Dear Neighbor,    We’re in denial about the end of summer here at the Ward 4 Council office, and working to soak up the sun and enjoy every possible cookout and barbecue while we still can. Here’s what we’ve been up to all season, and as always, we can be reached as a full team at ward4@ci.stpaul.mn.us.   Happy reading,Mitra (and Matt and Stacy)   Matt Privratsky, Legislative Aide: matt.privratsky@ci.stpaul.mn.us Stacy Cruze, Executive Assistant and Scheduler: stacy.cruze@ci.stpaul.mn.us

LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY UPDATES

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2020 Budget Process and August 28 Community Budget Conversation

We have important decisions ahead of us as a Council to negotiate and pass a 2020 budget with Mayor Carter. You can learn more and see Mayor Carter’s recent budget address here.

I'm excited about some of the highlights from Mayor Carter’s proposal, including a new vision for our streets and bikeways that will help us break the cycle of unsustainable funding and take action on climate. I am also glad to see smart proposed initial reductions to the sworn SPPD force, marking a growing community desire to see city dollars spent on solutions beyond traditional policing that foster community stability before people reach a crisis point.

I look forward to shaping these and other aspects of the 2020 proposal with my constituents, including continuing to push for the resources needed to guarantee strong minimum wage enforcement, keep up needed investments in our city parks and libraries, and much more.

In an effort to create more early public input opportunities to give feedback and ask questions about the proposal, the St. Paul City Council hosted its own budget discussion last night to get early-stage questions and feedback from constituents as we embark on this multi-month process. In the coming months, future departmental presentations will be taking place on Wednesday mornings at 10AM, but they are streamed online and available to watch after the fact at this link. Our team plans to post live updates during those presentations for those able to follow along on social media, as well.

We encourage you to tune in and follow this process in the coming months. The 2020 Budget Process will conclude this year with a final budget vote of adoption on Dec. 11, 2019 at 3:30PM at City Hall (and a traditional “Truth in Taxation” public hearing held annually a week before the final vote, happening this year at 6:00PM on Dec. 4 at City Hall).

Walking and biking path proposed alongside Ayd Mill Road

Photo Credit - Sierra Club

Earlier this year I voted against a $3M status quo funding proposal for Ayd Mill Road, citing a desire for new vision for this roadway that embraces safe bike/pedestrian infrastructure and narrows its load of cars. I’m extremely supportive of the newly announced effort to transform the Ayd Mill Road corridor in a complete street that offers a safe walking and biking route along side a two-lane road. 

Ayd Mill Road is a city road that currently offers commuting drivers a convenient cut through several neighborhoods in St. Paul. This new layout will now offer that same level of convenience to pedestrians and bikers while reducing the amount of vehicle lanes we’ll have to pay to maintain in the future. I’m excited to see Mayor Carter implement this progressive vision for Ayd Mill and I looked forward to using this as a model for future road redesign in the future. I will be engaging closely with Public Works, my constituents and other city partners in the 2020 budget process to implement this vision in a way that is safe and workable financially for our city.

Tenant rights and fair housing council work update

Since being elected as the only renter on our City Council, I’ve worked to dig into the issues facing over 51% of our St. Paul residents who rent citywide. I’ve been part of the multi-city Anti-Displacement Policy Network and gone to countless forums and events around our community underscoring the need for greater tenant protections in Minnesota. We partnered with the 5 District Councils in Ward 4 to host a Renter Voice Summit that elevated the lived experiences of renters across our community. 

Our office, along with our council colleagues, continued that work this summer. In partnership with department staff, each council ward held in-depth engagement sessions and heard from hundreds of residents as part of a Council effort to shape new renter protections in ordinance this fall. 

Since then, the City Council heard reports from research teams working on fair housing issues that we will be using to inform our tenant rights ordinance, and I am proud to be leading the forthcoming effort to shape and pass an ordinance with our community. Here are the two presentations by council research and department staff. 

We will continue working with our community stakeholders this fall to develop language and hope to pass an ordinance before the year's end that ensures all residents have the basic protections and rights they deserve.

Garbage

Last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court ordered the City to place an ordinance that created rules for garbage collection on the Nov. 5 ballot for a citywide vote. The Supreme Court ruling does not have any impact on how your trash is collected between now and Election Day, and you can continue to use your trash services the same way you were before.

On Friday, our Council held a special public hearing to bring forward and approve the specific language of the ballot question on this issue. The language that we passed can be found below. I appreciate the residents who attended and helped us affirm a ballot question that is straightforward, clear, accurate, meets the relevant legal standards, and is worded more simply for translation purposes.

