As chair of the city’s influential Housing and Redevelopment Authority, City Council Member Amy Brendmoen will have to work closely with the new director of St. Paul’s Planning and Economic Development Department (PED), who serves as the HRA’s director and top staffer.
In April, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman’s office released renderings of various development scenarios downtown. City Council members weren’t all that happy with the surprise announcement.
Brendmoen maintains that will be a pleasure. She’s known Jonathon Sage-Martinson since summer camp.
“I’ve had the privilege of knowing Jon since I think we were 14 years old,” Brendmoen said. “We worked at YMCA camp, and his wife is a close friend of mine. He’s so smart and thoughtful and he’s so well respected. He doesn’t need to learn the players.”
The two will have to work closely together on redevelopment of the Ford Motor Co. campus in his backyard (he lives in Highland Park) and development along the new Green Line light rail (he’s the outgoing director of the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative), among other projects.
The planning department had been led by its longest-serving director, Cecile Bedor, who stepped down in May to join Greater MSP, an economic development partnership based in St. Paul.