Melvin Carter III
Name: Melvin Carter III
Public Office Sought: St. Paul Mayor
Campaign Phone: (763) 381-1335
Campaign Website: www.melvincarter.org
Twitter Handle: @melvincarter3
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelvinWCarterIII
Candidate Bio
I am the son of a retired Saint Paul police officer and a former teacher who now serves as Ramsey County Board Chair. I am a fifth generation Saint Paul resident, a proud graduate of our local public schools, and a parent raising children in our city.
I’ve sought to ensure that opportunity exists in Saint Paul, and to ensure that residents in every part of our city can connect to the prosperity our city has to offer. We have raised the minimum wage, eliminated library late fines, provided over $4 million to families and businesses struggling through the pandemic, prioritized housing investments, and launched CollegeBound Saint Paul to start every child born in Saint Paul with $50 in college savings, launched our People’s Prosperity Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, and launched our Office of Financial Empowerment. We have revolutionized how community members engage with government, from community hiring panels to select Cabinet members, to public processes guiding our approach on everything from budgeting to public safety. Finally, my Administration has landed spending under budget every year, grown our emergency reserves, and improved our city’s credit rating.
I am seeking reelection because I know the best is yet to come for
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
My top priorities in my second term will be: driving safer outcomes for our neighborhoods through our Community First Public Safety framework, adding housing and jobs to meet the demands of our growing population, and investing to ensure that all of us can access the greater prosperity our city has to offer.
How would you characterize the business climate in St. Paul and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
The biggest indicator of our business climate in Saint Paul is that businesses continue to open in our city. I’m excited about the momentum that we have, from Lloyds Pharmacy rebuilding after the civil unrest of last year to the new restaurants like A-Side Public House that have chosen to set up shop in Saint Paul.
While Saint Paul businesses have faced significant challenges since the COVID-19 outbreak, our business community remains energized and poised to leverage the enormous opportunity that lies ahead for our city.
We’ve seen businesses step up time and time again when we asked them to be proactive in supporting the health of our workers and residents in Saint Paul, while adapting to the changing needs of our community. Amid the ongoing uncertainties of the pandemic, we in turn worked to provide millions of dollars in direct aid to our small businesses most vulnerable to the economic impacts of the pandemic, provide business license relief, and made it easier for restaurants to leverage outdoor seating areas. While there is still work to be done as we navigate the effects of the Delta Variant and fully emerge from the pandemic, I’ve seen firsthand that our business community has for our people-centered approach to governance, and is ready to continue engaging in rebuilding for our future. We are glad to support and work with businesses as we improve the quality of life for our residents through a livable wage and benefits.
What role do you think the city should have in attracting and retaining jobs, and what steps would you take to solicit new businesses to, and retain existing businesses in, St. Paul?
The City has an array of tools that can create, nurture, and sustain the conditions that ensure Saint Paul remains a place where businesses, workers and their customers want to be. Our goal is to help new projects get done as efficiently as possible so that we can minimize costs associated with procedural delays, to support businesses and our residents employed by them.
As we continue to respond to the economic impacts of this pandemic, our city has the enormous opportunity to leverage American Rescue Plan funds. Among the priorities I outlined in my 2022 budget address was a vision for the historic investment of $40 million toward jobs and careers readiness investments. No matter what age, background, and skillset you have, our vision for Saint Paul is a city where everyone can access and maintain stable employment, that provides a livable wage, opportunities to advance and access to career pathways. I look forward to partnering with our business community to identify the ways we can best leverage this historic opportunity for our city.
Further, our housing crisis has posed significant challenges to attracting and retaining talent as well. Our past work and proposed investments in housing are critical to maintaining a stable workforce, and to providing housing stability for those who have experienced unsheltered homelessness.
Saint Paul must be a place that provides a stable and consistent regulatory environment, fosters a ready and stable workforce, ensures reliable infrastructure all in an effort to service the goals we set to support businesses as they employ our residents and provide a higher quality of life through a livable wage and benefits.
Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in St. Paul (such as minimum wage, sick time, or mandatory scheduling notice)? If so, what steps would you take to understand the impact of an ordinance on the many types of businesses in St. Paul and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
My administration has remained intentional about following the lead of our businesses, workers and residents. That’s why we have the Business Review Council to hear recommendations for changes to regulations, procedures, and coordination with business and the city agencies. Our Labor Advisory Standards Board brings policies to the table that support workers and businesses in our city, and lead to changes like the cap we put on restaurant fees for mobile-based delivery services, along with assurance that they couldn't make it up at workers’ expense. I remain attentive to the changes our business community undergoes, and will continue to see guidance from business leaders, workers, and our residents on the best paths forward.