What Saint Paul Residents Need to Know and Do about Garbage:

• Garbage collection will continue uninterrupted in the City of Saint Paul.
• Residents should not find a new hauler or cancel their garbage service.
• Residents should continue to place their city garbage cart out on their scheduled collection day.  
• Residents will receive a quarterly garbage bill from their hauler (for service October 1-December 31, 2019) in early October. 
• Residents should pay their garbage bill to their hauler by the due date of October 25, 2019.
• Residents will vote on Ordinance 18-39 on the November 5, 2019 general election ballot.

Click here for more information.

The next steps on minimum wage

I voted in support of our City Council administrative ordinance that lays out guidelines for how to educate employees and businesses about city rules regarding wages and benefits. The testimony at our public hearing illuminated the unacceptable realities of too many fast food workers in St. Paul still fighting just to make ends meet and to combat wage theft. Our new administrative ordinance created an opportunity to discuss how we need to strengthen enforcement through strong staffing at HREEO (the city department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity, where our earned sick and safe time and minimum wage ordinances will be enforced).

As we move into the budget process this fall, I am feeling very accountable to invest in outreach, education, and enforcement efforts that ensure each and every one of those workers gets every penny and benefit they deserve. This new administrative ordinance lays the groundwork for that, but now the real work begins to ensure we pass a budget that matches those values.

New Entertainment District Created in Ward 4

Earlier this month I was proud to lead the effort to help create and pass a new Entertainment District in the Raymond/University area of our city, a special permitting zone that is also seen in downtown St. Paul. This new Entertainment District was proposed by community organizations and neighborhood businesses to support existing community events in the area like Blocktoberfest and the upcoming Chroma Zone festival featuring Little Mekhong Night Market, which engage people in local street festivals and help create vibrancy in an increasingly dense part of the city.

Work on this entertainment district began last fall when local businesses, organizations, and residents in the Creative Enterprise Zone and Midway Economic Community talked about their interest in more street-level events that could showcase the neighborhood. Ward 4 is lucky to have more than its fair share of breweries. Even with this change, they will still be required to go through all the same permitting, licensing and community processes, but this one tweak - allowing them to sell their great local beer at local street events - will help tell their story and bring people into the neighborhood.

I appreciate staff at DSI and PED, our neighbors in the Raymond/University area who came to our engagement sessions, St. Anthony Park Community Council and Hamline-Midway Coalition for their support on this effort. 

Season 1 of Allianz Field

Our office continues to actively work on gameday logistical issues as we progress through our first-ever season of soccer with Allianz Field in the neighborhood

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During Allianz events, 2 additional parking enforcement officers are on duty - both to respond to calls and to do proactive patrols - to help stem instances of illegal parking. Their top priority is to respond to complaints received through the non-emergency SPPD number (651-291-1111). When there are no standing calls, those officers will then patrol neighborhoods proactively looking for cars parked illegally. We encourage residents who see illegal parking (blocking a driveway, blocking an intersection, etc.) to call the non-emergency line to help those officers respond most effectively.

Our office is also actively seeking data from SPPD to inform any future potential parking solutions. For games the week of August 14, there were 15 total calls about illegal parking. Of those, 7 citations were issued and 8 vehicles had moved by the time the officer got there. But 53 citations were issued as part of the parking enforcement officers’ proactive patrol. We encourage you to keep using the non-emergency number to help us get clear data and monitor enforcement better. Our office plans to schedule meetings with SPPD parking enforcement and the district councils (Union Park, Hamline Midway) in the coming weeks to keep moving forward on this and can be reached anytime for support.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & EVENTS

BP at Hamline and University

I recently brought (and the Council approved) an adverse action item against the BP on Hamline and University for violating their license conditions by possessing flavored products in violation of City ordinances. The resulting $500 fine is the first license violation for this BP on the penalty matrix the city uses to levy punishments against licensed businesses for violating city law. After a certain number of violations, a business can face losing their license under this penalty matrix.

Since taking office, our office has referred stories, complaints and other accounts of many highly concerning and unsafe incidents at the BP on Hamline and University to the Department of Safety and Inspections and the City Attorney’s Office, who independently work to determine whether a violation has occurred and what action the City can take. Our municipal code lays out how that works here. 

These cases come before the council as quasi-judicial items that I, and my colleagues, vote on based only on the evidence before us. If you personally have information that you believe the City should be aware of, you may forward that information to the Department of Safety and Inspections via email at dsicomplaints@ci.stpaul.mn.us via phone at 651-266-8989 or to the Ward 4 office, Ward4@ci.stpaul.mn.us and my staff can pass it on to the relevant city staff for evaluation and potential investigation. Although my personal involvement is not permitted, my staff can pass along information to those at the city working on this matter. In order to vote on this or any other business’s licensing matter, I am required to let the process move forward without my direct participation so I can participate in the final decision.

I believe that everyone deserves to feel and be safe in our neighborhoods, and that businesses operating with a license in the City of St. Paul are neither above the law nor the terms and conditions of their license to operate a business in our community. I will continue to use my role as a Councilmember to see that these processes are closely followed. Please know that my office is actively working on this issue, and that you should continue to reach out to my staff at ward4@ci.stpaul.mn.us if you need support with this.

2020 Census - We Count Minnesota

Click the photo to watch the video

The 2020 Census presents an incredible opportunity for Saint Paul. But, to make sure that all of us can access the support and resources our community needs, we all need to be counted. That’s why we need your help.

Green Line Service Changes

I’ve voiced my extreme concern directly to our Met Council representative Kris Fredson and in general about Met Council’s decision to effectively stop overnight service on the Green Line, which recently went into effect and could displace 200-300 people a night who are homeless and seeking shelter on the train. We know that warm weather and generally easier conditions at this time of the year can mask the more serious and desperate situations that occur during the winter. I understand the challenges our transportation system faces as a result of much deeper systemic challenges of our regional housing crisis. I also believe we need urgent interventions that permanently house people and otherwise get at the root of the problems, and should be moving away from playing what one community partner and advocate Monica Nilsson recently described as a “whack a mole” approach to the issue.

I’ve seen firsthand how our housing crisis has driven residents of all backgrounds and situations to ride the trains overnight. I am committed to addressing this issue in a coordinated and effective manner with our city departments, county and regional partners in the coming weeks, with the urgency of this new development clearly in mind.

Luther Seminary

My office has been regularly participating in community conversations about the future of the Luther Seminary site. Luther Seminary is undertaking an ambitious effort to redevelop their Lower Campus in partnership with surrounding neighborhoods and the cities of Falcon Heights and Lauderdale, which share parts of the total site with Saint Paul.

Luther Seminary’s redevelopment aims to offer affordable, senior, and market rate housing options that both help new residents move in and existing residents transition to a new home nearby. The site also aspires to offer several connections for bikers, walkers, and those riding transit in the neighborhood. Full details of the initial proposal can be found online, including the most recent presentation incorporating initial neighborhood input on July 11. If you have any questions, please relay them to the St. Anthony Park Community Council who is still working actively with the development team to shape the proposal.

Neighborhood STAR Winners announced

The Council has now approved Saint Paul’s 2019 Neighborhood STAR Awards! In Ward 4, city  grants and loans will help support community-based organizations that expand access to housing, skills and job training, involvement and growth in the arts, and so much more. The Ward 4 awardees include:

• Co-Motion Center for Movement
• New Vision Foundation
• Community Involvement Programs & ALLY People Solutions
• Rondo CLT Single Family Housing Programs
• The New Playwrights’ Center
• Hamline Midway Elders Food and Wellness Program
• Junior Achievement

You can find the full list of projects and amounts on the city website.

Celebrate St. Paul - Upcoming Community Events

St. Paul loves to party, and these are just some of the great upcoming community festivals and events in and around Ward 4 you can go to:

• MN State Fair - August 22 - September 2 (info here)
• Music in the Park - all summer (info here)
• Movies in the Park - all summer (info here)
• Mac-Grove Fest 2019 - Sept. 7 (info here)
• Chroma Zone Mural and Public Art Festival in the CEZ - Sept. 7-14 (info here)
• National Public Lands Day - Sept. 28, 11am-3pm (info here)

Upcoming Office Hours

One of my top priorities is to make our city more accessible for our residents, including holding regular office hours around the Ward. Please come share your ideas, feedback, questions, concerns and aspirations for our city.

The upcoming office hours are open to all, and all are welcome:

• September 5, 6-8pm open office hours at CoCreatz (SW corner of University & Raymond)
• October 1, 10am-noon open hours at Episcopal Homes Atrium (490 Lynnhurst Ave)

 No need to RSVP; feel free to just show up or stop by. We can also be reached anytime as an entire office at ward4@ci.stpaul.mn.us.

We’re hard at work for our city, and this is just some of what we’ve been working on. Have suggestions for what else you’d like to see in this newsletter? E-mail us at ward4@ci.stpaul.mn.us  anytime, and thanks for reading.