Green Party Candidate
for Mayor of St. Paul
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Green Party Candidate |
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Press Conference Address by Elizabeth Dickinson June 28, 2005 Good morning and thanks to all of you for coming today. My name is Elizabeth Dickinson and today I am announcing my candidacy for Mayor of St. Paul. I want to be a leader for all the people of St. Paul. As my Latino friends say it: Quiero ser la alcadesa para el pueblo. And as a Hmong friend of mine translates it: KOO SAH OOH-AHH THU TIE-YAH DOE TOO-AHH HI NENG (phonetic spelling!) What does this mean? It means I will honor the universal Green principles of grassroots democracy and non-violence by bringing my deeply collaborative nature to the Mayor's office, promoting both vision and cooperation between the City Council, the neighborhoods, and small and large businesses. Of paramount importance is restoring the balance in government by inviting the neighborhoods back into the decision-making processes, particularly around issues of development, creating more affordable housing, and maintaining and expanding green spaces in the city. It also means having an "open door" policy at the Mayor's office, where individual voices are listened to respectfully. It even means bringing back a spirit of kindness to all and the politics of joy back to the city during difficult budget times. Another value I want to bring back to the city is environmental wisdom and justice. As many of you know, I was instrumental in Clean Energy Now, which successfully pressured Xcel Energy to make the cleanest choice available by transforming two of its dirtiest coal-burning utilities to natural gas, saving $1.2 billion dollars in health care costs.
That's beside the fact that when we cut down on energy use through simple behavioral changes and simple fixes, it saves money, prevents the pollution that changes the climate, gives our kids asthma, and makes our water unfishable, undrinkable, and unswimmable. St. Paul can be a green leader not just through developing a sustainability plan — although that's important — but through exercising its collective political will through franchise agreement negotiations to make our utilities more accountable through investments in renewable energy. And if they won't do it, than we need to look at setting up our green municipal utility with a better commitment to service, conservation, and renewable energy. And I want to take a moment to acknowledge the SEE Program (School Energy Efficiency Program) in our schools, whose goal is to reduce energy consumption by up to 25%. The St. Paul Public School System will exceed savings of $100,000 this year. If we were to conserve at a 25% level of the $7 million energy budget in the St. Paul Schools, it would mean savings of one and three-quarter million dollars. You can bet that could pay for an awful lot more teachers.
I am also working with Fresh Force, the student service learning group and the Department of Commerce to see if we can get an anemometer, or wind measuring device, near one of our schools to see if we have wind speeds sufficient to make a wind turbine economically feasible. Again, we must be aggressive in becoming energy independent. I would also like to speak about economic and social justice. I fully support the current union-led coalition striving to tie our city's investment in companies to the need for a living wage. It's just common sense that if the city gives hard-earned taxpayer dollars to assist companies with development, that we should expect something in return that allows our citizens to live with dignity. If we value work the way we say we do, then that work must allow our citizens to afford the basics — food, decent affordable housing, and health care. We must also support small businesses. I am a member of MetroIBA, the Metropolitan Independent Business Alliance that promotes the interests of small, locally-owned businesses. I am very proud of the way the Green Party has engaged in this effort. Small businesses account for over 75% of the new jobs in this country. We must explore ways to adjust the tax structure so that small businesses are not taxed at the same level as multi-national corporations. We need to look at giving tax breaks for landlords who promise to give rental breaks to new small businesses, and explore size caps for big box development.
There are obviously more issues than I have time to address today, including the need to maintain core services like police, fire, and medical services, the need to improve our mass transportation options, and the ever-present worries around health care. But before I open up to questions, I would like to acknowledge all of you here today here to support me. This is going to be a energetic, focused campaign, and I am going to need all of your support, including financial, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual help. You have called upon me to provide a progressive voice and I have answered the call. Thank you for your faith in me and I will do all I can to carry and articulate our collective dreams for a cleaner and kinder St. Paul. Let's all move ahead together. And now I'd be happy to take any questions! Contact Elizabeth Dickinson, (651) 235-1208 (cell) Mary Petrie, Campaign Manager, (651) 226-3527 (cell) Christopher Childs, Communications Coordinator, (651) 312-1216 Elizabeth Dickinson for Mayor 384 Hall Avenue St. Paul, MN 55107
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Click here to read the press release about this event.
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Announcement
of Candidacy
And
while we must acknowledge our successes, we simply must do better with
energy conservation efforts and promoting renewable energy, not just for
St. Paul, or for the U.S., but for the people of our world and the planet
itself. Investments in energy efficiency yield two to ten times as many
JOBS per dollar invested as do investments in fossil fuels and nuclear
power. I'm going to repeat that: investments in energy efficiency yield
two to ten times as many jobs per dollar invested as do investments in
fossil fuels and nuclear power.
This
type of conservation program should be implemented all over St. Paul.
We should also offer low interest loans to homeowners to be able to install
solar hot water heaters as they do in Minneapolis. For heaven's sakes,
my parents installed solar hot water panels in the mid-seventies during
the Carter administration. We need to be further ahead! St. Paul has more
sunshine than Jacksonville, Florida, and Houston, Texas.
Obviously
there are other issues dear to the hearts of St. Paulites, including education.
I fully support excellent educational opportunities for all in
St. Paul. Education is the pillar of our democracy and our economy and
the main avenue for becoming a productive citizen and moving ahead in
life. I will work with the School Board, teachers, and students to ensure
good communication, and will to try to involve business in a more substantive
way to improve our educational options. I will also be ready at a moment's
notice to appear at the Capitol to lobby for school funding.