I support measures to enhance our ability to maintain a stable and ready workforce, and one thing I hear from business leaders is that lack of affordable or stable housing opportunities is a hindrance to business models. If employees cannot live and work with stability, businesses lose, too.
Our process for the minimum wage ordinance is the best example of how we will approach opportunities to be on the cutting edge of change; we engaged with business leaders of all different kinds of businesses, included them on the task force, and altered our proposal based on the feedback we received. That’s how we made the local ordinance more conducive to success in Saint Paul, and I’m excited to continue that collaboration.
What are your strategies to address public safety, housing, and transportation issues facing your community?
We have been called to continue engaging in the work of long-lasting, transformative change when it comes to neighborhood safety. That’s why in my first 100 days in office we came together to revise our police department’s use of force policy, brought together a community commission to renvision a public safety framework, and have centered all our work around being proactive. The investments we’ve made and work we’ve led these past three years is just a beginning, and I look forward to an important next chapter. It’s also why we are introducing our Office of Neighborhood Safety, so we can build upon our comprehensive approach to emergency response, and make Saint Paul safer.
Housing is one of three critical goals for my administration, and we will prioritize it as we make investments with American Rescue Plan dollars. That includes the ways we provide community care for those experiencing unsheltered homelessness in our city.
Our population in Saint Paul is at an all time high, with two decades of projected growth. That’s why it’s so important that we work together with labor, developers, and our community to realize affordable housing opportunities in the city. We need to build thousands more units of housing, and everything from training homes, accessory dwelling units, and creative, efficient use of land must be on the table. We have a current study being done by our planning and economic development agency to explore this exact question, and I look forward to seeing their recommendation in the coming months.
I’m proud of the investments we’ve made in housing in Saint Paul. From re-establishing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, launching the Families First Housing Pilot, and providing emergency rent assistance, we’re changing the way we care for our residents.
Expanding access to reliable and affordable transportation is crucial for the growth and economic development of Saint Paul. That is why we are considering four future transit corridors that move through the city to connect people across the metro. We are also proud to be working with the city of Minneapolis to create a network of 70 electric vehicle hubs which will provide access to electric car shares and charging points across the metro. These, as well as plans to expand Saint Paul’s biking, walking, and scooter infrastructure reduce resident’s reliance on vehicles and help create a greener city.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
Saint Paul is a community that continues to evolve. After meetings with our residents, the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce and board members over the course of my administration, we have identified 6 key priorities will serve as a guideline as we invest in our city over the course of the next several years
What will you do to expand St. Paul’s tax base?
We are currently on the threshold of one of the most prolific phase of economic expansion in Saint Paul’s history. We are meeting this opportunity with a big vision. As a landlocked city, we cannot grow out; we must grow up. That’s why we will continue to partner with developers to get projects done efficiently, continue to push the envelope on density, and maximize opportunities for growth.
Specifically, the Highland Bridge site is estimated to add $1 billion to our tax base, the Hillcrest and Sears site also present enormous opportunities to expand, and just last week, we eliminated off street parking minimums to encourage development.
I’m proud of the work we’ve done to make Saint Paul an attractive place to live for people all across the state and the country. Our city is growing fast, so our focus now must be ensuring we can support high quality and affordable housing opportunities, city services, and economic opportunity.
During the worst of the public health and economic crisis, we leaned in to keep businesses from closing down. We did that through our efforts on the Saint Paul Bridge Fund that provided $4.1M in emergency relief to families and small businesses in the city.
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
Our approach to developing and retaining an educated workforce must be comprehensive. We invest in early childhood through CollegeBound Saint Paul, that puts $50 in a college savings account for every child born in the city so they come to kindergarten ready to learn. We encourage out of school and afterschool programming by eliminating late fines in public libraries and tripling free programs to prevent summer learning loss. To educate and train our workforce we provide BLS and EMT training, commercial drivers license programs, and more opportunities for our residents to pursue new avenues. Finally, we ensure that students can go to school in a stable environment, and from a stable home.
Are there any services currently provided by the city that you believe should be cut back or eliminated? Are there new opportunities to share services with other entities?
I would reference specific past items that were eliminated from the budget or shared with other entities as part or past budgets.
