[Music] [Music] Oh no my home was I want you. [Music] [Applause] Good afternoon everybody. Good afternoon. Welcome to the North End Community Center. My name is Andy Rodriguez and I am proud to oversee the parks and recck system here in the city of St. Paul. Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the North End community as we officially open do open the doors to this incredible facility. This space reflects a shared vision, a vision for a more connected, a more inclusive, and a welcoming place that will serve this neighborhood for generations. But this center is more than just bricks and mortar. It's a safe and vibrant space where people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities can come together and feel truly at home. This project wouldn't have been possible without the investment, passion, and support of so many amazing amazing partners, elected officials, many of whom are here today and you will hear from in a bit here. I'd like to take a moment to recognize a few uh folks from the parks team who helped bring this vision to life. uh Chris Stark, uh Alice Messer, David Ronzani from our design and construction team. Also want to give a shout shout out to Snow Kryik, uh the architects on this project who did an amazing job. [Applause] I'm feeling and then shouting out our whole our whole parks and our our recreation services team. Shaina Abraham, Gina Stokes, Sier Chang, Alyssa Lazar, and the entire North End Community Center crew will hold this down hold this spot down and have uh great leadership within this facility. Also acknowledging the support of former council president Amy Brennode, current W five council member, our council vice president Wajjang Kim for their ongoing support and effort tonight. Oh yeah. And of course, none of this would be possible without the strong leadership and support of our mayor, a true champion for parks and our community, Mayor Melvin Carter, who you'll hear from shortly. Uh, now I'd like to welcome up a strong supporter of our work, Congresswoman Betty McCullum to share a few words. I am really excited to be here today and this is about physical and mental well-being and what plays a big role in that are the arts. Right. So, we've had some dancing and let let's give them a round of applause. There's more to come. And then I did not get a chance to meet the performers earlier, but you had a huge fan club, especially in a couple little people down here where their mouths would just open with great smiles. So, it's good to be here. I uh I'm a I'm a person who owes a lot of my adult uh success to uh community centers in South St. Paul that were open. they uh were open and it was a safe place to be and it was a place where I met a lot of friends and where I had a lot of adults who I never had an opportunity to thank in person who gave me confidence to be who I am. I'm a true believer in community centers and started out putting myself through college working at YWCA's because of that. So I am so excited to be here. I just want to uh congratulate everybody here. everybody here because in Congress I'm on the appropriations committee. That's the committee that that decides a good question. I'm a social studies teacher. He said, "What does that mean? I'm getting there." You know how sometimes you're deciding like, you know, what movie you're going to go to and then you have to decide how you're going to pay for the movie. I'm the how you decide to pay for the movie person. So Minnesota is a donor state when it comes to federal tax dollars. So, we got uh with what happened in the street outside and in this building inside, $5 million returned to this community. [Music] So, I'm here today. I'm going to a town hall in a few minutes, but we work as a team, our staffs and us as elected officials. So, I just wanted to thank the biggest team here, the community for putting uh this opportunity in front of us. so we could score a home run together. Congratulations, North End. [Applause] Your honor, with your permission to leave. Yes, sir. Permission to leave from the mayor. Thank you. [Music] Where were these guys when I was Thank you so much, Congresswoman. I I'd now like to welcome up the mayor of our city of St. Paul, Mayor Melvin Carter. Appreciate you. Well, good afternoon. It really is a good afternoon. Yeah, grand opening. That's right. It's grand opening afternoon. What could be better than opening an incredible space like this in an incredible neighborhood like this on an incredible day like this? Opening daily. I'm I'm I'm Melvin Carter and I have the privilege of serving as mayor of this city of St. Paul. And I want to thank you, Director Rodriguez, for that introduction and for your tireless work literally every single day on behalf of the young people and the families uh who experience our St. Paul parks and rec system. It's really incredible. We appreciate your legacy of leadership. Uh and and and we thank you. You you acknowledge everybody else. We want to thank you. Thank you so much. [Applause] You know, before I was the mayor of St. Paul. A long time before I was the mayor of St. Paul, I was a young person who spent literally every single day in the St. Paul rec system. Um I tell folks sometimes my school bus driver didn't know where my house was. They just knew where the King Center was because that's where we would go every single day and we would learn things. We would take cooking class. We would take music lessons. Uh we would roller skate in the gym for 50 cents on Fridays. And one day I was around there and somebody said, "Hey, who wants to join the track team at the King Center, at the rec center?" That sounded like a bunch of running around. So I said, "That