|
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
Spring is finally here, and
the Ward 2 office is buzzing with activity! From affordable housing to
homelessness, workforce development to street maintenance, attracting new
housing and retail, and expanding opportunities for young people, we’re hard at
work on the issues that matter to you.
New businesses are opening in
every corner of our ward, a citywide organized trash collection program will be
rolling out this fall, and major improvements to our parks and rec centers are
getting underway as we speak.
As always, my top priority is to
provide you with outstanding constituent service. Please contact me at any time if we can be of help.
I also hope you can stop by
one of my Community Coffees, Happy Hours or Facebook Virtual Lunch Chats to
share your ideas, concerns and questions.
Thank you for giving me the
opportunity to serve you. Have a wonderful spring, from me and the Ward 2 team!
 Kayla Thao, executive assistant; Rebecca Noecker, councilmember; Taina Maki, legislative aide; Katherine Gehl, intern
In March, the City Council voted
unanimously to approve modern streetcar as the locally preferred alternative (LPA) for the Riverview Corridor. Once the LPA is approved by all the
local governments, including Minneapolis and Bloomington, the work will move
into its second phase in which a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)
will be prepared. The DEIS will determine where exactly the streetcar
line would run (W. 7th Street, the CP Rail Spur and Smith Ave are all on the
table), whether the line will be side- or center-running, where stations will
be located, and more. The Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority aims to
have a consultant on board for the DEIS by August.
At my request, the
County has agreed that the first part of the DEIS work will include a
community-involved study of the streetscape along W. 7th Street, to recommend
ways to improve the street for all who use it, especially pedestrians, cyclists
and those with mobility challenges. These improvements are urgently
needed, and my hope is that many of them will be able to be implemented on a
faster timeline than construction of the streetcar line.
The Downtown Alliance, a new collaboration of business,
government, non-profit and resident stakeholders, held its first board meeting
at the end of February. The mission of the Downtown Alliance is to is to
create and maintain a vibrant, economically successful, safe and attractive
downtown that benefits the entire city and region. The Alliance’s three
committees – on Jobs and Office Space, a Special Services District and the
Downtown Experience – have each begun meeting and putting together their work
plans.
I am co-chairing the Downtown Experience Committee which is
charged with making downtown cleaner, greener and safer. At our first meeting, we brainstormed a number of ideas including piping classical music
into public spaces and skyways, creating pop-up art at underutilized outdoor
areas, community events at Central Station and more. You can learn more
about the Downtown Alliance and stay tuned on its work here.
 Interviewing for Right Track positions.
Watch your mailbox! After two years of engagement and careful planning, the City is prepping for implementation of coordinated trash collection. Residents will be receiving information about rates and a survey of what size bin they would like. Once the survey is available online, we will also post it to our Facebook page. Be sure to fill yours out!
On April 11, the City Council held the second annual
Saint Paul Business Awards honoring outstanding businesses throughout Saint
Paul. The businesses recognized included Wet Paint, Heritage Tea House,
Caydence Records, Morelli’s Market, The Hmong Elder Center and Ward 2’s own
Afro Deli and Eyes All Over. It is important we take time every year to recognize the businesses that help make Saint Paul great, and I'm proud to have launched this program with Councilmembers Thao and Prince last year. Congratulations, especially, to the amazing businesses from Ward 2. Watch the video to learn more about the winners!
Winter Safe Space
With winter finally behind us, we can look back on the efforts to create emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness during our coldest months. The Winter Safe
Space was opened after tremendous effort by Ramsey
County, Saint Paul Foundation, the City, Catholic Charities and others in the nonprofit community. From December 1 to March 31, the Winter Safe
Space served a total of 712 individuals, with capacity being reached
34 times. We are proud of the success we had in
ensuring our most vulnerable population was housed safely and with dignity this
winter. Planning continues for how to meet this need in the future.
 Speaking at the Community Conversation on Homelessness in February
|
