Oct 11 Ng Interview Transcript

Here's the full transcript of my interview with St. Paul Mayoral candidate Eva Ng:

GARY: What is your plan to revitalize St. Paul?
EVA NG, Candidate for St. Paul Mayor: My plan to revitalize St. Paul begins with freezing tax and fee rates. Then work to reduce them. I will have to put successful organizational structures in each City Hall Department to cultivate efficiency. Then, I will have to expand our tax base.

GARY: That's an ambitious plan. How do you plan to rally the people of St. Paul to support this plan?
EVA NG: Gary, nothing is ever easy. Everything takes work and persuasion.
I plan to start a New Enterprise Incubation Center in St. Paul to sow seeds for new upstarts. I also want to form at least two volunteer delegations to target suitable businesses to call St Paul home.

GARY: I think those are great ideas. Stopping capital flight is only half of the solution. Starting capital formation is the other half to the equation.
EVA NG: The suitable businesses, ideally, will be growing employers and job creators. Yes, you got my drift perfectly.
Saint Paul is also a port city. It deserves to have a pre-eminent marina complex which does not exist.

GARY: Will you lobby the legislature to enact tax reform to make St. Paul & Minnesota more business friendly?
EVA NG: Most definitely, that is something I have been saying since the beginning. The state has much influence in the City's fate. I have asked for a permanent seat at the House Caucus. And I don't intend to hire someone else to do that job. I will do it myself.

GARY: I like the idea of you doing the personal lobbying. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis does that, saving St. Cloud approximately $100K annually.

EVA NG: Very cool. It also shows how much the city cares.

GARY: We know that making government more efficient will save St. Paul taxpayers money. Will some of those savings be invested in making St. Paul more safe?

EVA NG: It can be. However, I see that we already spend close to $100,000,000 on police. We want to look at successful procedures and practices, as well as meeting of objectives before we blindly invest. For now, I don't see enough enforcement (which, in itself, brings in revenue). Until I feel we're operating optimally and deserve more investment, I'd hold off. The taxpayers could use a break.

GARY: Nice answer. Taxpayers definitely can use the break.
Lots of mayors complain about unfunded mandates. Is that something that you plan on looking into, too?

EVA NG: Elaborate a little, please.

GARY: This winter, during the Legislature's Listening Tour, Brainerd & St. Cloud city officials complained that the legislature had passed mandates, then refused to fund the things that they were mandating the cities to do. If the legislature is going to tell you what to do, shouldn't they also pay for that?
EVA NG: I see. State Legislature run amuck. What's new? Yes, it is reasonable to expect the State Legislature to not write checks they cannot cover.

GARY: Nothing new under the sun. Isn't that the problem, though? LOL
EVA NG: That's why it is important for mayors to have a continual dialog with the State Legislature. They can't read our minds.
And I think that is why our City had always had a reserve fund. However, Chris Coleman has already burned through that fund, to the max.

GARY: Good point. I think it's important that the legislature hears from mayors, too, because it's a reminder that they should rethink their priorities if they can't pay for things.
Eva, Isn't the Coleman administration famous for setting poor priorities that lead to higher property taxes?
EVA NG: Absolutely. Some of the decisions being made are outright juvenile.

GARY: Tell St. Paul voters your biggest disappointment with regards to Mayor Coleman's decision-making.
EVA NG: They wanted to build a new ice-skating rink across the street from the Xcel Center, which, itself, is already an ice-skating rink. They invested in leopard printed buses to take children to the zoo, but not to our own zoo. They spend $19.7 million/yr on economic development and do not get much return on the investment.
They also have this second shift project which has buses rattling down the street hour after hour, empty of the kids they were supposed to transport and help. No one is measuring any program for success. Just money thrown out the window with no recourse.

GARY: It sounds like you'll have a fulltime job the first year + just cleaning up the existing mess.

EVA NG: Mayor's Coleman's decision making has been to serve groups to which he is beholden, not the the real interest of the citizens of Saint Paul. Recently, we see that he is a true political animal. He got out of the gubernatorial contest to save his hide in the Saint Paul mayor's seat. I see everything he does is nothing but self serving.
A public figure's job is supposed to be serving the public. The decisions being made by the mayor should be focused on the well-being of the people.
You've made an excellent point in having a fulltime job just cleaning up the existing mess. My estimation is about 3 years of cleanup work is necessary. I will be busier than a one-armed paper hanger in a windstorm. Cleaning up the mess while forging progress to set our city up for future stability. I will have to surround myself with some really effective people.

GARY: Do you plan on holding frequent town hall meeting so you stay in touch with your constituents?
EVA NG: Yes, I have a communications plan. I plan to have formal neighborhood listening sessions. One per week, from 5 pm to 9 pm, for each of seven wards. I will re-visit quarterly. My hope is to address the top three gripes in each Ward during one administration. I also wish to set up an online forum where the people can give me their input and sentiments directly (by topic). That way, I can back up my research with real citizen input to get things done.

GARY: Your highest priority, though, is to restore prosperity to St. Paul by recruiting businesses that can flourish in St. Paul?
EVA NG: My highest priority is to stop the hurting. Senior citizens on fixed incomes, school teachers, part time workers, single parents are all being taxed out of their homes, and they can't afford to move.
But, hand in hand with stopping the hurting is growing the tax base to lighten the tax and fee burden for everyone involved.

GARY: Good luck with that. If ever a city needed to rethink its spending habits & its priorities, it's St. Paul.
EVA NG: In the long run, no city can survive without jobs. I must create jobs. That's why we have to be more business friendly. To attract businesses, we must have our house in order. We need to provide good amenities to attract them. A low crime rate and a good school system are part of the equation.
Gary, you've got a good handle on that. I hate to see Saint Paul having to sink deeper into the abyss before they realize this. It'll be too late, and too much has to be done to rescue it.
I am wondering if I am sane to even want to try what I am proposing.

GARY: Eva, Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule for this interview. If you could tell St. Paul residents one thing, what would that one thing be?
EVA NG: Really nice question. Citizens of Saint Paul, we face a time of economic uncertainty, unemployment rates approaching 10%, businesses fleeing, and residents leaving. As a result, we have nearly 30% office space vacancies downtown, an estimated 2,400 to 4000 foreclosed or abandoned homes, and a much heavier tax and fee burden on each resident and commercial entity.
I am running for Mayor of Saint Paul because I believe that my experience over the past 30 years in turning around difficult situations, making the most out of every dollar, and influencing others to help "right the ship" is exactly what Saint Paul needs at this specific time in our history in the Office of Mayor.
We must pull Saint Paul out of this downward spiral by first freezing the property tax and fee rates, followed by finding ways to reduce them. Then, we have to create jobs. We also have to ensure the safety and security of our neighborhoods.
You are dealing with incumbent who has already mentally checked out of the mayor's office since March of 2009, and has been running for governor or Lt. governor on your payroll. He still hasn't signed the Pledge to Keep Faith with the City of Saint Paul, and he could change his mind after the election. There's a lot of work waiting to be done for the people, and we need a fulltime mayor. Someone like me, who has no other agenda than to serve the people of Saint Paul, with all my heart, all my might, and all that I am.

On Nov. 3rd, I ask for your support and your vote. My website is EvaForMayor.com

I'd like to again thank Ms. Ng for taking time out of her busy schedule for the interview. I'll also take this opportunity to say that Eva Ng is a fiscal conservative, which is what St. Paul desperately needs. She would be a major upgrade of Chris Coleman in my opinion.

Comments welcome at LFR.