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Changing the world one person at a time

Mona Lindstromberg oils the squeaky wheels of government. "I found out the hard way that not only do the wheels of government grind slowly, those wheels may not grind at all if not given a good kick," Lindstromberg said in the LandWatch Lane County Fall 2004 newsletter.

By Karol Massey

Imagine that a 200-foot tall cell phone tower will be built on property right next to your backyard. Imagine that you believe that adverse health concerns raised about these towers are true. Imagine that you can actually stop the tower from going up.


Imagining can be the first step toward change. John Lennon knew this, which is why he wrote that famous song, "Imagine." Mona Lindstromberg knows it too. A cell phone tower was to be installed within a few hundred feet of her property in rural Lane County in 2001. But instead, she fought it. She then became part of a small Veneta group that opposed the ineffective cell phone tower regulations and guidelines. Because of her efforts, a new ordinance says that cell phone towers in Lane County must be located at least 1,200 feet from homes or schools.

In 2001, though, she has helped form Neighbors 4 Responsible Growth in Veneta. Since then she has battled with developers over development on wetlands, joined the board of directors of LandWatch Lane County, and last June, became president of the group.

Neighbors 4 Responsible Growth (N4RG) officially adopted a Veneta highway in February. With ODOT's help, the group has committed to picking up litter on the two-mile stretch four times a year for two years. On Feb. 12, the first pick-up, the group filled almost 30 bags of litter.

"We want to challenge other city groups to do this too," she said.

Theirs is the first volunteer highway litter patrol in Veneta.

Tall and sturdy looking, Lindstromberg has a calm demeanor except when she's angry about environmental issues. She insists, however, that she's not against all development, just against development that poses undue risks to the environment.

 


Mona Lindstromberg

"Everybody thinks that because I am speaking, that I am some radical out there that doesn't like cell phone towers, so that everything I say should be discredited too. But no, because, really, I agree with a lot of what the industry is saying, and they [government groups] haven't been responsive to them either," she said.

The group she presides over, LandWatch, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect Lane County farms, forests and open space from urban sprawl. It shares an office with two other landwatch groups, Friends of Eugene and 1000 Friends of Oregon.

As president, she works from five to 20 hours each week, depending on what issues arise. This is in addition to her paying job as a tax consultant, which is seasonal and allows her some free time in the summer months.

She emphasizes that she's part of a group effort. All 10 board members are volunteers. Jim Just, executive director of Goal One Coalition, who works closely with LandWatch, writes the arguments for their cases. The only paid staff member is Lauri Segel, who reviews all of the Lane County land use applications. Lindstromberg said the group wouldn't accomplish nearly as much without Segel.

"Her grasp of the facts and what's happening in the area is just phenomenal," she said.

Although there are many rewards, the most gratifying aspect of being an activist, Lindstromberg said, is that she demonstrates to others that they, too, can make a difference. The more people who know that one person can make a difference, she said, the easier it will be to actually make a difference.

"I try not to tell people of all the time and money and potential sacrifices," she said, then laughed.

Last year she and N4RG filed an appeal with the Land Use Board of Appeals to protest a variance that would have allowed several roads to be built within a proposed subdivision of Southeast Veneta, an area with a high percentage of wetlands. They won the appeal and the new plan was redesigned to have little or no impact on the wetlands.

"We really have to stop paving over the wetlands," she said.

She has occasionally faced criticism about her activism, she said there hasn't been too much of it. When she opposed the cell phone tower being built near her property, one of her neighbors who wanted the tower called her several times to complain.

 


Bob Emmons, Lindstromberg and Nena Lovinger

As part of her job with the land watch groups, she attends several meetings a month. In addition to City Council and Planning Commission meetings in Veneta, she often attends Eugene City Council meetings, County Commissioners meetings, and several others. Because she only has two to three minutes to testify at these meetings, she has learned to prepare clear, concise arguments.

Though LandWatch is primarily concerned with rural development, many city issues have significant effects on rural land, she said.

Currently, two of the most important environmental issues to her involve the region between Veneta and Eugene: the West Eugene Parkway and the recently approved county freight route on Highway 126, which is in disrepair and needs serious attention.

"No one wants to talk about problems between Eugene and Veneta, but until the [road] issue is solved, they should not be putting big box stores in West Eugene," she said.

Land swaps between city land and county land are also critically evaluated because they make development possible on areas once deemed beyond urban growth boundaries.

For LandWatch, Lindstromberg goes out to every land site that is under evaluation. She feels she must in order to make a determination about whether the group's criticisms are valid.

Recently, on a trip to a county approved development site next to Little Fall Creek near Lowell, she meets up with Bob Emmons and Nena Lovinger, board members of LandWatch who live close by. Looking at the site, the flags on the trees that tell where the house will be built and its close proximity to the creek, they discuss the situation.

"When the surveyor came out to assess it last July the water was too low," Lovinger told Lindstromberg.

"In 1996, the water was up to the road," said Emmons, who served as president of the group for three years. "It seems unconscionable to me that developers even allow building on flood plains."

Lovinger, secretary of LandWatch, said that fighting a development requires knowledge of local politics and legal issues pertinent to land use. In addition, the president must help people with land use concerns think through the steps of how to get information they need to make a decision. This is meant to help them decide if they want to allow the development or fight it.

Lindstromberg is focused, straightforward and committed to resource conservation and sound land use, Lovinger said. She also commands the respect of people she works with.

"She expresses her appreciation for the good work of others," Lovinger said. "She is a hard worker and never asks anyone else to do more than she herself is willing to do."

University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication