Ward 4 Candidate Questionnaire Responses
Mitra Jalali
Housing
1. Saint Paul is currently completing a 1-4 Unit Housing Study that would broadly allow 4 housing units per lot across the city, and relieve other zoning requirements that constrain our city’s housing options. Do you support this and other regulatory changes that allow for more housing in St. Paul?
Response: Absolutely. I appreciated Sustain Saint Paul’s advocacy for this critical policy and am excited to vote for it. We should just outright eliminate “single-family-only” zoning citywide and make it easier to build ADUs and other multifamily housing throughout our city. These are no-brainer things we can do to legalize more housing on the same amount of land and help our city become denser and more resilient.
I also voted for the first 1-4 Unit Study zoning changes and the expanded definition of “family” in the city code to make steps toward this policy goal. I support an “all-the-above” housing strategy of ending exclusionary zoning, boosting housing supply at all income levels, funding new deeply affordable housing and preservation, and strong city anti-displacement policies and tenant protections that make sure we grow equitably.
2. Saint Paul’s SAFE Tenant protections, which included just cause eviction protections and rules around security deposits and tenant screening, were repealed in 2022. How would you work to sustainably instate tenant protections in Saint Paul?
Response: I was the lead Councilmember sponsoring and passing the SAFE Housing tenant protections package, which provided tenants with relocation assistance and advance notice of sale if their building was being sold, reined in landlord discrimination through changing credit and criminal history criteria and created a just cause notice policy to curb arbitrary and abrupt lease terminations for our most vulnerable renters. I voted against the repeal of this policy after landlords sued the city to avoid compliance, and am working to bring a second round of reforms to ensure renters have additional rights and protections in Saint Paul. I intend to restore SAFE Housing either with the current Council or the future Council, no matter what. It is the most important policy I’ve worked on as a Councilmember and part of my legacy.
Additionally, Saint Paul made history and is still standing as the only city in the Upper Midwest with a community-led rent stabilization policy that provides protection against displacement for renters and predictability for property owners. I voted against numerous harmful changes to the policy. I am committed to restoring strong rent stabilization in Saint Paul, and continuing to learn from and improve the policy annually based on real data from implementation – not wealthy investor pushback.
3. It can be difficult for cities such as Saint Paul to secure enough public funding for building affordable housing. Given this challenge, what do you see as the most promising strategies for increasing the supply of affordable homes in Saint Paul?
Response: Part of the problem is an historic massive federal divestment from funding housing affordability. We can’t just rely on the meager subsidy provided from federal low income housing tax credits, which expire after 20 years, don’t lock in long-term affordability and at the amount they are provided to Saint Paul, fund barely two projects a year. We need Congress to overhaul the HUD definitions of affordability to match actual city realities, dedicate major funding to meet the nationwide urban housing crisis and invest in high-quality public housing.
Locally and at the state level, we face an optimistic outlook after decades of inaction. Ramsey County passed an affordable housing levy for the first time ever that will raise gap financing money from the suburban and urban cities it represents, a sorely needed and missing piece of the funding pie in Saint Paul. The American Rescue Plan during COVID helped us deepen this partnership with a combined $74M investment in deeply affordable housing through the city-county 30% AMI Fund. And the MN Legislature passed a $1 billion housing bill, including record amounts of gap financing money to help us make more deeply affordable projects happen.
The city can help capture private investment to match these resources by ending exclusionary zoning and other onerous or unnecessary requirements that make it harder for the private market to build new housing. I also voted in my first year as Councilmember for Mayor Carter’s proposal to create a first-ever Affordable Housing Trust Fund for Saint Paul, which has steadily maintained a budget over five years for new and deeply affordable housing and preservation of existing housing. We know that our housing crisis was created by generations of destructive and discriminatory policies, so it will take intentional policies and large-scale investments to undo the generations of harm.
Transportation
4. The quality of the transit network in Saint Paul is improving, and we hope to see this continue. How would you work with local constituents along existing and planned transit routes to build support for further improvements of our bus and light rail network?
Response: I’ve learned that one of the best ways to do this is partnering with organizations that champion transit to run community engagement and help organize people around its everyday benefits to their life. I have loved working with Sustain Saint Paul, StreetsMN, MoveMinnesota, East Metro Strong, STP Bike Coalition, Evie/HOURCAR and neighborhood district councils to get community members and local businesses engaged on transportation. We’ve done neighborhood walking tours to highlight pedestrian features and areas for improvement, championed new bikeways through ridealongs, conducted surveys about the Rethinking 94 project and more.
On the Met Council Transportation Advisory Board, I am at the table when we discuss how to spend millions in annual regional sales tax funding for transit and transportation projects.
Through efforts like these and my role/relationships through the Met Council Transportation Advisory Board, I helped bring the E Line to Saint Paul near Westgate station, supported the installation of the B Line and am actively engaged in transit conversations as a Councilmember representing one of the most transit-rich areas of the city. I believe we need to put people at the center of the transit conversation and tell the thousands of stories of why transit is amazing and necessary in order to shift the culture in our state and fully embrace transit expansion. This is one of the things I’m most passionate about as a Councilmember and am excited to continue doing that work with Sustain.
