Here are list of Tuesday's St. Paul City election winners:
FIRST WARD: Melvin Carter
SECOND WARD: Dave Thune (will need to be recounted on 11/14/11)
THIRD WARD: Chris Tolbert
FOURTH WARD: Russ Stark
FIFTH WARD: Amy Brendmoen
SIXTH WARD: Dan Bostrom
SEVENTH WARD: Kathy Lantry
SCHOOL BOARD:
Anne Carroll
Keith Hardy
Mary Doran
Louise Seeba
Congratulations to those winners on their victories and they will be sworn in sometimes during January.
Showing posts with label St. Paul City Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St. Paul City Council. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Ranked Voting video
Hope I put in right size of video. Here is video of how Ranked Voting work in St. Paul which will make debut today. Sorry the video is not captioned for deaf people.
GET OUT AND VOTE! ELECTION DAY 2011
Today is Election Day in Cities such as St. Paul, St. Louis
Park, Inver Grove Heights and plenty of cities expect for Minneapolis. Wanted
to remind you to go out and vote.
You can always go to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie’s Pollfinder
and it will tell you where you can go vote but for St. Paul residents, go to
Ramsey County Election page.
Last year Minneapolis was first city in Minnesota to do
Ranking Vote or Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). You can get more information on
IRV by clicking here. Only City Council election will be based on IRV when
school board election will be on regular ballot.
If you are St. Paul resident and tried IRV, let me know how it goes. Hope it is less confusing to some people.
Here is an example ballot and what it will look like during St. Paul Election when you go to poll. Here is link to a sample ballot for First Ward so you can get idea what it look like by clicking here.
Monday, June 13, 2011
ST PAUL THIRD WARD DFL CONVENTION TONIGHT 6/14/2011
Are you a political junkie and bored at home on Tuesday night or paying close attention to city council race? There will be St. Paul third ward convention tonight at Highland Park Junior High school. Also reminder for delegates and alternates as well. Here are full details of convention information. GOOD LUCK TO CANDIDATE WHO ARE COMPETING TONIGHT AND MAY THE BEST CANDIDATE WIN!
Saint Paul City DFL - Ward 3 Endorsing Convention
The reconvened Ward 3 Convention will be held on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at Highland Jr. High School (in the auditorium), located at Snelling and Montreal, St. Paul, MN. Credentialing begins at 6:00 p.m., the Convention starts at 7:00 p.m. The proposed rules are now available at http://www.stpauldfl.org/docs/Ward3-2011-ReconRulesAgenda.pdf.
2011 SAINT PAUL DFL WARD 3 CONVENTION - AGENDA
1. Call to order by Ward Chair.
2. Flag ceremony.
3. Welcome(s).
4. Reading of Affirmative Action Statement.
5. First Credentials Report.
6. Election of Convention Chair(s).
7. Rules Committee Report, Adoption of Rules and Agenda.
8. Nominations of Ward 3 City Council Candidates.
9. Ward 3 City Council Question and Answer Period.
10. Second Credentials Report. Resolution of any credentials challenges.
11. Endorsement of Ward 3 City Council.
12. Election of Ward Party Officers (may be conducted during Ward 3 vote counting without suspension of the rules):
a. Two Co-chairs (must be gender balanced).
b. Secretary/Treasurer.
c. Affirmative Action Officer.
13. Officer reports, if any.
14. Other Business.
15. Adjournment.
Please feel free to send me a message at Demozine@hotmail.com if you have a question.
See you on June 14 !
Michael Lewis
Saint Paul DFL Ward 3 Chair
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Ron Maddox, St. Paul booster and cofounder of Taste of Minnesota dies at 72
Former city council member had joked with his wife to 'put a cell phone in my casket. If the line is busy, delay the funeral.'
By Tad Vezner and Dave Orrick
Pioneer Press
Updated: 02/19/2010
Ron "The Bull" Maddox boasted he'd held more than half the jobs on the planet, from pitching semi-pro baseball to driving a tow truck to selling insurance. For a time, he even tried politics.