I believe in the pearing process - that we should constantly be trimming so that we can continue to grow smart. That’s why we partnered with Minneapolis to train our firefighters, and why I’ve held ongoing conversations with neighboring mayors to consider how we can build together. We’re always looking for ways to increase the efficiency of city services which is why we have a Chief Innovations Officer who engages in an array of projects across our city departments. It’s also why we are investing ARP dollars for modernization of city services to ensure that we’re serving our residents, workers, businesses, and visitors in the most effective way.
What is the role of the Mayor in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in St. Paul?
I started my career at the city council building Saint Paul’s Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO), to ensure that we’re doing what we can to minimize the barriers of entry the city has for building a business. That means making it easy to navigate contracting processes, procurement, construction permits, and licensing.
HREEO also ensures we’re intentional about affording justice and equity as we provide avenues for economic opportunity for all residents and businesses. That means being an advocate for patients and employees’ contractual rights as new avenues are forged, and being vocal about the enforcement of equitable practices.
I will continue to work together with business and labor to create a climate in Saint Paul that both offers opportunity for business ventures in the city, and creating an economy of scale specifically for businesses owned by people of color in communities of color.
What further policies can St. Paul adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Our budget is comprehensive. It is designed to support individuals, families, workers and businesses as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why one of our six budget priorities is the investment of $3.6M in vaccine and public health measure engagement to continue our fight with the ongoing health effects of the pandemic, so we can keep businesses open and our residents employed. We’re also investing $40M in jobs and career readiness programs that provide a livable wage, opportunities to advance and develop career pathways.
Finally, we must ensure we are targeting the support we create, with the help of ARP dollars, specifically for the businesses and industries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
I am proud of the working relationship I have built with the Saint Paul Chamber. We have worked together to craft a sensibile min wage ordinance, and advanced Ban the Box for employment statewide when I was on the City Council. We’ve been able to craft a positive working relationship that has allowed Saint Paul to move forward through conversations that prove difficult in other spaces, and I look forward to building that relationship.
Public Office Sought: St. Paul Mayor
Campaign Phone: (763) 381-1335
Campaign Website: www.melvincarter.org
Twitter Handle: @melvincarter3
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelvinWCarterIII
Candidate Bio
I am the son of a retired Saint Paul police officer and a former teacher who now serves as Ramsey County Board Chair. I am a fifth generation Saint Paul resident, a proud graduate of our local public schools, and a parent raising children in our city.
I’ve sought to ensure that opportunity exists in Saint Paul, and to ensure that residents in every part of our city can connect to the prosperity our city has to offer. We have raised the minimum wage, eliminated library late fines, provided over $4 million to families and businesses struggling through the pandemic, prioritized housing investments, and launched CollegeBound Saint Paul to start every child born in Saint Paul with $50 in college savings, launched our People’s Prosperity Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, and launched our Office of Financial Empowerment. We have revolutionized how community members engage with government, from community hiring panels to select Cabinet members, to public processes guiding our approach on everything from budgeting to public safety. Finally, my Administration has landed spending under budget every year, grown our emergency reserves, and improved our city’s credit rating.
I am seeking reelection because I know the best is yet to come for
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
My top priorities in my second term will be: driving safer outcomes for our neighborhoods through our Community First Public Safety framework, adding housing and jobs to meet the demands of our growing population, and investing to ensure that all of us can access the greater prosperity our city has to offer.
How would you characterize the business climate in St. Paul and what is the role of businesses supporting quality of life issues in the community?
The biggest indicator of our business climate in Saint Paul is that businesses continue to open in our city. I’m excited about the momentum that we have, from Lloyds Pharmacy rebuilding after the civil unrest of last year to the new restaurants like A-Side Public House that have chosen to set up shop in Saint Paul.
While Saint Paul businesses have faced significant challenges since the COVID-19 outbreak, our business community remains energized and poised to leverage the enormous opportunity that lies ahead for our city.
We’ve seen businesses step up time and time again when we asked them to be proactive in supporting the health of our workers and residents in Saint Paul, while adapting to the changing needs of our community. Amid the ongoing uncertainties of the pandemic, we in turn worked to provide millions of dollars in direct aid to our small businesses most vulnerable to the economic impacts of the pandemic, provide business license relief, and made it easier for restaurants to leverage outdoor seating areas. While there is still work to be done as we navigate the effects of the Delta Variant and fully emerge from the pandemic, I’ve seen firsthand that our business community has for our people-centered approach to governance, and is ready to continue engaging in rebuilding for our future. We are glad to support and work with businesses as we improve the quality of life for our residents through a livable wage and benefits.
