Melvin Carter
Name: Melvin Carter
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 651.321.4623
Campaign Website: www.melvincarter.org
Twitter handle: @melvincarter3
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/MelvinWCarterIII
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 651.321.4623
Campaign Website: www.melvincarter.org
Twitter handle: @melvincarter3
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/MelvinWCarterIII
1. Please provide a brief bio highlighting experience and accomplishments that qualify you to be the next Mayor of Saint Paul.
I currently serve as Executive Director of the Minnesota Children’s Cabinet, advising Governor Dayton on early childhood policy and essential investments for children and families. Prior to joining state government, I served Ward 1 on the Saint Paul City Council from 2008-2013, during the lows of the recession, when hundreds of my constituents were threatened with the loss of their jobs, homes, and stability.
As city councilmember, I championed policies to address some of the city’s most pressing issues, including:
Business climate
2. How would you characterize the business climate in Saint Paul?
Saint Paul has done of a good job of investing in the transit and public assets that can draw and sustain businesses. As Mayor, I will push hard to continue to expand economic vitality in our city. Coming out of the recession, business owners have started to invest again, especially in the restaurant industry. While that momentum is exciting and that growth has been beneficial to Saint Paul and the vibrancy of our communities, downtown has lost several larger employers due to a lack of commercial office space to meet their needs to expand. We know that tech and innovation sector growth is outpacing overall job growth by 200 percent per year; we must position ourselves to meet the needs of these employers and bring jobs back to our downtown core. I look forward to the recommendations from the Innovation Cabinet in July and to working with the business community to further the growth and economic development of our city.
3. What role do you think the City should have in attracting and retaining jobs, and how would your administration actively solicit new businesses to, and retain existing businesses in, Saint Paul?
Too often, city staff are set up to play the role of referee; as projects and new developments move forward, they blow the whistle when things go out of bounds. I will work with city staff to make it clear that when people want to invest in our city – especially if they are homegrown entrepreneurs – our job is to help them navigate complex permitting systems and make the city more accessible to anyone looking to start a business. This is particularly important as our city diversifies - aspiring entrepreneurs shouldn’t need a lawyer on retainer to open a business, and business opportunities should be just as accessible for second language speakers, women, and people of color as anyone else.
I have demonstrated a true commitment to this approach over the years. While serving as city councilmember, I worked closely with Planning and Economic Development staff, as well as business owners along the Green Line, to secure resources to invest in facade improvements. Additionally, when concerns related to building height and density were raised by neighbors, I facilitated several tough discussions between city staff, neighborhood groups, and justice advocates to foster greater appreciation for the interdependence of residents and businesses toward a thriving community.
I believe it is critical that the City play an active role in attracting and retaining jobs. But we can’t stop there - in order to truly grow and thrive as a city, we must become our own engine of economic growth with our rich, diverse communities as the fuel. As Mayor, I’ll focus on creating corridors of commerce in underleveraged neighborhoods, especially on the East Side, Frogtown, and Midway. I will also invest in core public amenities like libraries, public transit, recreation centers, and training and workforce development, partnering with our colleges to prepare our own workers to meet the needs of our businesses. These investments, combined with open and regular communication with business leaders, can help create a Saint Paul where businesses can thrive.
4. Will you commit to hiring a business advocate as a member of your senior staff, to concentrate on business retention and expansion; new business recruitment; and business impact of proposed regulations on the business climate in Saint Paul?
Yes - my goal will be to hire someone who can focus on these issues who also understands that workplaces and workers grow together, and that equity is the single largest untapped asset we have as a city. I believe that background, coupled with a holistic understanding of the business climate, will deliver successful outcomes for our city.
5. Do you support an increase to the minimum wage in Saint Paul? If so, what specific steps would you take to understand the impact of an increase on the many types of businesses in Saint Paul and do you support proposals to mitigate the effects on businesses like a tip credit, a youth wage, a training wage, and/or a phase-in?
