Housing & Redevelopment Authority - Regular Meeting

Thank you. you 🎵 🎵 Thank you. Thank you. . . . . . . Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

To order. Roll call, please.

Bowie? Coleman? Here. Jost? Here. Kim? Here. Naker? Here. Yang? Here. Chair Johnson? Here. There are six present, one absent. That being Commissioner Bowie. Item number one is a staff report, SR 26-163, Rice-Larpenter Alliance Presentation.

All right, so a couple of things that I'll just preface with this is that I appreciate Commissioner Kim being able to kind of bring this to our attention today. This is really a continuation to recall and just to refresh. In 2024, there was an allocation to Rice-Larpenter Alliance. In 2025, Rice-Larpenter Alliance became the C-Co-op alliance. designee for this area. And so we brought them back in to kind of just share just some of the additional details regarding the Right Star Puncture Alliance, some details that I also learned about for the first time during our conversations, and wanted to give some space and some time for them to talk a little bit more about their work, about the Alliance itself, and just to get a better picture of maybe what some of the work that has happened over the last few years, and especially with the years prior from 2024, there being multiple years of investment, just hearing that and how it's related to St. Paul and the corridor work. So I will welcome up Kim O'Brien with us, who works with the Rice-Largomere Alliance, who has put together this presentation for us. Thank you for taking the time to speak to us and to come back in. I'm sure that you all are familiar with Kim as she wears many hats, not only in community, but has also been in some of our seats, not in the council seats, but definitely in the council offices prior. So welcome, Kim.

Thank you so much, Chair Johnson. Thank you, members of the HRA. I recognize that this is an incredibly busy season for you all and for the city as a whole. So taking the time to listen about our community initiative at the Rice and Lightbender Alliance really an honor. And so I want to thank you again for taking time to learn about the work that we do and learn about how the city of St. Paul might continue to invest and support this wonderful community organization. I'm going to... Do I just advance with the clicking of the button? You can use the arrow or the space bar. Oh, perfect.

Yes. And before you do, I missed Commissioner Kim's hand, so I'm going to go over. Do you have anything to add, Commissioner Kim?

Oh, I was really just given one of these from Kim O'Brien being the former L.A. Ward 5. Okay.

Wonderful.

I thought it was a question. My bad.

Thank you, Commissioner Kim.

Sorry.

