coordination/collaboration : Development News

SPOKES, a new bike and walk center in Minneapolis’s Seward neighborhood, is preparing for its Aug. 22 grand opening.

The center, whose acronym stands for Seward People Operated Kinetic Energy, is housed in a 2,400-square-foot warehouse space on the former Bystrom Brothers machine shop site. This is also where property owner Seward Redesign, which is a community development corporation, is planning the Seward Commons housing complex. (See The Line story here.)

Last week, volunteers helped paint and set up workbenches and storage areas inside the shop, according to center director Sheldon Mains. Bike racks will soon be installed outside, he says.

The Seward Neighborhood Group is behind the center, which has been in the works for a couple of years.

Startup funds came from Bike Walk Twin Cities, a federal nonmotorized transportation pilot program administered by Transit for Livable Communities through the Federal Highway Administration, he explains. This funding is facilitated by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the city of Minneapolis, he adds. 

The center is part of a larger neighborhood initiative to “get more people biking and walking,” especially as a regular mode of transportation, Mains says.

Biking is more economical than driving and it’s a good form of exercise. “It can help build social connections, too,” he adds. 

The center will start out by targeting East African immigrants, who form a large community within the neighborhood. This is a response in part to a neighborhood survey that found that “what stopped people from riding was that they didn’t know how to,” he says.

Some people also said they couldn’t afford a bike or equipment, or they didn’t have a place to store it. “We’re trying to address those things,” Mains says.

Some helmets, bikes and Nice Ride bike-sharing memberships have been donated to the center, while the bike racks came from local manufacturer Dero. Seward Coop Market and Deli and Quality Bike Products have made contributions, as well.

The center is still looking for more used bikes to loan to low-income residents, he adds.  

SPOKES will also offer classesfocusing on basic riding skills, traffic rules, and bike mechanics. The shop will also host open work times for women, he says.

Plus, a bike repair station will be accessible 24 hours a day outside. “It’s a unique program,” Mains says.  

Source: Sheldon Mains, director, SPOKES
Writer: Anna Pratt

Too often, people pass by the businesses on Snelling Avenue, near University in St. Paul, without stopping.

As one way to change that, the African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS) group is leading an effort to brand the district that spans Snelling Avenue between University and Minnehaha avenues as “Little Africa.”

Soon, the Central Corridor light rail transit line will run through the area, but in the meantime, the construction has decreased foot traffic in the district and beyond.

Bruce Corrie, who is a business professor at Concordia University in Saint Paul, explains that the branding campaign comes out of the broader, nonprofit-driven World Cultural Heritage District. This emerged as a way to help businesses stay afloat during the light rail construction on University.

The idea is to make the area a destination for ethnic tourism. Here, “there’s a growing presence of African Americans,” he says, adding that it includes about 20 immigrant businesses.

Further, “African immigrant groups are very dynamic and entrepreneurial,” he says. “We want to capture that.”

It follows other similar branding efforts along different segments of University, including “Little Mekong” (see The Line story here) and the African American Cultural Corridor.

The districts would also relate to similar areas in Minneapolis and Brooklyn Park.  As it is, “There’s not a strong cultural infrastructure in Minnesota,” he says, adding that it’s an opportunity. “We’re trying to tap into the global market.”

While encouraging more people to come to the district, another goal is to “develop the cultural capacity,” he says.

Eventually signage will come to indicate the district visually.

“One challenge is to get the attention of policymakers,” to help bring more resources to the area, he says.

Recently the district rolled out a voucher program, offering $5 coupons to district shoppers. Also, the Snelling Café will host a free book exchange through its new Little Free Library, which it’s celebrating with a July 27 luncheon.  

Source: Dr. Bruce Corrie, Professor of Business in the College of Business and Organizational Leadership, Concordia University
Writer: Anna Pratt

To make the area more amenable to bicyclists, the Metropolitan Council has started gathering information about individual rides with the help of a smartphone app called CycleTracks.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority originally developed the app to improve its transit system. Recently the California agency licensed the Met Council, for a fee, to use the same program locally, according to council information. 

Using GPS technology, the free app, which is available to both iPhone and Android users, captures data about cyclists’ routes, distance, and travel times. The app also collects demographic information such as age, gender, ride frequency, and so forth.  

Jonathan Ehrlich, a senior planner with the council, explains: “We’re using it for transportation planning. We can get data about cyclists, what facilities they’re using, and for what purpose.”

