Wes Burdine: Why this St. Paul business owner is voting ‘yes’ to amend the city charter

I have lived in the Midway neighborhood of St Paul for nine years now and the business I own the queer soccer bar The Black Hart of Saint Paul just celebrated its seventh anniversary On my three-block walk to work on one of the busiest streets in the city I pass by three empty lots and I stare at a wall of empty storefronts Just a minimal more blocks away is the derelict CVS that has become a lightning rod of neighborhood fury a monument to gross neglect The greater part of us who live and work in Midway can imagine so much better for our neighborhood vibrant streets filled with more housing and more dynamic locally owned business There is no single panacea that will spur more advance and stake but there are a limited tools to bring about that vibrant future that are incredibly basic and simple The fact is that our local cabinet has been deliberately handcuffed from being able to take action on derelict spaces in our neighborhoods Unlike all other big cities in Minnesota when a commercial property owner leaves their property to crumble St Paul cannot fine them The city can send them a sternly worded letter and then eventually take the owners to criminal court There is nothing in between In the spring our City Council completely voted to give the city tools to operate between the harsh warnings and criminal charges financial penalties that can be right-sized for the situation and don t go on anyone s criminal record called Administrative Citations The city was in the end going to be able to address the owner of the CVS building or others like it in the future But then a small group of loud voices took those tools away and forced us to wait for a citywide vote to implement them Most of small businesses owners like me are community-minded and do our best to play by the rules Let me give you an example In Black Hart built a patio next to our bar it s gorgeous you should visit after a long approval process Around the same time we saw another patio created without a single construction permit Likewise a major hardware store installed an illegally tall fence that also cuts off pedestrian access I spoke to an inspector about the hardware store who noted they had no luck getting beyond an automated phone utility to get anyone to address the situation meaning that just like the CVS building nothing was going to happen They broke the rules with absolutely no consequences Let me clarify no consequences for them but lots for the society The city s inability to enforce its ordinances for bad actors brings down the surrounding neighborhoods makes the city less safe and less pedestrian- and transit-friendly all of which are a drag on the city s image and the small businesses on University Avenue The current system incentivizes scofflaws and penalizes people who obey the law What incentive do business owners like me have to follow the rules This November we have the opportunity to change this In the current St Paul city electoral contest if we vote yes to approve an amendment to our city charter we can give our local administrators the authority to fight back against bad actors who make our neighborhoods suffer That will kick off a inhabitants process in which the City Council will meticulously consider which violations warrant the use of of administrative citations and how the fines will be scaled They will be established by new specific ordinances each one evaluated by an equity committee and adopted through a populace process that allows residents to weigh in This approach will ensure that this tool is aimed at giving the worst offenders a financial incentive to operate by the same set of rules as the rest of us Related Articles Skywatch The great flying horse of the sky Working Strategies Customize cover letters but there are shortcuts Mark Glende In grand tradition like Oktoberfest it s MEA Weekend Sheletta Brundidge Seeking solutions as a job emergency looms for Black women Real World Economics How farm payouts violate basic principles In the current era it s the CVS building but there are a large number of derelict spaces throughout the city Several are owned by far-away speculators who are happy to turn down offers from local start-ups that want to improve the neighborhood and instead let their properties molder while they wait to cash in when property values rise Our society cannot continue to totally hope that these situations will turn themselves around someday A great number of small businesses won t make it that long St Paul residents deserve thriving walkable communities now The city desperately necessities this tool making a vote for Administrative Citations common sense We need to untie the city s hands so it can push back against absentee landlords employers who steal employee wages those who violate the conversion therapy ban and other egregious rule-breakers Wes Burdine St Paul owns The Black Hart of Saint Paul in the Midway