Town hall Oct. 17 addresses Midway safety issues

Want to weigh in on issues in Hamline-Midway and beyond? Hamline Midway Coalition (HMC) hosts a town hall meeting 6- 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17 at Hamline University’s Bush Ballroom. 1537 Hewitt Ave. The district council and Hamline Undergraduate Student Congress invited city, county, and state elected officials who represent Hamline Midway to discuss key issues that impact the community. Preregistration is requested, at https://tinyurl.com/hamlinemidwaytownhall.
HMC and Union Park District Council have been discussing issues at University and Snelling avenues with businesses and area residents.
HMC has knocked on doors, visited businesses and reviewed its district plan and other planning documents to come up with the newly released Stabilize Snelling and University Campaign. Community partners of all kinds are sought in the effort.
“Our neighborhood is in trouble. Peoples’ safety is at risk,” said HMC Board President Cole Hanson. He lives near Snelling and University, and regularly picks up trash. The trash includes used hypodermic needles.
In recent months, conditions at one of the state’s busiest intersections have worsened. A growing unsheltered population gathers there. Open-air drug dealing and drug use has become more common. Business owners and residents report thefts, property damage and assaults. Local leaders believe it will take a holistic approach to problems to solve them, one that considers the long-term needs of people who are struggling.
“The challenges at Snelling and University aren’t just local – they impact the entire University Avenue corridor and resonate throughout the Twin Cities. This intersection sits in the heart of the Midway, a gateway for millions, and serves as a vital link between St. Paul and Minneapolis, functioning as both an economic and transit hub. Addressing public safety, vacancy and public health here will create ripple effects across the metro and the state,” campaign documents stated.
One focus for the campaign is to turn the shuttered CVS store into a community asset of some type, said Hanson. The building has become a magnet for crime. But with an out-of-state owner, nothing is being done. One call revealed that rents could be as high as $26,000 per month.
“We want the city to prioritize the building as a public health nuisance and hazard,” Hanson said. One idea brought forward is to fence the building and parking lot, but community members say that is not enough. They want to see the site redeveloped, possibly for mixed-use. Potential models called out Sept. 30 are the Rondo Community Library and a neighboring Neighborhood Development Center mixed-use building at University and Dale Street.
HMC is offering more information on the campaign via its website.
Justin Lewandowski, HMC organizing director, said a variety of strategies went into the plan and ongoing work. Those include outreach to news media.
“We have not felt heard. We have been ignored,” he said.
The town hall is seen as a way to get a public officials’ response to the problems at hand and to push for solutions.
The plans were turned around quickly, and released in later September. That action drew a few comments from neighbors questioning whether they would have input going forward. More input is being sought, HMC leaders said.
But while University and Dale redevelopment is held up as a model for the CVS corner, that intersection has also had its challenges. Those were discussed at a meeting earlier in September.
St. Paul Police had increased patrols on University at Snelling Avenue, Dale, Arundel and Marion streets, according to Deputy Police chief Josh Lego. Working with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department, Metro Transit Police and the city and county attorney’s offices, they arrested 34 perpetrators in just the first two weeks of the new program.
While that may not sound like much, it has had an impact, Lego said. However, it has also meant pulling resources away from other police functions. Making improvements in the long run will require more financial resources as well as improved coordination between all parties involved, he added.
One idea is for the police to notify local libraries, recreation centers and others when the police will be more active in an area. With better communication, potential problems can be more readily addressed, Lego said. A complaint made at recent University-Dale meetings is that the library functions less as a library and more as a day shelter.

SEPTEMBER MEETING
Lego discussed public safety and health with more than 100 people at a Sept. 18 meeting at the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center. That meeting was organized by Ramsey County Commissioner Rena Moran. The meeting was a followup to an August meeting where local residents and business people complained about a rash of drug use, drug dealing, loitering, panhandling, robberies, thefts and other nuisance behavior.
Some neighbors said people were using garages, alleys and back yards near light-rail stations as places to hang out or urinate and defecate.
Several people called for compassion for those who are struggling with addiction and homelessness. Others said they simply want the problems to stop and for the neighborhood to be cleaned up.
A wide range of suggestions were made to address crime. One suggestion was to have police patrol on foot rather than in cars and to increase their presence at certain times. Other suggestions including turning area vacant buildings into day shelters where people in need could get supports and services.