Ward 2 Candidate Questionnaire Responses
Rebecca Noecker
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: Yes, I support zoning changes that allow increased density in our neighborhoods, especially “gentle” and infill density such as duplexes, triplexes and Accessory Dwelling Units. We need to expand our housing supply in order to increase housing affordability, combat climate change and expand our tax base so as to bring down property taxes.
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which included just cause eviction protections and rules around security deposits and tenant screening, were repealed in 2022.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Response: I worked closely on the SAFE Tenant Protections ordinance and was very disappointed when it had to be repealed due to litigation. We need to reinstate tenant protections by passing a renewed and reinvigorated SAFE ordinance as soon as possible. We can learn from the City of Minneapolis’s experience during its legal battle to design our new ordinance in a way that avoids legal liabilities.
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: Expanding access to affordable housing for working families must be our highest priority. We can do this by increasing funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, prioritizing tax-increment financing for affordable projects and pushing developers to commit to longer periods of affordability. I am proud that we added new affordable units in the former Pioneer Press Building and on the West Side Flats. We must also aim at increasing the supply of housing through zoning changes that can help create naturally occurring affordable housing.
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: We must continue to invest in a diverse range of transportation options for our community members. While in office, I have been an avid supporter of Riverview Street Car Corridor line and the expansion of Arterial Bus Rapid Transit (A-BRT). Engaging constituents along each proposed line is vitally important and I’ve found no better way to do this than by having in-person conversations, whether in group settings or one-on-one. I try to listen closely for concerns, identify the difference between the impacts of construction (often negative but mitigable) and long-term impacts (usually positive but sometimes eclipsed by the construction impacts), and find ways to help constituents reap the full benefits of transit construction (like buying their buildings). I’m also advocating to Metro Transit for safety improvements on its existing bus and rail lines so that transit continues to have a strong reputation and high ridership (which in turn promotes safety). I look forward to continuing my conversations with local communities on how best to improve mass transit in their areas.
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 believe that all transportation is meant to serve the residents that use it, so I will advocate for the voices and opinions of residents, especially residents of communities historically harmed by I-94, to be prioritized in the Rethinking I-94 project. I support a land bridge to reconnect the community and a transit-only lane to give mass transit priority on the road. Additionally, I will look at all the data around the project to ensure it is effective for all people who use the road, prioritizes transit and adheres to state targets for vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions.
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: Absolutely. I supported the expansion of our city’s bike network, including the Capital City Bikeway and the Robert Piram Trail along Plato Blvd. I’m a strong supporter of the Summit Bikeway project that will be a key component to creating a more seamless network that prioritizes cyclist safety. I know firsthand from biking around town with my family that separated bikeways feel safer and encourage people of different ages and abilities to hop on a bike, which should be our ultimate goal.
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 do. Mixed-use zoning is an important tool to create more walkable cities, locating jobs and services near where people live. I supported the creation of our “T” (Traditional Neighborhood) zones while on the Planning Commission and I’m proud of the work we’ve done to facilitate mixed-use zoning throughout Saint Paul.
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: Absolutely. I have supported numerous policies including investing in bike lanes, reducing lanes and speed limits, adding pedestrian crosswalks and bumpouts, and improving sidewalks all with the goal of promoting alternative transportation options and pedestrian safety. For example, we lowered speed limits on Cesar Chavez before the citywide speed limit was lowered, and we worked with MnDOT to advocate for a 4-3 lane conversion and bumpouts on Robert St between Plato and Annapolis. I’m working closely with constituents on improving pedestrian safety by allocating additional dollars in our annual budget to crosswalks, bumpouts and other infrastructure and also supporting a citywide traffic/crash study to make pedestrian safety improvements more systematic. I will continue to advocate for investment in pedestrian, cyclist and driver safety through transportation infrastructure changes.
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: Since COVID, our public life has suffered and we are more isolated than we used to be. Thoughtful urban planning can do a great deal to foster the interconnectedness that makes a city feel like home. We can do this by investing in public spaces like libraries, rec centers and parks. I’m proud to be advocating for a massive new investment in our libraries as Library Board Chair, and I have secured funding for new parks and playgrounds at Cherokee Park, Pedro Park, Parque Castillo, Wacouta Park, Rice Park and Palace Rec Center. We also need to support community-driven efforts to get together, like National Night Out, community gardens and neighborhood businesses. I have provided grants to businesses and nonprofits that have created welcoming spaces for public connection and I make an effort to attend and support neighborhood events. I hope to continue and expand these efforts.
