Although an evaluation of the initial guaranteed basic income pilot won’t be available until next year, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced last week he plans to distribute a second wave of $500 monthly cash payments to low-income families.
Mayor Jacob Frey announced Minneapolis will begin a similar guaranteed basic income pilot later this year.
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Minneapolis and St. Paul rescinded their vaccine-or-test mandates on bars and restaurants Thursday, effective immediately.
The cities cited a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. In Ramsey County, where St. Paul is located, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have dropped by 57.8% and 37.8% in the last seven days, respectively.
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The union for St. Paul police officers filed a lawsuit over a COVID vaccine mandate that will be in place in the new year. The mandate does not allow for testing and masking as a substitute for getting vaccinated, however they will allow medical and religious exemptions, sources say.
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Earlier this month, St. Paul voters chose 53%-47% to impose a 3% cap on rent increases per year. Despite the rule not activating until May 22, developers already are pausing and pulling out of projects.
The cap is strict: it doesn’t account for inflation, small or large landlords, new or old buildings, “regardless of change of occupancy.” The goal is to obtain stable, affordable housing prices, but there are also wide-reaching unintended consequences.
Pre-election, Mayor Melvin Carter said he supported the initiative.
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Both the Minneapolis and St. Paul mayors were reelected despite many claiming “failed leadership” during the riots of 2020. Current Mayors Melvin Carter and Jacob Frey were both reelected in Minnesota’s November general election.
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The Minneapolis and St. Paul mayors refused to comment on the decisions made by the U.S. Conference of Mayors embracing the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in K-12 schools. At the conference, the mayors adopted Resolution Number 68, called “In Support of Critical Race Theory in Public K-12 Education.”
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As of Monday afternoon, the “majority” of those arrested in the Twin Cities for rioting, violating curfew, looting or other similar charges had Minnesota addresses.
“That would be accurate,” Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington confirmed during a Monday press conference. During a previous briefing, he said he didn’t “have any credible evidence of any specific group being here in Minnesota.”
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, and Gov. Tim Walz all have suggested that many of the rioters wreaking havoc on the Twin Cities are from out of state, but jail records seem to show otherwise.
“We’ve seen long-term, institutional businesses overridden. We’ve seen community institutions set on fire. And I want to be very, very clear, the people that are doing this are not Minneapolis residents. They are coming in largely from outside of the city, from outside of the region, to prey on everything that we have built over the last several decades. The dynamic has changed over the last several days,” Frey said during a joint Saturday press conference.
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St. Paul saw its first homicide of 2020 just two hours into the new year, the city’s police department announced Wednesday morning.
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The City of St. Paul has agreed to bring Red Bull’s Flugtag event back to town at a cost of $225,000, raising questions about why the city canceled its $100,000 Fourth of July fireworks display last year. Flugtag, which means “flying day” in German, is a “human-powered gliding” competition that was last in St. Paul in 2010. Red Bull is bringing the event back to town on September 7, and has already started promoting the festivities. But according to The Pioneer Press, the city is on the hook for $225,000 in public sponsorship, which Visit St. Paul Chief Executive Terry Mattson said he has searched for “under every seat cushion.” “We’ve looked under every seat cushion and came back with $85,000 for the city,” he said. “We haven’t signed a contract or anything like that, but that’s what we deemed available. There’s a finite amount of resources.” The mayor’s office said it already budgeted $50,000 for an event such as the Flugtag in its 2019 budget. “St. Paul has been teaming up with Red Bull, our tourism bureau and partners in the private sector for nearly a decade and the 2019 Red Bull Flugtag will continue to place St. Paul…
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The Twin Cities Metropolitan Council announced Friday that it has approved roughly $200 million in funding for transportation projects across the region, including $4 million for a new shared electric-car program. According to a press release, the Met Council allocates roughly $200 million to local transportation projects through its “Regional Solicitation” process every two years. During this funding cycle, the Met Council selected 57 projects across 37 different cities throughout the metro area. One of the most talked about projects is a $4 million partnership with HOURCAR, a car-sharing service that will install electric vehicles and charging stations near transit stops in the Twin Cities. “The City of St. Paul submitted the proposal featuring a fleet of all-electric vehicles and its network of charging stations. This unique project partners with HOURCAR, is supported by Xcel Energy and aims to reinvigorate car-sharing in the Twin Cities,” a press release explains. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said that “expanding access to electric vehicle transportation will help create a more connected St. Paul,” and will “significantly boost our work to build a sustainable future for our children.” “This project does not just benefit HOURCAR members. By reducing vehicle emissions and congestion, this project…
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St. Paul’s first ever “Community-First Public Safety Initiatives Director” recently resigned over a number of disputes with Mayor Melvin Carter, including Carter’s support of now Attorney General Keith Ellison. “You chose to support Keith Ellison while I chose to support my friend Karen Monahan. I was more ostracized after our conversation,” Jason Sole wrote in his January 21 resignation letter, a copy of which was recently obtained by Fox 9. Some believe that Sole’s resignation was forced by Carter’s office, since Sole publicly refused to support programs such as the Joint Powers Agreement for Data Sharing of Youth Information, which was ultimately canceled on Monday. That three-way agreement between St. Paul, Ramsey County, and St. Paul Public Schools would have allowed for cross-sharing of youth zip codes, incomes, truancy numbers, race, and the like to better identify at-risk youth. “During my first week, I was asked to support the Joint Powers Agreement for Data Sharing of Youth Information. I refused and you disregarded (and continue to disregard) my recommendation with your continued support of [that] harmful agreement,” Sole wrote in his letter. Sole’s position was established to help the city transition away from over-policing and towards community-led public safety efforts,…
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