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ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVITIES

This chronology describes only a smattering of the actions taken by St. Louis Park to further the cause of preserving mother earth.  Please contact us if you have any additional information or corrections. 

 

Environmental awareness hit its peak around 1972, although much of it turned out to be short lived. Eventually, of course, the experimental measures taken in the ‘70s were fully executed later on.

PLASTIC BAG CHRONOLOGY

First a chronology of the plastic bag, just because we have it.  In 1967, the advice given to Dustin Hoffman was "Plastics."  The development of plastic sandwich bags on a roll ("baggies") actually happened a decade earlier, in 1957.  Plastic dry cleaning bags came around in 1958, and in 1966, produce bags were introduced in grocery stores.  Plastic garbage bags first appeared in the late 1960s.  And people first had to decide "paper or plastic?" in the mid 1970s.  Today, Americans throw 100 billion plastic bags in the garbage - only 0.6 percent are recycled, even though bins are provided at most grocery stores.


ENVIRONMENTAL TIMELINE
 

At the turn of the century the Sugar Beet plant was having trouble disposing of the odorous refuse of the mill. They had been dumping it in the swamp and Minnehaha Creek and people living near the dumping sites were complaining of the stench and were threatening to bring injunctions to prevent the use of this method of disposal. The company did not feel that they could afford to install sewers to carry off the refuse because it would cost about $6,000.  A disastrous fire in 1905 solved the problem.


In the 1926 recodification of Village Ordinances, among the conditions prohibited were:

  • water pollution by sewage, creamery, or industrial wastes
  • noxious weeds and other rank growths of vegetation
  • dense smoke
  • noxious fumes, gas and soot or cinders

In recent times, as early as November 24, 1966, the headline in the Dispatch read "Air Pollution is Local Threat, Officials Say."  Dr. Ellen Fifer, City Health Officer, predicted that if we don't start to control air pollution now, "we could face a real health hazard within the next 20 years."  The pollution came from car exhaust fumes, trash burning, and industrial smog.  She advocated State action, since pollution didn't respect municipal boundaries.

In 1969, St. Louis Park became the only suburb with a strict anti-pollution ordinance.  Based on ordinances in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Pittsburgh, and Albuquerque, its provisions were a basis for the State pollution control law.  The St. Louis Park ordinance:

  • banned the burning of leaves. Before that, people routinely burned the leaves they had raked every autumn, sometimes in the street.
  • required polluters or possible polluters to be licensed
  • required a license for burning refuse, including apartment house incinerators; no more back
    yard burning barrels.
  • permits would be required for recreational fires and barbeques
  • anyone burning oil as fuel must have a license
  • asphalt plants, casting industries, foundries and smelters must be licensed
  • operations giving off particulate matter, including trucks hauling sand.
  • the ordinance included an odor clause, although the City wasn't sure it would stand up in court.

The hope was to make pollutant activities too expensive to continue.  The State law provided for financial incentives to reduce pollution.  It also made it illegal to remove anti-pollution devices from cars.  Opponents of the law included Reilly Tar and Chemical (Creosote plant), the National Coal Association, and the Minnesota Petroleum Council. 

Park High students Mike Stutzer and Sue Gale started Have Everyone Limit Pollution (HELP) in February 1970.  Their first focus was the creosote plant, which was under pressure to close by the city and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (which began on December 3, 1970). 


Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970.  The St. Louis Park Sun noted it only as the traditional Arbor Day that year.  Earth Day at the U of M was marked by a rally, teach-in, and workshops.  A High School Congress was held on April 25.

Woodsy Owl was created as the mascot for the first Earth Day.  Wikipedia gives both ad exec. Harold Bell and and Forest Ranger Chuck Williams credit for coming up with the idea.  But did they?  Or did Steven Ritt, a third grader at Aquila School create it as the winning entry in a school contest?  Ritt remembers clearly tracing his little hand to make Woodsy's feet.  We searched the paper for confirmation, but so far no luck.  We'll keep looking. 

