After 15 years of removing ash trees from the public right-of-way, St. Paul’s forestry department felled the last of some 30,000 of the trees from boulevards this year, all but capping the city’s efforts to get ahead of the dreaded emerald ash borer. That said, you’d be forgiven for not noticing.

That news was overshadowed by a flood that inundated Harriet Island, the ongoing spate of copper wire thefts that has shrouded key parks corridors in darkness, a heavy storm that impacted upwards of 2,000 trees citywide and the new Minnesota Yacht Club Festival, which brought 60,000 fans to a multi-day, big act concert series at Harriet Island this summer. Three new parks have opened at Highland Bridge, with a fourth on the way.

Then there’s the “Common Cent” 1% sales tax that city voters approved at the polls last November. A third of the sales tax money will support Parks and Rec projects, from parks and playgrounds like downtown Pedro Park to new rec center roofs and HVAC systems, of which 100 projects are scheduled or underway.

“We as a city department probably submitted the most amount of budget requests to the mayor this year — in the realm of about 19 different budget proposals,” said St. Paul Parks and Recreation Director Andy Rodriguez, addressing the St. Paul City Council during a recent budget hearing.

Director of St. Paul Parks and Recreation Andy Rodriguez . (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Parks and Rec — which oversees what the Trust for Public Land has repeatedly dubbed one of the top three municipal park systems in the nation — had its hands especially full this year, though some of its most important work has been behind the scenes. The Como Zoo, for instance, hired its first full-time veterinarian after decades of contracting part-time and on-call help from the University of Minnesota.

The city budget

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter released his budget proposal in August, including an 8% property tax levy increase that could yet be trimmed by the St. Paul City Council before they finalize the budget in December. To do that, council members will have to make tough choices.

Given its wide variety of spending items, the Parks and Rec budget offers elected council members ample opportunity to promote their political wards with new services, activities and playing fields, or to make cuts. Parks and Rec plans to add the equivalent of 18 new full-time employees, about two-thirds of them related to the new $30 million North End Community Center, while shifting funding for other staffers from federal grants to the taxpayer-supported general fund.

With “Common Cent” sales tax funding trickling in, the department is playing catch-up on a heavy backlog of projects. Webster Park on Summit-University’s Laurel Avenue has new basketball and pickleball fields. Highwood Hills has new soccer fields. A full listing of 100 active “Common Cent” projects is online at StPaul.gov/ParksCommonCent.

Golf ‘very healthy,’ new facilities at North End Community Center

In addition, a partnership with Kaboom! has helped fund volunteer-driven playground construction at the Dunning Park, Hayden Heights and Linwood rec centers. There’s been a 50% uptick in park shelter permits issued for picnics, birthday parties and other everyday “passive recreation.” And there’s been a record number of golf rounds played at Highland National, bringing in added funding but also creating demand for more upkeep for things like paths and drainage.

“Golf continues to flourish post-pandemic,” said Rodriguez, noting golf spending has been able to pay for itself. “Those accounts are very healthy.”

A new North End Community Center on Rice Street is days away from debuting a new multi-purpose turf field, playground, oversized windows and other amenities. It will offer nearly double the operating hours and three times as much space as the old Rice Street Rec Center, which is owned by the St. Paul Public School district.

“It looks amazing already,” Rodriguez said.

The North End, which some have called overdue for a modern Rice Street facility, would receive $1 million toward new operating expenses for the facility under the parks budget proposal. That includes salaries for the equivalent of 11 full-time positions, among other operating expenses.

Tree, stump removal

After a recent storm damaged some 2,000 trees in the public right-of-way citywide, the forestry department removed dozens of trees from houses — including about 56 in a single day.

There’s more work ahead. With the structured removal of ash trees that began in 2009 finally over, the city is putting more effort into removing stumps, replanting trees and diversifying the tree species in its urban canopy. The goal is to create a more resilient and sustainable canopy.

Parks and Rec is requesting an added $500,000 toward that $7.8 million effort next year, for a projected total of $5.14 million from the general fund, $330,000 from the city’s Capital Improvement Budget, $2 million from the St. Paul Port Authority and $326,000 from a federal grant.

“Based on current funding, most residents will wait five years for a new tree … and in some cases, up to 15 years,” said Rodriguez, noting a partnership with the Port Authority runs out next year. “We’re at some decision points with trees and what we as a city are content with. We’re been largely focused on Emerald Ash Borer removals for the past decade-plus.”

ARPA spending faces deadline

Another key funding source — federal pandemic relief from the American Rescue Plan — is running up against a federal deadline. Recipients like St. Paul and Ramsey County must determine how they’ll spend their funds by the end of December, and then spend them accordingly by Dec. 31, 2026. A full listing of St. Paul’s budgeted ARPA projects is online at stpaul.gov/american-rescue-plan.

