Yan Chen
Name: Yan Chen
Public Office Sought: St. Paul City Council Ward 1
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 612-718-3672
Campaign Website: www.chen4ward1.com
Twitter handle:
Facebook Page:
Candidate Bio
As an immigrant and research scientist, I have sharpened my problem identification, analysis and solving skills ever since I arrived in America 34 years ago. American society is stressed with many problems. Let’s figure out the root causes of all the problems and assign them into different responsible parties. Some of the problems should be tackled by the City Council, some of them require County, State and Federal government attention. Identifying problems and solving them has been my career and I firmly believe we need scientific/rational approaches to solve many large scale problems that have affected our society for a very long period of time. I would like to apply my skill sets in situations that can make a real impact on people’s lives right here in Ward 1.
What style of leadership would you bring to this position?
I will lead by solving problems for voters. First, I will listen and ask questions. For things I don’t understand, I will consult many sources. Once I collect enough data/input/feedback, I will make decisions according to the data/input/feedback. I will have a very welcoming attitude for any comments, especially the negative ones. In the end, I believe a good decision tends to have a lot more than 50% agreement (my goal is 70% agreement from voters).
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
My top priority is Neighborhood safety and maintenance. Nobody should live in an unsafe neighborhood. I will work with the St Paul police department to make sure all the neighborhoods get proper attention when needed. All the street lights should be maintained. Trash/litter should be cleaned up. I will work with the Public Works department for better snow removal in the winter and more attention to the streets in the summers. In addition, I will get myself involved in the Metropolitan Council to advocate cutting bus waiting time to less than 15 minutes on critical transit routes. Finally, I will study budgets from our City and other Cities to synthesize the best budget practice in our City’s departments. I will discuss my findings with the Mayor and council members in order to improve our allocation of the City budget for the year 2025 and beyond, measuring success and failure along the way with outcomes achieved and not.
What do you consider the biggest challenge and conversely, the biggest opportunity in St. Paul?
Our City has a weak revenue stream. Without a strong revenue stream, our City has become more reliant on property taxes. By combining that with a lack of basic City services, Ward 1 residents have been negatively impacted by the City performance. Conversely, the City is enjoying the new light-rail line and the growth in Ward 1 with housing and business developments, but it will take additional strategic planning and investment here to make sure the City is doing its part to keep up the area.
How would you characterize the business climate in St. Paul and what role do you think the city should have in attracting and retaining jobs and new businesses in St. Paul?
In Ward1, the business climate is very similar to the residential areas. Where the area is not infested with crime, the business owners are doing surprisingly well. Where the area is infested with crime, the business owners complain about stealing and other petty crimes. Clearly, we have many empty storefronts that can attract new businesses. The City has to play an active role in attracting new business and support existing business. It will start with making access to them safe and well-maintained (controlling crime and keeping the streets up). If there are people, the businesses will come, but we need to be careful with our local sales taxes to make sure there is not an incentive for people to go to other cities for those goods and services.
What are your strategies to address public safety challenges in your community?
The number one rule to live in a community, for me, is to do no harm to the neighbors. By doing door knocking, I have learned that a few neighborhoods are experiencing stress from the harms that have been inflicted on them in terms of petty-crime. Once the neighborhood has identified the problems, and in appropriate cases the perpetrators, I will meet with the offender to hear their perspectives and see whether they can improve on their own or if there are strategies the City can support to do real prevention of this instead of just purely penalty-based responses (fines and such). I believe most people care about their community that supports them. However, I am also willing to take legal actions if the community still suffers from harm after other means fail.
What ideas do you have to address housing shortages and affordability?
The homeownership rate in the City is 50%. I think a healthy homeownership rate should be around 60-70% for a City like St Paul. We have many excellent renters that have a good rental history and credit score. They could be homeowners in affordable Condos or houses, if the mortgage payment is similar to their current rent. I want to facilitate this transition by 1) helping first time home buyers with mortgage insurance that many lenders require when the buyer doesn’t have enough equity to get a traditional loan 2) improving bus transit so that new construction wouldn’t become a burden for the existing community in terms of parking and congestion. 3) facilitating new condo constructions by working closely with the Port Authority and any other agencies.
St. Paul candidates only: Do you support the rent stabilization ordinance in its current form? If not, what would you like to change?
No. I think the rent stabilization ordinance didn’t restrain their intended target but used a broad brush to make every property owner go through unnecessary complications.
In Minnesota, on average, property tax should be around 17% of collected rent. To avoid friction between renters and property owners, I would advocate the state legislature to modify the current annual, “Certificate of Rent Paid,” to reveal to renters the ratio of property tax to rent so that renters can decide whether their property owners are charging rent fairly, taking into account the amenities they receive. Once we obtain data, it will be far easier to expose any entity that doesn’t practice fairly in our Ward because a healthy housing market is essential for the long term prospects of any cities. With data, we can then make changes to the Ordinance that will both make sense and address the fundamental issues that led to its perceived need in the first place.
