Anthony Smith
Name: Anthony Smith
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: N/A
Campaign Website: AnthonySmithWSP.com
Twitter handle: N/A
Facebook Page: N/A
Candidate Bio
As a medical device engineer I have experience with balancing the needs of rigorous processes, data driven decisions, and good financial investments. I understand the complexities of aligning stakeholder interests and staying profitable as a company. I will bring a decade of experience in prudent capital allocation to serve the people of West St Paul.
What style of leadership would you bring to this position?
Detailed, data driven decision making. Prudent stewardship of resources.
What would be your top three priorities if elected? How might these priorities be affected by the state's projected economic outlook?
Three questions in and I’m already a broken record haha.
What do you consider the biggest challenge and conversely, the biggest opportunity in West St. Paul?
The same thing: how to preserve and emphasize the heritage of the city in a financially responsible manner.
Please characterize your perspective on the ideal collaboration between government and the business community when it comes to tackling challenges whether they be education, housing, or workforce development. Do you feel the outcomes of the 2023-2024 legislative session positively or negatively impacted that collaboration and our state's business climate?
The needs of the voters and businesses cannot be untangled, but there are clever ways to help both to flourish. Uncertainty reduction for businesses so they can make long-term investment decisions should be the priority of the government in their collaborations. I feel like the previous year brought more uncertainty than the last and it’s difficult to justify not just business, but municipal outlays as well when there’s little telling if future conditions will make those investments play out.
How would you characterize the business climate in West St. Paul and what role do you think the city should have in attracting and retaining jobs and new businesses in West St. Paul?
The current business mix makes densification difficult. Long-term strategies should look at means to continue to densify the business areas of the city without diminishing the character that many here have come to love.
What are your strategies to address public safety challenges in your community?
On the city council there are only so many direct actions I could make. I would say that in addition to criminal activity there are tangential aspects of safety such as walkability, and leading indicators of safety like housing affordability, that directly contribute to overall outcomes.
What ideas do you have to address housing shortages and affordability?
In engineering there’s a concept of “low-hanging fruit” where a new product line can often return easy savings because there are many improvements to be made. Once that line has been improved, it becomes incrementally more difficult to make improvements. Densification, urbanization, re-zoning, and many other ideas are old lines: there’s many capable consultants and planners who are implementing the easy wins in those areas. I hope to focus instead on another source: city spending. 30% of my housing costs are property tax. Landlords have little choice but to pass on property tax expenses to renters. By making better investment decisions—looking at ROI instead of how much will fit in the budget—I believe we can pick some low-hanging fruit for the people of this city
How would you work to improve transportation options in your community, including improved safety for transit riders, pedestrian/bike, and drivers alike?
I biked and rode public transit for many years, all through college, not even acquiring my driver’s license until I was 21, as I always made it work with public systems. They are not without their “charming” quirks. Some may have heard of the Strong Towns movement. I have been following that crowd for many years and hope to bring some of the innovations from that movement to West St Paul. With plenty of experience as a consumer of public transit and bike infrastructure, I would bring a wealth of first-hand experience to the team.
Cities have addressed many ongoing needs with temporary, federal COVID relief dollars, what are your plans to ensure fiscal stability as these federal, one-time funds run out?
It was irresponsible to be in a position where the only way to meet needs was with temporary relief. We need better decision makers at the helm so that this community can be cared for long-term, whether or not additional relief is available. I bring the needed experience to make that happen.
Uber/Lyft wages and proposed childcare subsidies funded by local property taxes are just a few areas where local units of government are wading into policy debates that may be best suited at the state. Please articulate the different scopes of work between state and local government (City/County). Are there specific areas of policy that the city should lead on in lieu of the state or county government?
I would rather ask are there any specific areas the citizens of WSP can afford to lead on? I hear the plight of rideshare drivers but I don’t feel it necessary to subsidize the wages of those in other cities with the tax dollars of WSP constituents. As a father, I feel the difficulties of childcare first-hand but don’t see the need for the government to get involved. Solutions exist for these issues, but I do not believe them to be in the purview of a city councilman. Return the money to the people so they can afford these services themselves, or other unmet needs that don’t have the visibility or political valence to reach a bureaucrats desk. Getting a city government involved would just add the salaries of a dozen city staffers to the already high costs of these services.