In the end, he became St. Paul's brawling, obstreperous defender — owning half a dozen St. Paul bars, serving a brief, stormy stint as city council president and eventually falling into his niche as the Taste of Minnesota's frontman.
"Everything I do is sex, politics, sports and religion. Life is built around that," Maddox said a few years ago. He died Friday at the age of 72.
Even before he entered politics in 1978, he would rail against those who talked St. Paul down. He delivered verbal pummelings to anyone who dared badmouth his "neighborhood city," which he found during a midlife career move, fell in love with and relentlessly tried to energize.
Carrying a bat emblazoned with fighting words — "You agree with me, don't you?" — Maddox often patrolled the Taste festival grounds for troublemakers. He'd gotten practice on St. Paul's downtown streets, racking up 54 citizen arrests of panhandlers, prostitutes or anyone who might detract from the city's image.
His tough street-kid persona got its start in an industrial Detroit suburb.
Not Afraid To Bump Heads
Born Aug. 25, 1937, in Hazel Park, Mich. — right off the Chrysler Freeway — as Anthony Antonelli, Maddox was given up for adoption by his parents, an unwed vaudeville dance team. His second mother died of pneumonia after rescuing Maddox from their burning house in the middle of winter.
Maddox spoke of having two fathers and four mothers, "and you know, I'm grateful, because I got love from all of them" — but he noted his second father, a union shop steward, worked long hours and was seen rarely. In a 1980 Pioneer Press article, his old Center Line High School football coach, Bill Chmelko, called Maddox quick, intelligent, aggressive and "not afraid to so-called bump heads. He got recognition from us. He got no recognition at home."
After a stint in the Air Force and a two-year commerce degree from South Macomb College, Maddox went to work for Wayne National Life Insurance Co. in Detroit. In time, he became vice president and met board member (and Detroit Tiger Outfielder and Hall of Famer) Al Kaline, who supplied him with his bat while Maddox pitched during batting practice.
In 1963, he was elected trustee of the then-township of Sterling Heights. He was 25.
Reporters and politicians at the time described him as someone who "yelled and pounded his desk, who liked nothing better than a good verbal confrontation with a packed crowd watching." At least once, he challenged a board member to a fistfight.
Maddox said at the time he was unhappy, and after his wife filed for divorce, he moved to Minnesota in 1966 as Wayne National's district manager.
'Invest In St. Paul'
Life in Minnesota was an adjustment. "They taught me a different way of life. They took me fishing — hell, I'd never been fishing in my life," he said later in an interview.
After Wayne National experienced problems, Maddox became an independent agent but tired of "the rat race," as he put it. Perhaps the bar trade would be more fulfilling.
In 1970, he bought his first bar — Denny's Loft on University Avenue — followed by several others. Finally, in 1974, he purchased his best-known establishment, the Blue Chip, at 369 Cedar St.
Around that same time, Maddox began racking up a string of "citizens arrests." In 1976, he turned in a woman who approached him downtown for a $40 "date." He tried to arrest a "meter maid" tagging cars by his bar for parking her motorized tricycle "illegally." There were panhandlers, pimps, more prostitutes — anyone Maddox thought lent the city a bad name.
As recently as last year, he boasted a total of 54 arrests, all but one of which stuck, he said.
Less than 10 years after arriving in St. Paul, Maddox had become the unofficial yet undisputed booster of its downtown — a title that helped get him elected to city council. During the race, he bought a campaign billboard smack in the center of Minneapolis.
"Invest in St. Paul," read the words beside Maddox's smiling face.
In a contentious race, he railed against established politicians and championed the small businessman, whom he said had taken a beating.
"St. Paul City Council candidate Ron Maddox said Thursday a lie detector test has shown he made no threats on council member Rosalie Butler's life," one Pioneer Press article began.
A Classic St. Paul Character
But in the end, in 1978 — after serving as president of the downtown district council, the visitors and convention bureau and the downtown community development committee — Maddox was seated. Within a year, he vowed to retire his nickname, "The Bull," which he prominently displayed on his license plate.
Fellow council members at the time said "The Bull" never retired, calling him a contentious publicity hound.