“The app tells us everywhere a bicyclist has been,” he says.

It also distinguishes recreational bicyclists from commuters and others who bike as a primary mode of transportation.

This information will tell the council “what roads and paths are being used and what ones are being avoided,” he says.  

People can also add notes about their ride.  

Right now the app has a couple hundred users and the council hopes to get several thousand. “We’re very pleased with the response so far,” Ehrlich says.

The council is trying to get as much data as possible this summer and fall, to aid in a private study.  
 
Another senior transportation planner, David Vessel, adds that this is “a great way for regional cyclists to contribute to a more accurate model of cycling activity and improve the plan for future cycling facilities.”  

At the same time, “The app stores the ride map and stats for the cyclist on their phone too,” he says, adding, “It is a handy free cycle computer.”

Source: David Vessel, Jonathan Ehrlich, senior transit planners, Met Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

Last month, Cycles for Change, a nonprofit bike shop, celebrated its expansion along University Avenue in St. Paul.

The shop, which has been around since 2001, strives to increase bike access for low-income and underserved populations in the surrounding neighborhoods, according to its website.

It has grown a lot over the past few years, and it needed more space to accommodate that, according to development and outreach director Jason Tanzman.

To carry that out, recently the shop, which was formerly known as the Sibley Bike Depot, received a $30,000 grant from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. 

As a part of the project, the shop added 600 square feet to its existing 3,000 square feet, he says.

Through the project, the administrative area and workshop (where customers can work on their bikes), got more space, he says. The retail section moved to the storefront area while the walls got a fresh coat of paint and the floors were refinished.   

The shop has also been able to get improved signage for better street-level visibility, which is especially important considering the challenges of Central Corridor light rail transit line construction, he says.

Prior to the expansion, the bike shop was a bit out of the way in the building, he says.

Besides the phsyical changes, the place was able to increase its retail hours.   

All in all, the changes “enhance our ability to be a community organization and promote biking as a way to get around in combination with public transit," he says. 

Despite the momentum around biking right now, it can still be cost-prohibitive, especially for minorities and low-income people. “We need a level of intentionality about it so it’s not an upper-middle-class white thing, and that we’re able to expand the circle of who has access,” he says.   


Source: Jason Tanzman, development and outreach director, Cycles for Change
Writer: Anna Pratt

The recognizable blue tubes that once graced Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis, along the building’s exterior, are getting a new life.

The 16 tubes, which are 10 and 20 feet tall, had epitomized the building's style, which dates back to 1974, according to orchestra information. The tubes also helped with the lobby's ventilation system.  

Right now, Orchestra Hall, which is home to the Minnesota Orchestra, is undergoing a $40 million expansion project for which construction will wrap up next summer. Its new look didn’t include the retro blue tubes, according to orchestra spokesperson Gwen Pappas.

This got orchestra staffers thinking about what to do with them. Since the tubes are so well known, “We thought it would be neat to find life for them outside of Orchestra Hall,” she says.

So the orchestra turned to fans on Facebook, asking for their suggestions for how to go about repurposing them. “It was a whimsical thing,” she says. “There were lots of clever answers and it started to gather steam.”

Based on that feedback, the orchestra sent out a request for proposals on possible new uses for the tubes. The orchestra planned to donate the tubes. “We were hoping to find people with creative ideas, possibly musically related,” but that wasn’t a requirement, she says. “We also wanted to see a public component and have them be spread out geographically.”  

Out of a dozen submissions, the orchestra went with five that met the criteria and had practical implementation plans, she says.

The tubes, for which Mortenson Construction covered delivery costs, landed at the Anderson Center at Tower View, a sculpture park in Red Wing; a private home in St. Paul, where they’ll be used for a sound installation and bat house (yes, a house for bats), and Big Stone Mini Golf and Sculpture Garden in Minnetrista.

Separately, sculptor Peter Morales, who is affiliated with Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, plans to fashion a three- or four-legged blue beast with some of the tubes. Franconia received another 10 of the tubes.   

“It was a real connection that people felt for the tubes,” she says. “We feel really good about it.”  

 Source: Gwen Pappas, spokesperson, Minnesota Orchestra
Writer: Anna Pratt

This spring, Frogtown Gardens got to work on a new community garden at a former brownfield site in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood.

It took $3,000 to set up the 30-plot community garden, called Our Village Gardens, according to Patricia Ohmans, who is a spokesperson for Frogtown Gardens.  

