Hamline-Midway City Hall is addressing several concerns; Crime and drug use are top issues

There were some moments of frustration during a town hall meeting to address concerns in St. Paul’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood.

The room was packed with community members listening to representatives from various levels of government – ​​the City Council, the County Commission and the state legislature. Prepared questions, which organizers said consisted of hundreds of submitted questions, were asked of the panel about their work to resolve various issues.

The neighborhood is north of I-94 on the city’s west side and includes Allianz Field.

Topics at the town hall, organized by the Hamline-Midway Coalition, included the environment, transportation, housing and public safety, including high drug activity. Last month, the coalition told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that there was constant “open-air drug use” at Snelling and University streets.

“If we spend money or pass laws that are not intended to help the people who need help, we haven’t actually done anything, it’s not useful,” DFL St. Paul state representative Leigh Finke said before the Crowd. She adds that her focus will be continued investment in affordable housing and programming.

“By implementing culturally specific programs, we get these funds to do the work we expect them to do,” said Rep. Finke.

While a variety of topics were discussed, the most obvious frustration concerned drug use and the troubled Kimball Court Apartments. At times, community members expressed frustration with the complex and called on the board to look into it.

Just this week, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS highlighted some of the specific issues faced by a tenant at the Kimball Court Apartments. A police report last month highlighted fentanyl use inside and outside the complex “multiple times a day.”

Due to the high level of interest and concern in Kimball Court, the Hamline-Midway Coalition has set up its own town hall to discuss the issue on November 7th at 6:30 p.m. in Hamline University’s West Hall.

Recently, the St. Paul City Council committed more than $3 million to investment in Kimball Court – Council President Mitra Jalali stands by the investment and says she believes it will improve current conditions.

“Honestly, there are people out there right now who need more space and have nowhere to go, and I hope that the renovation we support will create more space and actually help make the building safer than it is.” right now,” Jalali said.