Latest news with #St.PaulCityCouncil
Axios
19-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Minnesota cities target crypto ATMs
Several Minnesota cities are considering crackdowns on cryptocurrency ATMs, saying they've become preferred tools for scammers. Why it matters: Fraud at crypto kiosks has skyrocketed in recent years. In more than 5,500 cases nationwide, victims lost over $189 million to schemes involving a crypto ATM in 2023, according to the FBI. City officials say regulations are necessary to spare police resources from the difficult task of solving these crimes: The digital transactions are hard to trace, and victims rarely get full refunds. State of play: Stillwater leaders banned the kiosks last month, and the St. Paul City Council met to discuss its own possible regulations last week. Forest Lake has enacted an ordinance that stops short of a ban, but requires all crypto ATMs to be registered — and would shut down any kiosk that fraudsters use more than once in six months. Plus: Officials in Hastings, Cottage Grove and Woodbury have also considered their own rules, according to news reports. How it works: Crypto kiosks allow users to buy online currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin with cash. There are more than 200 crypto ATMs from companies like Bitcoin Depot, Coinflip and Athena in Twin Cities grocers, gas stations and liquor stores. Threat level: FBI data suggest seniors are at greatest risk. People over 60 lost nearly two-thirds of the money reported stolen at crypto ATMs in 2023. Case in point: One Maple Grove man's case is typical: A phone scammer convinced the senior to withdraw more than $22,000 in cash from his bank and send it to the scammer through a Bitcoin ATM, KARE11 reported last year. Friction point: A new state law sets transaction limits at kiosks for newly registered customers, but scammers easily avoid this obstacle by sending their victim a QR code that links their deposit to an existing account, state and local enforcement officials say. Between the lines: The crypto ATM era has probably passed, Axios Crypto 's Brady Dale says. The kiosks were once useful when the currencies were harder to buy. Now, most traders are using online marketplaces, which have lower transaction fees. Most kiosks only allow cash deposits and not withdrawals — "which makes these things absolutely useless," Stillwater Mayor Ted Kozlowski told a St. Paul council hearing last week. What they're saying: The kiosks' limited use case has led Stillwater Police Chief Brian Mueller to conclude they're "purely predatory." The other side: Kiosk company Athena Bitcoin "regularly works with law enforcement agencies and is genuinely committed to fighting financial crimes, especially those targeting the elderly population," attorney Robert Musiala told Stillwater officials in a letter, according to the Pioneer Press.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
St. Paul: At Highland Bridge, Weidner Homes, Ryan Cos. win concessions
Eager to jumpstart 450 residential units and a series of commercial buildings on long-stalled development parcels at Highland Bridge, the St. Paul City Council voted 5-2 on Wednesday to amend a longstanding tax incentive district, delaying construction of some internal sidewalks and landscaping for up to five years. The amendments — the sixth to the former Ford Motor Co. site's $275 million tax increment financing district since 2016 — do not alter the total spending planned within the TIF district, but they do alter payment schedules. A new 'minimum assessments agreement' shifts some TIF payments from interest to principal and saves the master developer, the Ryan Cos., some costs upfront as the taxable value of particular land parcels are lowered. 'This does not impact the city budget or the general fund,' said Council Member Saura Jost, addressing the city council on Wednesday. 'This reduces the holding cost to the developer, enabling it to move forward as foreseen in the master plan. … We're not changing the public investment at the site.' Getting county assessors to agree to drop land values took a joint effort from both the city and the Ryan Cos. At Highland Bridge, Weidner Apartment Homes now plan construction of two market-rate apartment buildings spanning 350 housing units in the near future. Nearby, the Ryan Cos. had once planned to have started work on a series of commercial or mixed-use buildings on the parcel known as 'Block 2' back in 2021. Neither project has moved forward in recent years, with both developers blaming the city's rent control policies for adding to an already-complicated financing landscape weighed down by high interest rates, rising construction costs and other barriers. The Ryan Cos. have since redrawn their plans for four one-story commercial buildings, as well as a four-story, mixed-use residential building consisting of 97 market-rate rental units attached to ground-floor commercial space, a rooftop deck, streetscape improvements and a public promenade. Also planned is a 190-stall structured parking facility. 'You would see immediate development at this site,' said Maureen Michalski, a regional senior vice president of development with the Ryan Cos., referring to the TIF agreement. So far, the developer has secured a letter of intent for a daycare to operate in one of the stand-alone commercial buildings. Both Council Members HwaJeong Kim and Nelsie Yang voted against the new TIF arrangement and the related agreements. While 20% of Highland Bridge is set up for affordable housing through a master plan, Yang expressed concern Wednesday that there was little clarity about the specific rents planned in the new residential buildings. The overall number of residential units planned for Highland Bridge has been redrawn at 3,100 units, down from an initial projection of 3,800 units, according to city staff. Rents at an existing market-rate development — The Collection at Highland Bridge — average about $2,000 per unit, according to a spokesperson for Weidner Apartment Homes, who said he expected the new construction to proceed along the same grounds. 