sounds like a good idea." Um, and I ended up learning a sport that ended up paying for college for me. Just as instrumental for me though as the things that did happen in the rec center were some of the things that didn't happen in the St. Paul Public Rec Center. Every year, and I've shared this story before, we would take a field trip. We would get on a bus and take a field trip to another community and we'd go have fun and play in this community center in one of the different communities. And multiple times I remember being on the bus home from that facility and hearing somebody on the bus say, "Oh man, they never build a space like that in our neighborhood." And it was just a lighthearted conversation when we were kids. But as an adult, as someone who has some responsibility for the the types of spaces and amenities that we build in our community, I hear that differently. When I got serious about track and field after school, I would get in the car and drive 30, 40 minutes a day, one way to just get to the type of facilities that I needed to be able to like pursue my dreams in the sport. And as a kid, that was just what we had to do to try to trim another tenth of a second off of a 100 meter dash. As an adult who's part of the system that's responsible for our spaces, a shudder to think about what we tell our children when they have to get on a bus or get in a car and go a half hour to some other community to find the type of high quality amazing spaces that we ought to be providing for them right at home. [Applause] And so, Council Member Kim, Council Vice President Kim, when I walked in uh said, I think she said you were emotional. And for me, this is an emotional moment to be able to grant What do you think? This is kind of an upgrade on the the former Zitan who was here, right? Yeah. And what the congress member said is absolutely true. It doesn't work if we don't work it together as a team. You know, there are people we see who look like politics and policy and community spaces is sort of an individual sport, but let me tell you, it's a team sport. And what matters more than who your council member is or, who your state legislator is, and even who your congress member is, is how your council member, your mayor, your state legislature, and your congress member are working to and your uh county commissioner are all working together on your behalf. And I am honored to be able to be a part of an incredible team that's worked together to make this happen. That's worked together with federal funding through our congress member and through uh senators Clolobashar and Smith who are unable to be here today but asked me to tell you hello and I know we have Miss Ortiz here as well. So we thank you for being here. um through through our state leaders who work together to make sure that we had state participation to help us build this space that frankly we wouldn't have been able to do all of the above like like look at this wood look at this open space look at these windows look at all like this this field outside we wouldn't have been able to do all of this by ourselves if it were just up to the city if we didn't have those incredible partners. Uh so your support for our neighbors, your support for our city, your championship for our community every single day in the capital makes a really big difference. You will hear from Senator Omar Verbaton. You will hear from Representative Hollands uh later on in the program. But just give them a round of applause right now so they know how much we appreciate them. Would you? You'll hear from Council Vice President Kim. I want to thank you for ushering forward our newest community center right here on Rice Street. Um, and I I I have to say and uh uh Andy already said her name, but I also have to say give a big shout out uh to our former city council president and council member for W 5, Amy Briman, who let me tell you, for the better part of about 5 years, I don't think she and I ever had a single conversation in which she didn't say the words North End Community Center. No matter what the topic was, I don't think we ever had a conversation where she didn't say the words North End Community Center. They say always be closing. She's somebody who was always closing for this space. So, give her a round of applause, too. So, we get to celebrate the grand opening of a brand new multi-million dollar state-of-the-art facility, which by the way is also highly sustainable with over 90% of natural lighting, utilizing 70% less energy as a result of a geothermal well used for ground source heating and cooling. And I'm not even done. What? We I know we even have a a roof mounted solar array with on-site energy production capability. And we haven't even begun to crack the surface on all of the new outdoor and indoor recreational additions, which will also make this community center a cutting edge space for all different types of athletic opportunities. Um, we're opening the doors to a space where our north end neighbors and community can gather, can gather, host events, be active, cook, take classes, do sports, meet like in spaces like this, and do all kinds of other things. Most importantly, we're opening a door to a space where every single person is welcome, where every single person belongs. [Applause] There's some VIPs in this room who made this space happen, who made this space possible. And the truth is it's all of you. Without the community push, without the community demand, without community center, without community members, leaders, parents, aunts and uncles, coaches, volunteers, and just neighbors just standing up and saying, "Hey, look, the North End deserves this type of space. We wouldn't