Mitra Jalali Nelson - Saint Paul Ward 4
Name: Mitra Jalali Nelson
Public Office Sought: Saint Paul City Council
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 612-817-2373
Website: mitrajnelson.com
Twitter Handle: @mitrajnelson
Facebook: Saint Paul City Councilmember Mitra Jalali Nelson - Ward 4
Candidate Bio
In 2018, I became the first renter voice on our current Council in a city where over half of us are renting, its youngest member, and a fresh new perspective during a time of great change and opportunity for Saint Paul. I’m already hard at work with my team on my four main priorities in office: attainable and affordable housing and homeownership, transportation and sustainability, community-first public safety, and building our community wealth.
I’m also working to do something much bigger and deeper, and that’s to change the way our city engages with residents. Saint Paul does better when we have better engagement and better neighborhood processes. I ran to bring everybody to the table, and I’m running again to keep opening up our processes to all.
Business climate
1. How would you characterize the business climate in Saint Paul?
I view our business climate as strong and growing. After working with our neighborhood businesses across the Ward over this past year, I think it’s fair to say the business climate is also different in different parts of the city. Part of those dynamics are due to the way our neighborhoods are designed. In places where we have added common sense mixed-use development, new customers arrive with new commercial space. In places that are transit-accessible, bikeable, and walkable, customers can more easily come to you. My goal is to add that customer base and accessibility to all neighborhoods in Saint Paul.
On a procedural level, we know there is work to be done to make local businesses feel welcome, embraced, and appreciated. In my first year in office, I’ve been exploring how to make those improvements in City Hall and throughout the community. My office has engaged with the Midway Economic Community, the Midway Chamber, and numerous local businesses to learn how new city policies would impact their business. We’ve dug into city processes and procedures to find ways to lighten the load on business owners. Permits, licensing, certificate of occupancy: there are so many small improvements we can make and they can add up to make a big difference.
2. 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, Saint Paul?
My office considers retaining, attracting, and growing local businesses a core responsibility. Our work with local businesses so far has shown us that having a champion in the city council office can help make workers and owners feel valued. When city departments are not responding to the needs of our local businesses, it is up to my office to serve as a navigator and advocate. In just the last year, we’ve pushed for a broader discussion of costly Sewer Access Charges that hit breweries and distilleries especially hard. We’ve worked with the Department of Safety and Inspections to communicate concerns from our local businesses so new online tools and staffing decisions can match the needs of our community. We also know that part of our job is to be visible as a clear and positive champion for setting up shop in Saint Paul. This is a fantastic place to live and work and I personally want to showcase that as much as possible.
3. Would you support hiring a business advocate as a member of the city 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. Staff in the Planning and Economic Development Department and Department of Safety Inspections clearly already play some role in interacting with businesses, and I would hope we can become a city where all city staff are seen as champions for local businesses. But I would also be open to dedicating a staff person to being the clear and visible champion for those efforts.
4. Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in Saint Paul (such as mandatory scheduling notice)? 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 how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
In just my first year, we have had discussions around significant city-wide policies like minimum wage and sustainable to-go packaging. My office has played a clear leadership role in each discussion by proactively engaging with our neighborhood businesses and talking about the real world impact of any policy. We meet with owners, managers, workers, advocates, relevant public staff, and local residents to ensure everyone’s voices are heard. Even when you disagree with someone, it’s important to sit down, face to face, and have a conversation. My office has already earned a reputation for its energetic and passionate commitment to community engagement across any number of issues and I’m proud to continue that work moving forward.
5. Would you support modifying or repealing the new earned sick and safe time or minimum wage ordinances that apply to the city? If so, how?
I strongly support adjusting the education and enforcement processes for both minimum wage and earned safe and sick time to ensure they speak to each other and work well together. The number one concern we heard from businesses and workers last fall was a concern about how the ramp up to $15 would happen. I am committed to making sure it goes as smoothly as possible for both business owners and workers, and that enforcement for each is fair and simplified.
Public safety
6. What is your strategy to address public safety concerns?
Everyone deserves to be safe in our city, no matter who they are. We need to reframe safety from a community vantage point, and work with people who are disproportionately at risk of experiencing violence or unjust law enforcement to create policies that protect and uphold the rights of all. This includes a strong and comprehensive system and culture for police accountability, and alternatives to police and escalation for everyday situations that residents and businesses experience.
I’m proud to be leading a working group at the City Council this year on Community-First Public Safety. This workgroup will provide a Council mechanism for oversight of SPPD as well as improvements to their operations so that they can continue serving all in our community respectfully and effectively with taxpayer resources. I’m looking forward to hearing from SPACC members on how they envision community-first public safety for all.