Okay. So... What is the Rice and Larpenter Alliance? I'm going to start a little bit from the beginning. I'm going to talk about the neighborhood. Rice and Larpenter is a neighborhood that is at the intersection of three cities. So it's pretty unique. So south of Larpenter Avenue, we've got St. Paul. To the east we've got Maplewood, and to the west we have Roseville. This neighborhood, you drive through it, you might not realize that it is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods of the entire region. Over 18,000 residents in the four census tracts in this area. There's a lot of naturally occurring affordable housing, a lot of families that live here. Of the folks that live in the Rice and Larpiner neighborhood, 67% are people of color, making it one of the most diverse communities in the entire state of Minnesota. In addition, 37.5% speak a language other than English in their homes. That's because this neighborhood is home to immigrant communities and has been for decades. Currently, the area is home to many Karen, Kareni, Nepali, of course, Hmong and Latino residents. And so we are a beautiful community, rich in diversity. And it's young. Those families are young families. They're raising children. Compared to the region, these are the next generation of St. Paul residents and the next generation of leaders in our community. And that makes it a really important neighborhood for St. Paul, as well as for Roseville and Maplewood. The Rice and Larpender Alliance has a shared vision, and that vision was adopted in 2018, that we become a safe, engaging, and inviting neighborhood center that includes common spaces, a high-quality pedestrian environment, and robust reinvestment for the diverse people of the surrounding communities to live, work, and play. We adopted core values, and that is diversity and representation, recognizing that the neighborhood's diversity is our greatest strength. Non-displacement, meaning recognizing that any investment that happens in this community needs to be for and by the community who is there now. That's the business owners and that's the neighbors and residents. And a strengths-based approach. You know, sometimes we go into a neighborhood that's experiencing trauma and difficulties and disinvestments and we want to attack that problem. There's litter and we need to pick up litter. There's crime, and we need to address crime. But the approach that the Rice and Larpenter Alliance has chosen to take is that we have kids and families, and we want to lift them up. We have amazing local businesses, and we want to lift them up. How do we build on the many strengths of the Rice and Larpenter community? Because what you pay attention to is what grows. And of course, this is a unique organization. just a neighborhood in St. Paul. It is a three-city community and economic development initiative, including investment from Maplewood, Roseville, St. Paul, and Ramsey County. We started this effort in 2015. That's when city leaders from those three cities were hearing a lot of bad news coming from this area. All you had to do is drive or walk through it to see terrible street conditions, blighted properties. We heard in the news about bad, unsafe, and unhealthy conditions in the apartment homes in the area. It was not uncommon to hear about gun fights or acts of gun violence outside of some of the nightclubs and establishments, or pedestrian crashes and pedestrian fatalities, including children and neighbors just walking to and from school. So I really give a lot of credit to the community leaders that came together from those three cities and said, we obviously can't keep doing what we've been doing and expect different results. What if instead of having our backs to the Rice and Larpenter community, looking in on our own cities, what if we turned around and looked in on the Rice and Larpenter community and invested here? And that's when the cities did something really innovative. They funded a joint study that created a neighborhood-created vision plan for the area. vision plan that was adopted in 2018 by all three cities has really served as the framework for moving the rice and larpenter work forward. In 2018 these were adopted and then the cities did something even more amazing in my opinion which said let's not just make this a study on a shelf or in a hard drive or whatever, let's actually make it come to life. And then they reinvested again and put together a joint request for proposals for an entity that could keep the three-city partnership together and steward the shared vision forward with community. In 2019, the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, my employer, was selected to be that implementation partner based on relationships with the three cities and our interest from the very beginning in focusing on the opportunity of the Rice and Larpenter Corridor. We launched at a beautiful ceremony to build a community-based advisory board at a Nepali restaurant that had opened recently in the former Stargate nightclub, which had been shut down because there were gun battles by the city of Maplewood, gun battles in the parking lot, became a Nepali-owned grocery store and restaurant. We celebrated. We had Nepali dancers. We shared food. We had businesses and neighbors come together. We launched in 2019, in February 2019. And of course, then COVID hit and everything shut down. I'm really proud, though, because the community, based on the vision plan and the work that had been done and the groundwork that had been laid, kept going. So we partnered up together with the cities, and we provided stay-at-home kits. We provided messages of support. We had the mayors of the cities and leaders, local businesses, come and deliver toilet paper. to the area apartment buildings with a note that says, like, we see you, we're here. We all need to stay home now if we can, but we're not going anywhere. The Rice and Larpenter Alliance believes in this vision and believes in this community. So I'm proud of that. And then, of course, it's been cycle after cycle of really challenging situations that you've all had to lead us through. The murder of George Floyd did impact the Rice and Larpenter community and the businesses and community members. feeling of safety there. And we had a really tragic event, which was the murder of Nia Black at the Lamplighter Lounge in 2020. And she's a beautiful young woman with a lot of promise. Thankfully, at the time of that tragedy, her mother, who continues to be Councilmember Kim and I's hero, started an organization called Mothers Against Community Gun Violence. And we, as the Rice and Larpender Alliance, even in our infancy, were able to walk alongside the mother of this victim, of this violence, and walk along our city partners and call for accountability of the Lamplighter Lounge and the unsafe conditions that they created. And the community continued to support each other. And finally, the Lamplighter Lounge was closed. And Nia Black's mother, LaTanya Black, was with us when we cut a ribbon and opened a new... Asian community grocery store in the space that used to be the Lamplighter Lounge. And that was a really powerful moment. And without that moment, without that community connectedness, Nia's death might have been headlines in paper for a long time. But like people who have lost their lives in the neighborhood before, it could have just ended there. But instead it created a new beginning and we had a community and institution to carry us through those times. Okay, I'll go faster. In 2025, we recognize that, you know, ongoing investment from all the cities can't be something that we rely on forever. We know that since from the very beginning that the Rice and Lavender Alliance needed to work towards self-sustainability. So we've been developing a membership program. We've been developing a corporate partnership program. We've been applying to grants. We've been applying to loans. Small individual organizations, businesses, and residents are contributing and joining as members with a small donation of sometimes nothing, sometimes $20, sometimes $100, and sometimes much more for a sense that the community values this work and wants to see it go on. So we're working towards self-sustainability. We launched a board of directors, an official board operations manual, and from here we plan to continue to move forward and apply for a 501c3 establishment so we could be more competitive in getting those donations and grant money to keep the work moving forward. These are just some of the headlines from the Rice and Larpenter area because maybe if you've only been there recently, you might not realize Maplewood votes to close nightclub after shooting barrage. armed man in custody, two people struck by vehicle, a beautiful, blessed black queen fatally shot in St. Paul, man shot dead. This was the situation of the Rice and Larpenter neighborhood and why change was needed. to thriving. The communities came together and did something about the situation. Three cities come together in an innovative effort to pay attention to and invest in a disinvested neighborhood that none of them could do alone. So how are people coming together? The three cities join forces to renew an intersection where they meet. St. Paul's last trip closes amid violence and fierce neighborhood opposition. We just heard last week from a meeting of the Rice and Larpenter Alliance members and all three city police departments, Roseville, Maplewood, and St. Paul, all who report a drastic reduction in major crime and safety incidents since 2018.

Like, massive reduction.

