St. Paul is an amazing city! When I moved to Minnesota in 2000, I didn’t know that. As time passed, I realized my family spent more time in St. Paul than in Minneapolis, and my kids were practically growing up in St. Paul. 

 

I couldn’t articulate why I liked St. Paul until I ran for the Ward 1 City Council seat in 2023. The realization occurred during a chat with a Ward 1 resident sitting on the steps in front of his house. He was from Jamaica and lived in Chicago and Minneapolis before St. Paul. He told me that he found St. Paul to be a truly diverse city that does not consist of many segregated neighborhoods but a diverse group of people that can coexist and flourish together. His observation floored me because it immediately explained why I was always drawn to St Paul. His sentiment was echoed everywhere in the Ward, which includes very affluent to disadvantaged neighborhoods. Everybody can find a supportive community in St. Paul, and they like to keep the community simple, compassionate, and authentic. 

 

Keeping the city diverse doesn’t mean that the St. Paul government shouldn’t have a focus and can’t make our city safe and well-maintained with a property tax rate similar to or lower than surrounding cities, given our abundant resources.  I remember being shocked when I studied the city budget by comparing its budgets from different years. To budget, a city must know how to collect revenue and where to spend. On the revenue side, our city started to rely more on residents’ property tax dollars for its budget. On the spending side, we have spent money on some projects that lead to poor or negative outcomes. 

 

But there is great hope! We can turn this beloved city around quickly if our mayor critically examines past data and develops best practices by shifting spending from things that might look/feel good but have very little long-term impact on the city to investments that actually stimulate economic growth, such as safety, home ownership, a reasonable tax rate, attention to neglected neighborhoods, and infrastructure for business districts to succeed. 

 

I plan to mobilize our city departments to substantially increase our city services within our existing budget. I am uniquely qualified as I am used to working with many collaborators to determine the best way forward, as science research always works with unknowns to discover new strategies. Each City Department is a unique research project, given its complexity to make it effective.  I greatly respect what our city employees do. In fact, I have learned a lot about city governance through retired city employees. Yes, I believe in “work smarter, not harder.”  However, smartness does not evolve in a vacuum or by unreasonable demand; it evolves from many hours of analysis and strategic planning. You can count on me to do that effectively with our city department leaders.

 

I knocked on all the doors in Ward 1 in 2023 but didn’t campaign because I didn’t think I was politically experienced enough to ask people to help me get elected. I failed miserably and learned my lesson. I am doing it completely differently this time. If you get pestered by me this time, I apologize in advance. Our city is uniquely qualified to turn itself around because we have a long tradition of civic engagement by being innovative. We are the first city to introduce a district council system in the nation to facilitate community engagement. We adopted the Strong Council and Strong Mayor system fifty years ahead of our sister city across the river. It is time for our City Council members to use their legislative power to provide visionary policies to guide the city by having timely input on our city’s financial picture; the Mayor works closely with the City Departments to implement the most cost-effective strategies while keeping a bird’s eye view of our city’s current and future development. Let all Saint Paul residents benefit from our abundant resources!