Coleman: City workforce must reflect St. Paul's diversity

Updated: 7:28 p.m. | Posted: 5:46 p.m.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman used his State of the City speech Tuesday to detail his plans for racial equality and city employment. He also addressed the recent flurry of shootings.

People of color make up almost half of the city's population, compared to just under a third in 2009 and that change calls for "a focus on equity, so that our city is great for all who call St. Paul home," Coleman said during his address to about 100 people, including the City Council, at the Penumbra Theatre.

"Our ultimate goal is that city employees reflect the community they serve. So as city employees retire, our goal is to increase full time employment to 40 percent people of color," Coleman said. "This will be incremental change in some ways. But by the end of 2017, I am committed to ensuring that 23 percent of the people working in city government will be people of color."

Coleman also highlighted the city's Promise Neighborhood initiative, begun in 2010, although without tens of millions of dollars in hoped-for federal education dollars.

The program now includes four city schools, up from the initial two. It focuses on education, health care and other services to aid youth in some of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods and help close the achievement gap.

The mayor also said he will propose changes to the ordinance that governs the city's Police-Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission. Critics say the commission too often favors police. Coleman said he wants to clarify the role of police officers and civilians this summer, although he wouldn't elaborate on the plan.

Coleman's remarks got a largely warm reception, although they were met with some skepticism.

Twenty-year City Council Member Dan Bostrom said Coleman's 23 percent diversity hiring goal needs to be tempered with good recruiting practices.

"That's a nice target," Bostrom said. "Those are sometimes very aggressive, and maybe you have to be aggressive. But in some of these positions, you can't just find the people off the street to do this kind of stuff. It's a slow arduous process."

Black Lives Matter St. Paul organizer Rashad Turner, who attended Coleman's speech, said the transformation needs to happen more quickly.

"I'm looking forward to helping him achieve those goals that he set," Turner said, "but also pushing him to understand that we need to do more and we can do it a lot faster if we do it together and with the right people in leadership."

The mayor also said he planned to make a joint statement Wednesday with Police Chief Tom Smith and leaders in the African-American community calling for an end to the shootings that have wounded nine people this week.

Coleman said the city was planning a rally and dinner for Thursday evening in Indian Mounds Regional Park, the site of a fatal shooting of an 18-year-old on Sunday, but a spokesperson later said the event will be rescheduled.