What role do you think the city should have in attracting and retaining jobs, and what steps would you take to solicit new businesses to, and retain existing businesses in, St. Paul?
The City has an array of tools that can create, nurture, and sustain the conditions that ensure Saint Paul remains a place where businesses, workers and their customers want to be. Our goal is to help new projects get done as efficiently as possible so that we can minimize costs associated with procedural delays, to support businesses and our residents employed by them.
As we continue to respond to the economic impacts of this pandemic, our city has the enormous opportunity to leverage American Rescue Plan funds. Among the priorities I outlined in my 2022 budget address was a vision for the historic investment of $40 million toward jobs and careers readiness investments. No matter what age, background, and skillset you have, our vision for Saint Paul is a city where everyone can access and maintain stable employment, that provides a livable wage, opportunities to advance and access to career pathways. I look forward to partnering with our business community to identify the ways we can best leverage this historic opportunity for our city.
Further, our housing crisis has posed significant challenges to attracting and retaining talent as well. Our past work and proposed investments in housing are critical to maintaining a stable workforce, and to providing housing stability for those who have experienced unsheltered homelessness.
Saint Paul must be a place that provides a stable and consistent regulatory environment, fosters a ready and stable workforce, ensures reliable infrastructure all in an effort to service the goals we set to support businesses as they employ our residents and provide a higher quality of life through a livable wage and benefits.
Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in St. Paul (such as minimum wage, sick time, or mandatory scheduling notice)? If so, what steps would you take to understand the impact of an ordinance on the many types of businesses in St. Paul and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
My administration has remained intentional about following the lead of our businesses, workers and residents. That’s why we have the Business Review Council to hear recommendations for changes to regulations, procedures, and coordination with business and the city agencies. Our Labor Advisory Standards Board brings policies to the table that support workers and businesses in our city, and lead to changes like the cap we put on restaurant fees for mobile-based delivery services, along with assurance that they couldn't make it up at workers’ expense. I remain attentive to the changes our business community undergoes, and will continue to see guidance from business leaders, workers, and our residents on the best paths forward.
I support measures to enhance our ability to maintain a stable and ready workforce, and one thing I hear from business leaders is that lack of affordable or stable housing opportunities is a hindrance to business models. If employees cannot live and work with stability, businesses lose, too.
Our process for the minimum wage ordinance is the best example of how we will approach opportunities to be on the cutting edge of change; we engaged with business leaders of all different kinds of businesses, included them on the task force, and altered our proposal based on the feedback we received. That’s how we made the local ordinance more conducive to success in Saint Paul, and I’m excited to continue that collaboration.
What are your strategies to address public safety, housing, and transportation issues facing your community?
We have been called to continue engaging in the work of long-lasting, transformative change when it comes to neighborhood safety. That’s why in my first 100 days in office we came together to revise our police department’s use of force policy, brought together a community commission to renvision a public safety framework, and have centered all our work around being proactive. The investments we’ve made and work we’ve led these past three years is just a beginning, and I look forward to an important next chapter. It’s also why we are introducing our Office of Neighborhood Safety, so we can build upon our comprehensive approach to emergency response, and make Saint Paul safer.
Housing is one of three critical goals for my administration, and we will prioritize it as we make investments with American Rescue Plan dollars. That includes the ways we provide community care for those experiencing unsheltered homelessness in our city.
Our population in Saint Paul is at an all time high, with two decades of projected growth. That’s why it’s so important that we work together with labor, developers, and our community to realize affordable housing opportunities in the city. We need to build thousands more units of housing, and everything from training homes, accessory dwelling units, and creative, efficient use of land must be on the table. We have a current study being done by our planning and economic development agency to explore this exact question, and I look forward to seeing their recommendation in the coming months.
I’m proud of the investments we’ve made in housing in Saint Paul. From re-establishing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, launching the Families First Housing Pilot, and providing emergency rent assistance, we’re changing the way we care for our residents.
Expanding access to reliable and affordable transportation is crucial for the growth and economic development of Saint Paul. That is why we are considering four future transit corridors that move through the city to connect people across the metro. We are also proud to be working with the city of Minneapolis to create a network of 70 electric vehicle hubs which will provide access to electric car shares and charging points across the metro. These, as well as plans to expand Saint Paul’s biking, walking, and scooter infrastructure reduce resident’s reliance on vehicles and help create a greener city.
