St. Paul Politics: Get Involved in Central Corridor

Mayor Coleman just kicked debate on lightrail development along the central corridor (University Avenue) into high gear by launching a website, http://stpaul.gov/initiatives/centralcorridor/. The website has a lot of information about the planning process: schedules, press releases, meeting minutes, contact information, etc.

This is a huge local issue which affects us as college students and as Democrats. Lightrail transportation along University would make it possible for us to travel quickly and cheaply from St. Paul to Minneapolis--it would extend our ability to experience the Twin Cities. At the same time, there are many small businesses along University that would be aversely affected during the construction period and several cultural communities that could be destroyed by the introduction of lightrail just as the heart of the African American community around Marshall was ripped out by the building of I94.

Give the website a read-over when you have a moment, and come back here to share you thoughts. It would be great to have a presence in the planning if we could, but to do so requires that we inform ourselves as best we can. If you're around St. Paul this summer, try to swing by one of the meetings, take some notes, and send them to us: macdems@macalester.edu. We'll post them and continue this discussion here.