District 12
New board members
The District 12 Council has three new board members-Cambray Crozier and Joy Gerdes from north St. Anthony Park and Jennifer Pawlowicz from south St. Anthony Park.
These new members will serve alongside of John Maue, north SAP and Melissa Pappas and Scott Jenson, both of south SAP.
If you are interested in participating on the council, District 12 still has appointed business or senior seats available. You can fill out an application at sapcc.org/board-members/candidates
Transportation Committee’s year in review
Walkability, bikeability: This year, the District 12 Transportation Committee completed the Territorial Road project (a new mural at Carleton, benches at Carleton and Seal and a launch event for the project).
The committee also participated in the city’s Capital Improvement Budget resulting in new street lights on Raymond Avenue south of University Avenue and bike parking at all city parks that lack it.
The committee also re-opened the fence that blocked connection between the new park in Westgate and Sunrise Banks headquarters.
In the past few months, the group also created a map to advise St. Paul Public Works in prioritizing sidewalk infill when funding is available.
Pedestrian safety: The Transportation Committee distributed “20 Is Plenty” signs, participated in outreach at the ice cream social on the effects of vehicle speed on pedestrians and worked to bring speed limits on county roads within the city into alignment with city street speed limits.
Transit: The committee endorsed Metro Transit’s E Line bus rapid transit Berry Street station location in Westgate and use of bus-only lanes on the route; and they began program outreach about Metro Transit’s Residential Transit Pass.
Advocacy (county, city and region): One of the bigger events of this year included District 12’s advocacy for tree preservation during the Cleveland Avenue project. It also advocated for rethinking redevelopment of I-94 and endorsed pursuing the Twin Cities Boulevard and Reconnecting Communities federal grant for planning and voted to urge Saint Paul to eliminate semi-truck street parking in the city.
Environment Committee’s year in review
With the assistance of many neighbors, the District 12 Environment Committee helped protect water quality and wildlife habitat by removing trash and buckthorn around Kasota Ponds, monitoring turtle and bird habitat and improving rain gardens with new plantings and more than 80 hours of volunteer cleanup labor.
Other work also included adopting and stenciling storm water drains and building a Chimney Swift tower in south St Anthony Park.
We helped improve community resilience by supporting one of our members to be certified through the Community Emergency Response Team training program. Finally, District 12 members helped people from the Creative Enterprise Zone nonprofit to plant and water trees in the industrial area of south SAP.
Online auction thank you
District 12 extends a hearty thanks to all our board members who contributed items to the inaugural St. Anthony Park Community Council Online Auction Fundraiser. The auction helps support the council’s projects, events and advocacy work in the community.
If you have any goods, services or other local donations you’d like to contribute to a future auction, please contact jessica@sapcc.org.
District 12 upcoming meetings
St. Anthony Park Community Council committees discuss a variety of issues at their monthly meetings. Visit the council’s website at sapcc.org to learn more.
All meetings are hosted via Zoom. Meeting times are subject to change. If you want to attend a meeting or have questions about joining a committee, email Kathryn Murray at kathryn@sapcc.org.
• Land Use Committee: 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 5, and 7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2
• District 12 Board: 7 p.m.,Thursday, Jan. 12
• Environment Committee: 7 p.m.,Wednesday, Jan. 25
• Equity Committee: 5:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 16
• Transportation Committee: 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 31
Submitted by Jessica Willman, District 12 community organizer.