Using federal ARPA money, Parks and Rec has hired staff and extended free sports programs to 4,100 youth ages 10 and up, eliminating a key barrier to enrollment, and participation in most rec center sports has almost doubled. To keep youth sports free, Parks and Rec is requesting an added $560,000 from the city’s taxpayer-supported general fund next year, which would also support the equivalent of 2.75 new full-time positions for staffing and coordination.

Other requested spending in the Parks and Rec budget:

• Utility expenses are projected to go up $417,000.

• Health insurance expenses are projected to go down $365,000, better reflecting actual spending in recent years.

• The “Awakenings” program for at-risk youth would receive a one-time cash infusion of $208,000.

• Parks and Rec plans to put an extra $145,000 into tree trimming and vegetation maintenance downtown.

• An effort to further promote and enhance public spaces downtown would cost another $165,000.

• Public art downtown would cost another $100,000.

• A visitor center attendant at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory has, until now, been funded by the site’s special fund, which is highly dependent on donations to the free zoo. For a steadier funding source, Parks and Rec is requesting that some $60,000 come from the city general fund, instead.

Park Safety Steward, free swim lessons

Despite a $122,000 investment, the “Park Safety Steward” program has been less than successful, said Rodriguez, who is looking for ways to revamp the program, which sought to create a ladder into police work for security for downtown parks and other hotspots.

“We’ll get people in. They’ll resign within a couple weeks,” Rodriguez said. “People often leave for a more competitive wage or other law enforcement opportunities.”

On a brighter budget note, Parks and Rec initiated the Sunnies — it’s first-ever municipal swim team — as a pilot program last spring, and plans to relaunch the team of pre-teen swimmers at the Jimmy Lee Rec/Oxford Community Center this fall. Scheduling has required careful planning around senior swim times and other pool activities.

“We’re consistently at capacity for all pool space,” Rodriguez said.

The city issued 1,800 free swim lessons this year, prioritizing youth who have never had formal swim instruction, and launched “free swim Sundays” at Jimmy Lee’s Great River Water Park. The Parks and Rec budget proposal would continue to fund free swim lessons but not the free open swims, unless a grant comes in.

Parks and Rec plays a large role in administering the city’s Right Track youth internship program, which places St. Paul teens and young adults in summer positions in both the public and private sector. That program has been growing steadily, thanks to partnerships with Ramsey County, nonprofits and private industry, culminating in 900 youth placements this past summer.

“That’s the biggest number in the program’s history,” said Rodriguez, in remarks to the St. Paul City Council. “We’re at 800 last year, 900 this year. We’re going to try and get 1,000 next year.”

In January 2023, a Parks and Rec employee shot a 16-year-old boy in the head after a scuffle outside the Jimmy Lee Rec Center on Lexington Parkway, closing the rec center for weeks. Since then, Parks and Rec has taken a hard look at its staffing models and training, Rodriguez said, beefing up staffing at Jimmy Lee and other key sites with help from the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety, the St. Paul Public Schools and other partners.

“Those additions have really exceeded our expectations,” Rodriguez said.

Other key parks projects on the horizon include major improvements planned for Victoria Park, Pedro Park and the future Wakan Tipi Center.

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The St. Paul Police Department has ended its mental health unit, as the city plans an approach it says will be more comprehensive.

The Community Outreach and Stabilization Unit (COAST) embedded behavioral health practitioners with a handful of police officers beginning in 2018. They generally did not respond to in-progress police calls, but followed up to calls that involved mental health and/or chemical dependency. The idea was that by providing people with referral to social services, they could be stabilized before another crisis led to a 911 call.

The police department had contracts for the practitioners and did not renew funding when it expired recently. The city says it plans to launch a new program at the start of next year.

The COAST unit “kept growing and growing in the idea of what it could do,” Police Chief Axel Henry said. “Simultaneously, we realized that many of these things are not what the community wants us to do, and … what the service requires is (not) really a police issue.”

The city of St. Paul and Ramsey County already have various programs that work with people experiencing mental health issues, chemical dependency, homelessness or a combination of those factors.

The city hopes to launch an initiative called Familiar Faces, which would include in-house social workers, in January. It will be directed toward people who police officers, paramedics or EMTs and emergency room staff see so often they become familiar faces.

“Our system sees them over and over and over again — one, at very high cost, but two, at a suboptimal level of efficiency,” said Mayor Melvin Carter.

St. Paul has received $3.7 million in state and federal grants, and another $6 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to build and run a service-orientated facility, according to the city. The city intends that Familiar Faces will operate this program in a part of the Catholic Charities Twin Cities space, adding to a coalition of programs and providers working together to meet community needs.

