St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her gives first State of the City address
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In her first State of the City address Monday, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her promised improvements to the nuts and bolts of city services, as the city continues its path to recovery from the federal immigration enforcement surge.
The speech marked Her’s first 100 days in office. It was a much different start to the term than she expected. Her campaigned on those nuts-and-bolts promises, like streamlining the city’s permitting process and smoothing out relationships with businesses. But less than a week into her first term, federal agents in Minneapolis killed Renee Good.
“In public service, you rarely know everything you are stepping into until you sit behind the desk,” Her said. “These first few months have reminded me of that truth.”
Her was quickly launched into the response to the federal immigration surge, from allocating funding to rental assistance for residents to meeting with immigrant business leaders to suing the federal government.
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That response also led to disagreement between Her and the city council. Her declined to sign the council’s ordinance extending the city’s eviction notice timeline, a measure meant to help people stay housed if they struggled to pay rent due to the federal surge. Her said she believed the measure could end up pushing tenants further into debt. But the ordinance took effect anyway, as the council passed it with a veto-proof 7-0 majority.
Council president Rebecca Noecker introduced Her at Monday’s speech, and said she’s been grateful for collaboration with the mayor’s office — even through disagreements.
“The council and the mayor have already had our disagreements, and we will continue to do so, but because of who our mayor is and how she’s showing up every day, the state of our City Hall has never been stronger,” Noecker said.
Her said the work of responding to the surge isn’t done. Residents continue to apply for funding to help pay their bills. The city estimates businesses lost more than $129 million in January and February.
“We feel this economic pain deeply here in our city, but as the capital city, it will echo throughout the entire state,” Her said.
She’s advocating for state funding to help with that recovery process.
That funding — and other requests for money from the state — is uncertain, with the legislature closely split.
Another big ask is for $200 million for renovations to Grand Casino Arena. It’s part of a deal between the city and the Minnesota Wild to improve the facility without raising property taxes to pay for it.
That’s part of Her’s goal to revitalize downtown St. Paul. She highlighted progress on that front, with an Aldi slated to open as the downtown’s only grocery store. Ramsey County also recently announced its own investments in small business support and development projects downtown, which also includes requests for funding from the state legislature.
Her said she’s also seeking state funding to maintain the St. Paul Police Department’s nonfatal shootings unit, a new city project. Her said the unit has been essential in reducing shootings by 32 percent in 2025, and driving down the city’s homicide rate by 50 percent.
“These are real, measurable wins,” Her said. “We will continue to invest in proven programs that keep our neighborhoods safe on the public safety front.”
For her next 100 days, Her said she wants to get back to the nuts-and-bolts changes she campaigned on. That includes lead pipe replacement, patching potholes quicker and simplifying permitting systems for businesses to get off the ground.
