Grassroots Green

Usually, when we hear the term "green building" we think in terms such as LEED certification. There are new LEED initiatives for building new residential housing developments, but these are usually fairly upscale neighborhoods. How can we rebuild neighborhoods with green and sustainable principles and methods? We have to redefine "green" and "sustainable" as these terms specifically apply to our core neighborhoods. There are some interesting projects already underway from which we can learn what works and what doesn't. Devastating as the Great Flood of 2008 has been to Cedar Rapids, it has also given us an exceptional opportunity to rethink how we do things and to rehab older buildings with a much more sustainable focus: Cedar Rapids GREEN - neighborhood by neighborhood - from the grassroots up.

Street Level Sustainability

November 1, 2008 - 11:08pm — Mike Richards

The Flood of 2008 in Cedar Rapids devastated the older core neighborhoods around Downtown Cedar Rapids. For one hundred years, these inter-generational, tight knit neighborhoods have provided modest, yet pleasant affordable homes. These are our working class, historic neighborhoods. Our City never officially designated these neighborhoods as historic districts, but the real fact is, the hands that built these historic homes are the very same hands that built the economic base of this City in factories, mills, machine shops and foundries.