No one who works full time should be forced to raise their kids in poverty. For too long, working families have had to fight to make ends meet, even when working full time – or beyond full time. By ensuring our workers are fairly compensated, we will increase the self-sufficiency of our families and their ability to contribute to our economy, while reducing the demand for public assistance necessary to fill in the gaps. While I would prefer we take a statewide or regional approach, I fully support increasing the minimum wage in Saint Paul to $15 an hour.
I’m also a strong believer in the principle that conversation, and active listening from City Hall, goes a long way to mitigate tradeoffs. Increasing the minimum wage will require engagement with the business community to develop a plan that can work for businesses and workers of all sizes and types. My public service career reflects a willingness to listen to and learn from those directly impacted by policy decisions. The work I did to engage with the business community around improving food allergy safety in restaurants helped inform the ordinance we created and make it a more meaningful, implementable product. As Mayor, I will continue to engage directly with business owners and residents to ensure that the necessary increase in wages
does not manifest in unintended and unhelpful consequences.
Public safety
6. What is your strategy to address public safety concerns in the downtown core, including safety concerns in the skyway system and police force presence?
Everyone should feel safe in our city. The best way to find a solution is to bring in all stakeholders involved to develop a coordinated plan. This is a complex issue as the skyways are privately owned but used by so many of us (and many more people living and working downtown). With more people living downtown comes more traffic in our skyway system. I know SPPD has been working with its public safety partners on law enforcement strategies to
improve safety in the downtown core and BOMA has been very supportive of enhancing the community ambassadors to proactively redirect youth looking for someplace to go. I will continue to support the efforts underway and work with our police department, downtown residents and business owners to enhance our strategy to ensure the public’s safety.
I also believe that the safety concerns are a symptom of a greater challenge we face: poverty, homelessness, and underinvestment in public services. The fact that we have significant populations in our city who have nowhere else to go but the skyway speaks to larger structural problems that must be addressed as well.
7. What is your vision for these key downtown development opportunities?
● The empty lot near the Central Station stop downtown
Balanced budget
8. What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
My top priority will be to continue Mayor Coleman’s legacy of maintaining structural integrity in the city budget. While there will always be competing budget priorities, we will be innovative in leveraging resources to complement our efforts. As the capital city, we are proud to have many great institutions, nonprofits, and visitors from all over the region; however; these factors tip the scales when it comes to our property tax equation. I fully intend to strongly advocate at the state to ensure Saint Paul receives its fair share of Local Government Aid, so our property tax payers do not shoulder an unfair burden of costs.
I intend to take a balanced approach – finding efficiencies, advocating for our fair share at the state, and raising revenue when absolutely necessary - to ensure we maintain the city’s fiscal integrity and are well-positioned for growth. We should be focused on continuous improvement, always seeking to be more efficient and effective with taxpayer dollars. Finally, economic development is the only long-term solution to Saint Paul’s budget challenges -
maintaining the high quality public services we rightfully expect will require every effort to grow the good jobs, housing and tax base we’ll need to sustain and serve our rising population.
9. How do you view the relationship between commercial and residential property taxes?
I believe we all have to pull our weight when it comes to contributing to the public infrastructure that supports the success of our businesses and quality of life of our residents. Saint Paul’s industrial and manufacturing base offers substantial benefits to our property tax base. Not only do they contribute to the tax base, they tend to utilize certain public services and the costs associated with them at a lower rate than residential development. It’s crucial
that we support those businesses and the jobs they provide to our families. As Mayor, I would work to retain the businesses we have while offering modest, targeted grants and loans to help new businesses set up shop. At the same time, the strength of our tax base moving forward will depend heavily on adding more residents who can support local businesses and make our community even more vibrant.
10. What changes need to happen to the City’s budget to avoid an increasing tax burden on businesses and residents, particularly to replace the City’s longstanding Right of Way assessment program?