After a perceived snub by then-Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Amos Martin, he proclaimed, "The establishment in this town figures you've got to have gone to Cretin or have got to gone to St. Thomas. Street kids are just not recognized."
But in 1980, he was elected council president on a 4-3 vote. That year, he sold the debt-laden Blue Chip a second and final time.
"Ron is just one of those classic St. Paul characters. And to be one, you kind of have to have some controversy," said bar owner Dan O'Gara. "Although he's not from here, he's the epitome of the city."
Supporters and opponents alike portrayed Maddox as a Chicago-style politician inflicted on St. Paul's frequently flaccid council. Even his critics admitted he was capable of fierce loyalty — at times to his own detriment.
"I have not been satisfied in many instances that Ron recognized the difference between personal loyalty and loyalty to the office, to the oath you take," then-Mayor George Latimer said.
Latimer remembered this week: "Even when he was older and in bad health, he wasn't afraid to go to the mat and get physical with somebody. I made sure to make my differences with Ron on a very cerebral level."
Downtown St. Paul building owner and friend John Manillo recalled how in his bar-owner days Maddox eliminated the competition for a lease he wanted to sign.
One evening, Maddox invited his rival to one of his bars, and the next day he called Manillo, who asked, "How'd it go?"
"I got a broken cheek and a black eye and a few stitches," Maddox said. Manillo rushed to see Maddox, whose face was properly busted up.
"What happened?" Manillo asked.
"You should see the other guy," Maddox replied. "He came at me with a pool cue, so I had no choice. ... Now, let's go sign that lease."
The opposition would offer no further argument.
Stepping Up, Stepping On Toes
Maddox was particularly vocal about police control of rock concerts and supported ordinances to regulate behavior in skyways. He also backed esoteric ordinances, including one that outlawed Space Invaders video games in grocery stores, and floated the idea of an indoor dogtrack downtown.
Tim Macke, former president of Liberty State Bank at Selby and Snelling avenues, remembered the gridlock he encountered trying to get his corner remodeled — until Maddox got involved.
"He just stepped in, and he just went past everybody. We started doing things before we even had approval. Boy, away we went," Macke said. "I'll tell you what he did: He brought people together. He stepped on people's toes, yes, but he just got it done."
In 1981, Maddox resigned as council president following weeks of political intrigue by council members who chafed at his style. In 1982, he announced he would not run for a third term and instead bought a lawn-mower repair shop in Highland Park. His pride: an over-sized riding snow blower with a speaker system behind the seat. He used it to plow the neighborhood.
"He always said, the best thing you can do is just shovel people's walks," Macke said.
After running unsuccessfully for Ramsey County commissioner — a race in which a glass of beer at O'Gara's Bar & Grill somehow ended up in the lap of a union official who was talking to Maddox about a denied endorsement — Maddox opted for a job in public relations.
Best Of Ron Maddox
With the Taste of Minnesota, Maddox's flair for publicity found a home.
"It was the best of Ron Maddox," Latimer said. "It took energy, it took promotion, it took shoe leather and it took chutzpah, and Ron had all those."
It was around 1979 that Maddox hatched the idea for what would become not only Minnesota's second-largest festival (behind the State Fair) but also, as Maddox incessantly emphasized, "the largest festival between Chicago and California."
Latimer allowed his chief of staff, Dick Broeker, and Maddox to move on the idea of a public festival around Independence Day.
"Everybody thought we were nuts," Maddox recalled in an interview several years ago, relating one of the many stories he often retold. And retold.
"Everybody told us, 'Nobody's around on the Fourth. Everyone goes to their cabins on the lake.' It took them one year to discover not everyone owns a cabin."
Broeker and Maddox traveled to Chicago to see how large festivals were promoted and financed. "We just copied what they did," Maddox recalled.
Thus was born the Taste of Minnesota, which began in 1982 and has been held annually since. Ownership has changed, but Maddox didn't leave until last year, setting up in a Payne Avenue storefront to tirelessly promote the Harriet Island festival year-round.
Scouts from the suburbs sometimes approached him, inquiring whether the Taste wouldn't be better off in their open, airy locales. He never gave in; his attitude toward the suburbs ranged from dislike to downright disdain. He frequently raged about how they were destroying St. Paul's core.