Park High's HELP organized a variety of activities for 1970's Earth Day:

  • Information service center in the foyer
  • Cleanup of the school grounds
  • Action Day - urge students to pick up trash on the way to school
  • Pollution films in social studies classes
  • Teach-ins
  • Media Day - exhibition of student films and photographs of pollution
  • Talk by Bruce Watson, local meteorologist, to the entire student body on "Ecological Awakening"

On June 14, 1970, a new pollution law specifically defined pollution on the Ringlemann Scale, according to the Park High Echo.

On September 7, 1971, a Ban-the-Can ordinance forbidding the sale of nonreturnable containers was passed by the City Council after heavy lobbying by environmentalists. It was to be effective on September 1, 1972. Grocers objected to the move, and some on the City Council were loathe to take this step before surrounding municipalities did as well. The measure was postponed for three years, then repealed in 1975.


In 1972 Metropolitan Recycling opened a bottle and can Recycling Center at 1st Street NW and Walker Street on the old Creosote property. The director was Tim MacDonald, who said that the center paid for itself after the first year. The two semi trailers were donated by Theodore Hamms and Coca-Cola. The site, which was attended by handicapped personnel, accepted no newspapers or magazines. The Chamber of Commerce and the St. Louis Park Beverage Association built a heated shelter for the attendant. By 1974, the two semis were being filled every 10 days, but in 1975 the center was closed because business wasn’t paying expenses.


On May 5, 1972, a 13-hour telethon was held for clean water. Participants included Robert Vaughn, Roundhouse Rodney, Buster Crabbe, and Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert).


Bikes became more popular than ever in the mid '70s, with people biking to work instead of driving. It was also the beginning of the bike trail movement.


Park High's environmental organization in 1973-'75 was called Park Students for Environmental Protection.

In 1975, Minnesota's Clean Indoor Air Act is the first in the US to limit smoking to designated areas.

The State legislature outlawed pop tops effective January 1977.


In 1980 the State legislature passed the Waste Management Act, which mandated that 16 percent of the waste stream be recycled by 1990.


Minnesota Soft Drink Recycling opened in St. Louis Park in 1980. It started off slowly, but was picking up by 1982. The Center primarily made money on pop and beer cans – newspaper was recycled pretty much on principle.


The first citywide curbside recycling pickup was on April 16, 1984. A pilot involving 2,200 households had begun in 1982. Collections were made twice a month, at no additional charge to residents. The pilot got state and national coverage because of the high rate (50 percent) that residents used the program, as opposed to the 5-20 percent in Minneapolis. The initial system used three separate containers, which were purchased with Community Development Block Grant funds from HUD. Ours was the first city to achieve curbside recycling.  The League of Women Voters worked for eight years to get the program supported.  Surrounding communities such as Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie started their curbside programs in 1989.

In 1987, Hennepin County Chairman Mark Andrew named St. Louis Park the leading city (out of 46) in the County for its efforts to recycle glass, paper, cans, and yard waste. The City's volunteer curbside recycling program encompassed 12,000 homes.  Andrew pushed a bill to have a recycling program in every city in the County by January 1, 1988.

In 1989, the collection of newsprint glutted the market and the recycling company Super Cycle went out of business. Local community recycling went on hiatus while local governments worked on creating markets for the recycled materials.

On November 15, 1989, an ad in the Sun announced "We're Finally Open!"  Minnesota Resources had relocated to 5105 W. 35th Street in the Beltline Industrial Park.  The ad was actually a coupon one could use to sell aluminum cans for 5 cents per pound.

 

The Cedar Lake LRT Regional Trail is the trail that parallels Highway 7 through St. Louis Park. The portion of the trail that runs from Hopkins east to Beltline Blvd. was built in 1997. The trail section that runs from Beltline Blvd. east to where it connects with the Midtown Greenway was completed in 2001.

 

The North Cedar Lake Regional Trail was completed in 2000.

 



 

 

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.