Ideas to improve life by the Green Line? There's cash for that

The Knight Foundation is putting up $1.5 million to help neighborhoods grow along the new Green Line light rail line.

The Green Line Challenge is taking applications for the money. The projects will be judged by a panel of community reviewers.

Projects could focus on improving business along the corridor, making neighborhoods friendlier to bikes and pedestrians or building relationships between neighborhoods, said Polly Talen, the Knight Foundation's St. Paul program officer. "We also expect to hear about innovative ideas that none of us have imagined yet."

The application process opens June 24 for a month. Green Line trains start running June 14.