"St. Paul is a neighborhood city. It's not a plastic city. There's more shopping malls surrounding these two cities than anywhere else in the country," he said two years ago.
Maddox's health problems began a year after he was elected to council. He was hospitalized in 1979 for an arterial spasm. A few years later, he was diagnosed with diabetes; later, he underwent brain surgery for a tumor, and in the mid-1990s he was badly banged up in a car accident. At last count, he had suffered eight strokes.
A few years ago, he laid out some rules for his funeral to his wife, Linda.
No. 1: Put a charged cell phone in his casket. If the line is busy, delay the burial.
And if it ever does happen, charge admission.
"A lot of people will pay, because they want to make sure I'm dead," he said.
Funeral arrangements were in the works on Friday.
Tad Vezner can be reached at 651-228-5461.
By Tad Vezner and Dave Orrick
Pioneer Press
Updated: 02/19/2010
Ron "The Bull" Maddox boasted he'd held more than half the jobs on the planet, from pitching semi-pro baseball to driving a tow truck to selling insurance. For a time, he even tried politics.
In the end, he became St. Paul's brawling, obstreperous defender — owning half a dozen St. Paul bars, serving a brief, stormy stint as city council president and eventually falling into his niche as the Taste of Minnesota's frontman.
"Everything I do is sex, politics, sports and religion. Life is built around that," Maddox said a few years ago. He died Friday at the age of 72.
Even before he entered politics in 1978, he would rail against those who talked St. Paul down. He delivered verbal pummelings to anyone who dared badmouth his "neighborhood city," which he found during a midlife career move, fell in love with and relentlessly tried to energize.
Carrying a bat emblazoned with fighting words — "You agree with me, don't you?" — Maddox often patrolled the Taste festival grounds for troublemakers. He'd gotten practice on St. Paul's downtown streets, racking up 54 citizen arrests of panhandlers, prostitutes or anyone who might detract from the city's image.
His tough street-kid persona got its start in an industrial Detroit suburb.
Not Afraid To Bump Heads
Born Aug. 25, 1937, in Hazel Park, Mich. — right off the Chrysler Freeway — as Anthony Antonelli, Maddox was given up for adoption by his parents, an unwed vaudeville dance team. His second mother died of pneumonia after rescuing Maddox from their burning house in the middle of winter.
Maddox spoke of having two fathers and four mothers, "and you know, I'm grateful, because I got love from all of them" — but he noted his second father, a union shop steward, worked long hours and was seen rarely. In a 1980 Pioneer Press article, his old Center Line High School football coach, Bill Chmelko, called Maddox quick, intelligent, aggressive and "not afraid to so-called bump heads. He got recognition from us. He got no recognition at home."
After a stint in the Air Force and a two-year commerce degree from South Macomb College, Maddox went to work for Wayne National Life Insurance Co. in Detroit. In time, he became vice president and met board member (and Detroit Tiger Outfielder and Hall of Famer) Al Kaline, who supplied him with his bat while Maddox pitched during batting practice.
In 1963, he was elected trustee of the then-township of Sterling Heights. He was 25.
Reporters and politicians at the time described him as someone who "yelled and pounded his desk, who liked nothing better than a good verbal confrontation with a packed crowd watching." At least once, he challenged a board member to a fistfight.
Maddox said at the time he was unhappy, and after his wife filed for divorce, he moved to Minnesota in 1966 as Wayne National's district manager.
'Invest In St. Paul'
Life in Minnesota was an adjustment. "They taught me a different way of life. They took me fishing — hell, I'd never been fishing in my life," he said later in an interview.
After Wayne National experienced problems, Maddox became an independent agent but tired of "the rat race," as he put it. Perhaps the bar trade would be more fulfilling.
In 1970, he bought his first bar — Denny's Loft on University Avenue — followed by several others. Finally, in 1974, he purchased his best-known establishment, the Blue Chip, at 369 Cedar St.
