At its monthly meeting last Saturday the Green Party of St. Paul and the 4th Congressional District approved the following resolution by consensus. It is in accord with the spirit of the the party's "Vision for St. Paul," developed in 2005.
Rhoda Gilman, Party Spokesperson
(651) 224-6383
GREEN PARTY OF ST. PAUL PROPOSAL FOR THE FORD PLANT SITE
Redevelopment of the 125 acre-plus Ford Plant site offers St. Paul a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help plan the city we want ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren to live in. This opportunity will be lost, however, unless we look beyond narrow commercial interests and today¹s unsustainable dependence on fossil fuel and apply vision and creativity to the site¹s development. The Green Party of St. Paul calls on the city to adopt a plan that enriches the civic, communal and cultural life of our community, while positioning it to meet the global climate crisis and realize the economic benefits that will come from taking leadership in the development of green technology and manufacturing.
Therefore, any plan for the redevelopment of the Ford site should include the following objectives:
SUSTAINABILITY. In keeping with the urgent need to make drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, redevelopment of the Ford Plant should aim for a site that achieves a negative carbon footprint.
ENERGY. In keeping with the first of these objectives, the proposed sale of the hydroelectric plant located on the Mississippi River on the western edge of the Ford Plant site to a foreign buyer should be halted and the plant purchased by St. Paul and operated as a municipal power plant supplying green energy to the former plant site and other areas of Highland Park. [Note: City Project Manager Merritt Clapp-Smith writes: "As point of information, the hydro facility sale to Brookfield has already been executed, with FERC approving the license transfer in late 2007. The Green Party had good company in its vision for City or community ownership of the facility."]
WATER QUALITY. The site should be redeveloped in a manner that improves the quality of the city¹s surface and underground water.
GREEN MANUFACTURING. A significant portion of the site should be set aside for a modular complex dedicated to green manufacturing. We would welcome public or worker ownership and operation of a facility for producing electric or hybrid vehicles if this should prove feasible.
JOBS. The Ford site should operate under a new Fair Agenda covenant requiring all businesses operating on the site to offer employees a Living Wage, including health and retirement benefits. The new development should have a minimum goal of replacing the hundreds of ³family sustaining² wages currently earned by Ford employees with an equal number of high paying jobs.
BUSINESS. The Ford redevelopment plan should encourage the location of locally-owned small and medium sized business operations on the site, with public funding in the form of tax abatements or grants restricted to companies that meet this criteria.
TRANSPORTATION. Redevelopment should do more than avoid making traffic in Highland Park worse and serve as a catalyst toward ending the domination of the personal automobile by transforming St. Paul into a city that boasts the most advanced multi-modal mass transit system in the world. In addition to foot and bike paths, and rail and hybrid bus based options, the site should also be home to a transit hub linking rail, bus, bike, and pedestrian routes, with a ³park and ride² facility to encourage motorists to get out of their cars and use alternative transportation. In addition, the development must be mass-transit friendly, with transfer stations accessible to all parts of the site.
RESEARCH & EDUCATION. Development of green technology and products represents the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st Century and beyond. St. Paul should take advantage of the state-of-the-art training facility already located at the Ford site by maintaining and expanding this facility to turn it into an R & D facility. In addition to focusing on ways to combat Global Warming, this facility should lead the way in creating innovative responses to climate change, as well as serve as a business incubator for locally owned companies offering green products and services. The facility, which is already the site of classes offered by MNSCU, should be opened up to the University of Minnesota, and other public institutions like the St. Paul Public School District and the St. Paul library system for use as a broad-based community resource.
OTHER OBJECTIVES. Since we cannot predict today exactly what needs and opportunities might arise over the next century, the site should be redeveloped with built-in flexibility, allowing future generations of St. Paul residents to respond to changing circumstances in ways that keep the city vibrant, viable and environmentally friendly.
