SOS supporters, many in green attire, waited well into the night for a chance to present their case to the
Parks & Recreation commission.
SOS supporters can be proud of the effort they made Thursday night at a packed Parks & Recreation Commission meeting at Palace Community Center. Among the highlights:
•
Loren Norén, leading off presentations on behalf of SOS, supplied hard facts on why the city's proposed plan for Summit Avenue is a bad idea. (You could say that data is her superpower; she's data scientist at Google.) Among her points: If we lose the 950 trees on Summit that our expert arborists estimate, the city will lose nearly $330,000 annually in climate benefits including stormwater filtration, heating and cooling impact, CO2 storage and oxygen emissions. Watch her PowerPoint presentation by choosing "The Case to Delay" on our resources page
here.
• Seven media outlets covered the action, with Jane McClure of the Villager and a photojournalist from KSTP TV winning the stamina award for staying until the 10:15 p.m. adjournment.
• Rebecca Pfeiffer, owner of Experience the Twin Cities, the largest tour company in the state, emphasized that tourism is a $16 billion industry in Minnesota, and one of the top attractions is Historic Summit Avenue. She said it should not be altered.
• National transportation safety expert Karen Sprattler warned that the bike trail proposed by the city is actually LESS SAFE than what currently exists, and could lead to more intersection-related conflicts with possibly tragic outcomes.
