Politics & Government

From Trails to Freight Rail: SLP Council Candidates Find Little to Debate at Forum

Ward 3 city council candidates found themselves mostly in agreement during a League of Women Voters forum.

Sue Santa and the two challengers for her St. Louis Park city council seat came together Tuesday evening for a candidate forum that revealed differences in temperament, background and experience, but little in the way of substantive policy clashes.

During the 73-minute forum, hosted by the League of Women Voters, Santa, Gregg Lindberg and Kandi Arries largely agreed on key issues such as freight rail reroute (opposed), the sidewalks and trails plan (mostly supportive) and the community center (supportive of resident input).

Santa emphasized her ten years of experience on the council.

Find out what's happening in St. Louis Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I want to continue to work on the freight rail, and light rail and sidewalks and trails,” she said. “I am the only candidate who has the knowledge and the expertise and the relationships that can make that as enhanced as possible.”

Lindberg, a human resource manager at the Three Rivers Park District working on a Master’s in public administration, put on a forceful performance, showing command of policy details and arguing—as did Santa—that economic development around the light rail would be the main challenge the council would face in the coming years.

Find out what's happening in St. Louis Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I think smart-sized and right-sized economic development is very important,” he said.

Arries, a research associate for a local biotech company, emphasized the importance of parks and trails in connecting the community, and called the city’s sidewalks and trails plan a “contentious issue.”

“As the city moves forward,” she said, “they need to make decisions that are common sense: They need to balance property rights versus what they need to do as stewards for public safety.”

In one of the only moments of the evening where a candidate took specific issue with a city decision, Lindberg said that the city’s letter to the Met Council opposing the re-routing of freight rail lines should have included “stronger language.”

“I understand the political and policy issues behind freight rail,” he said, but re-routing “would have devastating impacts on the community, and for that reason I don’t like the looseness of the language, ‘No other viable alternatives.’”

The forum was moderated by Martha Micks, of the Golden Valley chapter of the League of Women Voters, who asked questions proposed by voters and kept answers to a minute or a minute-and-a-half.

Questions were on topics including how to attract businesses, the sustainability and recycling program, tax increment financing and Texa-Tonka, as well as light rail, trails and sidewalks plan and the community center.

Arries said she hoped the community center would help “outreach with our teens.”

“I have a teenage son, and I know he spends way too much time hanging out at McDonald’s and way too much time walking down the tracks,” she said. “Any facility that we build in the community needs to also be an option for our teenage populations.”

Ward 3 residents can vote in the primary on August 13.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here