Eager to spread the gospel of light rail, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman offered welcoming remarks on Thursday to municipal leaders attending the National League of Cities board meeting and policy forum in St. Paul this week.
The wide-ranging forum brings together mayors, city council members and other officials for three days of planning, information sharing and policy discussion. No one as famous as former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in attendance, but the Scoop did meet the mayor of Beaverton, Ore. (pop: 90,000), home of Nike.
Coleman, who addressed officials in a conference room of the St. Paul Hotel, opened with a few friendly jabs at Minneapolis.
“In the old days, if you asked the mayor 10 things to do while you were in the Twin Cities, there wouldn’t have been a single thing to do on the list that included Minneapolis,” the mayor said. “But we’re regionalists now. We have at least three things.”
He then encouraged the visitors to hop aboard the Green Line, the new light rail from downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis. Coleman, to widespread applause, pointed out that ridership currently exceeds projections.
“It’s an amazing line, because not only does it connect the downtowns, it connects about 13 different healthcare facilities,” he said. “It connects every major sports facility, from Target Field, to Target Center, where the Timberwolves and the Lynx play, the new Vikings stadium …” and the future home of the St. Paul Saints in Lowertown.
He concluded by noting that many cities and local governments are taking the lead in planning as federal lawmakers get tied up in partisan bickering.
“Unlike the federal government, where we see the frustration level going up, even at the state level where we see all kinds of issues playing out without much resolution, we are getting things done in our communities,” the mayor said.
“We are building things. We’re building our economy,” he continued. “We’re building new facilities, we’re building new infrastructure. But we’re also building a better future for our families.”