5. The future of the I-94 corridor, which runs through the heart of Saint Paul, is currently being considered by MnDOT through the Rethinking I-94 project. Sustain Saint Paul believes that the city deserves a future corridor that addresses historical harms to nearby neighborhoods, improves city connectivity across the highway, and reduces Vehicle Miles Traveled and associated vehicle pollution. What elements of a future corridor do you support? Some examples include an at-grade boulevard, a land bridge, a transit-only lane, reducing the number of vehicle lanes or street width; please be specific.
Response: I currently live at the end of a residential block that opens onto the freeway. This issue is personal for me. As a Councilmember, I have been a fierce advocate for a redesign of I-94 that is environmentally and financially sound by rejecting further freeway expansion. I am committed to advocating instead for a comprehensive redesign of I-94 that addresses the longstanding division, pollution, and adverse health effects it has brought to our communities, especially in Black and working-class neighborhoods. I would support an at-grade boulevard, a land bridge – recognizing that discussion is complex and well underway within the impacted Rondo community – as well as dedicated transit-only lanes, narrowing or removing the freeway to replace it with more community-centered infrastructure. I and the rest of the current City Council passed our official resolution outlining most of these goals as our city position on the Rethinking I-94 project. I will continue to be an amplifier and advocate for my constituents and community on this vision.
6. The City of Saint Paul is currently preparing an update to the Saint Paul bicycle plan, with a focus on grade-separated bikeways and a more seamlessly connected network. Do you support this effort, and will you commit to ensuring its success if elected?
Response: I wholeheartedly support the update to the Saint Paul bicycle plan and will commit to ensuring its success. The plan aligns with my vision for a more sustainable and resilient Saint Paul, and I will continue to champion policies and investments that prioritize alternative transportation modes, improve safety, and reduce our carbon footprint. In my five years in office, I have supported the construction of 28 new miles of bikeways and lanes, as well as various bike projects like the Como Ave trail, Cleveland Avenue Reconstruction Project, and the Ayd Mill Trail. This is because I firmly believe that high-quality, people-centered streets and systems are essential for creating a sustainable and resilient Saint Paul. Parents should feel safe walking their children to school, workers should have secure and efficient commutes, and all residents, including bikers, joggers, wheelchair users, and others, should be able to navigate our city freely and safely.
Quality urbanism
7. One of Sustain Saint Paul’s top policy priorities is “mixed-use zoning.” Our current zoning policies prohibit retail stores, coffeeshops, restaurants, and other neighborhood businesses in residential areas, and we think our city would be more vibrant and resilient if we allowed such neighborhood areas throughout the city. Do you support zoning changes to allow this?
Response: I strongly support these changes and view them as vital to maintaining Saint Paul’s longevity into the future. I am paying attention to the Grand Ave Zoning Overlay discussion as a related topic and the dynamics of that conversation that reflect where much of the struggle for progress has been in Saint Paul to date. I have championed zoning reforms that allow denser housing citywide and help us better place new commercial businesses in dynamic, connected neighborhoods. I am in full support of ending exclusionary zoning and other onerous or unnecessary requirements, as these requirements make it harder to build new housing while also further necessitating car travel due to longer commutes to designated geographic areas of business.
8. Sustain St. Paul believes that whenever the city rebuilds or repairs a street, it should redesign the street to reduce traffic speeds for the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers alike. Would you champion policies to encourage this?
Response: Yes. Decades of underfunding and a lack of will to reimagine our transit systems have left our roads and highways in desperate shape. The next best time to install the infrastructure that will center people and be more cost-effective to maintain in the long run, is now. As we spend decades repairing this damage, we need to make sure that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past, and build street systems that are forward facing. This absolutely means pulling emphasis away from car travel and looking at how we best ensure the safety of our pedestrians and cyclists as well as drivers.
9. What other urbanism-focused ideas do you have for making Saint Paul a more pleasant, safe, and vibrant place to live, work, and play?
Response: I believe that we should be exploring the creation of a citywide parking fee policy similar to cities like Portland. This modest tax on free or under-charged parking can raise millions in annual revenues to recoup the high cost of free parking on our city streets. Free parking everywhere is already heavily subsidized with public funding, without proportionate public benefit and often at the cost of our environmental and financial health. Portland’s “Climate and Equitable Mobility” transaction fee of $0.20 was added to metered parking transactions in 2022 to raise revenues that pay for other city needs like street maintenance and affordable housing. We should explore passing a similar program, as well as further installing metered parking on key commercial corridors like Grand Ave and other streets that are used heavily by out-of-city users, yet paid for exclusively by city residents.
Also, let’s bring our own version of Open Streets to Saint Paul. The pandemic showed us that true neighborhood vitality and connections can come from opening up streets for people and closing them to car traffic. My office played a central role in helping the city repurpose streets for outdoor sidewalk patios and neighborhood cafes during COVID-19 and I want to bring this deepened knowledge of our city’s Public Works operations to launch an inaugural Open Streets in Saint Paul. An outdoor block party with key roads closed to cars, where families can bring their kids in a stroller and local vendors can sell their art and food in the name of open streets, racial justice and climate action would be so special for our community.
These are just some of my ideas. I feel so excited to keep working with Sustain Saint Paul for these and other changes. I have come to deeply appreciate your advocacy as community leaders, and look forward to a continued partnership for the city we love.
