‘Concentrated disinvestment’: East Side facilities face closures and service cuts
Proposed closures and service reductions at three East Side public facilities are drawing opposition from a Saint Paul City Council budget leader, who says the changes would disproportionately affect neighborhoods already being asked to pay more in property taxes.
The 2027 budget proposed by Mayor Her would close Dayton’s Bluff Library and Duluth & Case Recreation Center and end regular indoor recreation operations at Highwood Hills Recreation Center.
Councilmember Cheniqua Johnson, chair of the City Council’s Budget Committee and representative of Ward 7, said the proposals should be considered together rather than as separate departmental decisions.
“Whether intentional or not, the cumulative effect of this proposed budget is a concentrated disinvestment in the East Side,” Johnson said.
Mayor Her said the city is confronting years of deferred maintenance and must make difficult choices about which facilities and services can be sustained.
“We have a responsibility to address them honestly and responsibly,” Her said in a statement. “That means analyzing which city services are being utilized by our residents and which are not.”
Duluth & Case closure tied to building condition
The proposed closure of Duluth & Case is largely driven by the condition of the facility.
Parks and Recreation estimates it would cost about $1.5 million in critical repairs to keep the building operational. The work includes the roof, walls and siding, HVAC, plumbing and doors.
Her said addressing all of the building’s problems would cost more than $6 million.
“Duluth and Case needs to close because of significant building safety and structural issues that have accumulated over time,” Her said.
Johnson said the city should not allow deferred maintenance to become a justification for eliminating a neighborhood facility.
“Deferred maintenance is not a community failure,” she said. “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.”
The city has identified a future East Side Community Center for Common Cent sales-tax funding and has spent about $3.3 million on predesign work. Parks and Recreation expects the project to be shovel-ready by spring 2027, but construction funding has not been fully secured.
Johnson said the city should provide a clear funding and construction plan before closing the existing center.
“A rendering is not a recreation center,” she said.
Her said the city remains committed to rebuilding the site and making it a safe and accessible community anchor.
Dayton’s Bluff Library closure raises questions about usage
The proposed Dayton’s Bluff Library closure is based in part on the cost of leasing the facility and its usage, according to Her.
The city leases the library and expects annual rent to rise to about $150,000. Her said the branch has the lowest circulation in the city’s library system and one of the lowest numbers of visitors per hour.
The library’s budget proposal estimates about $286,722 in 2027 savings from closing the branch, including approximately $148,274 in lease costs.
But Johnson said the branch remains an active neighborhood resource. Dayton’s Bluff recorded more than 40,000 visits in 2025, along with about 18,700 circulated items, 7,300 computer sessions and 4,700 Wi-Fi sessions, according to the library’s presentation.
Johnson also questioned whether usage declines should be treated differently for Dayton’s Bluff than for other branches.
“If the issue is utilization, then the standard should be applied consistently across the entire library system,” she said.
Her said the city intends to maintain library service in the neighborhood through options such as additional Mobile Library stops and community engagement.
“The reality is that usage has been trending downward for several years, and the current location is not meeting the needs of the community as well as it should,” Her said.
Johnson also opposed tying the branch closure to the cost of Library Safety Specialists, arguing that a systemwide safety expense should have a systemwide funding solution.
Highwood Hills would lose regular indoor recreation
The budget also calls for changing regular indoor operations at Highwood Hills Recreation Center, a move Parks and Recreation estimates would save about $75,000 annually.
The city has invested more than $1 million in outdoor recreation improvements at the site, and those amenities would remain, Her said. Rec Check programming would also continue.
But the city does not own the building; the school district does. That limits Saint Paul’s ability to make major improvements, such as installing air conditioning or replacing the gym floor, Her said.
Johnson said the city should focus on increasing participation if usage is lower than expected.
“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,” she said.
Budget fight centers on geographic equity
The disagreement comes as the City Council considers how to balance rising costs, property taxes, aging infrastructure and demand for city services. Johnson is calling for a broader geographic equity review of the proposed budget. She wants the council to examine which neighborhoods are gaining, maintaining or losing services and how those changes intersect with the proposed property tax levy.
“The budget may be organized by department, but inequity happens by geography,” Johnson said.
Her said the city cannot undo decades of deferred maintenance immediately but can make more strategic choices about future investments.
“In each of these cases, we are trying to balance two responsibilities: being good stewards of taxpayer dollars today while making the long-term investments necessary to ensure East Side residents have safe, accessible and effective public facilities,” Her said.
Johnson said she will continue working through the budget process to find alternatives to the proposed closures and service reductions.
“I hear East Side residents, 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.”
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