We will take a comprehensive approach when it comes to strengthening our tax base. In terms of the Right of Way adjustments, we will have thoughtful conversations and make sure we understand the consequences of any new funding mechanism before we implement it. Other major cities have found success in implementing various forms of PILOT or PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) for non-taxable entities. I would like to explore that as an option for Saint Paul, which could mean direct payments to the city or more of a service in lieu of taxes – where colleges offer scholarships, nonprofits offer services, etc.
The best way for us to avoid creating a tax burden on our existing residents and businesses is by taking advantage of opportunities for new development. We must take advantage of the historic opportunities that sites like Midway and the Ford Plant avail to immediately strengthen our tax base, but there are more targeted opportunities as well. Our major commercial and cultural corridors throughout the city need to serve as the lifeblood of neighborhood economic activity. By adding more density along new transit lines and major roads, we can support the tax base while authentically weaving new residents and businesses into existing neighborhoods.
Workforce development
11. How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
The education, training and development of our future workforce is critical to the health and vitality of our business climate. As Mayor, I will continue convening the Mayor’s Education Leadership Team to intentionally align our efforts around education and training. I will support efforts to expand schools that offer high-quality education along with a wide array of supportive services for children and families in every neighborhood throughout our city. This includes investing in educating and developing our young people through our schools, libraries, and rec centers, aligning learning across our city to grow our global workforce. We will also work to create centers of opportunity in libraries and rec centers to grow our own entrepreneurs.
Having served on the board of Saint Paul College, I believe President Dastmozd is doing exactly what we need to do more of - partnering with business sectors to create pathways to job training and development, providing highly skilled workers to meet our businesses’ needs. I also believe that unions, like the Carpenters, IUPAT, and other trades, are leading the way on building collaborative partnerships with businesses to close workforce gaps and build the city’s skilled workforce.
12. What do you see as the mayor’s role with regard to Saint Paul Public Schools?
Though the Saint Paul school district operates separately from city government, there is no more important investment we can make than in the future of our young people. The Mayor plays a key role in supporting our students and ensuring they receive a high-quality education. Our schools are one of our most important community assets, both in terms of preparing our future workforce, but also in terms of people choosing which neighborhoods to live in - strong schools are absolutely key. I look forward to building a relationship with the incoming superintendent, Joe Gothard, and working together to ensure our children receive a high quality education. I will advocate for enhancing services provided to our students and their families through schools and expanding early childhood education throughout Saint Paul. As head of Governor Dayton’s Children’s Cabinet, I have played a key role in creating Full Day Kindergarten and advocating for a strong public school system.
Other
13. What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?
I believe the single biggest challenge facing our city is poverty. Though Saint Paul is growing, and some areas are prospering, too many families are working full time and still living in poverty. Every day, children go to Saint Paul’s public schools hungry or sick, seniors live without easy access to the grocery stores, pharmacies, and community engagement they need, and families struggle to afford the essentials for health, well-being, and prosperity.
I have spent my career fighting for education and workforce development, living wage jobs, smart transit and affordable housing, equitable public investments - a city that works for everyone. From my early days as an organizer to my time on the city council to my current efforts in state government, I have extensive experience in legislative and executive governance and a track record of bringing people together to get things done. Although there are myriad challenges associated with poverty as it relates to education, transportation, job security, housing stability, health and wellness, and much more, we can tackle these challenges if we come together, understand their disparate impacts, and develop solutions that address the root cause they share.
14. What would be your top three priorities if elected?
- Ensure every Saint Paul child and adult can access a healthy future through a high-quality education, training and job skills by ensuring our city’s schools, rec centers, libraries, workforce development programs, and non-profit organizations are working together to support the success of children and families.
- Build a local economy that works for all of us, including raising the minimum wage; making it easier to invest and create jobs; supporting a mix of housing options that provides affordable, healthy homes for students, working families, and seniors; and investing in infrastructure and transit upgrades that serve all parts of our city.
- Lead an inclusive, well-run city that provides first-rate public services to everyone, in every corner of our city.