Peter Butler
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: No. I support the current Traditional Neighborhood zoning. St. Paul faced a similar issue in 2014 with more teardowns in Ward 3. Please see https://www.stpaul.gov/DocumentCenter/View2/78847.pdf. Neighbors generally oppose development projects that require variances for structures that are larger than the surrounding structures. I support preserving our neighborhoods’ current character.
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 would rely on advocates to bring forth model ordinances that the courts have upheld in other jurisdictions and which address gaps in existing St. Paul’s code or Minnesota law. As a former renter, I had to fight for the return of my security deposit in small claims court, which was a very time consuming and complicated process. I have not successfully collected my deposit and court costs despite receiving a default judgment. I understand the procedural complexities that renters can experience to enforce their existing rights. I would support reforms that ensure renters can effectively pursue remedies currently available to them.
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: I support studying the feasibility of licensing boarding houses. These articles discuss the advantages for creating more affordable housing:
· https://reasonstobecheerful.world/affordable-housing-boarding-houses-city-rent/
· https://www.freethink.com/society/boarding-house
The city has an important role in ensuring that residents can afford to remain in their homes, whether owned or rented. City leaders need to keep property tax increases at or under the inflation rate and negotiate much cheaper garbage and recycling contracts.
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 live on Grand Avenue near Lexington Avenue. I often see near-empty buses on Route 63 (Grand) during off-peak hours. Route 83 (Lexington) uses very comfortable, 20-seat mini-buses. I’d encourage Metro Transit to replace larger buses with a smaller fleet and develop demand-driven transit (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand-responsive_transport). Transit-dependent people can spend two to three hours traveling to and from work or for shopping. We need a much more flexible system that moves away from costly and inefficient fixed routes.
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: A nationwide carbon tax is imperative to ensure the success of the listed initiatives. Removing a high-capacity segment from I-94 does not reduce VMT because drivers will find other routes, worsening vehicle pollution due to greater congestion on lower-capacity streets. Drivers must feel the true cost of their current transportation choices so that they make optimal decisions concerning alternatives.
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 do not support on-grade separated bikeways. The Summit Avenue Regional Trail planning process revealed significant resident opposition to this type of bike facility due to tree loss, parking removal and aesthetics. These same issues will occur along the other streets identified in the draft bike plan. I bike commuted on Summit Avenue from Prior Avenue to John Ireland Boulevard for almost 15 years. The wider bike lane with striped buffer on Summit between Snelling and Lexington avenues is an acceptable bike facility that balances competing uses for the right-of-way at a very reasonable cost.
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 do not support mixed-use zoning outside of designated commercial corridors. Many residents would not support such a change. Our commercial corridors are experiencing vacancies and I cannot image that businesses would find residential locations to generate enough demand.
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, I would. The first priority should be Cretin Avenue between I-94 and Grand Avenue. The 25 mile-per-hour speed limit in almost universally ignored, and transit users are at significant risk when attempting to cross Cretin from the Town & Country side to the residential side. We also need better street lighting at major intersections so pedestrians can be more visible, especially during winter when bus commuters are walking to and from their stops.
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: Downtown could become substantially more attractive by clearing the superblock of buildings from Cedar to Robert and 5th to 6th streets. A large greenspace would provide many benefits to residents, visitors and downtown workers.
Bill Hosko
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:
- I will work to move our odd-year city elections (thus low voter turnout, about 15%) to even-year elections (thus doubling, tripling or resulting in even higher turnout).
- This topic is truly too important for only the city council to vote on it. The public should have the option to vote on it as well in an even-year election.
- I will also support creation of more tiny house ownership options. Further, city hall misleadingly speaks of the importance of “affordable housing”. They should be more honest and call it taxpayer subsidized apartments.
- I will lead a great new community supported effort to encourage ‘co-operative ownership’ of apartments within our public housing system and construction of new, well-designed studio and efficiency ‘co-operative ownership’ units that lower income working class people can qualify to own.
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 will host weekly people/press conferences, at differing locations around the ward, that will also be livestreamed. Everything will be on the table for open discussion and debate. Behind the scenes wheeling and dealing as far as affairs concerning Ward Two will end.
- Your question, concerns and opinions, and those of landlords and renters, on Tenant Protections will collectively be a part of these conferences. The conferences will begin in our first month.
- It is fair that I not take a position until I have heard from all vested parties.