So what about infrastructure? This vision plan calls for community events and public art and all the great things that we're talking about, community leadership and coming together, but it also calls for changes in the built environment. Since we started, Larpender Avenue was remade with traffic calming pedestrian islands. Wheelock Parkway was reconstructed to create the shared use path. The My Thrift Store Mall, we worked with the mall owner. There was no sidewalk on Rice Street. It was a dirt path. There were driveways going in and out all over the place and signs that had been hit and were half down, all sorts of stuff. We worked with them, connected them with resources. They invested too, and now we have a much more beautiful and safe neighborhood welcoming center, along with a parklet that hosts our sign welcoming people to the Rice and Larpenter neighborhood. And we'll be celebrating a summer block party there this weekend for our eighth year in a row. We leverage grants from national grants from KSU TAB, that's the Technical Assistance for Brownfield Study, to do a land inventory, what land is opportunity for redevelopment what land might be polluted where can we leverage resources to redevelop property into the type of neighborhood the vision plan envisions and more we've also been able to leverage resources even from the city we applied for neighborhood star grants to be able to give grants to local businesses we were the recipient in 2025 of the commercial corridor opportunity program grant which was a great In 2026, we're not able to do that because that funding did not include operational funding for the time that needs to conduct the work. But in that time, we were able to invest in our local businesses, and we will soon have flags flying over Rice Street from University Avenue all the way to Larpinder and many more accomplishments created. So we've invested over $200,000 in our local businesses through leveraging these programs. If you've been there recently, Rice Street is completely under construction. Please go and support the businesses on Rice Street south of Maryland right now. That was Rice Street north of Maryland last year. But if you go now, you're going to see a shared use path. You're going to see plant and medians. You're going to see neighborhood signage welcoming to the area. And it's so much safer and calmer. And that investment is kind of a game-changing investment from Ramsey County that will go all the way from the Capitol all the way up to County Road B in Roseville and Maplewood. And it's going to make every bit of difference, plus the investment of the BRT transit corridor coming from Metro Transit. It means that Rice Street will be a transit hub, which will be much safer for pedestrians. And this investment is a game-changing investment. Rice Street reconstruction, so like I said, future, we're going to continue that construction. Right now it's stopped at Wheelock Parkway. In 2027 and 2028, Ramsey County is going to be constructing north of Wheelock all the way through the Rice and Larpenter intersection and beyond. So the community needs to be able to walk to the Lake McCarran's County Park, needs to be able to walk to their local pharmacy. This kind of work is going to help make sure that that crossing is going to be safe into the future. and help set the table for future reinvestment of housing and commercial space. Here are some numbers. In 2019, we started, and we were so excited because we thought we had 600 people come throughout the year to our community events. Last year, we welcomed at least 1,200 people to community events, doubling our impact. We hold a summer block party, again, this Saturday. I hope you all come. We host a winter warm-up, and we host a spring event in the park. Each of these events have become important touch points for our community. They look forward to them every year. At our summer block party, we're able to raise money to give everybody free food vouchers from local food businesses and restaurants, as well as free back-to-school haircuts. These are investments from our community that help show our investment in our community. We've been able to launch our membership program. We have over 60 members, and that was just launched last year. These are people who opted in and say, I want to be part of the Alliance, and I want to give into the Alliance as well. We were able to employ 16 youth ambassadors from Washington Technology Magnet School, and Como Park High School through a partnership with St. Paul Parks and Rec and the Right Track program. These are local people from our neighborhood who are able to get paid jobs learning about building community, supporting community, helping us navigate and connect to a younger audience, and contributed immeasurably. We have over 500 volunteers in the Rice and Larpender Alliance, and that number is growing every year. We are a corridor open to business. So 30 business improvement and construction impact grants have been given through STAR programs, through county funding, through the commercial corridor funding. That is money that would not be invested into these small businesses but for a Rice and Larpenter Alliance to both apply for the money and to shepherd its installation into these local businesses. We have welcomed at least 15 businesses to the Rice and Larpenter Corridor since we started the work, including 10 in St. Paul alone. And not to mention the retention of businesses that maybe wouldn't be able to stay, but for the support of the community and the investments made. So we estimate around at least 80 new and retained jobs from this direct support from our investments. And again, over 223,000 grants directly into our small and local businesses. That's a lot of money. And I guarantee you that money, you don't see our businesses applying to the Neighborhood Star program on the annual cycle. These systems are challenges to navigate. for business owners that may just work with them themselves or their partners or children. So we, through our trusted relationships, are able to help get that money to those businesses, which helps them continue to grow and thrive in the Rice and Larpenter neighborhood. I mentioned before that St. Paul's last strip club closed and now is a grocery store. We clean up the neighborhood at least once every spring and have a growing number of volunteers. You can see some fun pictures of local high school students from Washington Tech and the Community School of Excellence joining us. You can see some pictures of our neighborhood signage that we've been able to install. So now people say, oh, I don't just live somewhere on the north end, but kind of north of Arlington. No. Or they don't say, I'm in the southeast of Roseville. They say, I am part of the Rice and Larpenter neighborhood. And that sense of identity and place and connectedness, it matters. And now you can see it right on the ground as you walk through the community as well. During Operation Metro Surge, which impacted our neighborhood heavily and devastatingly, we were able to be there for our community members and our neighbors and our