have this type of space here." It means a lot to me that you are all here. It means a lot to me. Representative Hussein, it means a lot to me. Commissioner McMer, it means a lot to me. Do tell me this. Would all the Would all the employees of the parks and recck system uh raise their hand for us? All the employees of the parks and rec system look around and just look at somebody raise their hand and clap like crazy. Would you please? But here's the kicker, young people. You've been participating. Now's your turn. You ready? Yeah. We're at our brand new North End Community Center. And Andy said, "Welcome to the North End Community Center." It's not entirely accurate. We're welcoming you to our North End Community Center. So, let me ask you this question. This is a beautiful building, isn't it? Yeah. Do you like it? Yeah. Do you like it? Yeah. What do you think? Is this better than the space we used to have here? Yes. A little bit better. A lot. A lot better. Here's the important question. Who's the most Here's the most important question. Young people, I need you to know the answer to this question. Who does this facility belong to? Okay, they know. Yes. Yes. this space. The most important thing you have to know about this space isn't the work that the mayor did to get it here. It isn't the work that our elected officials did to get it here. It isn't even the work that our incredible members of our parks and rec staff do to facilitate this space. It isn't even the work that our parents and elderly community leaders in this community did to make sure that we all understood this space. The most important thing isn't even to understand how incredible the artists who came and uh welcomed us into this space is. The most important thing I need you to understand forever about this space is that it belongs to you. It belongs to you to play here. It belongs to you to learn here. It belongs to you to work here. It belongs to you to make friends here. It belongs to you to listen to coaching here. It belongs to you to to to come up with new skills and new talents and explore your passions and creativity here. And it also belongs to you to take care of this space. When you see trash on the floor, it belong even if you didn't put it there, it belongs to you to pick it up and put it in the trash can. If if if you see someone treating someone in a way that doesn't match the golden rule that you've learned about in school and at home, it belongs to you to go and get an adult and make sure that everyone knows and everyone can always feel that everyone is welcome in this space. This space belongs to you and we're here welcoming you to your incredible new North End Community Center. Congratulations to all [Applause] And now I'll pass the microphone to Mr. Josh Ortiz who is here from Senator Amy Clolobashar's [Applause] office. It's always a challenge to follow Mayor Carter, but here we go. Uh, Senator Clolobashar wishes she could be here today, but uh, unfortunately her her schedule doesn't allow, but she asked that I share this message with everybody here today. She says, "Thank you for the invitation to today's new North End Community Center grand opening. And though my schedule prevents me from being with you in person, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the city of St. Paul and the North End neighborhood on this fantastic community asset. I also want to acknowledge Congresswoman Betty McCullum, our St. Paul leaders, Mayor Melvin Carter, Council Vice President Hua Jang Kim, and of course, parks director Andy Rodriguez, as well as our members of the Minnesota Legislature, Senator Claire Omo Verbaten, Representatives Athena Hollands, and Simakab Hussein. Thank you for your incredible leadership in this project. I fought for this community center because I knew what it would mean for the North End. This is a young and energetic neighborhood. It's home to kids who need a place to run around and play. It's home to parents who want their kids to have a safe place to go after school. And it's home to even more people who just want a place that lets them get out of their house and hit the gym or catch up with friends. The old recreation center was just too old to serve its purpose. So, while I was in Washington, I worked to put aside federal funds to help build this amazing North End Community Center. This finished project has basketball and bad mitten courts, dance and fitness rooms, a turf field, a playground, a gym, and a kitchen for cooking classes. These are all great spaces to have, but I think the most important thing the center does is give people a place to gather. You've got the cow and tennis. Yes, tennis. Oh, it's a cow. There you go. Perfect. And there's more to name, too. Cow and and during the hottest months of summer and the coldest months of winter, people of North People of North End will have a place to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones. Whether it's picnics or pickup basketball, I know many memories will be made here. Thank you again for the invitation to celebrate with you. I'm glad to be your partner in Washington. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Thank you, Josh. Um, I'd like to welcome up State Senator Claire Verbaton. [Applause] Uh, good afternoon everyone. I'm so happy to be here for the grand opening. How excited are you? It's finally here. Um, I my name is Claire Umu Verbaton. I have the honor of representing district 66 in the Minnesota Senate, this district, which is the best district of course in the state. And I also had the honor of being the chief author of the bill in the Senate uh to get bonding dollars for this really important project about $6 million uh that we brought in in state funding. But as we've heard from everyone today, it was truly a uh group, you know, team effort. Uh, one of my favorite parts of of uh, being in office and representing this area is that I have amazing partners. And so I want to make sure that I thank first uh, Senator Sandy Papus who is another great leader in our St. Paul delegation and the bonding chair who really did make sure we got that funding. I want to make sure I thank our former council member and council president Amy Brenon who absolutely in every conversation was like north end community center we need it. Um and of course representative Hollands who you'll hear from in a moment uh when I when I was elected in 2022 she was like one of our most important things that we need to get done together is the North End Community Center. Um, of course the mayor, um, council member Kim, all of our city staff. Can we get another round of applause for everyone who works for the city of St. Paul? So, we truly did this together. And of course, we did this in the St. Paul way. And so, as this building was being built, equity was top of mind, sustainability was top of mind, and the community was engaged throughout the process. Um, I am just so excited for it to be a reality today. And, you know, like the mayor, I grew up playing sports. Those are some of my, you know, favorite memories from childhood. Uh, I also, you know, would say that this is like going to be a heart of our community here in the North End. and you all advocated for this because you knew we needed a safe place for our kids to just play and be with each other and um be in community. And so that's what the North End Community Center is going to be. I'm so glad that I got to be a part of this effort and I want to thank all of you for pushing us to make this happen. And with that, I'm going to introduce my amazing partner in the legislature, Representative Athena Hollands. Thanks, All right, people. How are we feeling? I am so honored to be here today. My name is Athena Holland. I represent district 66B and I was the chief author in the house to get funding funding dollars for this North End community center. It was I will tell you so I got elected in November of 2020. Within three weeks, Amy Bren Mowen and Wajjan Kim contacted me and said, "We need to have a meeting about this. This is the top priority for our community." And it was one of the first meetings I took as a legislator before I was even sworn in. And it was really before I even knew what bonding meant. I'm pretty sure I had to have the city council members explain to me what bonding even is. Um, but as soon as they told me about it, I started recognizing what an important thing this is. As most of you probably know, the North End as a neighborhood is often forgotten about. I've literally had conversations with folks. Okay, the acoustics in here are real good. I've had conversations with friends at the legislature, colleagues, who say the east side just goes right into Komo Park. That's how the neighborhoods go. they completely overlook the fact that there's a whole another neighborhood there. And that's why it's so important that we did this. Bringing funding and bringing this building here was not just about building something great for our community. It's also drawing a line in the sand and saying, "We're here. Our kids are here. We deserve nice things. Our community deserves nice things. North End is vibrant and diverse and young and is one of the youngest neighborhoods in St. Paul. It's one of the last places that folks can go to buy a house when they come as immigrant communities or lower inome communities. And that doesn't mean that we don't deserve good things. So, it was important for me to be able to be here and to represent this beautiful neighborhood and say that we our children when we invest in our children, we know that it pays in spades in the future. We know that being able to have a place to go to play, to have a place to be with responsible adults, to just build community with each other prevents crime in the future, prevents poverty in the future. It makes sure that we are building bright, vibrant neighborhoods. So, it is truly my honor to be here today. I want to leave you with this thought. This is just the beginning. This is not the end. This is the beginning of investment in a neighborhood that deserves nice things. Can you repeat it with me? We deserve nice things. Can you please say that? We deserve nice things and we are going to get them. And so with that, I'm going to turn it over to my colleague Sama [Applause] Hussein. The mic's a little bit too short for me, so I got to pick it up a little bit. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. We need excitement here, right? What a beautiful building. I'm very excited. Are you guys all excited too? Yeah. Yeah. I am a state representative Sama Cap Hussein. I serve district 65A which is right here in North End. Today is a truly special day for our North End neighborhood and I'm really beyond excited. Standing here at the grand opening of this community center fills me with pride and I have a strong support of the state legislature. We have been advocating thanks to uh the two authors that have done a great job but we have to vote for it and finish cross the line and and and we want to thank to Senator Sandy Pampers also she has been talking about a lot of North End and she want to make sure that she's included in this beautiful building. Construction started in 2023 right here on Rice Street. And now we have a beautiful building, 25,000 square feet and 6 acres park. This space will bring the people together, support our youth, and make our