Candidate Profile: Tim Brausen

Editor's Note: Each day this week, St. Louis Park Patch will profile one of the five people competing for two seats on the City Council this year. Absentee voting in the 2011 city election begins Friday. A primary for one seat is Aug. 9, with the general election for both seats Nov. 8.

Tim Brausen doesn’t want to turn the St. Louis Park City Council on its head—he just wants to bring a thoughtful, new voice into the mix.

 “I like it here a lot,” the candidate for the “at-large B” spot said. “And the city works really well. So I view this as an opportunity to pay it back a little bit.”

Brausen has never ran for office before, but after living in St. Louis Park for 28 years, he said he felt it was time for the experience. The self-employed attorney said there are a few issues he is particularly passionate about, including promoting environmental sustainability. Brausen said he would like the city to look at things such as plastic bag bans, which some West Coast cities already have.

“We’ve got an opportunity to continue to make a statement that we want to be a green and sustainable community,” he said. “St. Louis Park could be a showcase for environmental sustainability.”

In addition to promoting environmental sustainability, Brausen said he would focus on transit-oriented development and affordable housing in St. Louis Park. He also said he would keep close tabs on the increasing diversity in the community—particularly at the schools—and work to make sure everyone has access and opportunities.

“The changing complexion of our schools is beautiful to me,” said Brausen, who often volunteers to read to students of all backgrounds. “I really think that’s exciting.”

Brausen is also a member of ISAIAH, an ecumenical, non-partisan social justice group based in Minneapolis. He said the group’s virtues of focusing on what unites us, not what divides us, and living out of hope will be with him during the campaign.

“It certainly frames the way I view issues,” Brausen said of his involvement with ISAIAH.

The first-time candidate said he knows it’ll be a challenge getting his name out there to voters, so he plans on hopping on his bike and making the rounds in St. Louis Park, knocking on as many doors as he can before the Aug. 9 primary, when he will face off with Claudia Johnston-Madison and Jake Spano.

“I’m looking at it as new experience, an opportunity to get in touch with more people in the community,” Brausen said.