business owners. We hosted a Know Your Rights for Business program. We connected our businesses with amazing volunteerism and resources on the ground. These things made a direct and immediate impact and short of there being an alliance. those businesses would have been on their own and those residents would have been on their own. So I'm really proud of that work we've been able to do. It's been eight years since the vision plan was adopted. If you include every single beautiful flower box that we painted as a community and every sign that we've installed and every mural that's been invested in, we have put in 30 public art or signs in this neighborhood in those last eight years. Record attendance, as I mentioned, there have been eight sites in the area that have been substantially redeveloped. There have been seven to nine miles of sidewalk infill over the last decade. This is a really big deal. Thanks to Ramsey County, thanks to the city of St. Paul, the city of Roseville have really invested in sidewalk infrastructure. And one of the largest investments in the country in a single roadway on Rice Street with two to three more miles scheduled. So how does it work? We are a public-private partnership. St. Paul has contributed since 2019. You guys all contributed $75,000 per year. Roseville and Maplewood contributed a portion that nearly matched that amount together. And then we started raising money from local businesses and investors as well. Plus, we've been able to leverage other grant programs. So you can see St. Paul's a really big deal in 2025. In addition to the commercial corridor grant program and the Star Grant program, the city contract was able to fund our work. In 2026, unfortunately, the city was unable to continue that funding for the RLA. So currently, we are operating at about half the capacity that we were able to operate in since 2019. And that's really why we're here today. Because short of St. Paul's investment and buy-in into this three-city collaborative, our concern is we won't be able to sustain and grow the momentum and make that real impact going forward. Just from funding the alliance alone, not from the county's investment of the street infrastructure or the business's investment in redeveloping their properties, we measured that for every $1 invested into the alliance at $75,000, $3.67 was invested from other parties. That's a pretty good return on investment. Every $1 that we invest as a city is met by an additional $2.5. And again, that's not even talking about the funding coming directly into businesses or directly into our public infrastructure. But we're making progress, because in 2019, 77% was from the three cities. In 2025, that was down to 44%, because we're growing our other sources. But we're not there yet. And you can see here we have a wonderful list of supporters and organizations funding the work. I've kind of gone through this, so I'm going to skip over this, but we have adopted our board operations manual. We have launched our Official board, we're on our second board chair from the community. And we have over 60 members. What's next is we're hoping to apply for our own 501c3 and willing to consider and work with the city to say, what should our boundaries be? What should our focus be? How do we take the momentum that's gained today, work towards the vision of the community, and build for tomorrow? Now that we have a new street that's about to go in with new sidewalks and city investment and identity, we want to focus on the business opportunity and the redevelopment opportunity. We have a housing crisis in this city and in this entire region and state. And we have space in Rice and Larpinder and a transit line coming through. We would like new housing. added, affordable housing for our community added, and new opportunities for more small businesses to thrive. So we want to focus on small business growth, on redevelopment, on building housing, and building job opportunities. What we've been doing really well is marketing the neighborhood and supporting small business growth. So we want to reinvest and do more technical assistance to small local businesses, tying them to resources and programs that's going to help them continue to thrive, and continue to employ others in the community. We need to be hand in hand with Ramsey County as they walk through Rice Street, their Rice Street construction. And we need to make sure that transit investments and street investments don't result in displacement or unaffordability. We want to encourage public investment in parks and green space. So we got the Lake McCarran's County Park. But we also have the Rice Arlington Athletic Complex. And a full third of that site has been unusable for the last two decades because it was a domed turf field and now it's been deemed unsafe and it's been fenced off. This is a park that has an opportunity to serve this young and growing community, and we are excited to work with the city to make sure that it lives up to that potential. We need to sustain our community events and our business support amid growing community need. Our neighborhoods and neighbors have been through a lot. We want to make sure we show that we're there for them and don't falter back. And then we want to move from surviving to thriving. So how do we support more jobs and training opportunities? How do we help families access child care, youth development? There's not a lot of programs here outside of the Rice and Leppard Airlines that serve this neighborhood. You guys can read this on your own time, but I'm touched by the voices from the neighborhood and the impact that the RLA has had on them, whether they're residents or business owners or school officials. It's been undeniable. I like this quote from the former owner of the North End Laundry, that safety has improved 1,000%. And also that this seems on the cusp of being a go-to spot. So from underinvested in to a place where people want to be and to grow their family, to work and live, that's a pretty amazing legacy. My final slide is that the City of St. Paul's investment, I believe, and I think you can all agree, has paid off. It's paid off. And in fact, we've become a model for other commercial corridors. And I've been able to consult with other community organizations and corridors who want to benefit from this type of work as well. It works. And it's working. And our ask is to sustain public investment to continue St. Paul's investment into the three-city collaborative Because without St. Paul at the table, you know, you wonder if the partners in the other communities could continue to invest. This is a time to keep a foot on the gas and to make sure that this doesn't become a plan that sits on the shelf. And, you know, I appreciate this wake-up call. because this is a really hard time in our city and really hard budget decisions ahead of you all. And we need to make sure that we are showing private funders and investors and earned income so that we can sustain this way beyond when the city needs to invest any further. But we're not there yet. With that, I want to pause for questions. Thank you.

