common ground Connecting People, PLaces and Issues in the Twin Cites Region | spring 2010 VICTORY! East University Avenue Communities Win 3 LRT Stations! t a historic press conference on January 25, U.S. In the announce- Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, ment, LaHood along with members of our congressional delegation was quoted as Aand St. Paul and Ramsey County officials, announced that all telling the Stops three missing stations at Western Avenue, Victoria Street and for Us organizers, Hamline Avenue would be built by the completion of the Cen- “You’ve made a tral Corridor LRT line. difference and we ASANDC Executive Director Nieeta Presley and will use you as an Alliance Coalition Organizer Joan Vanhala The announcement was a major victory for the Stops for Us example across celebrate the Stops for Us Victory. Photo courtesy coalition, which has been advocating for the three missing stops of ASANDC. the country...that to serve transit-dependent communities along east University if you hang together, have great projects that are for the people, Avenue for years. The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability has and work with your delegation, you can make things happen.” been an active coalition member in organizing for transporta- tion equity within the Central Corridor since 2005. Working Through the skills and assets of its different members, the Stops with our coalition partners, we helped to organize community for Us coalition successfully brought attention to the inequities leadership, organizations and agencies to identify common of the Central Corridor plan by creating joint organizational goals and prioritize joint campaigns to leverage community strategies, mapping demographics, influencing public officials benefits from the development of the Central Corridor LRT. and federal gatekeepers, and persisting to change the outcome. The hard work of all the coalition and community members The addition of the miss- “You’ve made a differ- made it possible to include all three stations in the Central Cor- ing stops came largely as a ence and we will use you ridor LRT project. as an example across result of major changes in the country that if you how federal matching funds The great news for all residents along the Central Corridor and hang together, have great could be allocated to lo- future transitways in our region is that the FTA’s new projects that are for the cal projects. Responding to evaluation formula could put decisions about our region’s people and work with years of frustration from transit planning back in the hands of people who live and work your delegation, you can transportation planners and here. It will allow local plans for new lines and stations to be make things happen.” advocates, the Federal Transit influenced by our own region’s environmental, community and Administration has finally economic development priorities. The Alliance will continue elevated community livability and sustainability factors over to work with low-income people and people of color to ensure the former method which primarily took cost-effectiveness into their voices are heard when major decisions are being made consideration. about the future development of their communities. on the INSIDE Benefits of Public Exploring New Harrison Transportation Regional Neighborhood PAGE 4 Transitways Fights Disinvestment PAGE 6 PAGE 8 PAGE 2 COMMON GROUND SPRING 2010 Alliance for Metropolitan Stability 2525 E. Franklin Ave., Suite 200 From the Director’s Desk Minneapolis, MN 55406 Phone: (612) 332-4471 Fax: (612) 338-2194 Common Sense, www.metrostability.org Cost Effectiveness, The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability is a coalition of 26 & Community Benefits grassroots organizations that work together to advance racial, economic and environmental justice in the way January 2010 signaled the start of a new growth and development occurs in the Twin Cites region. decade – one that promises to be a truly transformative period relative to recent Executive Director— Russ Adams American history. The previous ten [email protected] Development/Communications Director —Tracy Babler years have been called “the lost decade,” [email protected] because the United States slipped behind other countries in terms Associate Director— Maura Brown of social, economic and public health indicators. American prestige [email protected] abroad dipped to alarmingly low figures, thanks to our intransigence Coalition Organizer— Joan Vanhala on foreign policy matters and reluctance to take meaningful steps on [email protected] important global issues. HIRE Minnesota Coordinator— Alessandra Williams [email protected] By the end of the decade, our country had plunged into a Great Reces- sion – with unemployment averaging 10 percent, and much higher for MEMBERS 1000 Friends of Minnesota communities of color. Massive government bailouts were provided to African American Action Committee the very financial institutions responsible for the banking and mort- All Parks Alliance for Change gage crisis