Rail a Key Topic During First SLP Candidate Forum

St. Louis Park’s 2011 election season unofficially kicked off Tuesday night, and not surprisingly, the issues of freight and light rail in the community were hot topics.

The three candidates for the “at-large B” spot on the City Council—, and —participated in a candidate forum organized by the League of Women Voters. Because there are more than two candidates in the at-large B field, Brausen, Johnston-Madison and Spano face an Aug. 9 primary that will whittle the pool down to two before November’s general election.

With questions coming in from audience members, it became clear that St. Louis Park residents want to know what these candidates think about a controversial freight rail reroute proposal, as well as the potential of getting light rail in the community. Larger topics like how to keep the city's budget balanced were also at the forefront.

In response to one question, all three said they would have supported a May 31 resolution in which a majority of council members to the reroute proposal.

“I support that resolution 110 percent,” Johnston-Madison said.

“Clearly, there are a number of people who would be dislocated (by the reroute),” Brausen said. “We have to be the voice of those people.”

Spano said while he would have supported the resolution, he wants to make sure the city doesn’t dig in too deep and possibly hurt its chances of getting light rail in the area. Talk over the reroute was initially triggered by the plan to bring light rail to the southwest metro and the need to find room for it.

“I do think light rail will be a very big net positive,” Spano said.

Brausen and Johnston-Madison also praised the potential arrival of light rail and said it could provide one of the city’s biggest redevelopment opportunities in coming years.

Residents continued the rail discussion by asking the candidates how they personally have gotten involved in reroute discussions and planning. Both Johnston-Madison and Spano cited their involvement on the reroute plan’s Project Management Team, a citizen group that met over the past several months to provide feedback to planners.

Brausen said he hasn’t gotten as involved to date, as he lives on the west side of St. Louis Park, which wouldn’t be directly impacted by a freight reroute. However, he said he has been working to catch up on the issue by watching video of past meetings and talking with important officials.

“It’s important for us to educate ourselves as best we can” Brausen said. “It’s incumbent on all of us to voice our concerns.”

Other subjects were touched on as well. In perhaps the toughest question of the night, one resident asked where the candidates would look to cut costs. Spano and Johnston-Madison suggested the city look at more opportunities to pool purchasing power with other cities to save money, but overall, the candidates said they are generally happy with the city’s budget.

“It looks like (money) is pretty well spent to me,” Brausen said. “We’re not afraid to invest in our community. I think we get a really good return.”

In the last question of the night, the candidates were asked for their thoughts on the possibility of getting a new community center in St. Louis Park, which has been an oft-discussed issue over the years.

“I have no position one way or the other,” Johnston-Madison said. “I think it’s a great idea, but how are we going to pay for it?”

Spano and Brausen echoed Johnston-Madison's sentiments as far as costs. Spano added that he would like to see the new get involved and make a push for a community center that would have more event and meeting space. Brausen targeted a fairly specific locale.

“I want to see something on the west side of the city,” he said.

After the questions, the three candidates got the chance to make closing statements (see attached videos).

The League of Women Voters will host another forum in October for the at-large A race, which pits against .

SEE ALSO: Full video of the forum