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: N/A
Campaign Website: AnthonySmithWSP.com
Twitter handle: N/A
Facebook Page: N/A
Candidate Bio
As a medical device engineer I have experience with balancing the needs of rigorous processes, data driven decisions, and good financial investments. I understand the complexities of aligning stakeholder interests and staying profitable as a company. I will bring a decade of experience in prudent capital allocation to serve the people of West St Paul.
What style of leadership would you bring to this position?
Detailed, data driven decision making. Prudent stewardship of resources.
What would be your top three priorities if elected? How might these priorities be affected by the state's projected economic outlook?
Three questions in and I’m already a broken record haha.
What do you consider the biggest challenge and conversely, the biggest opportunity in West St. Paul?
The same thing: how to preserve and emphasize the heritage of the city in a financially responsible manner.
Please characterize your perspective on the ideal collaboration between government and the business community when it comes to tackling challenges whether they be education, housing, or workforce development. Do you feel the outcomes of the 2023-2024 legislative session positively or negatively impacted that collaboration and our state's business climate?
The needs of the voters and businesses cannot be untangled, but there are clever ways to help both to flourish. Uncertainty reduction for businesses so they can make long-term investment decisions should be the priority of the government in their collaborations. I feel like the previous year brought more uncertainty than the last and it’s difficult to justify not just business, but municipal outlays as well when there’s little telling if future conditions will make those investments play out.
How would you characterize the business climate in West St. Paul and what role do you think the city should have in attracting and retaining jobs and new businesses in West St. Paul?
The current business mix makes densification difficult. Long-term strategies should look at means to continue to densify the business areas of the city without diminishing the character that many here have come to love.
What are your strategies to address public safety challenges in your community?
On the city council there are only so many direct actions I could make. I would say that in addition to criminal activity there are tangential aspects of safety such as walkability, and leading indicators of safety like housing affordability, that directly contribute to overall outcomes.
What ideas do you have to address housing shortages and affordability?
In engineering there’s a concept of “low-hanging fruit” where a new product line can often return easy savings because there are many improvements to be made. Once that line has been improved, it becomes incrementally more difficult to make improvements. Densification, urbanization, re-zoning, and many other ideas are old lines: there’s many capable consultants and planners who are implementing the easy wins in those areas. I hope to focus instead on another source: city spending. 30% of my housing costs are property tax. Landlords have little choice but to pass on property tax expenses to renters. By making better investment decisions—looking at ROI instead of how much will fit in the budget—I believe we can pick some low-hanging fruit for the people of this city
How would you work to improve transportation options in your community, including improved safety for transit riders, pedestrian/bike, and drivers alike?
I biked and rode public transit for many years, all through college, not even acquiring my driver’s license until I was 21, as I always made it work with public systems. They are not without their “charming” quirks. Some may have heard of the Strong Towns movement. I have been following that crowd for many years and hope to bring some of the innovations from that movement to West St Paul. With plenty of experience as a consumer of public transit and bike infrastructure, I would bring a wealth of first-hand experience to the team.
Cities have addressed many ongoing needs with temporary, federal COVID relief dollars, what are your plans to ensure fiscal stability as these federal, one-time funds run out?
It was irresponsible to be in a position where the only way to meet needs was with temporary relief. We need better decision makers at the helm so that this community can be cared for long-term, whether or not additional relief is available. I bring the needed experience to make that happen.
Uber/Lyft wages and proposed childcare subsidies funded by local property taxes are just a few areas where local units of government are wading into policy debates that may be best suited at the state. Please articulate the different scopes of work between state and local government (City/County). Are there specific areas of policy that the city should lead on in lieu of the state or county government?
I would rather ask are there any specific areas the citizens of WSP can afford to lead on? I hear the plight of rideshare drivers but I don’t feel it necessary to subsidize the wages of those in other cities with the tax dollars of WSP constituents. As a father, I feel the difficulties of childcare first-hand but don’t see the need for the government to get involved. Solutions exist for these issues, but I do not believe them to be in the purview of a city councilman. Return the money to the people so they can afford these services themselves, or other unmet needs that don’t have the visibility or political valence to reach a bureaucrats desk. Getting a city government involved would just add the salaries of a dozen city staffers to the already high costs of these services.