VOTE  November 8, 2022 GENERAL ELECTION
DIANA LONGRIE for Mayor of Maplewood:

• Bring “Welcome!” into our council meetings & return public comment to the Council’s meeting Agenda (2017 removal approved of current ​incumbent),
• Install restroom facilities in our parks (#1 resident request from past city survey),
• Better utilize our City’s Maplewood Monthly to communicate with residents (include a summary of the council votes & updates on city wide commercial development),
• actively advocate for the protection & preservation of our parks, trails & neighborhood preserves,
• each month, host a resident forum to listen to residents, without appointment, where they can freely ask their questions, offer suggestions, seek solutions.

These may be little things…
……But it’s often the little things that improve our quality of life!

Measure the current City Leaders and Mayor by This Platform:
1. transparency and openness to Maplewood residents in both access to data; decision making & engagement of all resident viewpoints;
2. policies that promote private development and the growth of long-term sustainable jobs in Maplewood. The Mayor & council wasted such an opportunity. They gave Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to Hi-Vee but DID NOT require a “Hi-Vee Jobs Commitment” for full time employees (instead, FTE were used which often results in a part-time work force without benefits);
4. no destruction or sale of parks, the Nature Center, the Bruce Vento Trail, or neighborhood preserves. Period.;
5. focus on decreasing neighborhood crime & improving the life-saving medical response service for all of Maplewood instead of closing fire stations (i.e. Gladstone station) less than 25 years old.

COMMUNITY ISSUES OR CONCERNS?   
Call Me!  651-214-0859

RUSH LINE (Purple Line) BRT Route: Bruce Vento Trail is the wrong route for the BRT. Mass transit does not belong on the trail, next to the trail or over the trail. 

Hwy 61, a commercial transit corridor, is the right route for mass-transit. Protect &  Preserve the Bruce Vento Trail for future generations as a wildlife corridor and a nature trail for recreation, exercise and reflection.

DIANA’S OPEN LETTER TO RESIDENTS – 2022

NEIGHBORS,  I have been following this BOON-DOGGLE project since before 2015. The Bruce Vento Trail is an ecological gem. Mass transit such as the Rush Line (Purple Line) BRT (if fiscally defensible) should be running adjacent to or through commercial properties and transportation corridors – NOT through primarily single-family residential neighborhoods across a greenway corridor. Don’t get me wrong, I am for Public Transit, but Public Transit MUST meet the needs of the residents, not bureaucratic planners.  My reasoning:.

Congestion. The congestion mass transit is to address is not being experienced around the Bruce Vento Trail. The better route in Maplewood is the right of way along Hwy 61.

Quality of Life. “Co-locating” the Rush Line with the Bruce Vento Trail creates a new concrete/bituminous highway going through residential backyards. This not only creates potential safety hazards but also storm water drainage issues for all residents along the route because the impervious surfaces will be greatly increased over the existing impervious surface of the trail bed or the historical rail bed.

Crime. Maplewood police, rank and file, believe crime will increase Crime will be harder to deter because the proposed BRT trail route is not as visible or accessible as a street or highway route for patroling.

Nature. The Bruce Vento Trail is a greenway corridor used by Maplewood’s suburban wildlife to travel safely (if that is possible) from the Lake Phalen chain of waterways to the Keller Lake chain of waterways to Casey Lake. Further the beautiful tree canopy along the trail enjoyed by casual walkers, jogging enthusiasts, and bicyclists will not remain to provide the shade for humans using the trail. A 100′ wide clear cut swath, the entire length of the trail (Maplewood) is required under development plans for the Rush Line BRT route.

RUSH LINE BASED ON FAULTY ASSUMPTIONS.

1.) Seniors will use the Rush Line (Purple) BRT to get to Medical appointments in St. Paul or Maplewood Mall. Currently, Seniors who may not want to drive to an appointment can arrange for Metro Mobility, Transit Link or NewTrax to give them door to door transportation service. It is unrealistic to believe that those with health problems, will forgo curb to curb transit service, and walk to the BRT bus station to board, then walk blocks to get to their appointment and then do it all over again to get home after sitting in the clinic or going through testing.

2.) Since the current bus service is inadequate, people are going to use the Rush Line BRT to get to work. The current bus route parallel to the BRT has barely enough riders to keep the current route viable. When I asked county representatives to provide me more information on where the people within a mile of the Bruce Vento Trail work, I was told that “anecdotally” he knew there are people in White Bear Lake that work in St. Paul.

Best Practices.  There are established best practices for determining an appropriate location for a BRT Route. A consultant discussed this before the Maplewood City Council during a discussion of the Gold Line BRT. If you were to take those established best practices and analyze the Rush Line BRT route on the Bruce Vento Trail, you will find that the Bruce Vento Trail location is not in conformance with those best practices.  I believe that is why the City Council of Maplewood (including Mayor Mary Lee Abrams) voted to change the residential density in the Gladstone Frost and English area to 50 Units per acre.  Further, the City has purchased 1.7 Million Dollars’ worth of once taxable, private property in that area, to flip over to a developer to build the high rises with 50 units per acre to (as stated at a City meeting) “support the Rush Line BRT investment.” If you want to hear more on this, please let me know. I can provide you many links to YouTube video where the video is available for viewing.

The Rush Line BRT is just a bus with upgraded, platform bus stops along its route.

Please call me if you have other questions or wish to talk.

LISTEN  TO AN AUDIO INTERVIEW OF DIANA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OaNU5uIEQ8

As a child, I grew up in Northern MN.  Even though my family lived at the poverty level, my mother instilled in me that if you work hard and have a plan, you can reach your goals.  I have a double major in chemistry and biology from the College of St. Scholastica. I worked my way through college and graduated in 4 years. While in Duluth,  I worked for several years for the US-EPA. Then I went on to work for the University of MN as an assistant scientist in cytogenetic research of the chromosomal defects in the white blood cells of patients with leukemia and lymphoma.

Later, after starting my family and purchasing a home in Maplewood, I went to Hamline Law School and graduated in 3 years. When I started law school, my youngest son was only 6 months old. My first position after law school was working for the Target Corporation in their Property Development Department. After 8 1/2 years with Target, I struck out on my own and put out my “shingle.” Today, I am a neighborhood attorney in the Gladstone/West Maplewood area, serving low to middle income people.

I began my interest in Maplewood politics when I was appointed to the Maplewood Community Design Review Board.  I was the chair for several years before I ran for Mayor in 2005.  I was elected the first woman mayor to Maplewood.  Being the first woman mayor wasn’t easy.  As I’m sure you are aware, women are often held to a different set of rules than the rules followed by the “Old Boys’ Club.” However, I so enjoyed serving as mayor, working with the citizens and giving them voice.

I am married, have two adult sons (who both achieved the rank of Eagle Scout) a homeowner and a Maplewood business owner.  Maplewood is my home!

Today, I keep on top of key Maplewood issues as well as issues of local, state and national importance 3 times weekly through public access cable casting and as posted on Youtube.  I have been the host and editor of the weekly cable cast program “Off the Record News” for the past 18 years.   Our volunteer production group, Put Your Hands Together Productions, also produces “The Citizens’ Reporter” and “Local News Live.”  Previously we produced ”Washington at Work” which ran for 4 years. Working with a variety of guests and topics has given me the broad experience necessary to be an effective, thoughtful and well informed advocate for the people of Maplewood.  You will find links to a few of the programs below or listed as a post to my blog.

Patriot Act – Free Speech Criminalized – with Susan Lindauer