Environmentalists and Fire Fighters Celebrate Earth Day with Movin' Out

Seven members of Fire Fighters Local 311 and seven staff from the Madison Environmental Group commemorated Earth Day on April 22 by transforming the landscaping surrounding one of Movin' Out’s rental properties in Madison. Their hard work--which included attacking tree roots buried in soggy clay--resulted in a beautiful and ecologically functional yard that includes a rain garden, new beds with flowers, shrubs, and trees, several inches of added top soil, and an enclosed dog-run.

“This is not your typical rental property backyard,” said the landscape designer, Laurie Rodgers, owner of Scapes and Structures. She created the design, supervised the team of volunteers, donated nursery stock, and also donated masonry improvements to the brick exterior. The house, itself, was transformed. Movin' Out replaced a leaky flat roof with a hip roof, improved the energy efficiency and safety of the furnaces, replaced floor coverings, repaired and renovated ceilings and walls, renovated or replaced cabinets, counters, appliances, and added accessibility modifications.

Contractor Doug Cummings, architect Jim Glueck, and Movin' Out developer Dave Porterfield oversaw this comprehensive set of improvements. Movin' Out purchased the home, a duplex with two bedrooms in each unit, in November, 2008, with loans from the City of Madison Community Development Block Grant Commission and Bank Mutual. The tenants are benefiting from these improvements with no increase in an already affordable rent of $600 per unit.