Around that same time, Maddox began racking up a string of "citizens arrests." In 1976, he turned in a woman who approached him downtown for a $40 "date." He tried to arrest a "meter maid" tagging cars by his bar for parking her motorized tricycle "illegally." There were panhandlers, pimps, more prostitutes — anyone Maddox thought lent the city a bad name.
As recently as last year, he boasted a total of 54 arrests, all but one of which stuck, he said.
Less than 10 years after arriving in St. Paul, Maddox had become the unofficial yet undisputed booster of its downtown — a title that helped get him elected to city council. During the race, he bought a campaign billboard smack in the center of Minneapolis.
"Invest in St. Paul," read the words beside Maddox's smiling face.
In a contentious race, he railed against established politicians and championed the small businessman, whom he said had taken a beating.
"St. Paul City Council candidate Ron Maddox said Thursday a lie detector test has shown he made no threats on council member Rosalie Butler's life," one Pioneer Press article began.
A Classic St. Paul Character
But in the end, in 1978 — after serving as president of the downtown district council, the visitors and convention bureau and the downtown community development committee — Maddox was seated. Within a year, he vowed to retire his nickname, "The Bull," which he prominently displayed on his license plate.
Fellow council members at the time said "The Bull" never retired, calling him a contentious publicity hound.
After a perceived snub by then-Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Amos Martin, he proclaimed, "The establishment in this town figures you've got to have gone to Cretin or have got to gone to St. Thomas. Street kids are just not recognized."
But in 1980, he was elected council president on a 4-3 vote. That year, he sold the debt-laden Blue Chip a second and final time.
"Ron is just one of those classic St. Paul characters. And to be one, you kind of have to have some controversy," said bar owner Dan O'Gara. "Although he's not from here, he's the epitome of the city."
Supporters and opponents alike portrayed Maddox as a Chicago-style politician inflicted on St. Paul's frequently flaccid council. Even his critics admitted he was capable of fierce loyalty — at times to his own detriment.
"I have not been satisfied in many instances that Ron recognized the difference between personal loyalty and loyalty to the office, to the oath you take," then-Mayor George Latimer said.
Latimer remembered this week: "Even when he was older and in bad health, he wasn't afraid to go to the mat and get physical with somebody. I made sure to make my differences with Ron on a very cerebral level."
Downtown St. Paul building owner and friend John Manillo recalled how in his bar-owner days Maddox eliminated the competition for a lease he wanted to sign.
One evening, Maddox invited his rival to one of his bars, and the next day he called Manillo, who asked, "How'd it go?"
"I got a broken cheek and a black eye and a few stitches," Maddox said. Manillo rushed to see Maddox, whose face was properly busted up.
"What happened?" Manillo asked.
"You should see the other guy," Maddox replied. "He came at me with a pool cue, so I had no choice. ... Now, let's go sign that lease."
The opposition would offer no further argument.
Stepping Up, Stepping On Toes
Maddox was particularly vocal about police control of rock concerts and supported ordinances to regulate behavior in skyways. He also backed esoteric ordinances, including one that outlawed Space Invaders video games in grocery stores, and floated the idea of an indoor dogtrack downtown.
Tim Macke, former president of Liberty State Bank at Selby and Snelling avenues, remembered the gridlock he encountered trying to get his corner remodeled — until Maddox got involved.
"He just stepped in, and he just went past everybody. We started doing things before we even had approval. Boy, away we went," Macke said. "I'll tell you what he did: He brought people together. He stepped on people's toes, yes, but he just got it done."
In 1981, Maddox resigned as council president following weeks of political intrigue by council members who chafed at his style. In 1982, he announced he would not run for a third term and instead bought a lawn-mower repair shop in Highland Park. His pride: an over-sized riding snow blower with a speaker system behind the seat. He used it to plow the neighborhood.
"He always said, the best thing you can do is just shovel people's walks," Macke said.
After running unsuccessfully for Ramsey County commissioner — a race in which a glass of beer at O'Gara's Bar & Grill somehow ended up in the lap of a union official who was talking to Maddox about a denied endorsement — Maddox opted for a job in public relations.
Best Of Ron Maddox
With the Taste of Minnesota, Maddox's flair for publicity found a home.