Budget
7. What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
My overall goals for the city budget are addressing our housing crisis, implementing true community-first public safety, building community wealth, and creating a more sustainable city that takes action on climate. But more than that, I want to make our budget process even more transparent. It’s difficult for community members to feel fully bought in to a city budget if they aren’t sure what shaped it. The Mayor’s Office has done a great job in gathering ideas and vision throughout the community in the early phase of the budget process. I’d like to carry that work through our council review and negotiations by making our deliberations more transparent and clear, with more places for public input along the way.
8. How do you view the relationship between commercial and residential property taxes?
Every community needs a good mix of residential and commercial tax base. Growing our residential tax base means bringing more families and vitality to our neighborhoods so they can support local businesses and help our community grow. Growing our commercial tax base means bringing in new jobs and new opportunity for those families. My goal as a city council member, Port Authority board member, and neighborhood resident, is to allow that relationship to be a complimentary one that balances our community needs, building stability and strength into our tax base.
9. What will you do to expand Saint Paul’s tax base?
For too long, an overarching fear of change has driven development discussions in Saint Paul. I ran for office because our city is in a moment of tremendous change and potential, and I believe we need engaged leadership focused on equity and inclusion to lead us forwar. Rather than sitting back, waiting for proposals to come forward, and wagging our finger when things aren’t done correctly, we need to be proactive in telling the market what we want. We also need to shape policies and programs that drive those investments and carry an equity lens. We can and should get rid of outdated restrictions like parking minimums and ratchet up density bonuses for projects that include local tenants and affordable housing units. We should also be making a parallel effort to fully implement community-driven tools like the “Equitable Development Scorecard” to ensure new projects benefit and are shaped well by the neighborhoods they are built in. Ultimately, we can no longer afford to make reactive decisions based on fear and community disempowerment. I’m proud to champion thoughtfully growing our tax base for the future of our city. I know that through smart reforms and bringing all community voices to the table, we can do it the right way.
Workforce development
10. How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
Though the city does not directly oversee our schools, we know that city hall can play a crucial role in driving improvement and innovation in our education system - and that goes from early education all the way to workforce training higher education. As a board member of Saint Paul 3K, I’m working with businesses, schools, and community advocates to shape an early learning program that gives all children a good start to their education. As a city council member, I’m meeting with our building trades and colleges to see how we can create paths to living wage jobs. I’m talking with city departments to see how we can create a city staff that better represents our community.
11. What do you see as the city council’s role with regard to public schools in Saint Paul?
Public education is the heart of our communities and our democracy. In order for Saint Paul to realize its potential as a city, we need government partners at all levels who will work for students and families to get the high-quality public education they deserve. Residents make the choice to move to and stay in the city of Saint Paul in large part based on our school system, and the future of our city therefore depends on the investments we make in our public schools. The right to an outstanding public education is also fundamentally a social justice and human rights issue. City Council can play a larger role by better connecting city services to SPPS families, supporting smart development that yields more resources for SPPS, and using convening power to bring regional partners together on issues like student homelessness - all of which I’ve been proud to be part of. I will continue doing everything in my power as a Councilmember to support outstanding public education for Saint Paul.
Other
12. What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?
Too many in our community still struggle to find or afford places to live, be they working parents, college students, families or individuals. This must change. As the city becomes denser, one of the top factors in ensuring we sustain our growth is citywide access to affordable, high-quality housing and homeownership across the full range of income levels.
13. What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Since winning a special election last year, I’ve focused on addressing our housing crisis, implementing true community-first public safety, building community wealth, and creating a more sustainable city that takes action on climate. I’m excited to continue leading this work as a new progressive voice for our community.
14. What do you think should be the city’s top transportation related priority?
We need and deserve great streets and great systems in Saint Paul. Parents should be able to walk their kids to school without fearing for their safety crossing the street. Workers should be able to make it home from their jobs without being run over. Bikers, joggers, wheelchair and mobility device users and everyone else getting around in our city should feel free and safe to do so. A truly multimodal transportation system with rail, rapid bus, local bus, and non-motorized options needs to be our absolute top priority.
15. 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?
We have examples right in Ward 4 of partnerships that help deliver services and programming in a more efficient way. Schools like Hamline Elementary are right next to recreation centers - giving parents and families easy access to neighborhood programming. I’d like to see us pursue more of those partnerships - like social workers in our libraries, county and city services in public schools, rec center programming in city schools - in order to reduce the delivery and operation costs and make our services more accessible.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
We made history when I was elected in 2018. I am proud to be running for a full term and know that together, we can keep working to move our city forward.
