facebook page.

EPIC has proposed an alternate plan for the site. Designed by DJR Architecture, it would renew the Roof Depot building into an agribusiness that would offer jobs that local residents would have the skills for, thereby cutting down on traffic while offering employment within the neighborhood.

There would be solar panels on the roof, and a bike shop situated near the Greenway. These businesses would not require any rezoning of the property.

Future phases include mixed-use housing where the asphalt plant and foundry are currently located.

This would completely alter the area known by residents as “the death triangle.” 

This story appeared in the September 2015 edition of the Messenger. 

Residents fight city’s plan to use Roof Depot site as water yard

 
PHOTO: DJR Architecture’s alternate plan includes the renewal of the Roof Depot building into an agribusiness powered by an immense solar array on the roof. That kind of facility would offer jobs that local residents would have the skills for, thereby cutting down on traffic while offering employment within the neighborhood. It also includes a bike shop along the greenway. Future phases include multi-use housing directly on the Greenway.
By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN
What would you do if you discovered that the city was planning to move a large-scale truck operation to an area you’d been trying to remove pollution from for 15 years?
What would you do if you learned that the city had been planning this for more than a decade and had just told your community leaders in November 2014?
What would you do if you were trying to find a way to provide jobs for the low-income residents in the neighborhood and realized that, as a water yard, the site would never fill that pressing need?
Well, if you are Carol Pass, president of the East Phillips Improvement Coalition (EPIC), there’s only one thing to do.
PHOTO: EPIC President Carol Pass and other community members are highly concerned about the additional traffic and pollution more diesel engines will bring the neighborhood surrounding the 28th St./Cedar intersection. That intersection is known to residents as the “intersection of death.” They’ve been working for over 15 years to remove pollution in this area. They are disheartened by the city’s plans to locate its water maintenance facility in a place where they would like to see an agribusiness that provides jobs to local, low-income residents. Community leaders only learned of the city’s plans in November 2014, as they mobilized against the existing polluting industries, Smith Foundry, and Bituminous Roadway hot asphalt mix plant. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
You begin the community engagement that should have happened. You let the neighborhood know what happening, and you rally together to fight it.
This is exactly what the community has done before: staving off the Hennepin County Garbage Transfer Station at Cedar and 28th in the mid 1990s; keeping out the Midtown Eco-burner (Cogenerating Plant) in 2007; and convincing Xcel Energy to bury high voltage power lines in 2009.
The effort against moving the city’s water yard to the Roof Depot site at 1860 E 28th St. is being battled by EPIC, Tamales y Bicicletas and council member Alondra Cano’s office.
“This is a very important issue that affects all of Minneapolis,” remarked José Luis Villaseñor of Tamales y Bicicletas.
City ignores own principals of community engagement
“This is unconscionable,” stated Pass, who has lived in Phillips neighborhood for 40 years. “The process and proposal are against everything we’ve ever tried to do, and this is against the city’s own goals and strategic directives set forth by the Mayor and Council.”
Pass pointed out that the city’s number one core principle of community engagement is that residents who are affected by a decision have the right to be involved in the decision-making process.
“This thing started in 2001, and we never heard about it until last November,” said Pass. “They conspired against the neighborhood in the face of their own core neighborhood principles.”
PHOTO: A bicyclist along the Midtown Greenway waits in the center of 28th Ave. to cross safely in front of a semi tractor-trailer and a long line of cars. Community activists have been pushing to de-industrialize this area and capitalize on its proximity to light rail, bus and bike routes. However, the city is hoping to reuse the Roof Depot site adjacent to its existing public works facility as its water yard. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)
In fact, neighborhood leaders were only notified of the city’s plans as they mobilized against the existing polluting industries—Smith Foundry and Bituminous Roadways hot asphalt mix plant. Local legislator Karen Clark supported that effort by proposing a bill in the House to remove the “grandfather” status of these industries in an area not zoned for such heavy use.
Community engagement principals aren’t all the city is neglecting, according to activists. Per a directive by Mayor Betsy Hodges, the city is also working to reduce racism in the city.
“What is racism?” Pass questioned. “Racism is doing things like this to people like this, low-income families and children of color. It’s what you do to people who have less political and financial strength than the people making the decisions. “This is racism.”
She and others in south Minneapolis firmly believe that the city would not be trying to relocate its water yard to a part of Minneapolis where residents were wealthier and white.
Water yard trucks concerning
The city’s water maintenance facility, known as the East Water Yard, is currently located on 2.4 acres in Ward 3 at Hennepin Ave. E. and 5th Ave. N. It dates back 120 years and is the hub for maintaining the city’s 1,000 miles of water mains, 16,000 valves, and street holes, and 8,000 hydrants.
Replacing the maintenance yard is the last major unfinished piece of a 25-year-old master plan for updating city Department of Public Works facilities.
