The people of St. Paul are getting ready for a big local election on Tuesday, November 5th. All seven seats on the St. Paul City Council are up for election, with a whopping 28 candidates running.
This election could be a defining moment for St. Paul, especially when it comes to land use policies and urban planning. Many of the candidates have expressed their interest in legalizing multi-family housing throughout the city, eliminating mandatory parking minimums, and other policy changes that would make the city more adaptive and resilient to the threats of climate change, un-affordability, and insufficient tax revenue for public infrastructure.
Do you live in St. Paul? Are you still unsure who you should vote for on November 5th? St. Paul Neighbors for More Neighbors put together a questionnaire for the candidates regarding housing and land use issues, and has published their responses here.
The survey has five simple questions:
- How do you plan to increase housing affordability in St. Paul?
- What do you see as the main cause for the shortage of affordable housing in St. Paul?
- How can the city eliminate homelessness?
- Do you support changing the city’s zoning to allow quadplexes everywhere in the city? If not, please explain why.
- Do you support eliminating minimum parking requirements? If not, please explain why.
Take a look: it might help you figure out which candidate best aligns with your values.
Neighbors for More Neighbors yard signs (Image: N4MN)