Buckvold’s mayoral campaign announces initial plans for St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD — Mayoral candidate Anne Buckvold announced she is hosting a campaign launch event from 10:30 a.m. to noon on May 4 at the Great River Regional Library.

In anticipation of the event, Buckvold sat down with the St. Cloud Times to discuss her campaign’s four “pillars” — economic development, housing, transportation and education — and her preliminary plans if she would be elected.

“These pillars, they aren’t separate, you can’t do one well without the others,” Buckvold said.

More: Councilmember Carol Lewis announces mayoral bid

Economic Development and Housing

The former St. Joseph Councilmember wants to bring a pedestrian mall, commonly referred to as a ped mall, to downtown St. Cloud. She told the St. Cloud Times this will utilize spaces currently being used as parking, which in turn could help beautify and bring a more enhanced purpose to the area.

“I would love to see a ped mall. There's this beautiful brick parking lot with beautiful bricks that shouldn't be used for our cars,” Buckvold said. “It should be used for green space and for people to hang out at farmers markets and other spaces.”

Buckvold said she’s having conversations with local businesses to see how a ped mall could join St. Cloud’s business ecosystem without disrupting its current players.

Buckvold also mentioned bringing in a variety of business types and further entertainment to the region. She said there needs to be more to do downtown than grab a meal or drink. Creating a space for concerts could be a good solution, but she said establishing the venue would come far down the road after preliminary research and studies have been performed.

Buckvold’s sole opponent, city council member Carol Lewis, is also hoping to bring economic growth to St. Cloud with a particular interest in revitalizing downtown. Lewis hopes to bring entertainment to downtown by moving the St. Cloud Rox and St. Cloud State University baseball team to the neighborhood. She said this will bring customers to eat at restaurants and grab a drink after the game.

One way Buckvold hopes to make revitalizing downtown more affordable is to use potential state funds to rehabilitate St. Cloud’s historical buildings to make existing structures more business-friendly. She said this could lower costs compared to creating new structures while maintaining and utilizing St. Cloud’s historical spaces.

Mayor Dave Kleis vowed to bring housing to the area, which Buckvold supports. However, Buckvold said her focus isn’t just increasing the number of housing units, but also making sure there’s enough amenities to support downtown residents. She said a full-service grocery store and drug stores are needed in the neighborhood.

Buckvold said there’s a housing movement underway in St. Cloud. If elected, she told the St. Cloud Times that a comprehensive study on these matters will be among her first steps toward addressing housing.

“What we really need to do is a comprehensive study,” she said. “What housing do we need right now? What housing will we need in the future? When we're talking about bringing 1,000 housing units downtown, where are the grocery stores? We need to make sure things are lining up for long-term viability, not just for right now.”

Transportation and Education

Buckvold has been a long-time transportation advocate, so she is making transportation a priority not just to help St. Cloud residents get around but attract new customers to the area.

One way Buckvold said this can be done is through establishing a passenger rail going to Moorehead. She said this could bring visitors and establish a stronger connection with St. Cloud’s airport. If St. Cloud is easier to get to, Buckvold said more people would be willing to use the airport and an increased customer base could help get the airport project off the ground.

“lf we have that rail service, we draw people from along all directions, both east and west of us but also south and north,” Buckvold said. “Plus we have the airport. Ultimately, that all supports a regional economic plan. If there’s a company working globally, which most companies are, we can service them in all ways to allow them to operate at that global level.”

Lewis also supports transportation issues, however, it isn’t among her top priorities. Lewis said while she would support an expanded transportation system, decisions regarding those projects are often left in the hands of state or federal officials.

“I would like (transit systems) to come to St. Cloud,” Lewis said. “That's a goal but there's all sorts of entanglements with various levels of government to work through in order to get that to happen.”

In response to Lewis’ concerns about advancing transportation, Buckvold said her background as a transportation organizer prepared her to collaborate with elected officials at the state and federal level.

Buckvold also recognizes St. Cloud’s student population at St. Cloud State and Saint John’s University.

“Learning that if we want to attract young people to the area to either go to school or professions, and to keep them here, it’s imperative that we have a public transportation system,” Buckvold said. “On top of all the other debt, they have school loans and homes. They don’t want to pay for a car. That coupled with the fact both these institutions have decreased enrollment overall shows why we need transportation for further economic growth.”

Buckvold said pleasing students could help entice them to stay in St. Cloud beyond their degree. She said the incoming medical school campus is another opportunity for the city to invest in education to keep students as long-term St. Cloud residents.

When it comes to K-12 education, Buckvold acknowledges there's a clear difference in responsibility between city hall and the school board. However, she hopes to capitalize off her connections within the school district to create a collaborative relationship.

“I want to have a close relationship with the school,” she said. “I know that we have had some challenges keeping kids in the district as well as our young immigrant population keeping them in St. Cloud schools. We need to prepare them for the workforce here, where they might want to stay.”

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Anne Buckvold’s mayoral campaign announces initial plans for St. Cloud