'Is this truly the biggest win that we can get for the city of St. Paul at the negotiation table?' said Yang, noting that Ramsey County had delayed a vote this week on the new minimum assessments agreement. 'I don't know what an alternative agreement could have looked like. … Also, where is the county on this, too? This is something that is going to be impacting them.' With Weidner refusing to move forward until the company was released from rent control obligations, the city council voted 4-3 last week to relieve all buildings citywide built after 2004 from the city's voter-approved 3% cap on annual rent increases. Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, who chairs the city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority, said Wednesday she was excited to see new housing move forward, though she was disappointed with Weidner's lack of communication with her office, as well as with the city in general, prior to the council vote on the rent control amendment. 'I want to add you to that discussion,' said Johnson, addressing Weidner development director Nick Nowotarski, who promised better days ahead. 'That was the first time I had ever met you.' Added Council President Rebecca Noecker, 'I have been on this council for 10 years, and I've never had any contact with Weidner. … It matters to have you show up, and it matters to have this communication.' The Ryan Cos. now hope to build the stand-alone commercial structures and the mixed-use building on Blocks 2 using both a public business subsidy and some $24 million in additional loan principal, supported by tax increment financing through a pay-as-you-go note. 'TIF' tax incentives allow private developers to complete public-facing aspects of their developments using money that would ordinarily pay off city, county and school district tax obligations. The city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority hired the tax firm Baker Tilly as a fiscal consultant to evaluate project costs, financing and operations and confirm the need for TIF to move the Ryan Cos.' Block 2 project forward. A fresh agreement involves lower new tax values for the buildable land. The original 'minimum assessments agreement … places a tax burden on the properties without an offsetting income source,' reads the city staff report. 'Both the city and the developer have incurred debt to advance the infrastructure and have carefully evaluated adjustments to the minimum values to entice the stalled development to proceed.' 'We have worked with the assessor, who is supportive of adjustments to certain lots,' the report states. 'The resulting … amendment will reduce values for the certain lots in the short term.' The lot values will exceed the original values in 2041 and continue to increase through the year 2047, the final year of the TIF district. Separately, the Weidner agreement will require the construction of two buildings resulting in approximately 350 housing units over the next few years, as well as pre-payment to the city of all of their 'Green Infrastructure' assessments. Jost noted that form of binding development agreement was not in place previously. The two developers have agreed not to apply for additional city or Housing and Redevelopment Authority funds on land they own for any future 'vertical development' at Highland Bridge. 'Highland Bridge is important to Ward 3,' Jost told the council Wednesday. 'It's important to the whole city. … Our city will see one of its vacant spaces replaced with something of purpose. … We're expanding the housing options available to our residents in Highland.'
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
St. Paul walks back rent control
Renters and activists urged the St. Paul City Council not to exempt affordable housing from the city's rent control policy during a public hearing on Aug. 24, 2022. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer. New — and new-ish — rental properties in St. Paul will no longer be subject to the city's 3% cap on yearly rent increases. The St. Paul City Council, at the behest of Mayor Melvin Carter, voted 4-3 Wednesday to permanently exempt new construction and rentals built after 2004 from the rent control ordinance, which voters approved by ballot measure in 2021. While increased interest rates and slower growth in rents reduced homebuilding across the country in recent years, local developers have pointed the finger at St. Paul's rent control ordinance as a major factor in their reluctance to build in the city. Since the council first implemented the ordinance in 2022, construction has dropped off a cliff in the city; In 2024, 80% fewer housing units were built in St. Paul compared to the previous three-year average, according to a MinnPost analysis. (In Minneapolis, voters gave the city council power to enact rent control in 2021, but the council has not passed a rent control ordinance. Minneapolis had an even steeper falloff in construction in 2024 than St. Paul.) St. Paul's rollback of the ordinance is a bad sign for rent control advocates in Minneapolis, who have pushed the council to implement rent stabilization in recent years. Prior to Wednesday's vote, the St. Paul City Council weakened the rent control ordinance in other ways: In 2022, the council permanently exempted affordable housing developments; gave new construction a 20-year exemption, and instituted 'vacancy decontrol,' which allows landlords to raise rents by more than 3% when a tenant moves out. Landlords could also request permission from the city to raise rents by more than 3% if their expenses rose significantly; St. Paul approved the vast majority of those requests. Minnesota is one of the only Midwestern states without a statewide ban on local rent control ordinances.