15. What do you think should be the city’s top transportation related priority?
People who live, work, and play in Saint Paul should be able to get around our communities safely. As we’ve seen over the last few years, we still have work to do to create streets that are truly safe for bikers and walkers. By designing streets that are safer for pedestrians and bikers of all ages and investing in buses and public transportation, we can create a community where new families and businesses want to set down roots. Businesses use light rail and public transportation as recruiting tools as they hire new workers; families use buses and bike lanes to travel throughout our communities, and everyone uses our sidewalks and streets to get where they need to go.
As Mayor, I will work to ensure Saint Paul offers transportation options that work for everyone, with a specific focus on investing in public infrastructure to make our streets efficient and safe for all users, including cars, bikes and pedestrians; and ensuring an equitable public transit system that efficiently connects our residents and businesses to opportunity - in every neighborhood.
16. Are there any services currently provided by the city that you believe should be cut back or eliminated? Or, are there new opportunities to share services with other entities?
On the campaign trail, I have yet to hear anyone complain about receiving too many services from the city. In fact, I believe the city has work to do to make our city services more equitable and more comprehensive. As mayor, I’ll look to streamline inefficient processes and ensure the city is a good steward of taxpayer dollars without cutting essential services people depend on.
17. Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
In conversations over the past few years, I hear over and over again that the business community might not agree with policy outcomes, but what really galls them is feeling unfairly demonized in the public discourse. I understand the importance of a City Hall that engages in honest conversations and authentic listening, and I’m committed to open and fair dialogue necessary to allow Saint Paul to gain the most benefit from the diverse experiences and
expertise of residents and business owners alike.
I currently serve as Executive Director of the Minnesota Children’s Cabinet, advising Governor Dayton on early childhood policy and essential investments for children and families. Prior to joining state government, I served Ward 1 on the Saint Paul City Council from 2008-2013, during the lows of the recession, when hundreds of my constituents were threatened with the loss of their jobs, homes, and stability.
As city councilmember, I championed policies to address some of the city’s most pressing issues, including:
- Organizing community stakeholders along University to ensure the transit line leveraged the maximum possible private sector investment while ensuring investment stayed in - and benefited - our neighborhoods.
- Leading the creation of Saint Paul’s Promise Neighborhood, a collaborative effort to better support education outcomes by providing wraparound services and supports to some of Saint Paul’s most vulnerable children and families.
- Worked with SPACC on ‘Ban the Box’ legislation to eliminate employment discrimination against people with criminal backgrounds and expand the talent pipeline for Saint Paul businesses
Business climate
2. How would you characterize the business climate in Saint Paul?
Saint Paul has done of a good job of investing in the transit and public assets that can draw and sustain businesses. As Mayor, I will push hard to continue to expand economic vitality in our city. Coming out of the recession, business owners have started to invest again, especially in the restaurant industry. While that momentum is exciting and that growth has been beneficial to Saint Paul and the vibrancy of our communities, downtown has lost several larger employers due to a lack of commercial office space to meet their needs to expand. We know that tech and innovation sector growth is outpacing overall job growth by 200 percent per year; we must position ourselves to meet the needs of these employers and bring jobs back to our downtown core. I look forward to the recommendations from the Innovation Cabinet in July and to working with the business community to further the growth and economic development of our city.
3. What role do you think the City should have in attracting and retaining jobs, and how would your administration actively solicit new businesses to, and retain existing businesses in, Saint Paul?
Too often, city staff are set up to play the role of referee; as projects and new developments move forward, they blow the whistle when things go out of bounds. I will work with city staff to make it clear that when people want to invest in our city – especially if they are homegrown entrepreneurs – our job is to help them navigate complex permitting systems and make the city more accessible to anyone looking to start a business. This is particularly important as our city diversifies - aspiring entrepreneurs shouldn’t need a lawyer on retainer to open a business, and business opportunities should be just as accessible for second language speakers, women, and people of color as anyone else.
