The following article by Janet Moore was published in the November 3, 2015 edition of the Star Tribune

Southwest LRT Foes Channel Seuss’ Lorax in “Speak for the Trees” Event

Renee Jones Schneider, Star Tribune
The Kennilworth Trail alongside a current freight train track that has been a proposed route for the Southwest Corridor light-rail line.

Opponents of the proposed Southwest light-rail line are invoking the prose of Dr. Seuss to illustrate the harm they say the $1.77 billion transit project will inflict on the environment.

The Lakes and Parks Alliance (LPA), a local group that opposes the project, will hold a “Speak for the Trees” event on Saturday to protest the “destruction of 44 acres of Minneapolis urban forest” in the Kenilworth corridor, a popular bike and pedestrian thoroughfare.

The 14.5-mile line will link downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie beginning in 2020. The Alliance has sued the Metropolitan Council, claiming the regional planning body violated state and federal environmental laws in planning the project.

Saturday’s event will take place behind 2512 Upton Av. S., beginning at 10:30 a.m. There will be an 11 a.m. reading of “The Lorax,” the Dr. Seuss book that serves as a cautionary environmental tale. First published in 1971, the book chronicles the plight of the Lorax, a creature who speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler, who cut them down to make his product.

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Southwest LRT foes channel Seuss’ Lorax in “Speak for the Trees” event