Public Office Sought: Saint Paul City Council
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 612-817-2373
Website: mitrajnelson.com
Twitter Handle: @mitrajnelson
Facebook: Saint Paul City Councilmember Mitra Jalali Nelson - Ward 4
Candidate Bio
In 2018, I became the first renter voice on our current Council in a city where over half of us are renting, its youngest member, and a fresh new perspective during a time of great change and opportunity for Saint Paul. I’m already hard at work with my team on my four main priorities in office: attainable and affordable housing and homeownership, transportation and sustainability, community-first public safety, and building our community wealth.
I’m also working to do something much bigger and deeper, and that’s to change the way our city engages with residents. Saint Paul does better when we have better engagement and better neighborhood processes. I ran to bring everybody to the table, and I’m running again to keep opening up our processes to all.
Business climate
1. How would you characterize the business climate in Saint Paul?
I view our business climate as strong and growing. After working with our neighborhood businesses across the Ward over this past year, I think it’s fair to say the business climate is also different in different parts of the city. Part of those dynamics are due to the way our neighborhoods are designed. In places where we have added common sense mixed-use development, new customers arrive with new commercial space. In places that are transit-accessible, bikeable, and walkable, customers can more easily come to you. My goal is to add that customer base and accessibility to all neighborhoods in Saint Paul.
On a procedural level, we know there is work to be done to make local businesses feel welcome, embraced, and appreciated. In my first year in office, I’ve been exploring how to make those improvements in City Hall and throughout the community. My office has engaged with the Midway Economic Community, the Midway Chamber, and numerous local businesses to learn how new city policies would impact their business. We’ve dug into city processes and procedures to find ways to lighten the load on business owners. Permits, licensing, certificate of occupancy: there are so many small improvements we can make and they can add up to make a big difference.
2. 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, Saint Paul?
My office considers retaining, attracting, and growing local businesses a core responsibility. Our work with local businesses so far has shown us that having a champion in the city council office can help make workers and owners feel valued. When city departments are not responding to the needs of our local businesses, it is up to my office to serve as a navigator and advocate. In just the last year, we’ve pushed for a broader discussion of costly Sewer Access Charges that hit breweries and distilleries especially hard. We’ve worked with the Department of Safety and Inspections to communicate concerns from our local businesses so new online tools and staffing decisions can match the needs of our community. We also know that part of our job is to be visible as a clear and positive champion for setting up shop in Saint Paul. This is a fantastic place to live and work and I personally want to showcase that as much as possible.
3. Would you support hiring a business advocate as a member of the city 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. Staff in the Planning and Economic Development Department and Department of Safety Inspections clearly already play some role in interacting with businesses, and I would hope we can become a city where all city staff are seen as champions for local businesses. But I would also be open to dedicating a staff person to being the clear and visible champion for those efforts.
4. Do you support any other specific employment-related proposals in Saint Paul (such as mandatory scheduling notice)? 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 how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
In just my first year, we have had discussions around significant city-wide policies like minimum wage and sustainable to-go packaging. My office has played a clear leadership role in each discussion by proactively engaging with our neighborhood businesses and talking about the real world impact of any policy. We meet with owners, managers, workers, advocates, relevant public staff, and local residents to ensure everyone’s voices are heard. Even when you disagree with someone, it’s important to sit down, face to face, and have a conversation. My office has already earned a reputation for its energetic and passionate commitment to community engagement across any number of issues and I’m proud to continue that work moving forward.
5. Would you support modifying or repealing the new earned sick and safe time or minimum wage ordinances that apply to the city? If so, how?
I strongly support adjusting the education and enforcement processes for both minimum wage and earned safe and sick time to ensure they speak to each other and work well together. The number one concern we heard from businesses and workers last fall was a concern about how the ramp up to $15 would happen. I am committed to making sure it goes as smoothly as possible for both business owners and workers, and that enforcement for each is fair and simplified.
Public safety
6. What is your strategy to address public safety concerns?
Everyone deserves to be safe in our city, no matter who they are. We need to reframe safety from a community vantage point, and work with people who are disproportionately at risk of experiencing violence or unjust law enforcement to create policies that protect and uphold the rights of all. This includes a strong and comprehensive system and culture for police accountability, and alternatives to police and escalation for everyday situations that residents and businesses experience.
I’m proud to be leading a working group at the City Council this year on Community-First Public Safety. This workgroup will provide a Council mechanism for oversight of SPPD as well as improvements to their operations so that they can continue serving all in our community respectfully and effectively with taxpayer resources. I’m looking forward to hearing from SPACC members on how they envision community-first public safety for all.