neighborhood even stronger and better. And always right street is in my heart. And as you know that uh we secured another funding for to make sure Rice Street is become a boulevard which is going to start that next year. We want to make sure that North End and Rice Street become one of the best place just like University Avenue. We haven't forget it as a state legislature. I wanted to give a big thank to our union workers who built this with care and skill. Your hard work made this possible. And I want to run across for those four [Applause] unions. Being close to this library at Wellstone Elementary, this center is perfect spot and I know it will bring more Melvin Carter juniors, politicians, basketball players and many other leaders will come out from right here in our uh center. And I want to thank everybody who been put this together and making this dream come true. Thanks for having me here and I look forward working with you all. And without further ado, our city council member for this area, vice pres. It's still it's still not even it's still not even the lineup was not by height. Okay. Um hi everyone. Wajang Kim she her pronouns. I'm the vice president of St. Paul City Council and I'm the council member that's super super proud to be representing the north end um at the St. Paul at the city of St. Paul. Um holy cow. Um I've I've probably humble bragged about this building at least a thousand times. And if you look around, you sort of start to think like, can it get any better? Yes, it can. And in spite of it being the only rec center with both solar and geothermal, in spite of it having the best fields in the city, in spite of it having the best rec, the best is yet to come. Because from the beginning, this place was always going to be more than the sum of its parts. And much to the thanks of our really dedicated and talented parks and rec staff, they knew the ask was big. And Senator Ribbon said it, "This has to be the heart of the neighborhood." Um, I remember when I was working for council president Brett Mowen, very early on, I was on a call with Dave um and Chris and Atlas and I said to them, "I can literally see this from my backyard. It cannot be ugly. So, you know, Heart of the North End can't be ugly. It was a tall order, but I I think they nailed it. So, but once we get the very honored pomp and circumstance out of the way, I think we all can envision that the glass is going to be smeared with sticky hands and face smudges. Um, but if people in our community watching each other, watching our neighbors join neighbors that they may not know or or may not even share the same language, but we're connecting over three-pointers, game points, and just connecting over having some good old fun. So, yes, you, we, we built this really incredible space, but the lasting impression and the lasting impact is a community identity for the North End. Here neighbors neighborhood norms will be established like noranders get first dibs on the field. Here social connections made will make strangers into neighbors. And here we become participants of our community rather than spectators. That is this lasting legacy. A space for us to be a space for us to be community. And I want to thank folks, and I know our name has been said a million times, but this has been really 12 years in the making. Council President Brent Mowen. Um, she's been bullish about the North End since the beginning. And this has been an amalgamation of her saying North End Community Center for 12 years, finding the right moments, the right people, what she calls the Muppet Bus, everybody get on and let's go. Um, and I think what you're looking around and when you see, you're seeing that determination and the pride that she had in this neighborhood. I also want to thank um the three, including myself, which is sort of self-impizing, but the three incredible legislative aids um of Council President Bremo. We had the original Kim O'Brien, who I saw, um Jessica Larson Johnston. Um we also had the very singular former director Mike H. And a huge kudos. Andy's not sitting there anymore. To Andy Rodriguez, thank you. Our parks and rec director, it it truly is a team St. Paul effort and a a team St. Paul effort with everyone involved. Um there have been hundreds and hundreds of staff time. Um and I just really want to name Chris Stark, Dave Ranzani, Alice Messer, like thank you. We we are here because your fingerprints are on every single piece of this building and your love and commitment for my neighborhood will never be um I don't know how we'll thank you. In 20 years, we'll still be thanking you. You'll be getting calls from me. Um and of course, our really fabulous architect, Snow Kry, thank you so much. The vision that you brought to this neighborhood is incredible. I mean, if you're sitting here, look up. It's it's one of the most incredible spaces in the city. And last um but definitely not least, if you have kiddos in your life, you know, um it doesn't matter the kind of day that you have or what resources that you have available to you, you have to make magic. The the walking takis tacos for dinner, they they have to be magic. So here's to the magic makers in our community. Y Chang, Alyssa Lassar, Gina Stokes, thank you for always making magic for the kiddos when you were in that tiny bunker underneath the parking lot. I look forward to supporting your leadership here, expanding what it means to feel like you're part of the North End. And you three have been just incredible advocates, Jesus Christ. Um, for the neighborhood, but thank you. Thank you for making magic for us. So, thank you all for being here and let's have some fun. Ready? Here we go. 5 4 3 2 1 [Applause]