I have demonstrated a true commitment to this approach over the years. While serving as city councilmember, I worked closely with Planning and Economic Development staff, as well as business owners along the Green Line, to secure resources to invest in facade improvements. Additionally, when concerns related to building height and density were raised by neighbors, I facilitated several tough discussions between city staff, neighborhood groups, and justice advocates to foster greater appreciation for the interdependence of residents and businesses toward a thriving community.
I believe it is critical that the City play an active role in attracting and retaining jobs. But we can’t stop there - in order to truly grow and thrive as a city, we must become our own engine of economic growth with our rich, diverse communities as the fuel. As Mayor, I’ll focus on creating corridors of commerce in underleveraged neighborhoods, especially on the East Side, Frogtown, and Midway. I will also invest in core public amenities like libraries, public transit, recreation centers, and training and workforce development, partnering with our colleges to prepare our own workers to meet the needs of our businesses. These investments, combined with open and regular communication with business leaders, can help create a Saint Paul where businesses can thrive.
4. Will you commit to hiring a business advocate as a member of your senior staff, to concentrate on business retention and expansion; new business recruitment; and business impact of proposed regulations on the business climate in Saint Paul?
Yes - my goal will be to hire someone who can focus on these issues who also understands that workplaces and workers grow together, and that equity is the single largest untapped asset we have as a city. I believe that background, coupled with a holistic understanding of the business climate, will deliver successful outcomes for our city.
5. Do you support an increase to the minimum wage in Saint Paul? If so, what specific steps would you take to understand the impact of an increase on the many types of businesses in Saint Paul and do you support proposals to mitigate the effects on businesses like a tip credit, a youth wage, a training wage, and/or a phase-in?
No one who works full time should be forced to raise their kids in poverty. For too long, working families have had to fight to make ends meet, even when working full time – or beyond full time. By ensuring our workers are fairly compensated, we will increase the self-sufficiency of our families and their ability to contribute to our economy, while reducing the demand for public assistance necessary to fill in the gaps. While I would prefer we take a statewide or regional approach, I fully support increasing the minimum wage in Saint Paul to $15 an hour.
I’m also a strong believer in the principle that conversation, and active listening from City Hall, goes a long way to mitigate tradeoffs. Increasing the minimum wage will require engagement with the business community to develop a plan that can work for businesses and workers of all sizes and types. My public service career reflects a willingness to listen to and learn from those directly impacted by policy decisions. The work I did to engage with the business community around improving food allergy safety in restaurants helped inform the ordinance we created and make it a more meaningful, implementable product. As Mayor, I will continue to engage directly with business owners and residents to ensure that the necessary increase in wages
does not manifest in unintended and unhelpful consequences.
Public safety
6. What is your strategy to address public safety concerns in the downtown core, including safety concerns in the skyway system and police force presence?
Everyone should feel safe in our city. The best way to find a solution is to bring in all stakeholders involved to develop a coordinated plan. This is a complex issue as the skyways are privately owned but used by so many of us (and many more people living and working downtown). With more people living downtown comes more traffic in our skyway system. I know SPPD has been working with its public safety partners on law enforcement strategies to
improve safety in the downtown core and BOMA has been very supportive of enhancing the community ambassadors to proactively redirect youth looking for someplace to go. I will continue to support the efforts underway and work with our police department, downtown residents and business owners to enhance our strategy to ensure the public’s safety.
I also believe that the safety concerns are a symptom of a greater challenge we face: poverty, homelessness, and underinvestment in public services. The fact that we have significant populations in our city who have nowhere else to go but the skyway speaks to larger structural problems that must be addressed as well.
7. What is your vision for these key downtown development opportunities?
● The empty lot near the Central Station stop downtown
- The Central Station location presents a unique opportunity as ready-made transit-oriented development site. My vision for the central station would be to develop it into an attractive amenity, like Rice and Mears parks, that provides green space and removes blight in the core of the city.
