FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2019
Contact: Liz Xiong
liz.xiong@ci.stpaul.mn.us
651-357-848
SAINT PAUL, MN - Today, Mayor Carter announced engagement opportunities for community members to learn about and provide feedback on the City of Saint Paul’s Climate Action and Resilience Draft Plan. The City aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and cut emissions in half by 2030. Residents and businesses are encouraged to attend three public forums and provide comments online in response to the draft plan.
“Preparing Saint Paul for the negative impacts of climate change will require urgent collective action,” said Mayor Carter. “We have laid out ambitious goals in Saint Paul’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan. Every member of our community is invited to help shape the plan and ensure we are building a sustainable and thriving city for us all.”
Attendees at the community forums can expect an overview of the draft plan, small group discussions, and an exercise simulating carbon emission reduction. Residents will have opportunities to ask questions and share climate issues that are important to them.
Times and locations for community forums:
- Tuesday, April 23, 6:30-8 PM at Saint Paul City School
643 Virginia St, St Paul, MN 55103
- Monday, April 29, 6:30-8 PM at Eastside Freedom Library
1105 Greenbrier St, St Paul, MN 55106
- Monday, May 13, 6-8 PM at Neighborhood House
179 Robie St E, St Paul, MN 55107
To view the draft plan and give feedback online, visit: stpaul.gov/climateplan.
In addition to City-sponsored events and online engagement, Russ Stark, Chief Resilience Officer, will also present the draft plan at district council meetings, congregations, business groups, and community organizations over the next several months. Feedback collected from in-person meetings and online will inform a final draft of the Climate Action & Resilience Plan, which is expected to be presented to the Saint Paul City Council later this year.
The prospective plan builds on decades of Saint Paul’s framework for community resilience. Recently awarded funding from the American Cities Climate Challenge, the City is accelerating actions to meet ambitious climate goals. The draft plan entails concrete initiatives with a suite of targets and actions to decrease emissions across every sector in the city. It also identifies ways to cultivate long-term resilience, enhance the natural infrastructure of the city, and promotes a vision for Saint Paul’s future with diminished threats of climate change.