"It was the best of Ron Maddox," Latimer said. "It took energy, it took promotion, it took shoe leather and it took chutzpah, and Ron had all those."
It was around 1979 that Maddox hatched the idea for what would become not only Minnesota's second-largest festival (behind the State Fair) but also, as Maddox incessantly emphasized, "the largest festival between Chicago and California."
Latimer allowed his chief of staff, Dick Broeker, and Maddox to move on the idea of a public festival around Independence Day.
"Everybody thought we were nuts," Maddox recalled in an interview several years ago, relating one of the many stories he often retold. And retold.
"Everybody told us, 'Nobody's around on the Fourth. Everyone goes to their cabins on the lake.' It took them one year to discover not everyone owns a cabin."
Broeker and Maddox traveled to Chicago to see how large festivals were promoted and financed. "We just copied what they did," Maddox recalled.
Thus was born the Taste of Minnesota, which began in 1982 and has been held annually since. Ownership has changed, but Maddox didn't leave until last year, setting up in a Payne Avenue storefront to tirelessly promote the Harriet Island festival year-round.
Scouts from the suburbs sometimes approached him, inquiring whether the Taste wouldn't be better off in their open, airy locales. He never gave in; his attitude toward the suburbs ranged from dislike to downright disdain. He frequently raged about how they were destroying St. Paul's core.
"St. Paul is a neighborhood city. It's not a plastic city. There's more shopping malls surrounding these two cities than anywhere else in the country," he said two years ago.
Maddox's health problems began a year after he was elected to council. He was hospitalized in 1979 for an arterial spasm. A few years later, he was diagnosed with diabetes; later, he underwent brain surgery for a tumor, and in the mid-1990s he was badly banged up in a car accident. At last count, he had suffered eight strokes.
A few years ago, he laid out some rules for his funeral to his wife, Linda.
No. 1: Put a charged cell phone in his casket. If the line is busy, delay the burial.
And if it ever does happen, charge admission.
"A lot of people will pay, because they want to make sure I'm dead," he said.
Funeral arrangements were in the works on Friday.
Tad Vezner can be reached at 651-228-5461.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
City to Build Additional LRT Station between Rice, Snelling
CITY OF SAINT PAUL
Assuming the responsibility to fulfill long-standing commitments to Central Corridor project partners and residents, Mayor Chris Coleman and Councilmembers Melvin Carter III and Russ Stark agreed that the City would assemble, from its own budget, the resources necessary to build the first of three additional stations on the light rail transit line between Rice and Snelling streets.
The decision comes as a compromise with the Metropolitan Council, which in return for the city’s effort to build the station at Western Avenue, Hamline Avenue or Victoria Avenue, will assume responsibility for the acquisition of the diagonal right-of-way through the block bounded by 4th and 5th, Cedar and Minnesota. It will further commit $1.5 million to improving the façade of the line’s Operations and Maintenance Facility in Lowertown.
With the decision, work moving utilities can begin.
“This is a huge milestone. The Central Corridor is the opportunity of a lifetime for Saint Paul, and we have always been focused on ensuring that everyone benefits from this development. Today, we are stepping up to the plate and making real our commitment to the people who live along the line and the neighborhoods that will prosper because of it,” Mayor Coleman said.
Intensive discussion to build the station began after it became clear that additional budget capacity created by an increase in the federal Cost Effectiveness Index would not be the best source of funding for the station. Through the complicated federal formulas that have governed construction along the line, the project would lose almost $5.5 million if the station was included in the project elements.
Losing over $5 million from an extremely tight project budget was not a reasonable choice for policy makers.
Nonetheless, build out of the stations is a high priority for Mayor Coleman, the City Council and Ramsey County Board of Commissioners as well as a broad coalition of community interests.
“For those of us who live and work along University Avenue, this is great news,” Councilmember Carter said. “There certainly remains a great deal of work ahead, but today's decision is clearly one to celebrate, and I thank our partners around the table, especially County Commissioners Toni Carter and Jim McDonough, for their commitment to ensuring a project that serves the neighborhood.”
“The Central Corridor Management Committee’s decision today is a break-through for our entire community, affirming our commitment to the neighborhoods I represent and serve,” Commissioner Carter said.
