Star Tribune
St. Paul moves to ban smoking in city parks, near some building entrances
A split St. Paul City Council is moving forward with a plan to ban smoking in city parks and near certain building entrances, as city leaders continue to weigh their role in regulating the recently legalized use of recreational cannabis.
The ordinance, which was introduced by Council Member Chris Tolbert, drew waves of testimony from those for and against the proposed restrictions, creating tension between two long-standing progressive causes: efforts to regulate the tobacco industry and curb secondhand smoke, and efforts to decriminalize marijuana.
On Wednesday, Tolbert proposed a law that would make it illegal to smoke in city parks, as well as within 25 feet of public buildings and places of employment.
The policy is a scaled-back version of Tolbert’s initial proposal, which would have banned smoking on any city owned land, such as streets and sidewalks. The latest version of the law includes exceptions for smoking in designated areas marked by property owners and for use in cultural ceremonies.
A final vote on the ordinance will likely take place next week. The council voted 4-2 to approve Tolbert’s changes, with opposition from Council Members Mitra Jalali and Nelsie Yang. Council Member Russel Balenger was absent.
“I think it’s OK to make smoking inconvenient,” said Tolbert, who has noted that St. Paul was one of the first cities in the state to ban smoking in bars and restaurants.
Many people and interest groups who support the law expressed similar concerns about the health impacts of secondhand smoke. Other proponents said cannabis smoke and litter would negatively affect their park experience.
Opponents said the policy defies the intent of the state law, which aims to repair the harm done to people convicted for marijuana offenses. People of color have historically been charged with marijuana crimes at much higher rates than whites, despite both groups using marijuana at similar rates, numerous studies have shown.
Jalali advocated for a less-restrictive ban of smoking in just “youth activity areas,” such as playgrounds and athletic fields. The city’s parks department has followed this policy for years and it has not created problems, she said.
“I disagree that it is progressive to change our rules in the name of smoke and not think about all of the complexities of the racial justice policy passed by the Legislature,” Jalali said.
The council added language to encourage voluntary compliance and possibly allow administrative citations to be issued for future violations. St. Paul’s charter does not currently allow the city to impose such fines, and previous attempts to change it have failed, most recently in 2021.
Those who refuse to comply could still face a petty misdemeanor and fine of up to $300.
Since the state law took effect Aug. 1, more than a dozen Minnesota cities — including Richfield, Edina, Minnetonka and Mendota Heights in the metro — have passed or are considering smoking bans for public places. Others may go a step further, banning public consumption of other forms of cannabis, such as edibles.
Tolbert, noting that the city regulates where alcohol can be consumed, suggested last week that St. Paul could enact laws restricting where people can consume marijuana in other ways.
Regulating consumption seems to be the tip of the iceberg for local governments navigating the new law. Once the state Office of Cannabis Management starts issuing retail licenses — likely in 2025 — cities will be required to register sellers and perform compliance checks.
Staff writer Josie Albertson-Grove contributed to this report.
“I honestly think he used to understand how tariffs work,” Cuban said. “Back in the 90s and early 2000s, he was a little bit coherent when he talked about trade policy and he actually made a little bit of sense. But I don’t know what happened to him.”
Speaking in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance, pushed back against the Harris campaign’s claims that tariffs would hurt the economy. Vance described the tariffs as a way of discouraging imports and boosting American manufacturing.
“If you are a business, and you rely on foreign slave labor at $3 a day, the only way to rebuild American manufacturing is to say, if you want to bring that product made by slave labor back into the United States of America, you’re going to pay a big fat tariff before you get it back into our country,” Vance said.
Back in Wisconsin, Amara Marshell, freshman at UW-La Crosse, said she showed up to support Harris because she is concerned about what a second Trump presidency could mean for reproductive rights. Like her friend, sophomore Avery Black, Marshell is also excited about the possibility of electing the nation’s first female president.
“Women deserve to have power over their own bodies,” Marshell said. “We shouldn’t have to not be able to get an abortion just because of a president.”
Mary Holman, an 80-year-old retiree from Fort Atkinson, Wis., said she hasn’t been to a rally since former President Barack Obama’s first campaign in 2008. But Holman said she decided to get off the sidelines this cycle because she views the election as a fight to preserve democracy.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will auction off state lands in popular northern counties next month.
The public land — in Aitkin, Cook, Itasca, and St. Louis counties — will go up for sale during the Department of Natural Resource’s annual online public land sale from Nov. 7 to 21.
“These rural and lakeshore properties may appeal to adjacent landowners or offer recreational opportunities such as space for a small cabin or camping,” the DNR said in a statement.
Properties will be available for bidding Nov. 7 through Nov. 21.
This all can trim for print: The properties include:
40 acres in Aitkin County, with a minimum bid of $85,000
44 acres in Cook County, minimum bid $138,000
1.9 acres in Itasca County, minimum bid $114,000
Minneapolis city officials say razor wire, concrete barriers and fencing will be removed from around the former Third Precinct police station – which was set ablaze by protesters after George Floyd’s police killing – in the next three weeks. The burned-out vestibule will be removed within three months with construction fencing to be erected closer to the building.
This week, Minneapolis City Council members have expressed frustration that four years after the protests culminated in a fire at the police station, the charred building still stands and has become a “prop” some conservatives use to rail against city leadership. Most recently, GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance made a stop outside the building and criticized Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the 2020 riots.
On Thursday, the council voted 8-3 to approve a resolution calling for “immediate cleanup, remediation, and beautification of the 3000 Minnehaha site including but not limited to the removal of fencing, jersey barriers, barbed wire, and all other exterior blight.”
Council Member Robin Wonsley said the city needs to acknowledge that many police officers stationed in the Third Precinct “waged racist and violent actions” against residents for decades.
Council Member Aurin Chowdhury said the council wants the building cleaned up and beautified “immediately.”
“We cannot allow for this corner to be a backdrop for those who wish to manipulate the trauma of our city for political gain,” Chowdhury said.
Council Member Katie Cashman said the council shouldn’t be divided by “right-wing figures posing in front of the Third Precinct and pandering to conservative interests.”
“It’s really important for us to stay united in our goal, to achieve rehabilitation of this site in a way that advances racial healing and acknowledgement of the past trauma in this community, and to not let those figures divide us here,” she said.
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