Southwest Light Rail Transit (SW LRT) Line and the proposed Freight Train Re-route: This major public works project has the potential to significantly change St. Louis Park. Clearly in an era of $4.00/gallon gasoline and threatened transit cut-backs, click discount the building of SW LRT offers the potential to provide affordable transportation, salve access to jobs, our schools, our churches and leisure opportunities for our community: it needs to be built and we need to support it. However, the proposed freight train re-route threatens many in our community, and the decisions made must be those that will benefit the community as a whole while protecting the vested property rights of those homeowners and residents that will be dislocated, displaced or effected by any re-route.I believe that the current proposal for a tunnel for the LRT through the Kenilworth Corridor, allowing the existing freight rail configuration and bicycle-pedestrian trails to stay in place will benefit the most citizens, will result in the least property acquisition costs, and will protect the safety and property of St. Louis Park citizens, families and homeowners.

Transit-Oriented Development and Affordable Housing: SW LRT will also give our community opportunities to launch major new developments around the proposed LRT stations. I’ve done advocacy work relating to SW LRT, Central Corridor, and the proposed Bottineau Boulevard LRT line. We need to explore all opportunities for development that result, retail, commercial and residential, opportunities for development of jobs, the tax base, and commerce. Housing opportunities must be created and preserved for all, including affordable options available to those that make less than average wages. A mix of owner-occupied and rental housing, both market-rate and affordable, is most desirable. Often times economic forces push the affordable housing aside, but we must recognize that housing options for all people are needed. On the City Council, I’ll advocate for smart growth, intelligent investment, and equitable opportunities for all citizens.

Economic Development and Jobs: St. Louis Park has a history of utilizing the tools available to it, including tax increment financing, to promote economic development and job growth. Projects like the Excelsior on Grand and the West End Development are exciting examples of the good things government can do. We need to provide opportunities, direction and leadership in the development of projects like these that provide our citizens with jobs, commercial, retail and entertainment options.

Environmental Sustainability: For too long our country’s business community has been driven by making products and delivering services cheaply, efficiently and profitably. These are important, but now we realize that we must add healthy and sustainable to this calculation. Only by looking at the environmental impacts our actions can we make intelligent decisions on resource choices. The city of St. Louis Park has done some very good things in area of environmental initiatives, including promoting re-cycling, green landscaping and other healthy actions.

We can be a real leader on environmental issues by investigating adoption of ordinances that prohibit the use of plastic shopping bags and styrene food packaging containers. Safer and healthier options exist for these “convenience” items that end up as litter on our land or in our landfills. We need to partner with our business community and its leaders, to enact bans or other methods to promote or require use of alternative materials that are healthy and biodegradable.

Also, business recycling, including compostable recycling, needs to be enacted, as this segment of the community needs to be engaged actively in sustainability processes and methods too.

Racial Equity and Diversity: Our community has become more diverse and colorful, welcome and exciting changes as new citizens move here looking to raise families and find work. We need to embrace this change, recognizing that all people have common goals of leading fulfilling lives full of work, play and worship, though we may find these in different ways. Our City government needs to promote policies and opportunities that will recognize all peoples’ dignity, common needs and wants. Educational policies must promote learning for all, and provide support and opportunity for all children. Our government, especially our police, must continue to be fair and even-handed, and sensitive to cultural issues that make living in community a challenge for some citizens. Our City needs to provide hiring opportunities and support services to all communities and peoples.

Neighborhood Issues: The reality of living in closer proximity to each other requires cooperation and compromise between neighbors and throughout neighborhoods. We always need to balance our individual property rights with the rights of our neighbors to their own. As your Councilman, I’ll be ready, willing and able to assist in responding to neighborhood needs and issues. Any citizen is welcome to contact me to discuss any issue of importance to them concerning the City of St. Louis Park. Contact me at TimBrausenSLPCouncil@gmail.com