How would you work to improve transportation options in your community, including improved safety for transit riders, pedestrian/bike, and drivers alike?
A vibrant city requires good transit. We have to ensure all the current transit is safe by eliminating problematic areas. If some areas or spots are accident prone, we have to redesign the area by utilizing the best practices. Our City planning department should keep a close eye on this issue and collect statistics so that we can quickly identify, therefore eventually, solve problems. Similarly, it has to be safe to attract new riders and keep existing ones. And in all but a few months of the year, bicycle/scooter and pedestrian traffic should be encouraged through smart-planning along well-used corridors. With the many students that attend no fewer than 6 institutions of higher education in the City, we need to encourage them to leave their cars at home and that the City will need to be the leader here in planning for that to make it possible for them to do so.
What will you do to expand St. Paul’s tax base?
As a City, we need to promote our strength and work on our weakness. I have talked to many people who live in the frogtown areas and learned that they felt that the reputation of frogtown is completely unjustified. Nevertheless, crime statistics don’t lie and some neighborhoods have been disproportionately affected by the crime. Once we correct our shortcomings by reducing crime in the problematic area and addressing inefficient or ineffective services, I believe we can attract people to move into St Paul to expand our tax base the best way: with more people contributing to it. The formula for success in any City is easy as it just takes doing those things. If you get them right the people will come and will stay.
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?
By examining the City budget, one item that has increased quite dramatically in the past two years is the General Government account. The General Government account has fluctuated over the years, but usually it has been below 30 million dollars. For example, in 2021, it was only 13 million dollars. But in 2022, the account ballooned to 91 million dollars and then to 108 million dollars in 2023. Personally, I would like to have this account analyzed in detail so that we can have every aspect of it measured for outcomes and thus more accountable for the spend. If something is an emergency, then we have an emergency management account fall back on, but the account itself seems unreasonably non-transparent for the average resident to understand it or be able to see how it is being used to benefit them. This should not be difficult, but it is important for residents to understand as they are struggling to do so now from the feedback I’ve been getting. I will focus on making that more clear and ensure that those tax dollars have outcomes that are measured/tested.
Public Office Sought: St. Paul City Council Ward 1
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 612-718-3672
Campaign Website: www.chen4ward1.com
Twitter handle:
Facebook Page:
Candidate Bio
As an immigrant and research scientist, I have sharpened my problem identification, analysis and solving skills ever since I arrived in America 34 years ago. American society is stressed with many problems. Let’s figure out the root causes of all the problems and assign them into different responsible parties. Some of the problems should be tackled by the City Council, some of them require County, State and Federal government attention. Identifying problems and solving them has been my career and I firmly believe we need scientific/rational approaches to solve many large scale problems that have affected our society for a very long period of time. I would like to apply my skill sets in situations that can make a real impact on people’s lives right here in Ward 1.
What style of leadership would you bring to this position?
I will lead by solving problems for voters. First, I will listen and ask questions. For things I don’t understand, I will consult many sources. Once I collect enough data/input/feedback, I will make decisions according to the data/input/feedback. I will have a very welcoming attitude for any comments, especially the negative ones. In the end, I believe a good decision tends to have a lot more than 50% agreement (my goal is 70% agreement from voters).
What would be your top three priorities if elected?
My top priority is Neighborhood safety and maintenance. Nobody should live in an unsafe neighborhood. I will work with the St Paul police department to make sure all the neighborhoods get proper attention when needed. All the street lights should be maintained. Trash/litter should be cleaned up. I will work with the Public Works department for better snow removal in the winter and more attention to the streets in the summers. In addition, I will get myself involved in the Metropolitan Council to advocate cutting bus waiting time to less than 15 minutes on critical transit routes. Finally, I will study budgets from our City and other Cities to synthesize the best budget practice in our City’s departments. I will discuss my findings with the Mayor and council members in order to improve our allocation of the City budget for the year 2025 and beyond, measuring success and failure along the way with outcomes achieved and not.
What do you consider the biggest challenge and conversely, the biggest opportunity in St. Paul?
Our City has a weak revenue stream. Without a strong revenue stream, our City has become more reliant on property taxes. By combining that with a lack of basic City services, Ward 1 residents have been negatively impacted by the City performance. Conversely, the City is enjoying the new light-rail line and the growth in Ward 1 with housing and business developments, but it will take additional strategic planning and investment here to make sure the City is doing its part to keep up the area.