- The West Publishing/Ramsey County site is perhaps our greatest opportunity to directly tie downtown more closely to the Mississippi River. My vision for this site includes partnering with existing developers and relevant authorities to integrate substantial new development, including mixed income housing and retail spaces, while creating a greater connection to the green space and natural asset that the Mississippi provides.
Balanced budget
8. What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
My top priority will be to continue Mayor Coleman’s legacy of maintaining structural integrity in the city budget. While there will always be competing budget priorities, we will be innovative in leveraging resources to complement our efforts. As the capital city, we are proud to have many great institutions, nonprofits, and visitors from all over the region; however; these factors tip the scales when it comes to our property tax equation. I fully intend to strongly advocate at the state to ensure Saint Paul receives its fair share of Local Government Aid, so our property tax payers do not shoulder an unfair burden of costs.
I intend to take a balanced approach – finding efficiencies, advocating for our fair share at the state, and raising revenue when absolutely necessary - to ensure we maintain the city’s fiscal integrity and are well-positioned for growth. We should be focused on continuous improvement, always seeking to be more efficient and effective with taxpayer dollars. Finally, economic development is the only long-term solution to Saint Paul’s budget challenges -
maintaining the high quality public services we rightfully expect will require every effort to grow the good jobs, housing and tax base we’ll need to sustain and serve our rising population.
9. How do you view the relationship between commercial and residential property taxes?
I believe we all have to pull our weight when it comes to contributing to the public infrastructure that supports the success of our businesses and quality of life of our residents. Saint Paul’s industrial and manufacturing base offers substantial benefits to our property tax base. Not only do they contribute to the tax base, they tend to utilize certain public services and the costs associated with them at a lower rate than residential development. It’s crucial
that we support those businesses and the jobs they provide to our families. As Mayor, I would work to retain the businesses we have while offering modest, targeted grants and loans to help new businesses set up shop. At the same time, the strength of our tax base moving forward will depend heavily on adding more residents who can support local businesses and make our community even more vibrant.
10. What changes need to happen to the City’s budget to avoid an increasing tax burden on businesses and residents, particularly to replace the City’s longstanding Right of Way assessment program?
We will take a comprehensive approach when it comes to strengthening our tax base. In terms of the Right of Way adjustments, we will have thoughtful conversations and make sure we understand the consequences of any new funding mechanism before we implement it. Other major cities have found success in implementing various forms of PILOT or PILT (payment in lieu of taxes) for non-taxable entities. I would like to explore that as an option for Saint Paul, which could mean direct payments to the city or more of a service in lieu of taxes – where colleges offer scholarships, nonprofits offer services, etc.
The best way for us to avoid creating a tax burden on our existing residents and businesses is by taking advantage of opportunities for new development. We must take advantage of the historic opportunities that sites like Midway and the Ford Plant avail to immediately strengthen our tax base, but there are more targeted opportunities as well. Our major commercial and cultural corridors throughout the city need to serve as the lifeblood of neighborhood economic activity. By adding more density along new transit lines and major roads, we can support the tax base while authentically weaving new residents and businesses into existing neighborhoods.
Workforce development
11. How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
The education, training and development of our future workforce is critical to the health and vitality of our business climate. As Mayor, I will continue convening the Mayor’s Education Leadership Team to intentionally align our efforts around education and training. I will support efforts to expand schools that offer high-quality education along with a wide array of supportive services for children and families in every neighborhood throughout our city. This includes investing in educating and developing our young people through our schools, libraries, and rec centers, aligning learning across our city to grow our global workforce. We will also work to create centers of opportunity in libraries and rec centers to grow our own entrepreneurs.
Having served on the board of Saint Paul College, I believe President Dastmozd is doing exactly what we need to do more of - partnering with business sectors to create pathways to job training and development, providing highly skilled workers to meet our businesses’ needs. I also believe that unions, like the Carpenters, IUPAT, and other trades, are leading the way on building collaborative partnerships with businesses to close workforce gaps and build the city’s skilled workforce.