Through a community process, a decision will be made on which station to build first.
“We have the first station solidified, and this will help us secure the money for the second station along with streetscaping along the line,” Councilmember Stark said.
An agreement in principle adopted by the Central Corridor Management Committee (CCMC) went on to describe the Committee’s intent with respect to allocating future funding that may be released from the project’s contingency budget. Federal financing rules require the Metropolitan Council to carry a significant budget to cover the cost of unanticipated construction challenges or cost increases. As the project proceeds through the construction, the Metropolitan Council is allowed, at specified times, to reallocate the contingency budget to other project elements.
The CCMC, which is advisory to the Metropolitan Council, agreed that, after essential project elements are paid for, any released contingency should be allocated between East Metro and West Metro priorities, with 70 percent going to the East Metro and 30 percent to the West Metro. Among the East Metro’s priorities are the build out of the remaining two stations and significant streetscape enhancements along University Avenue and in the downtown.
Construction on the light rail line is scheduled to begin in 2010, with work moving utility lines to accommodate Central Corridor already started in downtown Saint Paul. The first trains are expected to be running between the Union Depot and downtown Minneapolis along University Avenue in 2014.
Assuming the responsibility to fulfill long-standing commitments to Central Corridor project partners and residents, Mayor Chris Coleman and Councilmembers Melvin Carter III and Russ Stark agreed that the City would assemble, from its own budget, the resources necessary to build the first of three additional stations on the light rail transit line between Rice and Snelling streets.
The decision comes as a compromise with the Metropolitan Council, which in return for the city’s effort to build the station at Western Avenue, Hamline Avenue or Victoria Avenue, will assume responsibility for the acquisition of the diagonal right-of-way through the block bounded by 4th and 5th, Cedar and Minnesota. It will further commit $1.5 million to improving the façade of the line’s Operations and Maintenance Facility in Lowertown.
With the decision, work moving utilities can begin.
“This is a huge milestone. The Central Corridor is the opportunity of a lifetime for Saint Paul, and we have always been focused on ensuring that everyone benefits from this development. Today, we are stepping up to the plate and making real our commitment to the people who live along the line and the neighborhoods that will prosper because of it,” Mayor Coleman said.
Intensive discussion to build the station began after it became clear that additional budget capacity created by an increase in the federal Cost Effectiveness Index would not be the best source of funding for the station. Through the complicated federal formulas that have governed construction along the line, the project would lose almost $5.5 million if the station was included in the project elements.
Losing over $5 million from an extremely tight project budget was not a reasonable choice for policy makers.
Nonetheless, build out of the stations is a high priority for Mayor Coleman, the City Council and Ramsey County Board of Commissioners as well as a broad coalition of community interests.
“For those of us who live and work along University Avenue, this is great news,” Councilmember Carter said. “There certainly remains a great deal of work ahead, but today's decision is clearly one to celebrate, and I thank our partners around the table, especially County Commissioners Toni Carter and Jim McDonough, for their commitment to ensuring a project that serves the neighborhood.”
“The Central Corridor Management Committee’s decision today is a break-through for our entire community, affirming our commitment to the neighborhoods I represent and serve,” Commissioner Carter said.
Through a community process, a decision will be made on which station to build first.
“We have the first station solidified, and this will help us secure the money for the second station along with streetscaping along the line,” Councilmember Stark said.
An agreement in principle adopted by the Central Corridor Management Committee (CCMC) went on to describe the Committee’s intent with respect to allocating future funding that may be released from the project’s contingency budget. Federal financing rules require the Metropolitan Council to carry a significant budget to cover the cost of unanticipated construction challenges or cost increases. As the project proceeds through the construction, the Metropolitan Council is allowed, at specified times, to reallocate the contingency budget to other project elements.
The CCMC, which is advisory to the Metropolitan Council, agreed that, after essential project elements are paid for, any released contingency should be allocated between East Metro and West Metro priorities, with 70 percent going to the East Metro and 30 percent to the West Metro. Among the East Metro’s priorities are the build out of the remaining two stations and significant streetscape enhancements along University Avenue and in the downtown.
