East Phillips is part of the Phillips Community in Minneapolis, located between Bloomington and Hiawatha avenues, and includes the Little Earth residential community. East Phillips has one of the highest rates of asthma in Minnesota, primarily caused by a concentration of pollution sources (see this map). This is also one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Minneapolis, and the people who live here have household incomes generally under $35,000. The City has plans to use a facility formerly known as the Old Sears Warehouse in a manner that will bring more pollution, and that ignores a clean and well designed neighborhood project with numerous benefits to the people who live here.

The East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) has been fighting for community ownership of this 7.6 acre plot including the old Sears warehouse, to create an important community space, and reduce the impacts of environmental racism.

The EPNI has an ask for our Caucus members. Please help them out:

The City of Minneapolis will vote on the Roof Depot AUGUST 5, 2021. We need to flood the email inboxes of City Council ASAP. We only have a few days left to make our voices heard! If we stay silent, the City will tear down the building. When creating your comment, feel free to copy the Sample Script below or tell your own story of why this matters to you.

Please email Minneapolis City Council at Citycouncilmembers@minneapolismn.gov and epnifarm@gmail.com

Sample Email for City Council – Feel Free to Copy, Paste, and Send!

Dear Minneapolis City Council, East Phillips is Minneapolis’ most diverse neighborhood (83% BIPOC), but also one its poorest and most polluted. These community members have suffered from deadly levels of pollution in their backyards for generations: residents experience the highest rates of asthma, cardiovascular, and lead-poisoning hospitalizations in Minnesota. The Hiawatha Expansion will only worsen the public health crisis in this overburdened community. I oppose the Hiawatha Expansion Project in East Phillips and ask that the City preserve the Roof Depot building. Please support an alternative, community-owned proposal such as the East Phillips Indoor Urban Farm Project. Thank you for standing up for environmental justice and putting people before money!

You can find more information here at Urban Farm.

The EPNI website is here.

Caucus members, please note that this is not a city issue. Environmental racism in Minneapolis is an issue that affects all of us. The city council has to understand that the whole state is watching. You don’t have to live in the city of Minneapolis to care about the people who do live there, and you don’t have to live there to write an email to the council.

Goals of the East Phillips Neighborhood Initiative

Save, repurpose, and reuse the old Sears warehouse.

1. Create green, living-wage jobs for the community
2. Create second chance job opportunities and job training
3. Develop an organic, aquaponic, year-round food producing facility
4. Develop 30% AMI affordable family housing
5. Develop a world cafe/coffee shop run by neighborhood youth
6. Develop a community kitchen
7. Develop cultural markets
8. Develop a bicycle shop on the Midtown Greenway
9. Economic and environmental justice for East Phillips
10. Create an affordable new home for many burned out local businesess
11. Do all this while adding NO MORE POLLUTION!

Background and History of this Conflict:

In the 1990s, the Minneapolis Department of Public Works made plans to purchase the Roof Depot site, the old Sears building and nearby areas, to use it as a city maintenance yard. This was done without consultation with local community members. It is important to note that it is a long tradition in Minneapolis to involve the local neighborhoods, represented by neighborhood associations, in any planning.

In 2014, an alternative project, the East Phillips Indoor Urban Farm project, was envisioned when neighbors realized that the old Roof Depot site was up for sale. In 2015, the city allowed the Public Works department to purchase the land with the understanding that the community would have access to a good chunk of it, but since then, the City has taken over almost all the space and pushed out the community.

Last June, EPNI sued Minneapolis to have an environmental impact assessment done for the City’s project, and because the city had not properly applied for permits from the Minnesota Pollution Control agency. However, MCEA lawyers studied the environmental Assessment done by the city and said “Minneapolis is failing to account for environmental justice or climate change.”

Over the last several months, EPNI has gained the support of several (but perhaps not all?) City Council Members as well as a potential buyer. The city has now completed the Environmental Assessment Worksheet, but it is inadequate, ignoring important environmental impacts.

Please contact the city council and let them know that you support the wishes and goals of the EPNI!