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:
- Our National Debt is growing by one million dollars a minute. I want Saint Paul to become more self-reliant rather than an accomplice to the massive national debt legacy we are leaving our kids.
- Second, the incumbent’s and city hall’s spending has exploded in recent years ($500 million ten years ago to nearing $800 million today), so have their collective tax increases that they are annually imposing upon citizens. They did it again two weeks ago. Most agree, they are spending taxpayer money in ways they never would if it were their own.
- Candidly, for all their talk about helping the poor and lower-income individuals, it is their policies that are harming these people most, driving homeowners out of their homes and driving up rents ever higher making their support for their 2021 ‘rent control’ referendum obvious as being nothing more than a classic political bait and switch stunt. Thousands of renters are now no longer protected by rent control after city hall politicians created numerous variances for the very same ‘greedy’ landlords and developers they were warning the public about in 2021.
- My priority on the council will be to see that future city spending is focused on always ensuring basic city services are funded (which frequently now they are not) and reducing greatly the rate of growth of the city budget and subsequently lower greatly the future rate of property tax levy increases. This will help all homeowners, owners of rental properties and renters as well.
(Landlords dealing with ever higher city tax increases who are not qualifying to be a part of city hall’s numerous ‘rent control variances’ are then being forced to find other ways to pass on their higher costs to their renters.)
- Again, from question 1, I will lead a great new community supported effort to encourage ‘co-operative ownership’ of apartments within our public housing system and construction of new, well-designed studio and efficiency ‘co-operative ownership’ units that lower income working class people can qualify to own.
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:
- As a transit user for 30-plus years (I do not own a vehicle and am currently renting one during my campaign) I respectfully disagree that our public transit is improving.
- Our LRT system earned ‘least safe’ status by far, by the Federal Transportation Administration in 2022. The incumbent has had 7.75 years in office.
- Even before its creation, during its planning process in 2007-2010, I was a proponent of having our LRT station stops protected by fences and gates to control access, to ensure operating revenue was collected, and to keep out crime.
- Since its opening, I have publicly held the position to retrofit the highest crime platforms first, with fences and gates. The incumbent and others in leadership positions have remained silent as thousands of people have been victims of crimes, hundreds seriously, and innocent people have been murdered. We’re told more security and other programs will appease the misconduct and crime. Meanwhile thousands of people who left LRT are not coming back any time soon.
- It is heartening, our new police chief is in favor of retrofitting each station stop with fences and gates. At a recent ‘crime meeting’ at Palace Rec Center, which I attended, and the incumbent did not, he also mentioned St. Louis has given up on having an ‘honor-system’ LRT as it is now retrofitting its platforms with fences and gates to control access.
- Regarding buses, the incumbent, and city hall are ignoring that all city buses were retrofitted with clear doors to protect drivers from assault five years ago. Until their need is gone and these doors are removed, our public bus system will not be what it once was not so many years ago.
(At this point, some city hall politicians, Metro Transit/Metroplotican Council members and state lawmakers will say frequently, ours is part of a ‘national problem’. This is a cop-out and is not President Biden’s charge and certainly not all cities the size of Saint Paul have the levels of crime and anti-social behavior that has become commonplace aboard our buses and light rail system.)
If elected:
- My focus will be to ensure that the public; individuals, seniors and families and children, experience a safe, comfortable and enjoyable transit experience again. Thus, we will get many thousands more people daily using public transit again and then I will make the case on why route reductions and reduced route hours of operation, enacted within the last ten years, can be reversed. I hope your organization will join me in making this a reality and making riding the bus and train a warm, friendly and enjoyable experience for all.
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:
- Most people drive day to day. I do not.
- Further, as mentioned previously, thousands of people are now driving and or taking Metro Mobility each day, who used to use Metro Transit but stopped being Met Council/Metro Transit and city hall are not focused on ensuring passenger safety and a pleasant experience is a priority within our public transit system.
- Thousands more daily who have never used Metro Transit would use it if these basic standards were upheld.
- This would collectively reduce use on the I-94 corridor. Respectfully, in my opinion, the incumbent supporting constricting I-94 or even eliminating it in Saint Paul is disingenuous. I hold the same opinion of others at MnDOT on this topic.