Construction on the light rail line is scheduled to begin in 2010, with work moving utility lines to accommodate Central Corridor already started in downtown Saint Paul. The first trains are expected to be running between the Union Depot and downtown Minneapolis along University Avenue in 2014.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Federal stimulus aid to help St. Paul Public Housing Agency
$10M will go toward makeover of McDonough Homes complex
By Jason Hoppin
jhoppin@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 05/28/2009 11:27:53 PM CDT
One of St. Paul's oldest public housing projects will get a $10 million infusion of federal stimulus dollars, the St. Paul Public Housing Agency announced Thursday.
The money will go toward revamping 120 row houses at McDonough Homes, west of Interstate 35E in the city's North End. The funds will help complete a $35 million overhaul of the 580 units at McDonough, which opened in 1952.
"It really is a total makeover," said Al Hester, housing policy director for the Public Housing Agency.
McDonough houses a diverse population of low-income residents, but Asians make up the largest minority group by far, including a sizable Hmong population.
Improvements include everything from new wiring to bathroom fixtures as well as making the grounds more community-oriented. The contract was awarded to Frerichs Construction Co. and is part of $3 billion distributed to public housing agencies across the country through the $787 billion federal stimulus package.
"We think we're one of the first housing agencies in the country to get the money under contract," Hester said.
Another $1 billion in discretionary grants through the stimulus package is also available, and the St. Paul Public Housing Agency is hoping to secure some of those funds as well.
The agency will also spend $591,000 for new sprinklers and fire alarms at the Iowa Hi-Rise complex and $363,000 to help 42 Summit-University duplexes fit into the neighborhood better.
The St. Paul Public Housing Agency faces a crushing demand for its services, with 6,310 families waiting for a spot in public housing and 8,017 families waiting for Section 8 vouchers.
The Section 8 waiting list is now closed, but when it opened for three days in 2007, more than 11,000 households applied.
Jason Hoppin can be reached at 651-292-1892.
By Jason Hoppin
jhoppin@pioneerpress.com
Updated: 05/28/2009 11:27:53 PM CDT
One of St. Paul's oldest public housing projects will get a $10 million infusion of federal stimulus dollars, the St. Paul Public Housing Agency announced Thursday.
The money will go toward revamping 120 row houses at McDonough Homes, west of Interstate 35E in the city's North End. The funds will help complete a $35 million overhaul of the 580 units at McDonough, which opened in 1952.
"It really is a total makeover," said Al Hester, housing policy director for the Public Housing Agency.
McDonough houses a diverse population of low-income residents, but Asians make up the largest minority group by far, including a sizable Hmong population.
Improvements include everything from new wiring to bathroom fixtures as well as making the grounds more community-oriented. The contract was awarded to Frerichs Construction Co. and is part of $3 billion distributed to public housing agencies across the country through the $787 billion federal stimulus package.
"We think we're one of the first housing agencies in the country to get the money under contract," Hester said.
Another $1 billion in discretionary grants through the stimulus package is also available, and the St. Paul Public Housing Agency is hoping to secure some of those funds as well.
The agency will also spend $591,000 for new sprinklers and fire alarms at the Iowa Hi-Rise complex and $363,000 to help 42 Summit-University duplexes fit into the neighborhood better.
The St. Paul Public Housing Agency faces a crushing demand for its services, with 6,310 families waiting for a spot in public housing and 8,017 families waiting for Section 8 vouchers.
The Section 8 waiting list is now closed, but when it opened for three days in 2007, more than 11,000 households applied.
Jason Hoppin can be reached at 651-292-1892.
Friday, January 9, 2009
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman seeks second term as Mayor
Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has decided to run for second term as Mayor. He announced his candidacy earlier this week and at this time there are no opponents. He is going to seek DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor) endorsement on March 21st at Saint Paul DFL City Convention.
You could read his announcement at his campaign website
Chris was on Saint Paul City Council and ran for Congress in 2000 but failed to secure DFL endorsement.
You could read his announcement at his campaign website
Chris was on Saint Paul City Council and ran for Congress in 2000 but failed to secure DFL endorsement.
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