Latest news with #AnikaBowie
CBS News
08-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
St. Paul City Council approves more changes to rent control ordinance
More changes are coming to St. Paul's rent control ordinance after a lengthy debate and divisive vote in the City Council. The slim 4-3 majority approved expanding the exemptions for capping rents to all units in properties built after 2005, while also eliminating any delayed enforcement on new construction. "The goal is to build housing at affordable rates," Councilwoman Anika Bowie said before voting in favor of the changes. "This policy is about creating a foundation for meaningful investment." Indeed, the early returns on rent control's impact on new construction reflect many of what rent control opponents worried about: from 2012 to 2022, Saint Paul averaged about 1,014 new units every year. Since 2023, when the ordinance took effect, the yearly average has been slashed in half to roughly 500 (only 220 came online so far in 2025). "I also represent a ward that had one of the largest commercial corridors and it now lays dormant," Bowie added. "It has lost nearly a billion dollars of tax revenue that's now on the backs of those property owners. That gap is felt by people." Nearly 53% of city voters in 2021 said yes to a ballot measure capping rent increases at 3% in a 12-month period. Nelle Rivers, a St. Paul resident and tenant, said she feels "betrayed" by the council's recent move to expand the exemptions. "We've already voted to pass this and we've had to do a lot to get this enforced," Rivers lamented. "When I decide to move to somewhere newer for better housing conditions, I'll be priced out. It's just going to drive everything else up." Andrea Suchy-Schinn, who owns and rents out several properties in St. Paul, countered that the city council didn't go far enough and should just get rid of the entire policy. "If they're not giving the same respite to the mom and pop landlords, you're just going to have the big landlords," she warned. "Nobody wants that."
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
St. Paul City Council may lower noise limits for Breakaway Music Festival
The city of St. Paul may yet lower the volume on a two-day electronic dance music celebration scheduled to light up the grounds outside Allianz Field in June. Days after urging the city council to approve a sound-level variance for the Breakaway Music Festival at decibel levels objected to by city staff, a key council member has had a change of heart. 'This is something we had a lot of robust conversation around last week,' explained Council Member Anika Bowie, whose political ward encompasses Allianz Field. Bowie asked the council on Wednesday to redo its 4-2 vote from a week prior and lower the decibel limits to those recommended by the city's Department of Safety and Inspections, for two reasons. First, neighbors living near Allianz Field never received notice there would be an April 16 public hearing about the sound-level variance. Following last week's council vote, 'we unfortunately recognized that the public notices had been drafted, but the all-important part of hitting send did not occur,' said DSI Director Angie Wiese, explaining the snafu to the council. As a result, the public will get a second chance to weigh in before the council during a public hearing to be held May 14. In addition to the new public hearing, Bowie on Wednesday asked the council to amend the sound-level variance resolution, reverting to an earlier version that includes lower decibel limits recommended by DSI. The amended limits will be finalized following the May 14 hearing. Bowie said she had received strong feedback from the executive director of the Union Park District Council and other concerned critics who 'shared disappointments around the process. We want to make sure we can rectify this.' The amended decibel limits and new hearing date were approved together on Wednesday, 6-0, without further discussion. Council Vice President HwaJeong Kim was absent. Organizers have said their inaugural St. Paul celebration last summer drew 24,000 fans and $2 million in ticket sales, generating as much as $6 million in spending for the region. Critics as far as Mendota Heights complained of window-rattling noise likely well above approved limits, leading organizers this year to promise sound-shielding improvements, including hourly testing of noise levels and better speakers aimed at the sports stadium instead of Cub Foods. The festival returns to the grounds outside Allianz Field on June 6 and June 7, but organizers have said they may pull out if they don't get a higher sound limit than the decibel levels recommended by DSI. The Breakaway Music Festival was approved last week for a sound-level variance 103 decibels at 125 feet from the main stage, as well as a limit of 101 decibels at 100 feet from a secondary stage. Both limits are above the noise levels associated with a typical outdoor concert, or even a construction site, DSI staff said. City staff have recommended a sound limit of 100 decibels at 100 feet from the main stage, and 99 decibels at 75 feet from the secondary stage. Housing, downtown get top billing in Carter's State of the City address St. Paul: Music festival gets higher sound level limit for Allianz Field St. Thomas wins fight on Goodrich Avenue loading drive near Binz Refectory Maria Toso: Downtown's in bad shape. But we can make it really good Letters: We need St. Paul councilors with business sense