- Further, at a meeting incumbent Noecker and Senator Pappas jointly held at Lost Fox Cafe in Lowertown (broken into 6 times since opening – they are next to the Union Depot’s LRT stop) this spring she told the audience, ‘I want more people to start using public transit and to start biking rather than relying on driving for their transportation needs in and out of and around downtown’. This, in response to a constituent’s question about the great loss of on-street parking for 5 bike paths downtown.
I later attempted to ask her and Senator Pappas each questions (I had as a courtesy given them before the meeting began) during their question-and-answer session but they ignored my upraised hand. After 10 mins, I then quietly asked a neighboring attendee to raise her hand.
She asked why they would not call upon me. I replied, because they know me. She smiled - knowing what was going on. This very attractive, older African American woman then raised her hand. Both hosts eyes immediately went to her but then after they saw she was seated near me; their eyes went back to the center of the group. After at least 5 minutes of being ignored herself, this nice woman, now irritated, stood up and walked forward among those seated forcing them to call upon her. She then introduced herself, thanked the hosts for the event, then turned her time over to me saying, ‘this gentleman has had his hand raised for some time, I think we should hear what he has to say’ as she stepped back and waved her hand backwards towards me.
I stood up from where I was and asked Councilmember Noecker how many vehicles were in her household and did she take a bus or drive into city hall that day. Councilmember Noecker replied curtly, ‘two and I drove into work today’.
- As I mentioned in my answer to question 2, I will host weekly people/press conferences, at differing locations around the ward, that will also be live-streamed. Everything will be on the table for open discussion and debate. I will not be able to hide from my stated campaign positions and will not be able to be hypocritical in these positions and with my votes.
- The numbers of people displaced by I-94, not only between Dale and Lexington but westward to the river to Minneapolis and eastward to McKnight Road and Maplewood, as well as by 35E, 280, and 52 in Saint Paul numbers in the many thousands.
- Homage could spectacularly be better paid to Rondo along Dale Street between I-94 and University Avenue rather than building a multitude of apartment buildings and open space atop a tunnel over I-94 where constricted vehicle exhaust spews out its two ends. If elected, I will help lead us towards a far better homage to Rondo.
- Most in Ward Two agree, I-94 through Saint Pal is needed and constricting it will only create more traffic congestion.
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:
- The city’s finances and exploding budget and subsequent exploding taxation is harming countless people and our business community, particularly those on the lower ends of the financial scale.
- May 24, Pioneer Press, “St. Paul City Council approves Summit Avenue bikeway 6-1” quoted Councilmember Noecker “I really regret that it has gotten so divisive. Just because an idea is divisive, though, isn’t a sign that it’s wrong. … I think that this plan strikes the right balance. I want to build a city and invest in infrastructure that’s for our children. … This is the best plan for children and families.”
- That was a lecture designed to shut people down, and make them submit and obey. Further, as the incumbent knows some new City bike paths are no wider than Summit’s decades old 55” path. Including Payne Avenue’s 53” path. If this newer Payne Avenue and similar width bike paths are keeping “children and families” “safe” surely Summit’s bike path is doing the same? Summit is imperfectly perfect as-is.
If elected:
- Additions to our bike path system should remain in keeping with other recent standards. We should not be hypocritical and inconsistent. I hope your organization will support this.
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:
- As mentioned twice previously, I will host weekly people/press conferences, at differing locations around the ward, that will also be live-streamed. Everything will be on the table for open discussion and debate. Including this topic.
- The retail type businesses you describe and zoning that allows them are already found throughout my ward and within residential areas, as well across this city. Vacancies within them are not uncommon. My understanding of the public’s sentiment within Ward Two currently would be to leave this zoning as-is.
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:
- In all candor, enforcement of existing traffic laws has been greatly reduced during the incumbent’s years in office and police reports as well are down, as within the current atmosphere surrounding city hall, the underreporting of crime is expected.
- The new 20 mph residential speed limit is a result of the city not enforcing existing speed limits.
- Even after many streets have been narrowed, particularly at intersections, the instances of people speeding overall, running red lights, running stop signs, not yielding to pedestrians and bicyclists is as bad as I’ve ever seen in my life-time. It is a disgrace how our environment has been allowed to decline in recent years.
If elected;
- I will seek the upholding of existing traffic and pedestrian laws and hope the Sustain Saint Paul organization will join me.
- Further, it appears in more recent years - as our mayor selects, and our city council hires, our police chief, this individual is ever-more under their thumb and not greatly allowed to operate autonomously and be more directly accountable to citizens. I will seek an honest, straightforward, robust discussion, ultimately perhaps resulting in a referendum question, and during an even-year election – ‘Shall the citizens of Saint Paul hire their Police Chief?