City looking at what happens after crisis response

Familiar Faces “would allow for direct, cross-department communications to right size the approach to the need,” according to a statement from the city.

St. Paul already operates the Homeless Assistance Response Team based in the Department of Safety and Inspections and a mobile crisis response unit through the fire department; there was previously the COAST unit.

The programs in various departments “all grew out of necessity, but now we realize that really the right answer is probably to merge all of them together in one big unit, so they’re co-housed together, they operate together,” Henry said.

The police department contracted with People Incorporated Mental Health Services for embedded mental health professionals for about $730,000 and with Ramsey County for about $582,000 between 2019 and this year; they were primarily grant funded, according to the police department. Henry said he didn’t think it was prudent to renew the contracts for the COAST unit since plans are underway for a different approach.

Familiar Faces is looking at what should happen after police or paramedics are called to a situation, if law enforcement action or emergency medical attention aren’t needed.

“There may be a crisis response that needs to happen first … but then what happens once you secure that situation?” said Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher.

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Minnesota’s executive director said she’s concerned there’s a gap between what Familiar Faces will offer versus the COAST unit. Sue Abderholden said she hadn’t been informed of what’s being planned, and she hopes the city is consulting with mental health providers. She also wants to ensure the city is making plans to protect mental health information.

The COAST unit had one sergeant and three officers; there had been one sergeant and seven officers at its peak, said Deputy Chief Pamela Barragan. There were three clinicians working with them.

An officer and clinician would visit people after an emergency call involving mental health and/or chemical dependency.

People Incorporated’s embedded professionals aimed to build rapport with people and provide direct services, including completing an assessment or evaluation that could be used for treatment for mental health or substance use disorders, said Mike Turpin, the nonprofit organization’s chief administrative officer and general counsel.

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After St. Paul police started their unit, People Incorporated also worked with Coon Rapids and Blaine, though the two police departments have since brought the mental health work in-house, Turpin said. The organization continues to work with Roseville police.

The St. Paul COAST clinicians managed 1,774 cases last year — those arose after police calls and also from referrals from community groups and others. They handled an average of 1,706 cases annually in the preceding five years, according to numbers from the police department.

The previous unit’s sergeant and one officer continue working as behavioral health liaisons in the police department. They forward information from police calls to mental health professionals for potential follow-up, and they notify officers for safety about mental health calls they may be called to.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Twins’ odds of winning the American League Central Division have dwindled to single digits because of their play over the course of the past month.

But that doesn’t make this week’s four-week set in Cleveland any less important. In fact, it may be more so, considering the Twins, who currently hold the third wild card spot, need to keep winning to just hang on to secure a spot in the playoffs.

And that made Monday’s loss even more crushing.

The division-leading Guardians surged ahead with a Kyle Manzardo two-run home run off Griffin Jax in the eighth inning on Monday to take a 4-3 win in the first game of the big series at Progressive Field.

Manzardo’s blast, just the fourth Jax has given up all season, came after Jax had masterfully cleaned up a bases-loaded mess that starter Pablo López had left him an inning earlier. Jax struck out Andrés Giménez and then got José Ramírez to ground out to Carlos Santana at first, protecting the Twins’ razor-thin advantage in the seventh inning.

But after allowing a Josh Naylor double to begin the eighth, Manzardo ambushed a high fastball to put the Guardians on top for the first time all night.

It came on a night where the Twins had long, productive at-bats but were unable to push more than three runs across despite many opportunities.

The Twins scored their first run in the third when Carlos Correa, who doubled earlier in the inning, came around to score on a wild pitch. Byron Buxton then socked a single up the middle, bringing home another pair of runs to give the Twins a three-run edge.

For much of the night, that was enough for López, who was efficient and dominant.

López ran into a bit of trouble in the fifth, hitting Bryan Rocchio with a pitch with two outs. Rocchio came around to score on a Giménez hit, but the Twins were able to avoid further damage when López threw to Correa covering at third base to nab a runner, Angel Martinez, and end the threat.

Lopez got himself in trouble again in the seventh, loading the bases with no outs — two runners reached via walks, including one that was on four pitches — before getting the first out of the inning.

A Martínez single brought home the Guardians’ second run and ended Lopez’s night. And while Jax was able to deliver in the seventh inning, the late home run was another gut punch for the Twins.

Kyle Manzardo #9 celebrates with manager Stephen Vogt #12 of the Cleveland Guardians after Manzardo hit a two-run homer during the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field on Sept. 16, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Cleveland Guardians’ Angel Martinez, right, loses his helmet after being tagged out by Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa, left, after being caught in a rundown between home plate and third base in the fifth inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

 

Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton crashes into the outfield padding after catching a fly ball for an out against Cleveland Guardians’ Bo Naylor in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)