Above: MCEA Land Use and Transportation Director Jim Erkel discusses with a Harrison Neighborhood resident what the various potential Bottineau D2 alignments would mean for his home along Penn Avenue.

Above: Phouthakannha Nantharath of the Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota translates and describes the Bottineau Transitway route for the audience

MCEA’s on-going efforts to engage, educate and inform the communities about forthcoming light rail transit projects is expanding in a new direction: linguistically.

Throughout 2011, MCEA created a Resident Survey which was distributed to participants in the Transit Workshops held in North Minneapolis and in Minneapolis’s Harrison Neighborhood. The survey was intended to capture the input, concerns, commuting patterns, travel mode and other relevant information from residents about the proposed Bottineau Light Rail Transit (LRT) line.

The present Bottineau LRT proposals being examined would both run along the northern boundary of Minneapolis’s Harrison Neighborhood, and depending on which alignment is finally chosen would produce either one or two LRT stops there.

With help from the Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota, the Resident Survey is being translated into Laotian to heighten the input of the Lao Community in Harrison. Future translations into Spanish, Somali and Hmong of the survey and public workshop input results are also imminent.

Engagement of the community on the potential benefits, impacts and changes that could occur is vital and breaking the barrier of language is an important step for a robust public input process.

On December 11, 2011, MCEA, along with a number of its partner advocacy groups was honored with the National Achievement in Environmental Justice Award from the Environmental Protection Agency. MCEA was a founding partner in the ‘Stops For Us’ Coalition working tirelessly over the past five-plus years at the grassroots, municipal, state and federal levels to ensure that additional transit stops. 

MCEA Land Use and Transportation Program Director Jim Erkel tracked local, state and federal transit policy action and funding mechanisms and participated in the development of the Central Corridor Development Strategy. MCEA’s GIS Manager/Community Planner Geoff Maas created a substantial body of detailed maps and graphics charting economic and demographic conditions as well as community assets to educate and engage the public and inform officials.

Their work and analysis was utilized widely by local groups promoting neighborhood protection, business retention,  affordable housing development,  and the unique needs of the University Avenue neighborhoods.  MCEA’s research and maps were also used by the EPA as an example on how to move forward with similar projects in the future throughout the nation.

The award ceremony took place on University Avenue at Gordon Parks High School. St Paul Mayor Chris Coleman was present to praise the community groups for their dedication to the process and the project and officially proclaimed December 11, 2011 ‘Stops For Us Environmental Justice Day’ in the City of St Paul. Executive Director Scott Strand accepted the award on behalf of MCEA, which was presented by EPA Senior Environmental Justice Advisor Lisa Garcia.