FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 21, 2025
CONTACT
Jennifer "JLor" Lor
JLor@ci.stpaul.mn.us
(651) 417-9454
SAINT PAUL – Today, Mayor Carter delivered the 2025 State of Our City Address at the North End Community Center, lifting up housing growth and investments into the city’s downtown infrastructure. He also highlighted significant public safety progress and announced a citywide summit to address fentanyl and the opioid crisis.
Innovative Community-First Public Safety strategies and the Saint Paul Police Department’s new non-fatal shooting unit have contributed to higher case clearance rates, a decrease in violent crimes, and, as of April 21, zero gun-related homicides.
“Even as we make progress in so many other areas, a new emergency is testing the limits of our Community-First framework: the largest drug epidemic of our lifetimes,” Mayor Carter said, adding a citywide conversation later this year will bring “policy makers face-to-face with doctors, neighbors, people with lived experience, and anyone else who can help.”
Mayor Carter also touched on housing, reiterating the city’s all-in housing framework ensures “the belief that we all deserve a safe, stable, affordable place to live—and that housing justice demands housing inventory.”
Other key success from 2024 include:
- Purchasing Minnesota’s first electric fire engine and sharing plans to purchase a second with a grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
- 731 new affordable homes, including 255 deeply affordable units for families earning 30% of the area median income
- Common Cent investments upgraded 70 Parks and Recreation improvements totaling $11.5 million, with another incoming $11.8 million to complete the resurfacing of courts and fields, new playgrounds, fresh concrete, and activated spaces across the city
- Commitment of nearly $24 million to improve 50 miles of roads, making streets and sidewalks safer to walk, bike, and drive