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Wednesday's vote by the St. Paul City Council will allocate some $45 million for city projects.

The local option sales tax would raise the local sales tax by one cent on the dollar, but would created the highest combined sales tax rate in the state.

Mayor Melvin Carter wants to increase the city’s sales tax to raise $1 billion over 20 years, mostly to rebuild 44 miles of St. Paul’s busiest streets. The plan, which goes before voters in November, would more than double the amount of local money St. Paul has been spending annually to reconstruct its crumbling roads. “We are at a point where things start to go downhill very rapidly,” said ...

Downtown St. Paul is not famed for its riverfront. For 70 years, the banks of the river have been dominated by railroad tracks and a wide concrete highway.

"A St. Paul native, Walsh lives in St. Paul with his wife and two cats. He has two adult children. He graduated from the College of St. Thomas, where he was named the top journalism graduate by the Society of Professional Journalists, before beginning his career with stops at the Mankato Free Press and the Rochester Post-Bulletin. Walsh has covered local government, local schools, local and federal courts and even spent some time writing about farming and medical technology. A former college football player and semi-pro coach, he enjoys reading history and following the Vikings, Gophers a...