Note: The general election is November 5, 2019 and St. Anthony polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
In person Absentee voting begins Friday, September 20th and ends on Monday, November 4th at 5pm. You can stop by City Hall during regular business hours and vote absentee. Early voting begins Tuesday, October 29th and ends on Monday, November 4th.
St. Anthony Village
Citizens for Sustainability asked the 2020 mayoral and city council candidates six questions about their ideas for advancing sustainability within St. Anthony. Their responses will be posted as they are received.
1. What does Sustainability mean to you (as it pertains to St. Anthony)?
At its base, sustainability is essentially about the
necessary and sufficient conditions for surviving into the future.
Sustainability is a duty we humans have and is not, therefore, a responsibility
for other forms of life on earth.
Now what survives into the future specifically would
be (1) humans, (2) the earth and her natural resources, and (3) other forms of
life on earth. The standard way of talking about sustainability has been to
shift the emphasis and concern about “survival” to humans and, consequently, to
the impact the survival of humans has on other forms of life and earth herself.
This standard way of talking focuses on the following three divisions of
sustainability:
Social
sustainability: ensuring that the physical, political,
educational, and psychological well-being of humans is secured without (1)
compromising the same well-being of future human generations, (2) compromising
the survival of other forms of life, or (3) depleting earth resources or
earth’s life sustaining conditions (e.g., healthy climate conditions with
controlled CO2 levels.
Economic
sustainability: controlling expenditures and increasing or
maintaining revenue and the production of finished goods and services so that humans
can survive into the future without compromising the financial wellbeing of
future human societies, without compromising the survival of other forms of
life or the depletion of earth resources or earth’s life sustaining conditions
(e.g., healthy climate conditions with controlled CO2 levels.)
Environmental
sustainability:
this is essentially a matter of (1) ensuring that current natural resources or
non-human life forms are used in such a way that they are not over used/depleted
for future use or (2) ensuring that the byproducts we make natural resources do
not detrimentally affect or harm currently existing life and consequently
jeopardize the possibility of a future eco-system for human and non-human life.
While a person can be concerned about and do work in
any one of these three sectors, at the exclusion of the other two, the person
would fall short of manifesting justice. From what I see on CFS website, its
focus is foundationally environmental. Pace CFS, sustainability rooted in
justice is focused on both the rights of human and the duties to non-human
animals (that exist in present and future communities).
2. What initiatives in the city’s Comprehensive Plan would you prioritize to create greater resilience and sustainability?
3. How would you build on recent additions in the Parks & Environmental Commission duties to advance environmental goals in the Comprehensive Plan?
4. What “win-win” opportunities do you see in supporting existing and future sustainability initiatives?
First of all, I am still learning a
lot about sustainability. I see the city with the help of CFS are already doing
a lot. So this means I am open to being influenced on these matters. I am
pro-sustainability, but I am still gaining on-the-ground knowledge of the
cities projects, commitments and opportunities.
I would prioritize reducing facility emissions and city-wide emissions.
I would also support converting government vehicles to electric, (which will
call for more electricity, but which will save money on fuel). Perhaps the SAVPD could convert its cars to
electric or hybrid. Various small maintenance vehicles can most easily be
converted, which may have already been done. Plug-in hybrids might be
appropriate for some larger vehicles.
St. Anthony has a deal with a couple of solar farms to get
enough power to supply 25% of government building usage. That leaves the other
75% to come from the regular Xcel power grid. However, Xcel has programs
where St. Anthony could sign up to pay slightly extra to have solar or wind
power contributed to the grid in its name, in proportion to its power usage. In
this sense, St Anthony would virtually be getting its electricity from the
wind/solar source (even though it is all in one non-separable grid system). So I
am suggesting that the SAV could sign up for this for its government
buildings.
I would also look
into subsidizing home visits by power companies and third parties to assess
and assist with heating efficiency. They can check for insulation quality,
window leaks, furnace efficiency and the like, and the city can help people get
this assistance with an on-going program. Ultimately, our homes need to be
heated by electric systems, and maybe the city can help speed that up.
I support a zoning change for ADUs. People who may have once needed a large
home–e.g. parents whose children have moved out–can move into the ADU and rent
out the main home. This is great for creating a secondary rental income and
thus allows older residents to sustain residency in their current home.
To sustain
existing persons of color and to social sustain their well-being, we could recruit new non-traditional businesses, e.g., a food coop, ethnic restaurants and
ethnic grocery.
Finally I love non-human animals and would push to establish a dog park. Yes a dog park. A dog park allows us to convene together for our social well-being as we share stories about our dogs. I would include the requirement for a permit for non-residents to use the park to generate small money for SAV.
5. What would you do to address residents’ concerns about pedestrian and bicycle safety and increase access to metro bikeways?
I would look for good candidate streets to add sidewalks where there is none. I would also look for more key places to add crosswalks with the flashing lights you can turn on with a button and maybe there needs to be a couple more stop lights on silver lake road, which might have heavy reliance on pedestrians pushing the button, to keep traffic moving when no one is there waiting.
6. What are steps you would support to expand on the success of St. Anthony’s organics drop-off collection?
I obviously support curb-side organics pick-up, which could
be combined with yard waste. Maybe people have to pay an extra $5-10 per month
for this, on an opt-in basis, but offering the service seems like a good deal.
