After 12 years in office, St. Paul City Council President Amy Brendmoen has chosen not to run for re-election in Ward 5, which spans the Como, North End, Payne-Phalen and Railroad Island neighborhoods.
Brendmoen’s departure has inspired a four-way race for the open seat. The election, while officially nonpartisan, has drawn a wide cross-section of interest from labor unions, political action committees and organizations like the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America and St. Paul Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
Voters on Nov. 7 will choose between Hwa Jeong Kim, a nonprofit director who previously served as Brendmoen’s legislative aide; David Greenwood-Sanchez, a professor of Latin American political science; Nate Nins, a technology manager who previously served as a library associate at every public library in the city; and Pam Tollefson, a landlord and former legal editor at Thomson Reuters.
Greenwood-Sanchez, 37, has lived most of his life in the Como neighborhood. A former Fulbright scholar who has studied in Mexico and Peru, he specializes in teaching Latin American political and environmental policy.
“I’ve dedicated my career to public policy and community,” he said, in a written response to a Pioneer Press candidate survey. He said his priorities include supporting “meaningful engagement” at the neighborhood level, rather than top-down decisions from City Hall, promoting a sustainable revenue base for the city and expanding “truly affordable housing.”
Greenwood-Sanchez carries the endorsements of Ward 7 city council member Jane Prince and the St. Paul Historic Preservation Political Committee.
Hwa Jeong Kim, 38, is the executive director of Minnesota Voice, which works to get out the vote in communities of color, among other civic engagement with partner organizations. Kim, who lives in the North End, previously worked for Brendmoen and sat on the St. Paul Planning Commission and its zoning committee.
In a candidate survey, she said her priorities include “affordable housing at every income level across the spectrum of housing needs, healing our planet to combat climate change, resourced community-centered public safety, and worker’s rights and protections.”
Kim carries the backing of the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America and the St. Paul Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, as well as St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Brendmoen, council member Mitra Jalali, AFSCME Council 5, the SEIU State Council, the Teamsters and at least seven other labor unions, as well as the political action committees TakeAction Minnesota and Faith in Minnesota.
Nins, 37, a former Marine Corps and U.S. Army intelligence analyst and squad leader, worked as a library associate within the St. Paul Public Library system before taking a job with Granicus to implement government software products.
In a candidate survey, he said his priorities including building trust with residents by being “accessible and accountable,” transparent and responsible spending, expanding economic development opportunities, reinstating a Neighborhood Youth Corps, identifying options for short-term and emergency housing, fostering a one-stop community service model and providing community with specific policy goals with regular updates. He holds no official endorsements from political action committees.
Tollefson, 62, said her experience runs the range across being a former “single mom, renter, landlord, homeowner, wife, long-time employee in private sector, community supporter and caregiver to elderly parents. All are beneficial when making policies affecting residents.”
Tollefson, who holds a paralegal degree and lives in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood, led a team of publishing coordinators at Thomson Reuters publishing state rules and regulations. Her priorities include maintaining a fully staffed police department and balanced city budget, as well as affordable housing, “including the availability of medium-sized homes.” She carries no official endorsements from political action committees.
In November 2021, St. Paul voters approved a “rent stabilization” policy that caps annual residential rent increases at 3 percent annually.
The ballot initiative left it to the city council and city staff to fill in key details such as how to seek exemptions for major costs such as roof replacements. Alarmed by a slowdown in housing construction, the council heavily amended the policy last fall with the support of the mayor’s office, exempting affordable housing, as well as new construction for 20 years.
Asked about policy changes in a candidate survey, Greenwood-Sanchez said he does “not support the ordinance in its current form” and is seeking to “start over and do it right. On one hand, the city has an obligation to respect the will of the people. At the same time, the specifics of the ballot measure were minimal, and were interpreted by the city in strange ways.”
Kim would expand upon the rent-control policy, rolling back the council’s 2022 exemptions for tenants of new construction and affordable housing, thereby “furthering rent stabilization to include those exempted.” She aims to offer relocation assistance for tenants displaced by rent hikes, among other tenant protections.
Rather than further amend recent amendments, Nins would “make no changes at this time. … Changes to policy can take years to measure the impacts.” Tollefson said she would also “maintain it as is. But, I think we need to study current data on housing affordability and what the impact of the amendments are to tenants, landlords and developers. Some of the exemptions are a bit muddy.”
A November ballot question will ask voters whether to increase the city’s sales tax by 1 percentage point to raise nearly $1 billion for roads and parks over 20 years.
Greenwood-Sanchez said he plans to vote no. “We are in a precarious fiscal situation because city leaders have overused TIF (tax increment financing), which takes investors off the hook from paying property taxes,” he said, in his candidate survey. “Rather than address this structural problem, the city is telling us to vote for a regressive tax that disproportionately hurts low- and fixed-income residents. I can’t support this.”
Kim said she’ll vote yes. “With major attractions that draw folks to the capital across the state, a sales tax will allow us to share the repair costs with everyone who uses our streets,” she said.
Nins said he would vote yes. “It’s clear that we need to work on the roads but don’t have the ability to do this work within our current budget,” he said. “We can’t both complain about the condition of the roads and also decline taxes to pay for them.”
Tollefson said she would “probably” vote yes, but was still seeking information from all sides in order to make an informed decision. “Property taxes will rise if it doesn’t pass and I don’t want residents to have that burden,” she wrote.
A question on the 2024 ballot will ask St. Paul voters to raise property taxes each year for 10 years in order to issue city subsidies so low-income households can access private child care providers.
Tollefson said she was a no vote. “We have a daycare assistance program through the Minnesota Department of Human Services,” she wrote. “I believe we need to look at this program and determine if changes need to be made to the income threshold so we can accommodate our parents in St. Paul.”
Greenwood-Sanchez also said he would vote no. “While I like the spirit of the initiative, we currently do not have a clear plan to implement this program,” he wrote. “I also have reservations about using simple ballot measures to address complex policy issues like subsidies for private childcare. We need leaders who, instead of punting this to voters, can engage with this issue in its full complexity.”
On her candidate survey, Kim sounded a more supportive tune. “The childcare system has an affordability and workforce crisis. Securing and affording childcare should not be a luxury,” she said. “Childcare providers struggle to give scholarships, pay staff livable wages, and provide learning to kids in their care. Families, children and providers deserve a municipal solution that can work with future state funding.”
Nins said he would vote yes. “We know that early childhood education is a key indicator of success later in life, but we also know that we’re losing childcare providers and not everyone can afford them,” he wrote. “Ensuring we have enough, and affordable, childcare providers is a necessary investment by the city.”
Early voting opened Sept. 22. General information about the Nov. 7 election is online at twincities.com/tag/elections.
In addition, twincities.com/news/politics/elections will have a full voters guide with candidates for Ramsey, Dakota and Washington county races online this month.