Frogtown Gardens is a nonprofit organization that’s in the process of establishing a demonstration farm park and sanctuary in the neighborhood.

Financial support for the water, materials, compost, and mulch at Our Village Gardens came from Terry and Margie Commerford, who own the land, she explains. The couple runs the River of Goods home decor shop and Terrybear Urns and Memorials out of a new development on the site.

A combination of neighborhood volunteers and employees of the Commerfords’ businesses cultivate the plots, she says.   

The gardeners are a diverse group, including Hmong, Somalis, Latinos, Vietnamese, African Americans, European Americans and others. “There's lots of energy and cross-pollination among them,” Ohmans says.

“We still need to do a lot of beautification around the communal spaces of the garden,” including the butterfly garden, rose border, and raspberries, “but the garden is already a great success and a truly diverse stomping ground.”  

Frogtown Gardens also sponsors Amir's Garden, a permaculture demonstration garden on a vacant, privately owned lot, along with the Pop-Up Tree Park, which is a temporary tree nursery on a city-owned lot in the neighborhood.

Amir's Garden's excess produce will go to the local food shelf, according to Ohmans.

“We are also closely tracking the production of that garden, to get a sense of how much food can actually be grown on a household lot,” she adds.


Source: Patricia Ohmans, Frogtown Farms
Writer: Anna Pratt

Creative Citymaking, which is a collaboration of the city of Minneapolis and Intermedia Arts, recently received $325,000 from the national ArtPlace consortium for a project that gets artists involved in city planning.

It’s one of four local art projects for which ArtPlace is granting $1.3 million, according to city information.

Separately, ArtPlace also backed Irrigate Arts, which is an artistic place-making project that’s underway along the coming Central Corridor light rail transit line.

As a part of Creative Citymaking, four artists will be “embedded” in the city’s planning division next year. Over the course of a yearlong timeframe, they’ll work with the city’s planners on certain transportation, economic, environmental and social issues, according to Theresa Sweetland, who leads Intermedia.

Although the project’s details are still being fleshed out, the resulting work will get exposure throughout the year at various community events, including a final exhibit and forum at Intermedia.

The project builds on Intermedia’s work on cross-sector leadership training and its co-working space for artists, organizations and community organizers, she says.  

It dovetails with the city’s Plan for Arts and Culture, which the arts commission put together a handful of years ago. The idea is for the city and artists to come together to “explore creative ideas for addressing city problems.”   

It helps that right now, “Many artists are initiating discussions with community members around key civic issues,” she says.

Thinkers like Ann Markusen, Charles Landry and public artist Candy Chang have led the way with their philosophies “centering on the impact of people-oriented planning and the role of the arts and the creative process on developing vibrant urban places.”

One of the project’s goals is to bring more diverse communities into the fold.

Gulgun Kayim, who works on the city’s side of the project, says that both artists and city planners will get training on this process. It’s not about making public art, but bringing more social capital to the planning process, she says, adding, “It needs to be done in an intentional way.”  

‘We think it brings creative assets to the table,” she says. “The process of planning and art-making is similar,” she says. “Hopefully we get that crossover intelligence, and it makes us smarter.


Source: Theresa Sweetland, Intermedia Arts, Gulgun Kayim, city of Minneapolis
Writer: Anna Pratt

When he helped start the Experience Southwest marketing campaign to promote Southwest Minneapolis businesses, Matt Perry hoped it would lead to even more hyper-local branding efforts.

This has started happening at 50th and Bryant, says Perry, who is the president of the Nicollet East Harriet Business Association (NEHBA), which is behind the Experience Southwest initiative. Besides a website that features local businesses, Experience Southwest encouraged people to shop locally during the holidays, for example.   

This Saturday, an event called “Experience 50th and Bryant,” which goes from noon to 5 p.m., will celebrate the business node's movers and shakers. Each participating business is hosting mini-events, with special discounts, prizes, face painting, and more. (For a full list of participating businesses, check out the Facebook page).

It’s “a great example of a business district branding itself under the larger umbrella of "Experience Southwest,”” which Perry hopes will happen elsewhere.

As an example of the activity at this intersection, he says, in April, the George and the Dragon Pub opened up. Patina, which had closed temporarily after a fire, has reopened.  

Nearby, a new restaurant is coming to the intersection this fall, called The Lynn on Bryant, he says.

