Vision
Our plan to improve the lives of residents in Como, North End, and Eastside
Affordable Housing
Safe, stable, and affordable housing is a human right. The kinds of funds or financing used to construct the building or how long ago it was built should not determine a person's right to stable housing. Along the spectrum of housing needs, we must create solutions centered on compassion. The city must provide ready-to-respond resources to serve residents with safe and decent housing who are experiencing housing emergencies.
As your council member I will:
Fight for tenant protections to include just cause and eliminate harmful tenant screening practices
Eliminate full vacancy decontrol from our current rent stabilization ordinance
I am committed to learning and improving upon the rent stabilization ordinance to reflect our renters' needs
Increase investment in our Homelessness Assistance Response Team to continue connecting folks experiencing homelessness with personalized approaches and resources that meet their needs in the moment
Invest in community ownership models, like land trusts, that embed affordability and center community interests
Increase our housing stock through eliminating single family zoning
Supporting small-scale, missing middle development of brownfield sites
Continued investment in our Inspiring Communities program to ensure affordability as we scale
Support and expand our Homeless Assistance Response Team program
Community First Public Safety
We deserve resourced, community-centered public safety that centers public health and mental health solutions. Everyone deserves to feel safe in Saint Paul. Crime is a social issue solved by providing people with their basic needs. We deserve a resourced, comprehensive approach to community-first public safety. No single profession can do it all. Our most significant crime deterrent is investing in people through resourced programs that ensure everyone in Saint Paul has their basic needs met. I will intentionally invest in a culture and a community of care.
Invest equally in stabilizing communities with housing programs across the spectrum of needs, culturally relevant addiction services, expanded mental health resources, and providing more youth and adult employment opportunities with access to healthcare
Send first responders that are mental health practitioners, social workers, and from our our Basic Life Support teams
Be accountable. We need accountability on all levels. People must be accountable when they cause harm, police when they use excessive force, and elected officials must be responsible to taxpayers and voters when our current solutions aren’t working or are causing harm to our communities
Continue to expand our recreation, library, and youth programming
Invest in our Right Track program to continue to develop a ready and skilled diverse workforce
Expand and enhance our Community Ambassadors Program that provide violence prevention through a community engagement and gun violence reduction lens
Engage and connect residents with services that will disrupt and prevent gun violence or domestic violence
Address community healing and trauma response stemming from public health and psychological impacts of residents and neighbors impacted
Support the Office of Neighborhood Safety’s focus on deterring gun violence in our community through prevention, environmental design, accountability, community action, and enforcement.
Combatting Climate Change
Combatting Climate Change is one of the most pressing issues we face today. In Saint Paul we have a Climate Action Resiliency Plan and we can leverage resources to act now.
As your council member I will:
Update or aging housing stock so it weathers climate change more efficiently
Invest in diverse, lush vegetation that helps keep our neighborhoods cool with canopy and mitigates the spread of tree diseases like EAB
Strengthen energy codes to ensure new development includes green infrastructure like solar panels, wind turbines, and geothermal energy.
Expand our Evie electric carsharing network past 175 cars
Building out green infrastructure and track trends about green gentrification so we don’t displace communities that are impacted most my climate change
Pilot Green Zones in Saint Paul to encourage equitable distribution of community assets to improve food security, economic growth, air quality and create green housing options through land use policy
Strengthen utility regulations to incentivize clean energy sources
Establish the cadence of our urgency and the resources needed to make a sustainable, green future possible
Support a comprehensive energy strategy that focuses on renewable energy creation, storage, usage, and build a clean energy economy
Workers Rights
Everyone in Saint Paul deserves dignified workplaces, thriving wages, and safe working conditions. Workers are the backbone of our city, across industries, they are our teachers, our plow truck drivers, our parks and recreation staff, our firefighters, our laborers; they are our frontline workers.
As your council member I will:
Strengthen workers' protections through our project labor agreements and consider a project bidder’s past compliance with Fair Labor Standards
Work with other council members to pass administrative fines so the city can enforce Earned Sick and Safe Time, $15 Minimum Wage, and Prevailing Wage laws
Reduce costs to taxpayers and increase accountability by stopping the outsourcing of public services and bringing contracted work back into the city and its unions
Promote public services and the workers who provide them
Publically support workers in organizing campaigns, support collective bargaining and publicly affirm the benefits, void from employer interference, support card-check and employer neutrality
Incorporate workers suggestions in the union contracts to ensure public service work better for our communities
Build a greater economic inclusion for working women, veterans and people of color
Oppose any effort to weaken or repeal prevailing wage laws
Add staff to the Department of Safety and Inspections to ensure we have investigations and consequences for wage theft
Publically support comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers
Continue to support large citywide infrastructure bonding bills that maximize the creation of high-quality water, transportation, and building construction jobs
Support the richest Saint Paulites and the largest corporations to pay their fair share - so that we can und things we know ensure the well-being of our communities
Transportation Equity
Being connected with resources, people, and places of enjoyment is an important pillar of neighborhood and community stability. 18% of Ward 5 neighbors do not have vehicles in the house, and 38% are single-car households. Building reliable and resilient transportation methods is essential to combat climate change. Studies at the U of MN show that walking and biking are the happiest ways to commute and are our most environmentally friendly. Public Transportation is important to me because we have the powerful opportunity to build infrastructure that helps create a culture of care and happiness.
As your councilmember I will:
Support an at-grade boulevard for I-94, that focuses on the repair and restoration of the community as well as contributing to our climate resiliency
Creating dedicated bus rapid transit lines to reduce single-car lane usage across the city
Design streets to reduce traffic speeds and increase safety for everyone
Expand the Transit Fare Elimination Pilot Routes in other areas and neighborhoods that benefit from free fares.
Continues to grow the network of public transportation and create perks and incentives for ridership
Advocate for grade-separated bikeways and a robust connected bike lane network