Axios
06-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
St. Paul's rent control policy faces another rollback
The St. Paul City Council is poised to walk back another part of the city's rent control ordinance this week. Why it matters: The vote is the culmination of a months-long push by Mayor Melvin Carter to exempt new construction from the rent caps permanently. Supporters have argued the move is necessary to jump-start housing construction in St. Paul — which has stalled since voters passed the ordinance in 2021 — without ditching rent control altogether. The big picture: The proposal represents a big bet on a minor change to a policy whose current iteration has critics in many corners. Developers don't like it, and even many rent control advocates have argued St. Paul's policy is a watered-down version of what voters initially demanded. Catch up quick: The policy voters approved capped annual rent increases at 3%, with few exceptions — until Carter and the council loosened the rules in 2022. As a result, new construction is now exempt from rent control for 20 years, and landlords can enact much larger rent increases after a tenant moves out. The latest: The proposal before the council this week would be another relaxation, permanently exempting any new housing built in 2005 or later. Rent control critics say it's an easy way for the city to make a bad policy more workable. What they're saying:"What we've done in St. Paul is create the worst of both worlds," Nate Hood, a city Planning Commission member and small-time landlord, told Axios. "Rent control scares people, so developers just stay away from the city," Hood said. "At the same time, we haven't necessarily protected tenants because there are loopholes that some people could probably drive a semi through." The other side: Rent control advocates share some of Hood's frustrations but say the solution is to strengthen rent regulations, not weaken them further. "City officials in St. Paul seem more focused on managing the pushback of wealthy developers and special interests, and not on implementing a strong policy," Elianne Farhat, co-executive director of advocacy group TakeAction Minnesota, told Axios. With better enforcement and strategy from city leaders, "we wouldn't necessarily be experiencing the 'worst of both worlds,'" added Tram Hoang, who managed the 2021 rent control campaign. Carter says that if the new proposal passes, rent control will cover more than 90% of St. Paul's rental units. Stunning stats: Builders pulled permits for 404 housing units in St. Paul, down 80% from the 2,077 units permitted in 2020, according to federal data. Reality check: Rent control isn't the only cause of this slowdown in St. Paul. Building has sagged nationwide as developers contend with supply chain issues, labor shortages and difficulty securing loans. Minneapolis, which doesn't have rent control, saw a 90% drop from its pre-COVID-19 development peak, and metro-wide construction is down too. "The real estate industry is scapegoating rent stabilization and using this time of economic uncertainty … to force the council into making a false choice," said Hoang, now an analyst at think tank PolicyLink. Yes, but: Rent control critics fear that without further changes to St. Paul's rent control policy, developers will bypass opportunities to build in St. Paul whenever economic conditions rebound. St. Paul's typical rents have grown at a pace similar to — if not slightly faster than — that of Minneapolis in recent years, according to Zillow estimates. Zoom in: One reason is that St. Paul's ordinance gives landlords several options to raise rents more than the 3% annual cap. By the numbers: Since the ordinance took effect in 2023, more than 1,700 landlords have applied to raise rents on vacant units by as much as 8%, plus inflation. The city granted 1,580 requests in 2023 and 2024, the city's Department of Safety and Inspections tells Axios. Another 111 applications have been granted to landlords seeking to exceed the rent cap to cover repairs or certain cost increases — like, in Hood's case, insurance.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
St. Paul clears homeless encampment near Lafayette Road
As the city of St. Paul cleared a sizable homeless encampment near the downtown Lafayette Bridge on Thursday, officials with the Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities and the city's Homeless Action Response Team mobilized crisis services. The encampment is 'right in our backyard,' said Sarah Peterka, a community relations director with the Union Gospel Mission, which maintains a men's campus on University Avenue near Lafayette Road. Peterka said as the city closed the encampment of about 30 or more residents for 'safety reasons,' the Union Gospel Mission offered camp residents emergency shelter, meals, clothing, hygiene services and access to both temporary housing and veterans' housing. Some occupants may be steered to the nonprofit's Naomi Family Program. Many residents were already gone by the time city crews arrived to clear the camp, but among those who remained, 'there's some pretty strong emotions going on there right now,' she said, shortly after visiting the location Thursday morning. The nonprofit is working with the city's Homeless Action Response Team and other agencies. 'We are here to help those who are facing this difficult transition,' said Union Gospel Mission chief executive officer Pam Stegora Axberg, in a written statement. The St. Paul Fire Department's Community Alternative Response Emergency Services team assisted by providing medical assistance and assessments, according to the department. In January the city evicted approximately 40 people from a nearby a homeless camp at Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary. That encampment was vacated due to reports of health and safety hazards, according to the city. Letters: This is what was promised, what Americans voted for St. Paul City Council establishes new public safety committee St. Paul City Council gets an earful on rent control, tenant protections St. Paul City Council to hear rent control, tenant protections St. Paul Mayor Carter appoints Matt Privratsky as interim council member
