Minneapolis and St. Paul
announced an economic development partnership last week aimed at boosting green manufacturing in the region.
Thinc.GreenMSP is a marketing and resource-sharing plan aimed largely at growing demand for products from local green businesses in the two cities.
"We think if we grow the demand for for their products, they'll stay and grow," says Cathy Polasky, economic development director for the city of Minneapolis.
The plan lays out five strategies. The first two involve getting the cities to adopt similar green buying and green building policies. Minneapolis requires its departments to buy green office and cleaning products whenever possible, but St. Paul does not. Meanwhile, St. Paul requires both government and city-funded projects to meet certain green building requirements, but Minneapolis only does so for government projects.
Other strategies include establishing a program to recognize green business leaders in both cities, exploring a potential green industrial park or parks, and creating programs and networking opportunities to help green entrepreneurs finance their businesses. The latter may involve helping new business owners network with private investors or tailoring existing city finance programs to better fit green businesses.
Polasky says the partnership will also include working with the private sector. She cited the city's recent work with the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce to create a green business-to-business networking group.
"We think we have a solid green environment here already," says Polasky, "and so we think that we have a good starting point to be competitive."
Source: Cathy Polasky, City of Minneapolis
Writer:
Dan Haugen