I first ran for the Saint Paul City Council because I believe that when our communities are at the table, change is possible. This is the same conviction that I stand with today, and what drove so many candidates to run this year.

This year we have an incredible opportunity as a city to elect experienced, community-centered leadership that will deliver on a bold vision for Saint Paul. We are united by a policy vision to lift up everyone in the city and its diverse working families from all neighborhoods. These leaders are committed to a bold shared vision for our city: acting on the climate crisis through modernizing our streets; upholding new housing options and renter protections for people facing displacement; investing in our local businesses and workers’ rights for a fair economy; and a community safety vision that funds people’s needs for greater stability.

Despite this, conservative special interest groups are aggressively spending nearly a quarter-million dollars to convince you that city leaders cannot focus on both strong basic services and ending historic inequities. They are dangerously wrong.

Time and again, Saint Paul voters have made clear that they expect their elected leaders to address the economic and racial injustices that persist today – from electing a bold and representative state legislative delegation to supporting rent stabilization, organized trash collection and the vision of our mayor and outgoing council. Essential city services are the vehicle we have used, and will continue to use, to deliver on a bold vision for Saint Paul.

Saint Paul voters expect their council candidates to have a plan for local climate action. With roughly half our city emissions from buildings, a third from transportation and a smaller portion from waste systems, voters should look to climate-action endorsed candidates wholeheartedly championing infrastructure like the Summit Avenue Regional Trail and transit-oriented development.

Saint Paul voters expect their council candidates to have a plan for everyone in Saint Paul, renter or homeowner, to have a safe and stable home. Housing supply alone does not solve the challenges faced by renters who frequently navigate a discriminatory, hostile and exploitative rental market. Voters should look to candidates who not only embrace development at all income levels, but also champion renter protections our residents need – including rent stabilization, which the future council must work to uphold, strengthen and improve as we would with any other policy.

Saint Paul voters expect and deserve a city that no matter what block you live on, you feel safe. The failed and costly status quo of over-policing our communities will never address the true roots of instability. Voters should support leaders committed to continuing Saint Paul’s community-led public safety approach that has successfully reduced crime rates, is breaking cycles of violence and making us all safer. Essential city services are core to this vision: Our city’s emergency responders, public works, parks and library workers on the frontlines all play a role in making our city safer, and deserve continued support.

Saint Paul voters also expect their leaders to support the local businesses and workers that make our city a unique and prosperous place. This means embracing strong labor protections like earned sick and safe time, community ownership initiatives that help local businesses own and operate their space permanently, and more. Voters should listen to the local coalition of progressive labor unions and residents backing a slate of leaders with our shared interest at heart – not the financial interests of corporate real estate donors pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into our city election.

Lastly, the case for addressing historic inequities while delivering core services is laid bare in a no more widely felt place than the state of our city streets. Decades of disinvestment combined with an accelerating climate crisis have ripped up our roads, and a massive intervention is needed.

In addition to embracing community-centered candidates, voters this year can unlock nearly an additional billion dollars over two decades through a local sales tax that funds a generational investment in our most critical roads, parks, and recreation centers — with an added investment from everyone who uses our resources, not just Saint Paul taxpayers. The alternative is dire: continuing a broken cycle of under-investment that property taxes and help from the Legislature can’t overcome alone. We can and must address inequities with investments in core city services this Election Day.

Saint Paul voters have an enormous opportunity this Election Day to elect candidates and pass a measure to help our city leap forward – not backslide.

Mitra Jalali is a member of the St. Paul City Council. She was first elected in a 2018 special election and was elected to a full four-year term in 2019. She’s running for re-election this year.

Related Articles

Soucheray: Values? These aren’t values. This is an agenda

Kyle, Kulas: St. Paul sales tax referendum? Let’s hit ‘pause’

Letters: The climate case for Summit Avenue changes doesn’t hold up

Real World Economics: Bonds are in the news. But what exactly is going on?

Skywatch: Chilling under the thrilling November sky