12. What do you see as the mayor’s role with regard to Saint Paul Public Schools?
Though the Saint Paul school district operates separately from city government, there is no more important investment we can make than in the future of our young people. The Mayor plays a key role in supporting our students and ensuring they receive a high-quality education. Our schools are one of our most important community assets, both in terms of preparing our future workforce, but also in terms of people choosing which neighborhoods to live in - strong schools are absolutely key. I look forward to building a relationship with the incoming superintendent, Joe Gothard, and working together to ensure our children receive a high quality education. I will advocate for enhancing services provided to our students and their families through schools and expanding early childhood education throughout Saint Paul. As head of Governor Dayton’s Children’s Cabinet, I have played a key role in creating Full Day Kindergarten and advocating for a strong public school system.
Other
13. What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?
I believe the single biggest challenge facing our city is poverty. Though Saint Paul is growing, and some areas are prospering, too many families are working full time and still living in poverty. Every day, children go to Saint Paul’s public schools hungry or sick, seniors live without easy access to the grocery stores, pharmacies, and community engagement they need, and families struggle to afford the essentials for health, well-being, and prosperity.
I have spent my career fighting for education and workforce development, living wage jobs, smart transit and affordable housing, equitable public investments - a city that works for everyone. From my early days as an organizer to my time on the city council to my current efforts in state government, I have extensive experience in legislative and executive governance and a track record of bringing people together to get things done. Although there are myriad challenges associated with poverty as it relates to education, transportation, job security, housing stability, health and wellness, and much more, we can tackle these challenges if we come together, understand their disparate impacts, and develop solutions that address the root cause they share.
14. What would be your top three priorities if elected?
- Ensure every Saint Paul child and adult can access a healthy future through a high-quality education, training and job skills by ensuring our city’s schools, rec centers, libraries, workforce development programs, and non-profit organizations are working together to support the success of children and families.
- Build a local economy that works for all of us, including raising the minimum wage; making it easier to invest and create jobs; supporting a mix of housing options that provides affordable, healthy homes for students, working families, and seniors; and investing in infrastructure and transit upgrades that serve all parts of our city.
- Lead an inclusive, well-run city that provides first-rate public services to everyone, in every corner of our city.
15. What do you think should be the city’s top transportation related priority?
People who live, work, and play in Saint Paul should be able to get around our communities safely. As we’ve seen over the last few years, we still have work to do to create streets that are truly safe for bikers and walkers. By designing streets that are safer for pedestrians and bikers of all ages and investing in buses and public transportation, we can create a community where new families and businesses want to set down roots. Businesses use light rail and public transportation as recruiting tools as they hire new workers; families use buses and bike lanes to travel throughout our communities, and everyone uses our sidewalks and streets to get where they need to go.
As Mayor, I will work to ensure Saint Paul offers transportation options that work for everyone, with a specific focus on investing in public infrastructure to make our streets efficient and safe for all users, including cars, bikes and pedestrians; and ensuring an equitable public transit system that efficiently connects our residents and businesses to opportunity - in every neighborhood.
16. Are there any services currently provided by the city that you believe should be cut back or eliminated? Or, are there new opportunities to share services with other entities?
On the campaign trail, I have yet to hear anyone complain about receiving too many services from the city. In fact, I believe the city has work to do to make our city services more equitable and more comprehensive. As mayor, I’ll look to streamline inefficient processes and ensure the city is a good steward of taxpayer dollars without cutting essential services people depend on.
17. Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
In conversations over the past few years, I hear over and over again that the business community might not agree with policy outcomes, but what really galls them is feeling unfairly demonized in the public discourse. I understand the importance of a City Hall that engages in honest conversations and authentic listening, and I’m committed to open and fair dialogue necessary to allow Saint Paul to gain the most benefit from the diverse experiences and
expertise of residents and business owners alike.