Zinnia Folk Arts recently took over a separate space. Kasia Organic Salon and The Malt Shop helped lead the charge on the event.  

Between the old and new businesses, “There’s a nice mix of eateries and retail, which is the perfect recipe for an attractive business node,” in which people can go from one place to another, he says.  

Through the event, “This is a chance for people to say, ‘Wow, things are happening again at 50th and Bryant,’” he says. “It’s again becoming a destination spot.”

It demonstrates “how new and long established businesses, working together, can fuel renewed interest in a business node,” he says.

 
Source: Matt Perry, president, NEHBA Business Association
Writer: Anna Pratt

Close to midnight on June 9, up to 1,000 bicyclists will be outfitted with special LED lights that will create a synchronized spectacle across the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis.

This experiment/public art display, which is part of the arts-geared Northern Spark Festival that will go all night in Minneapolis and St. Paul, is called, “The Kuramoto Model (1000 Fireflies).”  

The artist/techie behind it, David Rueter, an MFA candidate in art and technology studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, explains that whenever the lights blink, they broadcast a radio signal. As the lights "hear" each other, they begin to blink in synchronized patterns. By themselves, they look like regular LED cycling safety lights,  “but in groups, they exhibit an immediately noticeable and striking phenomenon,” a statement about the project reads. Reuter explains that the lights “can adjust or form a consensus” visually. “These lights are always listening.”

The project takes its name from Yoshiki Kuramoto, who pioneered research along these lines, Rueter says. He hopes that the bike ride/public art display will reveal the connections between individuals “and what amounts to a system of urban cycling, and connections that exist, whether or not they’re intentional.” He’s interested in seeing how that “transforms the way people perceive cycling,” and how it “changes the flow of cyclists.” For starters, it “alters the social rules of proximity. Different ways that people form in groups will be unveiled. It’ll change the way people approach interacting on bikes,” he says.

Well after the festival, people may continue to use them, and have chance encounters with each other.

It’s encouraging having the support of those who contributed to his $1,000 Kickstarter campaign, he says. “Everyone seems to latch onto the idea,” he adds. “Their imaginations run wild.”   


Source: David Reuter, Kuramoto Model Project
Writer: Anna Pratt

In a unique partnership with the Starling Project, the St. Anthony Park Community Council (SAPCC) is temporarily reimagining a vacant storefront space on University Avenue in St. Paul.

The Starling Project facilitates such “meanwhile uses” of empty spaces along the avenue’s portion of the Central Corridor light rail transit line, according to project materials.

Even though the bulk of the construction here has wrapped up, shoppers are still avoiding the area, according to Amy Sparks, who heads SAPCC.

To take advantage of the space, SAPCC and Starling are on the lookout for entrepreneurs, artists, and other creative types to fill the place.

Tenants will fill the 1,200-square-foot pop-up shop for anywhere from one to four weeks.

Renters should engage the public in some way, such as through a one-time event, open studio hours, or an interesting window display, according to a prepared statement about the project.

So far, the space has a few takers, including Irrigate Arts, which is leading the charge on numerous artist-led placemaking projects along the light rail line. Irrigate will have an exhibit in the space that documents these efforts.

Sky View, which is an aerial photo workshop and gallery, will also have a presence there.

Last month, an art show called Art du Nord occupied the former frame shop.  

Ultimately, the neighborhood group sees the rotating uses as a way to bring life to the avenue, according to Sparks. “We want to see University Avenue thrive and help keep businesses going.”     

It’s also a creative way to find a permanent tenant for the space.

More broadly, the project calls attention to the neighborhood’s Creative Enterprise Zone, which is an in-progress arts district-like designation. It's all about strengthening the local creative community, she explains.

Sparks hopes these types of events will “build up awareness of the area, so people start to recognize it as a creative area and want to locate here and do business here.”

As such, the group is trying “to get the right developments in,” and keep office space affordable. “It makes the Creative Enterprise Zone more real and tangible,” she says.

Source: Amy Sparks, executive director, SAPCC
Writer: Anna Pratt

The Minnesota African American Museum and Cultural Center, which has been in the works for a handful of years, had its grand opening in Minneapolis’s Stevens Square neighborhood on June 2.

The museum, which is housed in the historic Coe Mansion, is about “celebrating and presenting African American history for all populations,” its website states. 

