Editorial: GreenSteps moves city in right direction

Talk about it

It doesn’t take grand gestures to make a city more environmentally friendly. It takes a commitment to doing the kind of small things that add up over time.

That’s what the city of Rosemount seems to be doing. In recent years city leaders have taken steps to make the city’s streets and sidewalks friendlier to residents who choose to get around on foot or by bicycle. A few new bike lanes and some signs are not a dramatic change, but they might be enough to encourage a few more people to leave their cars behind for short trips in town.

The city’s new commitment to the state-run GreenSteps program is similar. There’s nothing in the program that will require the city to make a huge investment of cash or time. The city already did many of the things called for in the plan before it signed up. But the plan provides an outline of smaller steps and guidelines that will save the city time and effort as it looks for ways to make itself as environmentally friendly as possible.

GreenSteps guidelines include things like adopting “environmentally preferable purchasing policies” and planning city growth so it is as efficient as possible.

Some of the steps, like making city hall more energy efficient, could lead to savings down the line.

There is nothing revolutionary in the suggestions, but when you run an operation as large as a city government, small changes can make a big difference. Add them all up and they could be evolutionary.

That’s good for the environment, it’s good for the city and it’s good for Rosemount residents.

Tags: opinion, rosemount, editorials