Thank you so much for giving us that overview as well and just kind of diving into the partnership that has existed. I really appreciate being able to see just the kind of, I guess, the breadth of work that has happened over the last decade. One of the questions that I had for you, if you could just share, how did the original decisions or how were the decisions made at the beginning on how the three cities would invest, how much money they would invest. Could you share a little bit more detail on how was it decided, the breakdown between Roseville, Maplewood, and the city of St. Paul?

Sure. Well, it really started with the leaders of those three cities, Chair Johnson and members of the HRA. It started with the city leaders. It was really a government and even an elected official-led effort. Those city leaders saying this neighborhood is home to many of our constituents and our youngest and most vulnerable constituents. And we can't stand to just let that be. So they started working together. And then they, through the Housing and Redevelopment Department and the Community Economic Development Departments in the other city, they determined, OK, we're going to put together resources and put out a request for proposals for the team that helped do the community-led vision plan. And then from there, they put together a request for proposals for the implementation and had proposing partners demonstrate what they thought it would take before arriving at a budget. The allocation. St. Paul being about 50% of the area, Roseville being a fourth, and Maplewood being a fourth. So St. Paul had always contributed the most, owning most of the real estate in the area. And then Roseville felt because of the large population living in their area that they could do $50,000 to $40,000 each year. Maplewood actually was only in for $10,000 for the first five years, but has recently increased their contribution to $20,000. Um, I should say this money is never guaranteed. Um, and the cities continue to say, how are we proving that this is returning on investment and how do we make sure that the community is going to be able to sustain the work? Um, so that's the work ahead of our board and directors and partners. But, um, Yeah, it was simply a collaboration. And then the city's arriving with what they felt that they could do at the time.

And then could you just share, as well, for the $75,000 that was there, how much was it? Was it administrative costs? How much was it business support? What kind of things did the $75,000 that the city contributed support?

Sure. That $75,000, along with the City of Roseville and Maplewood's contribution, funded the basis of a contract with the St. Paul Area Chamber for professional services. So my role as executive director or marketing support or finance support, we also have a fiscal agency within the foundation. So it really goes to the boots on the ground work, which I honestly believe is what makes this kind of work effective, is building trusted relationships over time with real humans. So that formed the basis of the contract with the St. Paul Chamber to provide professional services to the Alliance. And then the additional fundraising that we did went to pay for community events, the business grants, and public art installations, the signage, and things like that. So it's really, most of it has gone to the idea that we can sustain a staffing model with this funding and events.

I'm looking at my colleagues to see what questions or comments may come. Commissioner Yang and then Commissioner Bowie.

Thank you, Chair Johnson. Well, Kim, I want to say thank you for your leadership, you and your entire team, and also just the many public and private partners who drive forward the vision for Rice and Larpenter every day. My earliest memories of the area is that it's, you know, I just remember like a lot of the frustration, the despair, but also in that there was such deep persistence and love for the community as well. And so when I see the corridor now, it's filled with hope. And it's very inspiring because I believe that you all have built such a great model for what it looks like for us to really revitalize and to just restore that hope into corridors that experience what you all did previously. And I know I have several examples of that in my ward, too. And so this just gets me excited. my brain going about the conversations that I want to continue having with even our district councils, our community partners for intersections like Maryland and Clarence, for example, which I'm always bringing that intersection up. I'm at the table here. And so I want to say kudos to you all for the incredible work. I'm wondering if you can talk a bit about, in terms of funding for the Rice and Larpenter area. I noticed here for Ramsey County grant, it's at zero. And so can you talk a bit about long term, what do you all envision in terms of the sort of role you would like to see the county play? And then also, I know that you mentioned there's been increases. in funding from the other neighboring cities like Maplewood. However, moving forward, do you plan on making an ask of them to increase their funding to you all as well?

Yes. Thank you, Commissioner. I would say that the cities all want us to reach self-sustainability. I would say we initially adopted a strategic fundraising plan that did talk about a step down. As the private funding steps up, the public funding could step down. And that's still our goal. And we're working really hard at it. But it takes a lot of time. This kind of community development initiatives aren't two-year plans. They're not even 10-year plans. They're 30-year plans. And so continued and sustained investment over time. And we go to the cities of Roseville and Maplewood each year and to Ramsey County. asking for a reinvestment into the Rice and Larpenter Alliance. And they have questions and want to show support too, and they want to see that we're being supported by community as well. So yes, we'll continue to go to those cities and ask for their continued partnership in this unique organization. And at the same time, it is incumbent on my board and partners and our community to find other ways to sustain the work moving forward and work towards a sustainable future. So I would say we're probably not likely to continue to ask for a lot more. What we're likely to ask for is sustained so that we can actually go out and raise the money and keep working towards a brighter future. We need to bring developers to the neighborhood. We need to support small businesses and their growth and expansion on Rice Street. That's the work that we need to do, and that takes time and people.

Thank you. I just want to wrap up my thoughts by sharing that you did a really great job sharing data and just pushing out a narrative on what's been delivered through all these investments that have been received by the corridor. So thank you.

Oh, thank you so much. Chair Johnson, may I just acknowledge that in the audience today I have our board chair, Dan Edgerton. He is a neighbor of Ward 5, resident of Ward 5, and he's wonderfully led the organization. We are in an infancy stage right now, and so we rely on community members like Dan. And then also local business owner Juan Lopez is here supporting us today. Juan and his family now own three Rice Street businesses. They have been instrumental in employing members of our community and supporting our community through Metro Surge and just every day and plus the food at Perfect Coffee and Trumpery at Elzac is amazing. So go see Juan. And I just want to say that the support of the local businesses and the neighbors in this work I think is proof positive that what we're doing matters. So I hope that we can find a way to keep St. Paul at the table. And I want to say also that I am incredibly open to how that could work and look, because I see a council and an HRA board that is investing in neighborhoods greatly, and I appreciate it so much, and I want to make sure that we can continue, those of us serving the neighborhoods directly can continue to do our work on your behalf as well.