Budget
7. What are your priorities for the City’s budget?
My overall goals for the city budget are addressing our housing crisis, implementing true community-first public safety, building community wealth, and creating a more sustainable city that takes action on climate. But more than that, I want to make our budget process even more transparent. It’s difficult for community members to feel fully bought in to a city budget if they aren’t sure what shaped it. The Mayor’s Office has done a great job in gathering ideas and vision throughout the community in the early phase of the budget process. I’d like to carry that work through our council review and negotiations by making our deliberations more transparent and clear, with more places for public input along the way.
8. How do you view the relationship between commercial and residential property taxes?
Every community needs a good mix of residential and commercial tax base. Growing our residential tax base means bringing more families and vitality to our neighborhoods so they can support local businesses and help our community grow. Growing our commercial tax base means bringing in new jobs and new opportunity for those families. My goal as a city council member, Port Authority board member, and neighborhood resident, is to allow that relationship to be a complimentary one that balances our community needs, building stability and strength into our tax base.
9. What will you do to expand Saint Paul’s tax base?
For too long, an overarching fear of change has driven development discussions in Saint Paul. I ran for office because our city is in a moment of tremendous change and potential, and I believe we need engaged leadership focused on equity and inclusion to lead us forwar. Rather than sitting back, waiting for proposals to come forward, and wagging our finger when things aren’t done correctly, we need to be proactive in telling the market what we want. We also need to shape policies and programs that drive those investments and carry an equity lens. We can and should get rid of outdated restrictions like parking minimums and ratchet up density bonuses for projects that include local tenants and affordable housing units. We should also be making a parallel effort to fully implement community-driven tools like the “Equitable Development Scorecard” to ensure new projects benefit and are shaped well by the neighborhoods they are built in. Ultimately, we can no longer afford to make reactive decisions based on fear and community disempowerment. I’m proud to champion thoughtfully growing our tax base for the future of our city. I know that through smart reforms and bringing all community voices to the table, we can do it the right way.
Workforce development
10. How will you work with K-12 and post-secondary educational institutions and businesses to ensure our region develops and retains an educated workforce?
Though the city does not directly oversee our schools, we know that city hall can play a crucial role in driving improvement and innovation in our education system - and that goes from early education all the way to workforce training higher education. As a board member of Saint Paul 3K, I’m working with businesses, schools, and community advocates to shape an early learning program that gives all children a good start to their education. As a city council member, I’m meeting with our building trades and colleges to see how we can create paths to living wage jobs. I’m talking with city departments to see how we can create a city staff that better represents our community.
11. What do you see as the city council’s role with regard to public schools in Saint Paul?
Public education is the heart of our communities and our democracy. In order for Saint Paul to realize its potential as a city, we need government partners at all levels who will work for students and families to get the high-quality public education they deserve. Residents make the choice to move to and stay in the city of Saint Paul in large part based on our school system, and the future of our city therefore depends on the investments we make in our public schools. The right to an outstanding public education is also fundamentally a social justice and human rights issue. City Council can play a larger role by better connecting city services to SPPS families, supporting smart development that yields more resources for SPPS, and using convening power to bring regional partners together on issues like student homelessness - all of which I’ve been proud to be part of. I will continue doing everything in my power as a Councilmember to support outstanding public education for Saint Paul.
Other
12. What is the biggest challenge facing the city and how would you address it?
Too many in our community still struggle to find or afford places to live, be they working parents, college students, families or individuals. This must change. As the city becomes denser, one of the top factors in ensuring we sustain our growth is citywide access to affordable, high-quality housing and homeownership across the full range of income levels.
13. What would be your top three priorities if elected?
Since winning a special election last year, I’ve focused on addressing our housing crisis, implementing true community-first public safety, building community wealth, and creating a more sustainable city that takes action on climate. I’m excited to continue leading this work as a new progressive voice for our community.
14. What do you think should be the city’s top transportation related priority?
We need and deserve great streets and great systems in Saint Paul. Parents should be able to walk their kids to school without fearing for their safety crossing the street. Workers should be able to make it home from their jobs without being run over. Bikers, joggers, wheelchair and mobility device users and everyone else getting around in our city should feel free and safe to do so. A truly multimodal transportation system with rail, rapid bus, local bus, and non-motorized options needs to be our absolute top priority.
15. 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?
We have examples right in Ward 4 of partnerships that help deliver services and programming in a more efficient way. Schools like Hamline Elementary are right next to recreation centers - giving parents and families easy access to neighborhood programming. I’d like to see us pursue more of those partnerships - like social workers in our libraries, county and city services in public schools, rec center programming in city schools - in order to reduce the delivery and operation costs and make our services more accessible.
16. Is there anything else you would like to share with voters not covered above?
We made history when I was elected in 2018. I am proud to be running for a full term and know that together, we can keep working to move our city forward.