What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
Saint Paul is a community that continues to evolve. After meetings with our residents, the Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce and board members over the course of my administration, we have identified 6 key priorities will serve as a guideline as we invest in our city over the course of the next several years
- We will invest in neighborhood safety strategies to ensure safer outcomes for our neighborhoods in alignment with our Community-Firsty Public safety efforts
- We will respond to our housing crisis by investing in housing strategies that target unsheltered homelessness, affordable and deeply affordable housing, and secure housing at all ends of the income continuum
- We will support our workers and local economy by investing in jobs and career readiness programs that provide a livable wage, opportunities to advance and develop career pathways
- We will work to modernize city services to improve our ability to provide innovative services to our community members
- We will ensure our ability to maintain financial stability in Saint Paul by investing in citywide financial stabilization efforts
- Finally, as we continue to fight the public health and economic crisis, we will invest in vaccine and public health measure engagement
What will you do to expand St. Paul’s tax base?
We are currently on the threshold of one of the most prolific phase of economic expansion in Saint Paul’s history. We are meeting this opportunity with a big vision. As a landlocked city, we cannot grow out; we must grow up. That’s why we will continue to partner with developers to get projects done efficiently, continue to push the envelope on density, and maximize opportunities for growth.
Specifically, the Highland Bridge site is estimated to add $1 billion to our tax base, the Hillcrest and Sears site also present enormous opportunities to expand, and just last week, we eliminated off street parking minimums to encourage development.
I’m proud of the work we’ve done to make Saint Paul an attractive place to live for people all across the state and the country. Our city is growing fast, so our focus now must be ensuring we can support high quality and affordable housing opportunities, city services, and economic opportunity.
During the worst of the public health and economic crisis, we leaned in to keep businesses from closing down. We did that through our efforts on the Saint Paul Bridge Fund that provided $4.1M in emergency relief to families and small businesses in the city.
How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
Our approach to developing and retaining an educated workforce must be comprehensive. We invest in early childhood through CollegeBound Saint Paul, that puts $50 in a college savings account for every child born in the city so they come to kindergarten ready to learn. We encourage out of school and afterschool programming by eliminating late fines in public libraries and tripling free programs to prevent summer learning loss. To educate and train our workforce we provide BLS and EMT training, commercial drivers license programs, and more opportunities for our residents to pursue new avenues. Finally, we ensure that students can go to school in a stable environment, and from a stable home.
Are there any services currently provided by the city that you believe should be cut back or eliminated? Are there new opportunities to share services with other entities?
I would reference specific past items that were eliminated from the budget or shared with other entities as part or past budgets.
I believe in the pearing process - that we should constantly be trimming so that we can continue to grow smart. That’s why we partnered with Minneapolis to train our firefighters, and why I’ve held ongoing conversations with neighboring mayors to consider how we can build together. We’re always looking for ways to increase the efficiency of city services which is why we have a Chief Innovations Officer who engages in an array of projects across our city departments. It’s also why we are investing ARP dollars for modernization of city services to ensure that we’re serving our residents, workers, businesses, and visitors in the most effective way.
What is the role of the Mayor in fostering increased minority- and women-owned businesses in St. Paul?
I started my career at the city council building Saint Paul’s Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO), to ensure that we’re doing what we can to minimize the barriers of entry the city has for building a business. That means making it easy to navigate contracting processes, procurement, construction permits, and licensing.
HREEO also ensures we’re intentional about affording justice and equity as we provide avenues for economic opportunity for all residents and businesses. That means being an advocate for patients and employees’ contractual rights as new avenues are forged, and being vocal about the enforcement of equitable practices.
I will continue to work together with business and labor to create a climate in Saint Paul that both offers opportunity for business ventures in the city, and creating an economy of scale specifically for businesses owned by people of color in communities of color.
What further policies can St. Paul adopt to help the business community recover from the COVID-19 pandemic?
Our budget is comprehensive. It is designed to support individuals, families, workers and businesses as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why one of our six budget priorities is the investment of $3.6M in vaccine and public health measure engagement to continue our fight with the ongoing health effects of the pandemic, so we can keep businesses open and our residents employed. We’re also investing $40M in jobs and career readiness programs that provide a livable wage, opportunities to advance and develop career pathways.
Finally, we must ensure we are targeting the support we create, with the help of ARP dollars, specifically for the businesses and industries that have been hit hardest by the pandemic.
Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
I am proud of the working relationship I have built with the Saint Paul Chamber. We have worked together to craft a sensibile min wage ordinance, and advanced Ban the Box for employment statewide when I was on the City Council. We’ve been able to craft a positive working relationship that has allowed Saint Paul to move forward through conversations that prove difficult in other spaces, and I look forward to building that relationship.