Ringing in the New Year
I’ve never been sure when it’s officially too late to say happy new year, but on the theory that we could all use more joyful greetings in our lives, I’m going out on a limb…Happy New Year! I hope you and your families are having a healthy and happy start to 2025.
Here in the Ward 2 Office, we’ve lost no time in getting to work on our priorities for the year ahead. These projects have been inspired by your feedback, your questions and your stories. Here are a few of the things we’re working on:
Social and Financial Resiliency. In a time of uncertainty at both the state and federal levels of government, we will need more than ever to be resilient, socially and financially. We need to be prepared to protect our community against unjust federal policies. We need to strengthen our social capital by creating opportunities for residents of all backgrounds to connect with one another and help one another. We need to be financially secure, with a budget and a long-term financial plan that reflects our values and that prioritizes needs over wants. We need to invest in our people and work more efficiently so that we can deliver the best possible service to our residents. I’m grateful for the many constituents who reached out during our budget process last fall to share your stories and to suggest creative ways in which we can conserve resources and increase revenue. We are going to be starting our budget work sooner in the year to allow us to look more deeply into those suggestions and prepare for bigger changes to our 2026 budget.
Greening our neighborhoods. Trees are the lifeblood of our neighborhoods. They shelter us, cool us, clean our air and mitigate the urban heat island effect which most impacts low-income neighborhoods. If we’re serious about reaching our climate resilience goals, we need to plant new trees and, just as important, we need to preserve the trees we already have. I’ve introduced an ordinance that will require that trees be preserved, replanted in place or replanted elsewhere in the city whenever the City contributes to the cost of any project on public right-of-way, such as street construction or maintenance. I’m hopeful that this will be an important step toward keeping St. Paul green.
Economic growth. Our future as a city depends on growth. We need to grow our economy by welcoming new businesses, services and jobs for our residents, and by retaining those that are here now. I’m proud that last year’s budget provided funding for an economic development strategy which will provide us with a blueprint for sustainable growth. We also created a $1.4 million Commercial Corridors Fund which will support small businesses along our neighborhood main streets, and I’ll be working to finalize the details of that fund and launch it this year. Nowhere is growth more important than downtown, which is the economic engine of our city. I’ll be part of a team advocating at the Legislature for a new conversion tax credit which will make it easier to redevelop underutilized office space into housing. I’m also excited to finalize a tentative development agreement with a developer at the Central Station site in the coming weeks. At the same time, we in city government need to put our people-power to good use by requiring that our office employees return to in-person work. Our frontline staff never had the luxury of going remote, and the absence of our employees downtown affects retail, hospitality and overall vibrancy. I’m glad that the administration will be making office work more of a priority in the first quarter of this year.
Housing Access. In addition to economic growth, we need to make it more affordable to live in St. Paul for people at all income levels, family sizes and stages of life. Our work last year to add funding for supportive housing and to create a toolkit for building accessory dwelling units (ADUs) moved us in the right direction. This year, we’ll be creating preapproved building plans for ADUs so property owners interested in adding dwelling units to their property can avoid costly design and permitting expenses. I’m also inspired by the articles I’ve read (thanks to those of you who’ve sent me recommendations!) about the opportunity to build new kinds of housing - housing that fosters connection and that works better for people living alone, recent college graduates, young professionals and seniors. I’ll be researching models such as local housing vouchers and cash payments, social housing and co-living to see what might be possible.
Public safety. Our most important responsibility in government is to keep people safe. That means making sure our police and fire departments are fully staffed and limiting our reliance on overtime, which takes a serious toll on both our budget and on the health and wellbeing of our first responders. Many types of violent crime were down in 2024 compared to previous years - including homicides, non-fatal shootings, robberies and car jackings - but we know that any level of crime is too high. In last year’s budget, we increased funding to add three new firefighters and also required regular reporting on police overtime spending. We also committed to create a new Public Safety Committee which will heighten our Council’s oversight not only of traditional law enforcement but also of the upstream strategies that prevent violence in the first place, like those led by our Office of Neighborhood Safety.
Improving basic services. The most mundane work of the City is also the most important work. Plowing snow (historically, anyway), filling potholes, removing graffiti, trimming trees, picking up trash and keeping the lights on are our primary responsibilities. It’s critical that our staff hear directly from you about how you’re experiencing our services and how we can do better. It’s also important that you get a chance to hear from staff about what they’re doing, the constraints they’re under and how you can best reach out when you need help. To that end, I’m looking forward to continuing my monthly theme-based community conversations on topics of interest to you. Please take our poll here to let us know what you’d like to talk about or who you’d most like to hear from in a conversation this year.
These are just a few of the ideas I’m excited to work on together this year. As always, please let me know your thoughts and what other ideas you have. Here’s to 2025!
January 2025