Roxanne Givens, one of the museum's founders, credits the local community for coming up with the idea. Many people "felt not having a record of the many contributions African Americans made to Minnesota history and beyond, was a major impediment to community engagement, self-esteem and achievement,” the website states.

The concept was there, and a place was needed to “fulfill our mission of a sustainable History and Cultural museum of Local, National and International importance.”

In answer to that, one day Givens and another founder, Harry Davis, wound up near the 1880s Queen Anne-style mansion by chance. It struck them both as the perfect venue for the museum they'd been talking about, according to its website.

To make it a reality, Givens spearheaded a $6 million capital campaign for building renovations. This included improvements that would accommodate exhibits in the space, while also allowing for accessibility. At the same time, the building's historic designation meant that its defining characteristics had to be left intact, the website explains.

Currently, exhibits in the space cover black baseball, the state's African-American pioneers, and African folktales.

The children’s space, which takes up an entire floor, includes an interactive learning and play space, reading lounge, library, high-tech touch-screen exhibits, and artifacts.  

Yet to come is an adjoining cultural and educational center that will have state-of-the-art technology, learning labs, a genealogy center, community gallery, oral history center and more, it states.

City Council member Robert Lilligren, who represents Ward 6, which includes the museum, says he's been supportive of the project since the get-go. Further, the Stevens Square community has "welcomed it with open arms as a cultural asset," he says. "They think it's a very positive addition to the neighborhood."

On a broader level, it enhances "a whole string of cultural assets along Third Avenue," which also includes several other museums.

Also, from a historical perspective, "The center swath of South Minneapolis was the first part of the city to integrate racially," so it's appropriate that the museum go there, he says.


Source: Minnesota African American Museum and Cultural Center; Robert Lilligren, Minneapolis City Council
Writer: Anna Pratt

Ice House Plaza, which opened last month in Minneapolis, brings greenspace to a newly redeveloped commercial complex in the Whittier neighborhood.

“Busk until Dawn,” which features all kinds of acoustic music, spoken word, comedians and buskers, will take over the plaza on June 9, from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.

The event is a closing party to the six-week Artists in Storefronts Project, which put artist-created displays in vacant storefronts throughout the Whittier neighborhood, according to Joan Vorderbruggen, who lead the pilot. (See The Line story here.)

Vorderbruggen will also be giving “light saber”-lit guided walking tours of the storefronts that evening.

The event is also a part of the Northern Spark Festival, which features all kinds of overnight creative events across Minneapolis and St. Paul.

“Busk until Dawn” sponsors include the Whittier Alliance, Eat Street Social, Dunn Bros. and The Lost and Found thrift store, according to Vorderbruggen.  

A much-needed greenspace
Vorderbruggen hopes that the cultural event is the first of many in the Ice House Plaza.

Calling it “a great addition to the neighborhood,” she says that the plaza is an upgrade from the previous “tired retail space,” which had “multiple failed businesses.”

It’s ideal for concerts and picnics or just taking a lunch break, she says.

The plaza is also a benefit for the many neighborhood residents, such as her self, who live in apartments, and don’t have yards. Too often, greenspace is neglected, especially in a commercial corridor, she says.

In the plaza, there are tables and chairs, benches and other areas to congregate.  

Among its design elements are sizable stones came from the Great Metropolitan Building, which was demolished in the 1960s, according to the TC Daily Planet.

Stones are also the prominent element in a stone sculpture in the plaza titled, “White Angel,” from local artist Zoran Mojsilov, the story states.

All in all, “I think it’ll draw people out and be a place where people want to spend time,” she says, adding that it builds community and benefits local businesses.   

Source: Joan Vorderbruggen, Artists in Storefronts Project
Writer: Anna Pratt

If all goes as planned, the bygone Caribe Caribbean Bistro could come back in a new form in Northeast Minneapolis.

The former St. Paul restaurant closed last year during Central Corridor Light Rail Transit construction.

Co-owner Heidi Panelli and her husband, Tony, want to reopen the restaurant in the former Amici Bistro space.

To do so, the couple is trying to raise $50,000 in donations through Kickstarter. Their web-based campaign, which started May 14, goes through June 13.  

Funds will go to “the bare bones of getting the place turned into a big art project,” including signage, décor, furniture, equipment, and promotional materials, explains Panelli.

She’s encouraged by the fact that Kickstarter has helped get a couple of other local eateries up and running.

