FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2, 2026
Councilmember Cheniqua Johnson Calls Proposed East Side Service Closures a Pattern of Concentrated Disinvestment
Budget Chair Johnson says City cannot ask East Side residents to pay more in property taxes while taking away libraries and recreation services
SAINT PAUL, MN - Councilmember Cheniqua Johnson, Chair of the Saint Paul City Council's Budget Committee and representative of Ward 7, is raising serious concerns about the cumulative impact of the Mayor's proposed 2027 budget on Saint Paul's East Side, where proposed changes would close Dayton's Bluff Library, end regular indoor recreation operations at Highwood Hills Recreation Center, and close Duluth & Case Recreation Center.
''Whether intentional or not, the cumulative effect of this proposed budget is a concentrated disinvestment in the East Side,'' Johnson said. ''You cannot ask a community to keep paying more in property taxes while simultaneously taking away the public services those taxes are supposed to support.''
Johnson said the individual proposals cannot be evaluated in isolation because residents experience City services collectively, not department by department.
''The budget may be organized by department, but inequity happens by geography,'' Johnson said. ''An East Side family does not care which department made the decision. They know their recreation center is closing, another recreation center is losing regular indoor operations, and their neighborhood library is being proposed for closure - all while their tax bill continues to rise.''
At Highwood Hills Recreation Center, Parks and Recreation proposes modifying regular indoor operations to generate approximately $75,000 in annual General Fund savings. The proposal comes after nearly $1 million in recent investment in the site's outdoor fields and courts.
''If usage is lower than we want it to be, the first question should be how we increase participation - not how quickly we can reduce service,'' Johnson said. ''Usage data should tell us where to invest more intentionally, improve programming, strengthen outreach and remove barriers. It should not automatically become a rationale for retreat.''
Johnson also criticized the proposed closure of Duluth & Case Recreation Center, where Parks estimates approximately $1.5 million in critical repairs are required simply to keep the facility operational. The identified work includes the roof, walls and siding, HVAC, plumbing and doors.
''Deferred maintenance is not a community failure,'' Johnson said. ''The City owns Duluth & Case. If we allowed a public building to deteriorate over time, we should not turn around and use that deterioration as the reason the neighborhood must lose it.''
Parks and Recreation has identified a future East Side Community Center for Common Cent sales-tax funding and has invested approximately $3.3 million in predesign. The department expects shovel-ready plans by spring 2027, but construction funding has not yet been fully secured.
''A rendering is not a recreation center,'' Johnson said. ''I will not support asking residents to surrender something they have today for a future facility that does not yet have a fully funded construction path. If this is truly a transition, then the City should be able to show the community the funding, timeline and bridge between the old facility and the new one.''
Johnson is also opposing the proposed closure of Dayton's Bluff Library. The library's 2027 budget proposal identifies approximately $286,722 in savings associated with closure, including a 2027 Metro State lease cost of approximately $148,274, technology and materials costs, and personnel savings through attrition.
The library's presentation states that keeping Dayton's Bluff open while maintaining the Library Safety Specialist strategy would require an amount equivalent to approximately 0.13% of the overall levy in 2027.
''I support Library Safety Specialists, but a systemwide safety need deserves a systemwide funding solution,'' Johnson said. ''I reject the false choice that Saint Paul must either keep libraries safe or keep a library on the East Side. Our responsibility as policymakers is to find a better option.''
Johnson also questioned the use of historical usage trends to justify closure. Dayton's Bluff recorded more than 40,000 visits in 2025, along with approximately 18,700 circulated items, 7,300 computer sessions and 4,700 Wi-Fi sessions. The library's presentation also acknowledges that other library locations have experienced usage declines similar to Dayton's Bluff, while noting that those facilities are City-owned.
''If the issue is utilization, then the standard should be applied consistently across the entire library system,'' Johnson said. ''If the issue is the lease, then we should say the issue is the lease and negotiate it. If the issue is funding safety specialists, then we should solve that citywide. We should not combine three different issues until they all point to the same predetermined answer: close the East Side library.''
Johnson said the contrast between Dayton's Bluff Library and Duluth & Case also demonstrates why leased public spaces should not automatically be treated as poor investments.
''City ownership is not free,'' Johnson said. ''A City-owned building can require millions of dollars in roofs, HVAC, plumbing and capital repairs. At Dayton's Bluff, we have a long-standing partnership with a public university where the City does not carry those capital obligations. Partnership has value, and that value needs to be part of the financial analysis.''
As Budget Chair, Johnson is calling for a broader geographic equity review of the proposed budget before adoption, including an analysis of which neighborhoods are gaining services, maintaining services, or losing services and how those changes intersect with the proposed property-tax levy.
''This Council should not evaluate each cut only as an isolated line item,'' Johnson said. ''We need to look at the cumulative effect on actual neighborhoods. Right now, Highwood Hills, Dayton's Bluff, Payne-Phalen and the Greater East Side are being asked to absorb too much of the sacrifice.''
Johnson said she will continue working through the budget process to identify alternatives to the proposed closures and service reductions, including capital funding options for Duluth & Case Rec Center, strategies to strengthen usage and programming at Highwood Hills, and sustainable funding alternatives that would preserve Dayton's Bluff Library while supporting Library Safety Specialists.
''My message to East Side residents is simple: I hear you, and I am not prepared to accept that losing these neighborhood resources is inevitable,'' Johnson said. ''You cannot ask a community to pay more and continually give it less. We can make better budget choices, and I intend to push us to do exactly that.''
For more information or media inquiries, contact:
Korinne Dennis, Communications Lead