The Water Distribution’s 100 maintenance staff performs valve operations, greasing and packing of hydrants, street manhole repairs, main water repairs, and leak detection. They expect 68 heavy equipment vehicles to go in and out several times each day from the Roof Depot site.
It’s these large trucks that concern neighborhood residents.
“These trucks have tires as high as my shoulders,” said Pass.
Diesels linked to asthma
It isn’t merely the increased congestion on streets that are already busy that worries residents. They’re also worried about the pollution the diesels emit.
Studies have linked diesel engine emissions with asthma attacks, heart attacks and cancer, pointed out Pass. A study completed by Abt Associates, commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, found that fine particle pollution from diesels shortens the lives of nearly 21,000 people each year.
Neighborhood residents say they are deeply concerned about neighborhood residents who suffer from a high level of asthma. According to the Minnesota Department of Health data, over 200 of every 10,000 people in the area (south Minneapolis from downtown on the north to Minnehaha Ave. on the south) are hospitalized for an asthma attack every year.
That record makes it one of the worst areas in the metro.
“People here shouldn’t have to live and perhaps die of asthma because they’re poor,” said Pass.
Area residents also suffer from arsenic poisoning at a higher rate than anywhere else in Minneapolis except for North Minneapolis. Much of that can be traced to an open air arsenic storage by the CMC Heartland Partners Lite Yard on the north side of 28th St. (now occupied by Smiley’s Family Medicine Clinic).
Additionally, the worst pollution falls on the football field of South High School, a few blocks south of the area. Pass pointed out that childhood ADHD has been traced to increased exposure to the very types of pollution that are found coming from these various industries. In a study conducted by researchers at Columbia University’s Center for Children’s Environmental Health, all of the kids who tested positive for exposure to this type of pollution were suffering from ADHD.
“Every single one,” stressed Pass. “I am not an alarmist to say we are poisoning our kids and robbing them of their future. There is no question about it.” Pass strongly believes that this neighborhood is already carrying a heavy enough burden without the city adding to it.
Council member Andrew Johnson, whose ward borders the Midtown Greenway, agrees that we should all take the environmental concerns in this area seriously. However, he questions whether 170 additional vehicles a day would have that much of an impact on either pollution or congestion.
Johnson thinks that a water yard would be a low-impact use as opposed to other possibilities. He also pointed out that the city has offered to set aside about 30% of the property it doesn’t intend to use for community development.
A longtime neighborhood activist, Pass is pessimistic that this would actually happen. She pointed out that as the city grows, the water plant will need to grow with it.
Ward 9 Rep against proposal
On Monday, June 15, Ward 9 representative Alondra Cano asked the City’s Ways and Means Committee to vote against the proposal.
Instead, it was passed on a 4-1 vote with council member Johnson abstaining.
“It’s a hard issue,” Johnson stated.
He acknowledged that it is rare for the city council to approve something in an area that its representative is against, but pointed out it was done recently when the city approved Southwest Light Rail.
On Friday, June 19, the city council vote 10-3 to move forward with negotiations for a purchase agreement on the Roof Depot site. Council members Johnson, Cano and Cam Gordon voted against the measure.
In explaining his vote to fellow council members, Johnson pointed out that he doesn’t think the water yard is bad in itself. However, by moving the city water yard to this area it removes the ability of the community to move forward in its own self-determination.
Johnson said, “We have a responsibility to reinvest in our neighborhoods that have been disinvested in. We have a responsibility to invest in the neighborhoods that need it the most. And we must go above and beyond. This is all in our city goals.”
Despite the 10-3 vote, community organizers aren’t finished fighting.
A community vision
“We have a project that is viable if the city will let us do it and move out of the way,” said Pass. “It would transform this whole area, which really is the gateway to the city from the airport, but now is an industrial eyesore.”
This alternate plan, designed by DJR Architecture, includes the renewal of the Roof Depot building into an agribusiness powered by an immense solar array on the roof. That plan would offer jobs that local residents would have the skills for, thereby cutting down on traffic while offering employment within the neighborhood.
The solar array would be one of the largest in the state, and it is Villaseñor’s hope that those with the knowledge of how to create solar arrays would then turn around to help local homeowners with smaller-scale projects.
A bike shop could be situated right on the Greenway. These businesses would not require any rezoning of the property.
Future phases include mixed-use housing where the asphalt plant and foundry are currently located.
This would completely alter the area currently known by residents as “the intersection of death” for its toxic fumes and high rate of traffic accidents.
When measured against the city’s overarching goals for transit and housing, “it matches everything the city wants,” Pass observed.
Council member Johnson agrees that this location near light rail, buses, and bikeways make it a prime one for development.
“If we de-industrialize this site, we make this whole area a virtue for the Greenway,” Pass said, “and not a place where people now hold their breath as they bike or walk through this area because of its bad smells and dangerous air.”