The new space will allow for a bigger kitchen, which means the restaurant will be able to expand its menu, she explains.  

Like the old place, the restaurant would sport bright colors. Panelli plans to paint a mural on one wall that will picture the sun over water, with mirror pieces creating a reflective effect. Another mural would include the names of backers who contribute $100 or more, she says.

The couple has been getting ideas from thrift-store finds. They want the restaurant to resemble an island food stand, but without being too gimmicky, she says.  

She hopes it becomes a “destination location nestled in a neighborhood.” This particular neighborhood alcove “fits our vision perfectly,” she says.  

The couple will be on hand at the June 2 Johnstock annual festival on Johnson St. to share their plans with the public and to give out food samples. They’ll also be showing up on June 7 at the Chowgirls Parlor as a part of the Northrup King building's "first Thursdays" open- studio event.  

Source: Heidi Panelli, Caribe
Writer: Anna Pratt

One day on a whim a couple of years ago, Jesse Jamison, who’d reluctantly joined Facebook, decided to start a group page that’s dedicated to Old Minneapolis.

Jamison, a history buff, saw it as a fun outlet “for me to go back in time in the city I love,” he says.  

At the time, he had no idea the page would take off the way it has, with thousands of “likes,” especially since he didn’t advertise it anywhere.

Right away people started sharing all kinds of anecdotes and details about the city’s past. “I don’t even know how it happened, but very quickly there were thousands of people there, and everyone was contributing great stuff,” says Jamison. “The photos are great but the stories people tell are priceless.”

Jamison, whose family is from the North Side, remembers his father's colorful tales of the city, going as far back as the 1930s.

He also has stories of his own. At the age of 13, he and a friend took a bus to downtown Minneapolis, not realizing it would end up there, he says. 

Afterward, they returned to downtown on the weekends. They liked to walk around “looking at everything,” he says, adding, “The city was so alive and exciting. I never wanted to leave.”  

Years later he got a downtown apartment, which he describes as a “cockroach-filled dump right behind the Basilica. It was horrible but it was downtown and I loved it.”

Besides reminiscences, the Old Minneapolis group has also been valuable for crowdsourcing historical information. Whenever there’s a question about the date of a photo or the address of a shuttered business, the page’s supporters “get together like a pack of history detectives, and in most cases, solve the mystery,” he says. “I’ve learned so much more about this great city from the contributors of this page.”

On the page, he tries to keep a mix of locations and time periods so that nobody gets bored, he says.  

Going forward, Jamison hopes that the page keeps growing and reaching more people, including “the older, nostalgic ones, and the younger ones who are just discovering Minneapolis' history,” he says.  

Source: Jesse Jamison, Old Minneapolis
Writer: Anna Pratt

On June 2, Minneapolis’s Kingfield neighborhood is hosting a tour of several new solar projects at local businesses.

The tour includes Quality Coaches, Twin Town Guitars, and Pat’s Tap; tour participants can check out the businesses at their own pace.

TenKsolar, which developed the solar arrays, will be on hand displaying solar models at each stop. There’ll also be other activities at each site, including live music and a solar oven cooking demonstration.  
 
A $10,000 city climate change grant that the Kingfield Neighborhood Association (KFNA) received last year enabled a couple of the projects, according to Sarah Linnes-Robinson, the executive director of KFNA. Around the same time, Pat’s Tap pursued its solar installation independently, she says.
 
Through the project, she says, “Our goal was to remove barriers for small businesses to install solar.”
 
In some cases, solar installations can mean a lot of upfront costs, but in the end, “people are saving money,” she says. “We want to highlight that this is doable,” even for private homes. 

To help introduce area businesses to solar technology, the neighborhood group started out by identifying 24 possible candidates for the installations.
 
From there, the neighborhood group educated business owners, many of whom rent their buildings, about what solar projects entail. KFNA ended up paying for solar assessments at 10 of those sites. At that point, “It was their decision to proceed or not,” she says. 
 
Further down the line came energy audits for those businesses that wanted to move forward. Later on, when it got down to two businesses, both had to do a lot of roof work to prepare for the solar array. “There was a lot for the businesses to figure out,” she says. 
 
Today, “These businesses are even further invested in their community.”  
 
Linnes-Robinson is hoping that families that are thinking of turning to solar energy will join business owners on the tour.
 
 
Source: Sarah Linnes-Robinson, KFNA
Writer: Anna Pratt