So many firsts are being celebrated in St. Paul as the all-women city council meets Wednesday afternoon for the first time.
Much attention has been given to the all-women council, but its members are also young. All seven members are under the age of 40. Six are women of color. Leading the council, in her first meeting as that body’s president, is Mitra Jalali. She represents Ward 4.
Newly elected Council President Jalali joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer from a busy day at city hall.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.
As president of the council, you get to set the policy agenda. But how do you see yourself as setting the tone of the culture of the council politically?
Jalali: I think over the five years that I have been a council member, people know me for always finding the way through, in a difficult time. For really looking for a way we can solve this problem within our purview as a local government. For projecting a combination of tenacity, humor and optimism, not one that glosses over what’s really painful or hard.
I’ve served our community through the toughest times in recent city history. I represent the Midway, served through the pandemic. But also it’s really about how are we going to help people today and I just think that energy is what is felt across the whole council. It’s not just me. And that is how the city hall feels right now.
What are the top three issues we can expect the council to take up this year?
Housing
From renter protections to major redevelopment opportunities in, I think, almost all seven Wards. Rent stabilization, really evaluating the policy, looking at how we can improve enforcement, looking at how we can begin and take advantage of new construction and development opportunities in the city, all of that within our shared priorities.
Sustainability, climate action
All of the work that we do with land use in the city. We regulate the built environment of our communities. So everything from the streets we travel on, and how people use transportation to contribute to emissions, to building policy and energy efficiency.
Community safety
We are all united in a vision for a proactive public safety approach that cares for people and stabilizes them where they are, instead of just reacting to the breakdowns over and over. That is not just accountable and professional, responsive police and emergency responders, and an expanded array of options for folks in crisis; it's also violence interruption programs. Our approach to homelessness that has been largely very effective in partnership with Ramsey County, is really making sure that there’s plenty of programming and investment in opportunity for youth, from workforce and right track jobs training to our parks and libraries, having extended hours and athletic and arts opportunities.
Your colleagues in Minneapolis will debate a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war. Do you plan to bring up a similar measure in the St. Paul City Council?
I would like to center our Palestinian community and folks who have connections to the region and think about what they want to do [in order] to point federal advocacy in the right direction. If that means looking at a resolution, we can certainly do that. If that means I'm signed on to a letter that many local elected officials have signed, asking as local elected across the country, that the White House bring a ceasefire. So I think that whatever we do, I want to make sure we're working with the people most impacted, and making sure that we're thoughtful about it.
I do think that there is a role that needs to be played in breaking the silence around this issue and asking our federal reps, our federal delegation, to use their power in whatever way they can in international policy to act.
Why would it be the role of a city council to weigh in on an international conflict?
I think there are certain extraordinary moments where it feels hard to do business as usual. I think that we have to be very judicious about what those are because there can be a parallel challenge you create, like, if you weigh in on one issue, won’t you weigh in on another and all of that. And we’re also local government, we’re not staffed to handle a lot of these complex issues and subject matter. So I do think that’s an important consideration.
And in general, the St. Paul City Council has a policy [in] matters of international active significance: ‘If you want to weigh in on that, find another route to do it besides the resolution.’ So I’m holding that policy in mind as well.
You can use your platform, you can use your voice, your name, like I did signing onto a public letter. But all of these things are aimed at getting our federal delegation to combine and use their power, voice and channels of communication to the Biden administration.
I’m looking at all the tools on the table because I do think that as representatives of our city, we can help our own federal elected understand what our constituents are telling us. That is the role I think we can play.
As you go forward as council president, do you have specific goals for your leadership?
My goal is that I take every single thing I have learned, all of the mentorship, the investment, the support, the love of this community that they have poured into me and use it to help make this council in its first year extremely effective, that the leaders around me represent their wards, getting things done, showing what’s possible and uplifting our city.
Leadership is like a one-person show and what I’m trying to do here is bring our community strength to that council table and help the new leaders that we’ve elected and the returning ones who have experience and perspective to offer, work really well together. That’s what I hoped for out of this next chapter in my leadership entering into the council presidency.
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