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:
- Goodness there are and will be, many! We’ve so much potential that with all due respect the incumbent during nearing eight years in office hasn’t even touched what’s possible to make this a more exciting place to live, work and visit.
I have a technical college background where I studied in commercial art, architecture and drafting. I have been self-employed as an architectural artist and illustrator for 34 years and an art gallery and frame shop owner for 30 years, specializing in my own artworks which predominantly feature Saint Paul (BillHosko.Com).
No other candidate is likely as well versed and physically traveled into even the farthest corners of our city. My history would allow me best to work on any variety of issues that may arise from public transit and safety in any particular area, to any parks and recreation or development issues that will arise. I can work well with people from a young age to older adults, making them comfortable and to feel heard and understood.
Beginning in 1988, I have completed a number of smaller renovation and/or restoration projects beginning with my first home purchase (built 1920s), to restoring a 1900 era farm stead in NE Minnesota, to restoring the interior of the Endicott Arcade on Sixth Street downtown (now sadly locked and vacated in recent years), to creating a late 1800s homesteader era, community-owned café in NE Montana.
If elected:
- I am 61 now and am grateful for the life I have been able to lead to date. Each day I have gratitude for what I have, and as an elected official I will encourage our populace to feel the same. Instead, indeed today, our local elected officials encourage people to feel aggrieved as a way to gain power and votes. So harmful and unconstructive.
- The widespread neglect of public property that has exploded in recent years under the incumbent will be cleaned up in our first 6 months together (see BillHosko.Org). Further, I will work to ensure that future budgets must include basic maintenance costs for all public areas the city oversees, and the same for county and state property within Saint Paul. Even the capitol grounds have widespread weeds growing in landscaped areas. Unimaginable even a few years ago.
- This July and August, I completed a Lowertown mural, see it depicted on my campaign flier. In all, 64 people helped paint it. I have tentative approval now from the building owners to do a 6-times larger, again Saint Paul themed, mural on their west wall next spring. Additionally, I will lead an effort where talented mural artists are brought together and we collectively set out about making Saint Paul - Mural-City-USA. The public’s participation will be a keystone for it.
- The City’s “Final” Pedro Park plan may well become crime plagued as others and I fear. Soon, (on BillHosko.Org) I will submit my own concept plan, based in fact upon many discussions with others, what would be a far better, achievable and anticipatory park plan that would become reputation-wise, a beloved equal to any park in Saint Paul.
- I will continue to push for Union Depot/Ramsey County to embrace the typically vacant and way underutilized massive concourse area for a new “Railroad and Riverboat Museum of Minnesota attraction as well as bringing The Twin Cities Mode Railroad Museum back to Union Depot where it began in the 1930s. However, this time, into a modest-sized building of its own on the massive open depot platform area (soon to be seen on BillHosko.Org).
(Both proposals are meant to stem the millions annually that this county-property losses).
- The Justus Ramsey House (the oldest house in Saint Paul on its original lot) the incumbent, this past spring, egregiously allowed to be needlessly disassembled and moved to a vacant lot outside Saint Paul. The public should decide its fate, not the Fort Road Federation (one of our 17 district councils) behind closed doors - as they recently claim they are not subject to open-meeting laws) and I will help ensure that its reuse and new location is as perfect as can be given under the circumstances (soon to be seen on BillHosko.Org).
- The massive county-owned West Publishing/Ramsey County Jail site holds great redevelopment potential. However, current concept plans are massive, cheap looking and too dominant over the cherished riverfront area and they are not in keeping with adopted ‘river corridor’ plans that prohibit high-rises on that side of Kellogg Boulevard. Again, based upon my conversations with many others, I, last year, put together a conceptual plan that is more respectful, affordable and exciting than the county’s/city’s plans for the ‘River Balcony’ (see this soon on BillHosko.Org).
- Our once famous, beautiful and friendly skyway system has become a depressing, neglect plagued place in too many areas. Here too, we will turn this around, and within our first year together.
- Lastly, Ward Two, arguably the heart and soul of Saint Paul, is of course, much larger than just downtown. Together, we will reverse the encroaching neglect manifesting itself in multiple areas in recent years and capitalize realistically, on renovation, restoration and new development opportunities throughout it. Together, we will.
I am at your service and thank you for this opportunity to address your questions, concerns and desires today.
