Mitra at a BRT stop.
 

Climate Action and Sustainability

Vision

Every new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report from the United Nations makes clear our urgent charge to address climate change at the most local levels to avoid irreversible consequences. Cities and states are now leading the way in efforts to combat climate change and promote environmental justice. With the recent passage of the federal Inflation Reduction Act, an estimated $369 billion in clean energy investments can and must be harnessed locally to propel our cities forward and protect the most vulnerable communities from climate crisis fallout.

Since I took office, I’ve championed policies and investments that represent major action on climate and building our citywide resilience – like fully eliminating parking minimums citywide, approving a citywide pedestrian plan, providing dedicated annual funding to implement the bike plan for the first time ever, constructing 26 new miles of bikeways and lanes citywide, advising and funding the creation of the Twin Cities Evie electric community carshare network, and creating a brand new revolving loan fund to drive energy efficiency improvements in public buildings. These are huge strides forward that I’m proud to have supported and be part of, but we still have a long way to go.

We need and deserve high-quality, people-centered streets and systems in Saint Paul to reduce our carbon footprint. Parents should be able to walk their kids to school without fearing for their safety crossing the street. Workers should be able to make it home from their jobs without being run over. Bikers, joggers, wheelchair and mobility device users and everyone else getting around in our city should feel free and safe to do so. Modern city services like organized trash and recycling should work well and smoothly for every resident. Trees and urban canopy should be significantly expanded to shade our neighbors from the effects of the urban heat island. A truly multimodal transportation system combined with excellent waste, water, greenery and building policies can put Saint Paul on the map as a true leader on climate and sustainability.

Results and accomplishments

●     Charting a clear course for Saint Paul to lead on climate action. In 2019, I was proud to vote in support of the Saint Paul Climate Action & Resilience Plan, which focuses on achieving carbon neutrality in city operations by 2030 and citywide by 2050. Cities play a critical role in reducing carbon emissions and ensuring a planet where all living beings can survive and thrive. Saint Paul’s ambitious plan shows that our city is up to the challenge we collectively face with the climate crisis.

  • ● Building a more walkable, bikeable city. Since taking office, I’ve championed historic levels of city investment into building 26 new miles of bikeway across Saint Paul. These are just some of the bike projects that have advanced and/or been completed with my advocacy:
    ○ The Como Ave trail as part of the Grand Rounds
    ○ The Cleveland Avenue Reconstruction Project in partnership with Ramsey County
    ○ The creation of Prior Ave bike lanes
    ○ The creation of buffered bike lanes on Energy Park Drive
    ○ The long-awaited Ayd Mill Trail, a decades-long effort in the making which now provides critical connections to the rest of our city’s bike network
    ○ The Robert Piram Regional Trail along the Mississippi riverfront
    ○ The Capital City Bikeway through the heart of our downtown

    ● Championing sustainability in new development. In 2021, I led efforts to fully eliminate parking minimums citywide as a major step forward in sustainable development. This policy allows builders to design for transit, density, more affordability, and reduced carbon emissions, and helped Saint Paul make national news upon passage.

    ● Fighting for fully funded public transit and transportation programs.
    ○ I was the lead Councilmember advocating for and launching the Twin Cities Evie carshare network, a partnership with HOURCAR that has saved an estimated $2.5 million in resident transportation costs and an estimated 741 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
    ○ I have played an active role in supporting numerous transit projects, including the B Line bus rapid transit project (Lake/Marshall/Selby) and the E Line (University Ave to Southdale) to make sure our communities have accessible public transportation.
    ○ I serve as Saint Paul’s representative on the Met Council Transportation Advisory Board, where through our combined efforts we’ve won over $33M in federal funds for forward-thinking transportation projects across Saint Paul and Ramsey County. These funds will make our streets safer and limit our carbon footprint.

    ● Approved over $15M in funding in bonds from the Port Authority to replace 13,300 trees citywide and guarantee shade/canopy that helps curb the effects of urban heat islands.

    ● Worked with our community to design a new, deeply sustainable Hamline Midway Library. After decades of underinvestment and threats of closure, the Hamline Midway Library is now slated for a transformative rebuild that will result in a larger library with more meeting rooms, dedicated teen space, and deeply accessible and sustainable design that ensures it is a neighborhood library that works for everyone.
    ○ For years now I’ve worked closely with neighbors, library leaders, the mayor’s office, the architect team, and a BIPOC artist advisory cohort to ensure an equitable community engagement process that heard many perspectives and resulted in a design that honors history while building for a carbon-neutral future.

    ● Weatherizing homes for low-income residents. I voted to commit $1M of American Rescue Plan funding to the “Healthy Homes Saint Paul” pre-weatherization fund for homes of low-income residents, who often need their homes weatherized but cannot access existing funds to do so under current program requirements. These funds will now address that gap and help residents in place while curbing emissions.

    ● Promoting sustainable building practices and standards. Roughly half of our city emissions come from buildings, and ensuring new and existing buildings reduce their carbon footprint is necessary for our climate goals.

    ○ I supported our Energy Benchmarking Ordinance, which requires owners of large buildings to annually track their energy and water usage toward lower consumption and provides free assistance to help them do so.

    ● Reducing waste to reduce emissions.

    ○ In 2019, I led the effort to pass Saint Paul’s sustainable to-go packaging ordinance that ensures restaurant takeout containers are recyclable or compostable.

    ○ In 2019, I advocated strongly for our city’s first-ever organized trash collection system that ensures more equitable and energy-efficient garbage service for Saint Paul residents while also laying the groundwork for citywide composting/organics in the future.

    ○ In 2021 and 2022, I worked with Ramsey County to finally launch a composting/organics pilot in our city with federal funds, which I will advocate to expand citywide.

  • I’m running to keep building on this work, and will fight for these and other priorities:

    ● Exploring the creation of a citywide parking fee policy     similar to other cities, such as the City of 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.
    ○ The City of Saint Paul should explore passing a similar program, as well as actions like 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.

    ● Continue expanding bike and pedestrian infrastructure across Saint Paul for safer streets and less financial burden on residents.
    ○ We need improved bike and pedestrian infrastructure in a Summit Avenue master plan that is safer for all who bike, walk, roll, and run.
    ○ We need to pursue the completion of the Charles Avenue bikeway so that neighborhood by neighborhood there are easier, car-free ways to get to each other and across town.
    ○ We need to keep supporting the buildout of comprehensive sidewalks and a safe pedestrian network in rapidly developing areas like Saint Anthony Park/Raymond-Uni, Union Park and Midway so that our neighborhoods truly can be for people.

    ● Continuing to push MNDOT and the Federal Highway Administration to undo the historic harms of freeway expansion on our communities, prioritize freeway removal/reduction, and reconnect and reinvest in Rondo and all communities harmed by the health impacts of the I-94 corridor

    ● Let’s bring Open Streets to Saint Paul. If nothing else, 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.
    ○ I want to bring my deepened knowledge of our city’s Public Works operations to launch an inaugural Open Streets in Saint Paul with our community – 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 – all in the name of open streets, racial justice and climate action.