that had led to the collapse of the economy. Those same Community Stabilization Project banks were busy providing year-end bonuses to their top executives Environmental Justice Advocates of Minnesota in 2009, while Congress failed to negotiate a much needed reform of Family & Children’s Service Fresh Energy our health care system. Fund for an OPEN Society Now more than ever, it While our country stayed mostly HOME Line Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy is important to recognize stuck in traffic thanks to our auto- Jewish Community Action where government is dependent transportation policies, League of Women Voters of Minnesota showing forward-thinking other nations deeply invested in Local Initiatives Support Corporation approaches and living up multi-modal public transportation Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers to its promise to benefit all systems – reducing their depen- Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing dence on foreign oil, clearing their Minneapolis Urban League communities. Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy air of harmful emissions, and laying Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance the foundation for more sustainable urban development patterns. Native American Community Development Institute Meanwhile, the U.S. wasted precious time because of our insistence Office for Social Justice, Catholic Charities on politicizing even the most common sense approaches to addressing St. Paul Area Coalition for the Homeless civic needs. Sierra Club, North Star Chapter Somali Action Alliance By early 2010, media pundits began suggesting that Americans had Transit for Livable Communities not just lost confidence in their political leaders, they harbored grave University UNITED Women’s Environmental Institute doubts and rising anger towards the federal government’s inability to make decisions that would benefit the lives of everyday working The work of the Alliance is generously people. supported by the following FUNDERS: Ford Foundation It would be easy to become disheartened in the face of all this bad Otto Bremer Foundation news. But now more than ever, it’s important to recognize where McKnight Foundation government is showing forward-thinking approaches and living up to Minneapolis Foundation its promise to benefit all communities. Northwest Area Foundation Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation We saw that type of leadership in St. Paul this month, when the Fed- Management Improvement Fund eral Transit Administration (FTA) changed its project evaluation rules, REAMP and suddenly, community benefits mattered! The FTA announced Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock and by individual contributions from people like you. that a problematic rule called the cost-effectiveness index would be eliminated as a pass-fail measure in evaluating federal matching fund- SPRING 2010 COMMON GROUND PAGE 3 Central Corridor Rail Line n io e t g a a t ll S i k V n a m B iu t d n s a o a t ti E S ta S 29th Ave Station GTON AVE SHIN WA Westgate Station on n ti io n ta at io S West Bank Raymond Ave Station St at wy n e St k io on v e P at ti Station A v on t ta ew A gt t S t S UN i ng n S S IVE rv lli xi e e R ai e e al c SI F n L D Ri State Capitol TY S AVE C E Downtown MINNEAPOLIS D n A io R St. Paul t S ta T S n st tio a ta The Alliance released two major papers l E S ito St n p h tio t Ca 0t ta o 1 S ep this winter that explore the failures and op- ar D 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 ST PAUL d on Ce ni n & U tio h ta portunities of recent federal transportation Miles 4t S decisions. Existing Station New Station Evaluating Our Transportation Future: How Federal Spending Influences Local Trans- portation Planning and What Communities ing for transit projects, in favor of a more balanced approach that also took Can Do About It land-use, social benefits and community livability into consideration. Federal guidelines have always played a major role in how transitways are devel- This change was great news for our nation’s future transportation planning, oped in our communities. Local leaders but it is even better news for the local residents and community groups often feel helpless when up against rules working to secure transit access for low-income communities of color along developed and enforced by officials in the Central Corridor. Within a week of the announcement, they were able Washington, D.C. This paper provides an to secure the three missing train stations they had demanded since pre- overview of the shifts in decision-making at liminary planning for the Central Corridor had begun. Citing civil rights the federal level, and how Twin Cities com- concerns and the need to serve the African American and Asian American munities can use these opportunities to play communities living along the Central Corridor, the federal government kept a role in shaping the future of our regional its word to the leaders of the Stops For Us coalition – equitable access to the transportation system.