Postscript

So Much

I heard him yelling before I saw him. Was there a fight? Should I be worried?

When I finally saw him, he was standing alone in front of the church, his possessions loaded into a shopping cart. It appeared he was trying to navigate the steep hill. And he was yelling. His face was flushed and his voice loud. I walked until I stood on the sidewalk in front of him.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

He stopped yelling immediately. He looked sur- ernment entity. Not having to pay principal and interest on debt saves our taxpayers millions of dollars annually.

This has enabled the Dakota County Board to invest these dollars elsewhere – in roads, bridges, parks, public health and public safety, for example – while also holding county property tax increases to under two percent annually for the past decade. Mind you, Dakota County’s achievement is not simply due to prudent financial decisions. We also benefit from excellent partners, like local cities, with which we work closely to deliver necessary services. We are aided by an army of dedicated volunteers who provide more than $700,000 annually in donated service. Finally, we are extraordinarily successful at securing outside grants to fund projects and services. All of these diverse collaborations further strengthen our sustainability as an organization.

Environmental sustainability - On July 21, Dakota County received the nation’s he looked as though he had been living without a home for a long time.

“He said I was an animal!” top county award for environmental sustainability. While our selection for this prestigious award was largely driven by national attention surrounding our reintroduction of the American Bison in Dakota County’s Spring Lake Park Reserve, this hardly tells Dakota County’s full story on environmental sustainability.

His eyes darted past the clump of trees that delineates the church property. I could see no one. Maybe there was someone just out of sight. Maybe there was no one. It probably doesn’t matter.

I looked back at him. He looked as if he might cry.

“Well, you’re not,” I said.

More impactful will be when Dakota County’s upgraded turbines at the Byllesby Dam go online in a few months. The megawatts generated will add so substantially to our existing solar array that Dakota County will generate more than twice the amount of electricity that we use each year. I am not aware of any other county in the country that can make this claim. We also save more than $300,000 annually through efficient building design standards and operations and have dramatically improved the energy efficiency and cost effectiveness of our County fleet, including everything from squad cars to away as if I weren’t there, or they speak over my shoulder, never meeting my eyes. This man looked directly into my eyes and watched me closely. snowplows, while simultaneously reducing emissions.

“You are absolutely not an animal,” I told him firmly.

I saw his shoulders drop as if he was setting down a heavy weight. The person or phantom behind the trees seemed to be forgotten. He continued to look at me.

This is on top of an effort begun by Dakota County in 2002 to permanently preserve and protect top quality natural areas and wetlands countywide. To date, these efforts have resulted in nearly 12,000 acres of woodlands, wetlands and prairies permanently protected for current and future generations to enjoy. This has entirely been through acquisition from voluntary sellers, largely using outside grant funds and has been accomplished entirely without any use of eminent domain.

The County’s sustainability efforts also extend to environmental restoration. For example, one county project is underway in West St. Paul, where a lake and creek in the heart of the community will soon be fully restored and protected. Buried beneath the former municipal golf course and dumped on for decades before that, our Thompson Oaks Restoration project near Oakdale and Thompson will revital- there was nothing more I could do. ize green space, daylighting a long-buried creek and adding waterfall features, a boardwalk and looping trails to the County’s Riverto-River Greenway. This greenway stretches from South St. Paul to Mendota.

We all carry so much.

Lest anyone think the project is all for show, the largely grant-funded effort will also replenish groundwater, reduce downstream flooding and remove contaminated soil and waste, resulting in dramatic water quality improvements. This is key because the site handles 25 percent of West St. Paul’s stormwater. All told, various filtering features will prevent 45,397 pounds of sediment and 93 pounds of harmful phosphorus from reaching the Mississippi River each year, as well as untold amounts of trash, oils and trace metals that will also be filtered out.

The grand opening and ribbon-cutting for the Thompson Oaks Restoration project is set for 4 p.m., Monday, Aug. 21, and all are welcome to join us.

Carrie Classon CarrieClasson.com

prised, as if his yelling had been happening in a private place and he hadn’t expected anyone to notice. His eyes wild and his clothes torn,

He looked at me in a peculiarly intense way, as if to determine whether I could be trusted to tell the truth.

I’d seen this look from time to time in homeless people. Some won’t make eye contact at all. They look down or

I didn’t know what else to say, so I patted my heart and told him, “And I want you to know that I care.”

I held his eyes for a moment longer then headed home. He might have said something after that. It sounded as if he was trying to say something but I knew

All the way home and for much of that night, I thought about that lonely man with the shopping cart and his outrage at being called an animal. He was indignant and afraid and desperate for it not to be true and, maybe for just a moment, he was reassured it was not true because some random older woman on the sidewalk told him so. Life is so precarious sometimes.

Later that night, lying in bed, I told my husband, Peter, about the man and what I’d said.

“You are kind,” Peter told me.

I don’t know if that’s true or not but I know for certain that strangers have helped me when I needed help, and kind words have changed my day from terrible to something better, something more hopeful. I think of the many people I can never pay back and I hope I can pay forward some of the kindness I’ve been shown over all the years of my life.

More than anything, when I think about that lonely man fighting off his demons, I realize I have no idea how it feels to face anything as large or as terrifying as that man faces every day. And for that, I am terribly –and selfishly – grateful. Till next time.