How would you characterize the business climate in St. Paul and what role do you think the city should have in attracting and retaining jobs and new businesses in St. Paul?
In Ward1, the business climate is very similar to the residential areas. Where the area is not infested with crime, the business owners are doing surprisingly well. Where the area is infested with crime, the business owners complain about stealing and other petty crimes. Clearly, we have many empty storefronts that can attract new businesses. The City has to play an active role in attracting new business and support existing business. It will start with making access to them safe and well-maintained (controlling crime and keeping the streets up). If there are people, the businesses will come, but we need to be careful with our local sales taxes to make sure there is not an incentive for people to go to other cities for those goods and services.
What are your strategies to address public safety challenges in your community?
The number one rule to live in a community, for me, is to do no harm to the neighbors. By doing door knocking, I have learned that a few neighborhoods are experiencing stress from the harms that have been inflicted on them in terms of petty-crime. Once the neighborhood has identified the problems, and in appropriate cases the perpetrators, I will meet with the offender to hear their perspectives and see whether they can improve on their own or if there are strategies the City can support to do real prevention of this instead of just purely penalty-based responses (fines and such). I believe most people care about their community that supports them. However, I am also willing to take legal actions if the community still suffers from harm after other means fail.
What ideas do you have to address housing shortages and affordability?
The homeownership rate in the City is 50%. I think a healthy homeownership rate should be around 60-70% for a City like St Paul. We have many excellent renters that have a good rental history and credit score. They could be homeowners in affordable Condos or houses, if the mortgage payment is similar to their current rent. I want to facilitate this transition by 1) helping first time home buyers with mortgage insurance that many lenders require when the buyer doesn’t have enough equity to get a traditional loan 2) improving bus transit so that new construction wouldn’t become a burden for the existing community in terms of parking and congestion. 3) facilitating new condo constructions by working closely with the Port Authority and any other agencies.
St. Paul candidates only: Do you support the rent stabilization ordinance in its current form? If not, what would you like to change?
No. I think the rent stabilization ordinance didn’t restrain their intended target but used a broad brush to make every property owner go through unnecessary complications.
In Minnesota, on average, property tax should be around 17% of collected rent. To avoid friction between renters and property owners, I would advocate the state legislature to modify the current annual, “Certificate of Rent Paid,” to reveal to renters the ratio of property tax to rent so that renters can decide whether their property owners are charging rent fairly, taking into account the amenities they receive. Once we obtain data, it will be far easier to expose any entity that doesn’t practice fairly in our Ward because a healthy housing market is essential for the long term prospects of any cities. With data, we can then make changes to the Ordinance that will both make sense and address the fundamental issues that led to its perceived need in the first place.
How would you work to improve transportation options in your community, including improved safety for transit riders, pedestrian/bike, and drivers alike?
A vibrant city requires good transit. We have to ensure all the current transit is safe by eliminating problematic areas. If some areas or spots are accident prone, we have to redesign the area by utilizing the best practices. Our City planning department should keep a close eye on this issue and collect statistics so that we can quickly identify, therefore eventually, solve problems. Similarly, it has to be safe to attract new riders and keep existing ones. And in all but a few months of the year, bicycle/scooter and pedestrian traffic should be encouraged through smart-planning along well-used corridors. With the many students that attend no fewer than 6 institutions of higher education in the City, we need to encourage them to leave their cars at home and that the City will need to be the leader here in planning for that to make it possible for them to do so.
What will you do to expand St. Paul’s tax base?
As a City, we need to promote our strength and work on our weakness. I have talked to many people who live in the frogtown areas and learned that they felt that the reputation of frogtown is completely unjustified. Nevertheless, crime statistics don’t lie and some neighborhoods have been disproportionately affected by the crime. Once we correct our shortcomings by reducing crime in the problematic area and addressing inefficient or ineffective services, I believe we can attract people to move into St Paul to expand our tax base the best way: with more people contributing to it. The formula for success in any City is easy as it just takes doing those things. If you get them right the people will come and will stay.
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?
By examining the City budget, one item that has increased quite dramatically in the past two years is the General Government account. The General Government account has fluctuated over the years, but usually it has been below 30 million dollars. For example, in 2021, it was only 13 million dollars. But in 2022, the account ballooned to 91 million dollars and then to 108 million dollars in 2023. Personally, I would like to have this account analyzed in detail so that we can have every aspect of it measured for outcomes and thus more accountable for the spend. If something is an emergency, then we have an emergency management account fall back on, but the account itself seems unreasonably non-transparent for the average resident to understand it or be able to see how it is being used to benefit them. This should not be difficult, but it is important for residents to understand as they are struggling to do so now from the feedback I’ve been getting. I will focus on making that more clear and ensure that those tax dollars have outcomes that are measured/tested.