I'm going to go to Commissioner Bowie, because I know that she had a question. No, no, no. I appreciate the additional context. Dan and Juan, thank you so much for making the time to join us as well to hear through the topics. This is a place where we can sometimes hear from different folks that we have funded, and we'll be heading into budget season here. After tomorrow and so just really hearing through and seeing these different pieces We had time on the calendar for this conversation today. So we wanted to make sure to have it Commissioner Bowie and then Commissioner Naker I saw your hand as well Thank You chair Johnson and thank you so much.

Kim. I'd say amazing presentation. I really appreciate me. Honestly, I appreciate how you just reviewed not only the program, and I'm just always so impressed with so many different hats that you have to wear and being in so many different rooms where you're, you know, providing opportunities and pathways for our neighborhoods and our businesses to thrive. So I just want to let you know, you know, stellar model that you have delivered. I have a couple questions particularly around just, and I just want to just emphasize, too, like, I love this style of, like, kind of performance-based, or what is the return on investment? And even as Chair Johnson was stating, we've been getting a lot of questions around, how are we approaching this budget? And I'll just say from my purview, what I've been hearing from constituents is asking, what is the return on investments? What is the customer service? When they call, is there someone that actually is going to pick up the phone if they have a concern? Is there someone that can advocate for them? And I'm really appreciative to hear that there's this public and private, public sector partnership that's being strengthened. But my question is more so around two things. Just knowing that currently, right now, Rice Street is under construction, and there's a lot of businesses there that are afraid that they will not make it throughout the duration of construction. If you could just speak to, do you see the Rice-Larpenter Alliance as like, the advocacy entity in terms of helping with risk management or even business retention during that construction. That's my first question. And then my second question is a little shorter one. I'm seeing all the individual and corporate and community members here, and just even hearing all the different sources of funds that you received. for the organization. Can you speak to what was the success rate around the St. Paul Port Authority? Because I know they had the They were one of the partners for the Vitality Fund through the state, specifically for Rice Street. I don't see the Alliance as a recipient, but I also just want to know just what that partnership looks like. Of course, when you apply, it's not guaranteed, but I would just think just the case that you've made that the Alliance have been a really strong stakeholder in supporting those businesses on Rice Street.

Thank you, Commissioner Bowie. So your first question is supporting the businesses through construction. I think that's some of the things that we do the best. We market and support the businesses through construction. We make sure people know they're there. We support with resources. Our partners at the North End Neighborhood Organization, the district council, They're currently the recipients of this year's commercial corridor program fund that you all wonderfully created. They, I know, are investing directly with construction impact grants to the businesses on Rice Street. We work closely together, and since we did a construction impact grant program in 2025, they're modeling their program. off of the program that we helped develop. So District 6 and the Rice and Larpenter Alliance are working very closely together. We would absolutely love to continue to be the voice for Rice Street businesses. Right now, our plan and our jurisdiction goes from around, if you know where Hammer Nix is or the New Horizon Daycare Center on Rice Street up north. The Commercial Corridor Program calls for investment from University Avenue to Larpenter Avenue. So currently, you know, we're not the right organization to fund that south section of Rice Street. However, our board is having conversations if in the future a growth model or an opportunity for us to increase our impact could be to serve the entirety of Rice Street. Because I, you know, we agree that some of the work that we do and the business and community organizing that we do can really be beneficial to Rice Street. And, you know, unlike, I'm an east sider. Unlike some areas of the east side or some areas of even the west side that have more purposeful philanthropy organizations and community support organizations, the North End neighborhood and Rice Street have not had any of that. I mean, nothing. There's no CDC currently serving the area. There's no neighborhood community services. It's District 6, Nino, and Rice and Larpenter Alliance. So there's a lot of work to do, and there's a lot of opportunity to support our Rice Street businesses, and we'll continue to do that as called. And then the second question about the investments in the university and Rice Street area by the capital. We were actually called in to talk to the Capital Area Planning Board about our model at Rice and Larpenter and how we might support the Sheriff's Office and the Port Authority in spending that significant investment at the state. And so we are still in talks with them and helping connect them to different community players. And I'm very interested in continuing to partner with them and see how we can support the businesses along Rice and University and help them come together around a shared sense of community and reinvestment for that neighborhood, because it is long overdue.

Commissioner Naker. Thanks, Madam Chair. Ms. O'Brien, thank you so much for being here. And Juan and Dan, really appreciate not only being here today, but everything that you've done. It is really impressive, as my colleagues have mentioned. And I also agree that it's wonderful to see the specific stories and the data. And I just want to make sure it's clear for our millions of YouTube viewers at home that I think I'm speaking for all of us when I say that we are strongly supportive of Rice-Larbinger and have been. And looking at the funding in 2025, I think it's notable that the city of St. Paul, between grants and contracts, contributed more than three times the amount that every other municipality or the county at zero contributed. So I think it's clear that there is a lot of investment from the city. The question that I have, I know one of the things that got us to this conversation related to the change in funding I believe it was CDBG funding to commercial corridor program. And I'm curious if you can speak a little bit more to what was the change in the amount of funding from one to the other? And then what were the differences in terms of what one source of funding would allow versus the other source of funding?

