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What's the significance of these stakes you see in the medians and boulevard
along Summit Avenue? Read on.
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Dear SOS Supporters,
There have been several developments over the last few weeks that we wanted to bring to your attention, and provide our perspective on their significance.
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1. Survey work on Summit Avenue. As many have noted, survey crews have been developing the baseline for the assessment of the appropriate repair or replacement of the Summit Avenue roadway from Mississippi River Blvd. to the Cathedral. This includes determining the location and elevation of the existing surface infrastructure, water mains, and storm and sanitary sewers. We also understand that the City has just commenced the inventory of all the trees along Summit, including precise location, size, species and health. Those of you that have signed up for updates on the City’s website on the Summit Avenue project should have received notices of these events, and the City specifically reached out to me in advance via email to let us know that would be occurring. In my response, I reiterated SOS’s concern that no resources should be committed to any actual construction work until the environmental and historical impacts of reconstructing Summit so that SART could be built had been identified, assessed, and fully discussed with impacted residents.
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Establishing the baseline data required to determine the potential impacts of SART is an essential step in the process. Mayor Her committed to an open, transparent, and data-driven process for evaluating SART as part of her campaign, and we have been assured that she is still committed to that process, even as Public Works continues to list the reconstruction of Summit as starting in 2028 in the City’s Five Year plan. Skeptics may be tempted to dismiss the significance of the data gathering as just another ‘check the box’ exercise. We remain optimistic that the Mayor and her team are operating in good faith; however, and will not manipulate data just to achieve a desired result, as was the case with former Director of Public Works, Sean Kershaw.
We also need to keep in mind the ultimate firewall: under Minnesota’s Environmental Rights Act (MERA) the City cannot undertake a project that would adversely affect the natural resources of the state – which are defined to include not only Summit’s iconic tree canopy, but also its historic streetscape – if there a prudent and feasible alternatives, in this instance the existing on-street bike lanes. We will do our best to keep you informed as this continues to evolve.
| 2. Status of SOS Data Practices Act litigation against the City. We are reaching a critical juncture in the case, specifically the deadline for completing discovery, which would include depositions under oath of the City employees responsible for responding to our requests, so we know what witnesses we must call to establish the City’s liability if the case goes to trial. Based on all evidence we have been able to gather thus far, the City’s failure to comply with the law would appear to be incontrovertible. Among other things, it failed to use standard automated procedures even to check for emails within various City departments that almost certainly contained data responsive to our requests, which the City has not disputed. | |
Unfortunately, the City has declined to respond in good faith to SOS’s efforts to resolve the case, and continues their standard approach to citizen complaints: “so sue us” which we’ve been advised is essentially the culture within the City Attorney’s office. While the City continues to assert that having to respond to Data Practices Act requests is too burdensome and expensive, when we asked the City to provide its contract with the vendor performing the survey and analysis work described above, it refused to do so even though it agreed that this was a public document, insisting that SOS file a formal request under the Data Practices Act.
Under the law, the City is liable for SOS’s attorneys’ fees, but the illogic of forcing taxpayers to absorb the cost of SOS demonstrating the City’s unlawful conduct has not escaped us, so we are continuing to look for more constructive ways to resolve this.
| 3. Looking ahead. SOS remains encouraged by the strength of our arguments that fiscally the City simply can’t afford to waste over $100,000,000 to fully reconstruct Summit Avenue just so it can build a bike trail that is being demanded by less than 1% of Saint Paul residents, and that legally SART cannot be constructed without violating MERA. If our Mayor remains committed to a transparent process, where the results will be determined by objective facts, SART will never get built. But we need to continue to let her know we expect her to live up to that commitment, and we need your continued support to do that. | |
4. Ongoing support needed. Elected officials (especially the Mayor and City Council members) need to continue to hear from us that, prior to moving forward with any construction planning for Summit Avenue, the City should:
- Fulfill their commitment to complete a detailed tree analysis, a comprehensive Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) and, once the actual impact is understood, engage the public to develop a plan going forward.
- Determine if it makes sense, in the current fiscally stressed state of our City, to prematurely spend tax revenues to prioritize the building of a bike trail, over repairing streets ranked much higher in terms of need, and spending tax dollars where they are most needed.
Respectfully,
Gary Todd, SOS Committee Chair, and the SOS Advisory Committee
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Here's a list of our Saint Paul City Councilor's contact information,
along with the Mayor's staff.
Send an email or give them a call and don't delay!
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We have approximately 20 lawn signs remaining that we are happy to distribute.
Order your new lawn sign and show your support for building safe streets for walkers, cyclists and motorists, saving trees, and sharing cost transparency with Saint Paul residents.
Order here and we'll deliver!
https://www.savesummitavenue.org/yard-signs
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Ongoing support needed: Please give what you can to continue this campaign to build transparency and accountability with City Hall planning.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-summit-avenue
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www.savesummitavenue.org
Save Our Street is a citizen group that seeks to educate and advocate for preserving the historic streetscape of Summit Avenue as a treasured St. Paul destination and a safe, tree-lined, multi-modal corridor for generations to come.
| With the SART plan, side-by-side cycling like this in the street will need to take place in the motorist lane... and no longer in a separated bike lane. | | | | |
