News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Monday December 22nd 2025
CCC: Applause, Applause
Raise Your Voice
By PETER MOLENAAR
Yes, yes, yes”¦!
In response to decades of popular mass action and the concerted effort of such stalwarts as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, President Biden has signed an executive order to create a Civilian Climate Corps. This CCC, reminiscent of the Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression, will train and employ (hopefully) millions of people in environmental careers. The restoration of public lands, parks, and waters”¦ storm water management systems, solar panel installations, toxic waste clean up, and urban garden development is foreseen.
Hey, with this new impetus, will the East Phillips Urban Farm proposal advance to transform the Roof Depot building? Better believe it!
Cautionary note:
“Small government”™ voices and associated militias will denounce this New Deal as “socialist tyranny.”
Again from the local front:
Our Powderhorn headquartered Land Stewardship Project deserves huge scoops of praise. LSP has developed and introduced a bill to our state legislature which dovetails perfectly with Biden”™s CCC. HF 701 will provide “motivating resources” to ensure that agricultural soil health practices are profitable from day one. “We can reach 100% soil health farming in Minnesota by 2040””clean our water, prevent erosion and run-off””sequester carbon [organic matter] as well as foster healthy pollinators, wildlife, people and more.”… Read the rest “CCC: Applause, Applause”
East Phillips Urban Farm Gets Much Needed Support from Council Vice-President Jenkins
By Grace Pastoor, East Phillips Neighborhood Institute Staff
Minneapolis City Council Vice-President Andrea Jenkins has come out in support of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute”™s urban farm project.
Jenkins initially voted for work on the City”™s Hiawatha Campus Expansion Project to continue but, she said, changed her mind due to COVID and other concerns. “2020 happened,” Vice-President Jenkins said on the SouthSide Mpls podcast. “Given the fact that there”™s a perception in the community that this facility would increase the amount of pollution in that area…given what we know about the Coronavirus, given what we know about how Native communities have had land stolen, I think this provides us, the City of Minneapolis, an opportunity to say ”˜Community: We hear you.”™” Jenkins, along with other local leaders, restated her support in a virtual event January 16.
The event featured short speeches by Jenkins, Senator Omar Fateh, Senator Patricia Torres Rey, and more. “After the effects of the Coronavirus that really deeply uncovered the systemic issues of racism in our society, and then the subsequent murder of George Floyd, I declared racism as a public health crisis,” Jenkins said. The East Phillips Urban Farm project is the neighborhood group”™s alternative to the City of Minneapolis”™ Hiawatha Campus Expansion Project.… Read the rest “East Phillips Urban Farm Gets Much Needed Support from Council Vice-President Jenkins”
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