Commissioner Anaker, thank you so much for that question because that is a key point that I'd like to make. Yes, St. Paul has been the primary investor in the Rice and Larpenter Alliance. It has been matched, basically, by the other two cities and then another leg of the stool from community and corporate investment. In 2025, it's a bit of a blip because we were the recipient of the commercial corridor program in 2025, as well as funded. Um, for our general operations, um, in 2026, um, the general operations funding. So St. Paul's contribution to the three city partnership was zeroed out to, because of the creation of the commercial corridor program. And we worked very closely, you know, um, with chair Johnson and commissioner Kim to find ways and flexibility within the commercial quarter program, such that we can leverage that resource. to keep serving community. And there's important stipulations within that source of funding that they don't go for the staffing work. So all of the other organizations funded under commercial corridor program are organizations that have staffing. So if you think of district councils or existing strong CDCs that have real estate interests, they have usually more than one full-time equivalent. The alliance doesn't. We are halftime equivalent. And so without the investment in administration and funding that would have been available through that program, we can't afford the time to make something really meaningful happen through that program. And so 2025, the city of St. Paul was the primary investor. In 2026, that number is zero. And now the cities of Roseville and Maplewood are calling the question if they can continue funding without that partnership. So I would say it's a critical moment. And I think most importantly is can the city demonstrate support and continue to be at that table such that we don't lose the momentum? And unfortunately, at least to date, we haven't found a way for that commercial corridor program to fill that need.

So just to make sure I understand, so the amount that we were contributing before 2026 was $75,000 for the contract. And what was the amount that the commercial corridor program allocated to the alliance?

I think it was $81,500. Okay.

So slightly higher amount, but the issue is that it can't be used for the same things that the $75,000 could be used for, specifically staffing.

Correct. And 10% of the commercial corridor program could be used for staffing. So it would amount to roughly a $60,000 contribution. cut to our ability to staff the organization.

So if our goal were to... Yeah, I'm going to interject. Only because one question that I wanted to get clarified for folks that are also working to understand. So the chamber's involvement, is that through contract? Or in this capacity, are you an actual staff member of the alliance? Or are you a contracted employee, meaning there's a consultant fee affiliated with the services, not actually on staff through RLA?

Chair Johnson, the RLA is staffed through a contract for services with the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce. So the RLA currently doesn't have its own staff. They purchased fractional staffing in the form of me and then formerly my colleague, Mai Chi. But they purchased fractional staffing from the chamber to keep the alliance going. And we do that with a number of other partners as well. So there are no direct staff costs to the alliance outside of the funding contract for services. And if I could just further elaborate on that process, each year prior to this year, three cities approve a budget amount. The city of Roseville holds a shared funding agreement. So Maplewood sends them their allocation. St. Paul sent them their allocation. all three partners sign a shared funding agreement and also sign a professional services agreement, which includes a full work plan for the year based on the board direction and achievement of the vision plan. So every year there's accountability to achievement of goals within that plan, and then every month the chamber sends an invoice to the city of Roseville with proof of what's been accomplished within that month. So it's It's very tied to outcomes, and it's very tied to a goal and a plan that had been established each year.

Commissioner Dacre.

Thanks, Chair Johnson. So just to finish my line of thinking, so if the $81,000 could be used for staffing, then we would be contributing $6,000 more than we've been contributing in the past. And that would be satisfactory. The issue is just what that funding source can be used for. I just want to make sure I understand the problem.

Commissioner Naker, I think that's true, save for the fact that some organizations have staff plus the corridor money that can be used to invest directly in businesses and activities. So I, for one, had an issue with the Rice and Larpenter Alliance. If we use all that money just for Rice and Larpenter work, then what happens to Rice Street from University up to Maryland? There are lots of needs there, and I would not want to supplant any possible funding that could go to support all of that business. So I think, yes, money contribution-wise, that would fill the gap, but most other organizations that are using the commercial corridor funding also have funding for general staffing and operations, and the Rice and Larpender Alliance doesn't. I think in the future, I do see a path, and we're working as a board to determine if it makes sense for the Rice and Larpender Alliance to grow our geography and capacity to serve a broader region, in which case the commercial corridor funding could be an amazing opportunity.

