“All of our streets need to be redone,” State Rep. Kaohly Her said to a round of applause during the St. Paul mayoral forum on October 6 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church.
“Such a bulls**t answer,” muttered engineer and mayoral candidate Adam Dullinger off-mic, but within earshot of Her.
The tense moment came during the forum’s most heated exchange: a discussion about a proposed five-mile bike trail on Summit Avenue, which runs through a predominantly white and affluent neighborhood. According to organizers, the Summit trail drew more audience questions than any other topic.
Moderator Tane Danger asked all five candidates — Mayor Melvin Carter, biophysicist Yan Chen, businessman Mike Hilborn, Dullinger and Her — to state their positions.
“I think the question being asked is flawed,” Her responded. “You’re asking me to make a decision based on a process that was handled very poorly. We’ve pitted two groups against each other, bikers and the people who live there, while people are dying in our city, using emergency services, and struggling to find housing.”
She argued that the debate over Summit reflects misplaced priorities, while infrastructure in historically redlined and under-resourced communities remains ignored.
“Why is this the only street that hasn’t had its infrastructure updated since the Taft years?” she asked. “Marshall Avenue is a better connector between Minneapolis and downtown, yet it still has outdated infrastructure. Is it because we don’t care about low-income communities and Black and brown people who need it most? Looking at bike paths means we’re looking at equity,” she added.
Dullinger disagreed with Her’s framing. “Her whole point is to dismiss the Summit Avenue project as if it’s not about equity,” he said. “We need bike infrastructure everywhere, and Summit Avenue is a fantastic place to do it.”
Her clarified that she does not oppose the bike trail outright, but believes it should be re-evaluated. Mayor Carter voiced his full support.
“This is about building and positioning our city for the next 100 years,” Carter said. “It’s not just about pavement. It’s about the water main underneath. We have to reconstruct the Summit.”
Hilborn countered: “Summit Avenue, drive down it. It’s one of the smoother streets in St. Paul. You go one street over to Grand Avenue, and it’s torn to pieces.”
Chen echoed concerns about the process: “The process was not very good. There are so many other infrastructure projects we could do.”
After the forum, Mayor Carter also told voters he had directed the city attorney to explore a policy, modeled on one from Los Angeles, that would ban ICE agents from wearing masks. He cited safety concerns and referenced the killing of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “We cannot have ICE wearing masks and saying, ‘I’m law enforcement,’” Carter said.
Rep. Her voiced concern about the city’s limited resources and hinted she would consider closing the Rondo Library if services were being duplicated or underutilized.
“Our Rondo Library closes at 2 p.m.,” she said. “At a time when we can’t afford duplicate services, and if we’re not even using it, we have to go in, do an inventory, and ask whether that money is being well spent.”
St. Paul uses ranked choice voting, allowing residents to rank up to six candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the one with the fewest is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed based on voters’ next rankings. This continues until one candidate surpasses 50%.
The general election takes place on Tuesday, November 4.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at comb0284@gmail.com.