Star Tribune
Business owners fret as Richfield passes tobacco license limits, flavored tobacco ban
For Mark Olson, retirement hinges on being able to sell the Minnoco gas station he owns on Penn Avenue in Richfield. But he’s been worried he won’t be able to find a buyer, now that the city has an ordinance that may make it impossible to transfer his tobacco license to the next owner.
In an effort to curb smoking and vaping — especially among younger people — the Richfield City Council passed new rules this week that will make tobacco licenses nontransferable, limit the city’s number of tobacco licenses to four, and impose a ban on all flavored tobacco products, from menthol cigarettes to fruity vapes. The ordinance will take effect in 2024.
Public health advocates have been outspoken in favor of the changes, which they hope will curb smoking.
“Ending the sale of flavored and menthol tobacco products will have an immediate impact on Richfield residents,” according to a statement from Bukata Hayes, vice president of racial health equity and chief equity officer for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. “It will save lives.”
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, several people spoke in favor of the ban on flavored tobacco and a limit on tobacco licenses. They voiced concerns about smoking’s health impacts and the way flavored tobacco products have been marketed to young adults and Black people.
But some business groups and local business owners say the changes could have unintended consequences, especially the measure that would limit their ability to transfer tobacco licenses.
Tobacco sales account for almost a fifth of the revenue at Olson’s Minnoco station, he told the City Council on Tuesday. When he is ready to retire and sell the gas station, he said, the new owner would want that revenue and the tobacco license it requires. If he isn’t able to sell, he said, he may not be able to retire.
He added that had he known his tobacco license would be nontransferable when he bought the station, “I probably wouldn’t have bought it.”
Jaime Rojas, of the Twin Cities-based National Association of Tobacco Outlets, raised a similar concern for owners of stand-alone tobacco stores who want to sell. “Many of our retailers in the city are recent immigrants who believe in the American dream,” he said.
The association has also opposed flavored tobacco bans in other states.
The National Hookah Community Association, a trade group, sent a letter warning the council that a flavored tobacco ban would also prohibit hookahs. Rima Khoury, an attorney with the association, said the group sees bans on all flavored tobaccos as too broad and says bans don’t really get at the problem of teen vaping.
“They are banning this 1,000-year cultural tradition that literally has nothing to do with vapes,” Khoury said.
The association has advocated for flavored tobacco bans with carve-outs for hookah smoking, like California’s ban, or exemptions for hookah lounges such as in Massachusetts.
Correction:
A previous version of this story should have said that the tobacco ordinance under consideration passed this week.
“You’ve got to be able to say, ‘Here’s how much we want to spend, and here’s what we want the impact to be,’” Carter said.
During the council meeting, Johnson, the Ward 7 council member, alluded to those statements, saying people have used such language to try to discredit women in leadership, especially young women. This is the first budget from St. Paul’s new all-women council.
Staff writer James Walsh contributed to this report.
After months of maintenance problems and safety concerns in downtown St. Paul’s Lowry Apartments, city officials condemned the building, forcing dozens of tenants to abruptly relocate to hotels this week.
On Monday afternoon, city staff responded to a plumbing leak in the 11-story building at 345 Wabasha St. N. Officials reported significant damage and signs of vandalism, including copper wire theft that left electrical systems exposed. The leak also raised concerns about mold.
To make repairs, the building’s water must be shut off — a move that would leave tenants without boiler heat and fire sprinklers, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher said in a Tuesday email to state Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega and City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represent the area.
After determining heat and water could not be restored quickly, Tincher wrote: “There was no other option than to conclude the building was not safe for residents to stay.”
Property manager Halverson and Blaiser Group (HBG) agreed to provide alternative housing for tenants for up to 30 days, Tincher said. City staff worked with Ramsey County’s Housing Stability team and Metro Transit to help 71 residents pack and move.
Before then, the building belonged to downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, Madison Equities. After the January death of the company’s founder and longtime principal, Jim Crockarell, the dire state of the group’s real estate portfolio became apparent.
The Lowry Apartments, the sole property with a high concentration of low-income housing, quickly became the most troubled. Residents reported frequent break-ins, pest infestations, inoperable elevators and more, to no avail.
Star Tribune
Metro Transit allocated $12 million to boost security, cleanliness on Twin Cities light rail and buses
They will be soon. With more money to spend, Metro Transit plans to bring on 40 more this year. With their ranks growing, TRIP agents, clad in blue, have recently started covering the Metro C and D rapid transit lines between Brooklyn Center and downtown Minneapolis.
The big investment in public safety initiatives comes as Metro Transit is seeing an uptick in ridership that plunged dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slow to recover. This year ridership has been a bright spot, the agency said.
Through October, the agency has provided 40.1 million rides, up 7% compared with the first 10 months of 2023. In September, the agency saw its highest monthly ridership in four years, averaging nearly 157,000 rides on weekdays, agency data shows.
At the same time, crime is down 8.4% during the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same time period last year, according to Metro Transit Interim Police Chief Joe Dotseth. However, problems still persist.
On Nov. 29, Sharif Darryl Walker-El, Jr., 33, was fatally shot on a Green Line train in St. Paul. Just a week earlier, a woman was shot in the leg while on the train and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Earlier this year, a robbery attempt on the Green Line in St. Paul left a passenger shot and wounded.
“Our officers are spending time on the system and sending a clear message to everyone: Crime will not be tolerated on transit,” Dotseth said. “And we will work to ensure those commit those crimes are held accountable.”
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