Yeah. And I'll share with you that I think that one of the areas of tension over the years for me with the Rice Arbiter Alliance funding allocation was that no other There was no other allocation to anything of that equivalent on a regular or reoccurring basis anywhere else in the city. And it was unique in nature because, to your point, I think some of the district councils that have been brought up, they receive funding. Some district councils have one person on staff, their executive director, and don't have organizers or don't have added capacity. So they contract out. much similar to that of Race Offender Alliance when they don't have the staffing to do the work, which is an eligible expense for them to be able to do that. I was actually just in a communication with some of the commercial corridors in my ward, some of which who don't have the staffing capacity to do all the things that they would love to do in their corridor, so they're contracting to get that service done. And that to me is like really helpful context to have. And this one, $75,000 was just automatically added every year to the specific project. And nowhere else in the city was that true. And I think that that's something that when we were looking at the commercial corridor investments, one of the reasons why that was really important to folks here was because we wanted that investment everywhere and most corridors. And we put and advocated for the funding to go for that. I just want us to, I want to pay attention to time, and it is 2.56. I think that is kind of the overarching question with this item in particular, and I just really appreciate you kind of sharing and spelling out some of those pieces, because I think also hearing just some of the neighboring cities' contributions and the history behind it, the Chamber's involvement, I also think is unique. And I may have questions for you offline about that in particular, because I'm still a little unclear as to whether all three cities' contributions go towards fulfilling that contract given to the Chamber. And if that's the case, then I may have questions about the Chamber's contribution to the Rice Arbiter Alliance, especially because I don't see, you know, I think about the partnership and about the spaces and how we can potentially think of if this investment is important, then maybe that doesn't operate at the same expense as the Chamber would in other places. And so that might be a question that I have for you in that capacity and a later conversation, too, as we think about What does it look like to continue, one, to support the work that you all are doing? I don't think it's debatable that it's not a worthy investment. That's one of the reasons why it was brought to the table in the first place. I think the question really remains on, If we do this in one community, what is the alternative to being able to provide that similar assistance in other places across the city in an equitable way? And I think that's a piece that for me, you know, equity looks like ensuring that it's not just a line item that because there was a right person at the table at that particular time could do that. And so that's just something that I would put here as food for thought is like, how do we invest citywide as well and doing investments? Because I guarantee you in multiple places, we can have a conversation about why investment in their corridors works because it does. So I think this is a perfect example. And I know that you're involved in multiple of those conversations throughout the entire city, including in our neck of the woods and in our ward. So I really do appreciate your time. I'll let Commissioner Kim end as well.

Yeah, I really appreciate it. Such a great presentation, Kim, per usual. I think the part of it is that it came out of when Dr. Corey was here. So when we think about how we're building out cultural quarters and nodes, and we had that presentation not too long ago. And so this is a really great example of a pilot that is trying to become more self-sustaining, but has a proofing point now. And so I couldn't agree more. I think there's a huge opportunity for us to think about even expanding what this could look like for areas of the east side that touch Roseville and Council Vice President Yang's ward and Chair Johnson yours with Maplewood. There are other opportunities where this can be expanded. remodeled and it's just to state that for similar to other parts like on the east side you know we don't have the same resources like there actually isn't an operating non-profit besides the north end besides our district council that even does work in the neighborhood and is focused in the neighborhood we're like incredibly residential but we don't have some of the same like community assets that other parts of the city do. And I think what is also really unique and important, which you did mention as well, is we're not pushing money out the door for facade improvements, while that is absolutely a huge part of the vitality of building out a corridor. But what Kim and the Rice-Lapinier Alliance has done with the Cherry Dan Edgerton and one of my favorite business owners along Rice Street, Juan is here, is that they are building a sense of connection and community. And through that sort of resiliency of connection to community, this has significantly changed many different metrics along like when we think about commercial vitality and what are the metrics we want to accomplish, it requires someone to hold the pieces together. And so like I would, Like, I'm in. I would love to see this happen. I think folks in Maple would love to talk about the east side, and folks in Roseville would kind of love to talk about that northern stretch there. But count us in, because there's something that can be replicated. And the last thought about equitable investment, I'm still after this question. I'm so sorry, Director McMahon. I talk about it, but I haven't actually sent it to you. But I'm always so interested in the history of where the city is placing investment, and not just these dollars but also our housing dollars are all the buckets of money and who gets it and where it's being distributed across the city is already inherently inequitable. And so like I'm really interested in how do we sort of right size that so that when we look at sort of singular investments to an area that quite frankly continues to be a flyover zone but not until Kim O'Brien said I'm just putting a flag in this intersection and we're investing hard in it. And there are areas I know in Ward 1 and and on the east side that deserve this same attention. But where across the board are we looking at equitable investment? And so I just would encourage my colleagues to think about this as not as a singular investment that is inequitable, but what are the ways that we can model it so that the other areas that are as deserving and to pull down Neighborhood Star money, to pull down Cultural Corridor money? How do we prime them so that they are ready? Because the number of applications that we even get for business nominations pale in comparison to other awards. The number of applications that we get in for Neighborhood Star pale in comparison. Chair, I call you Chair Squared, sorry. Chair Johnson, if it weren't for you one year, I think even CIB money, we didn't have a single application come in for CIB money from the North End. So I'm interested in the larger conversation about equitable investment, but I think I'll just re-land my point. This is a singular opportunity and one that can be remodeled that isn't necessarily a statement of inequitable investment, but more an opportunity for us to expand a really clearly working and soon to be sustainable pilot that I think across the board would be a huge tool for us to continue to develop what our neighborhood nodes look like.

Thank you guys so much for the conversation too. And Kim, thank you for being here. Dan and Juan, thank you for making the time as well and for the work that you all do both in our community and in our businesses and our corridor and also taking the time to be a board chair of such an alliance in your capacity as well. I'm sure you wear multiple hats in community too. I had the pleasure of being able to talk to Dan and to Kim about this project. So if folks do have questions, I am sure that if you reach out to Kim O'Brien, she will get back to you. And I'm as happy to talk further about this. So thank you guys so much. We are going to adjourn. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.