Before you criticize the Ward 13 moratorium, learn the facts

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Agree or disagree with a policy, the one thing that I can’t stand is people who spread misinformation or those who criticize based off of inaccurate information. City policy is oftentimes complicated. However, people hear stuff, usually when the media actually decides to report about it, and then they jump in all angry when they don’t actually know all of the facts and context. This past election cycle I phone banked and door knocked for two different campaigns, and I found myself constantly in irrational arguments with voters about some city policy. Continue Reading

ST. PAUL NOTES | Dorothy Day Center — still building, but downtown, not on East Side

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The Dorothy Day Center plans to build on the East Side have been changed, after both the Payne Phalen and Dayton’s Bluff community councils voted unanimously to oppose the plans. (The St. Paul Police Federation also weighed in against the propsoed site.) So the expansion of the homeless shelter will take place downtown, on the present site and possibly also at the now-for-sale labor building at 411 Main Street.Everybody acknowledges the need for expansion. As I wrote a couple of months ago, the shelter is overflowing and the need is far greater than the space. The question is not whether to expand, but where. Continue Reading

Winter shut-off rule for propane heat gets House energy OK

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Barring propane distributors from discontinuing wintertime service to the more than 200,000 Minnesotans who use the gas to heat their homes is the centerpiece of legislation OK’d by a House committee Monday, though the bill met heavy resistance from industry representatives who said it does nothing to address the causes of this winter’s propane shortage and would harm providers.

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