Paula Mielke running for Falcon Heights City council

I’m Paula Mielke

and I’m Running for Falcon Heights City Council

I love Falcon Heights, and being engaged energizes me. I like learning and researching, exploring and bringing forth new ideas, and following how similar cities respond to challenges. I’ve been involved with our community in numerous ways over the years. You also could say I’ve been around the block – literally.

Bruce and I bought our first home in Falcon Heights in 1990. The house had been foreclosed on and was an eyesore. We chatted with everyone who walked by, telling them our plans and dreams for the house. That’s where we lived when our sons Luke and Isaac were born and I started my solo public relations practice. In 1998, our neighbors asked if we would like to buy their house. We moved across the street so I could have a home office rather than a desk in our bedroom. In 2019, we decided to downsize and moved to a smaller home two blocks south.

“Paula is a thoughtful, hardworking leader who is deeply committed to the well-being of all. I appreciate her ability to work with others to find helpful solutions to challenges facing the community.”

Senator John Marty

Paula’s Priorities

This is what I will focus on for you and our city.

Public Safety

Exploring traffic calming and improving residents’ experience with the State Fair

Parks and Public Spaces

Engaging residents in the re-design of Community Park, adding features to Grove and Curtiss Field parks

Community Engagement

Creating new opportunities to bring residents together, including our neighbors who rent

ELECTION DAY NOV 7  |  Early Voting is Sept 22 –Nov 6

Endorsements

Senator Clare Oumou Verbeten

Former Representative Alice Hausman

Ramsey County Commissioner Trista Martinson

Former Falcon Heights City Council Member Mark Miazga

Former Falcon Heights City Council Member Beth Mercer-Taylor

Former Falcon Heights Mayor Tom Baldwin

Former Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation District and Ramsey County Library Board Member Gwen Willems

Paula Mielke with Senator Clare Oumou Verbeten, lobbying for library funding

Paula Mielke with Senator Clare Oumou Verbeten, lobbying for library funding.

About Paula Mielke

City Engagement

Our city formed a State Fair Task Force in June 2023 to address residents’ concerns with the high volume of auto and pedestrian traffic during the 2022 fair, parking violations, noise and litter. I chair that task force, which held its first meeting on June 15. We are working very hard to address these concerns. Based on our actions, parking fines will be doubled during the fair, parking will be limited to one side only of the Falcon Heights streets north of Larpenteur and east of Snelling, and signage will be added at busy intersections to mark no parking within 30 feet of a stop sign.

Paula Mielke mn state fair parking issues

Traffic and parking are on every agenda for the State Fair Task Force.

I also serve on the Falcon Heights Park and Recreation Commission. A challenge for our city are that two of our three city parks were on land owned by the University of Minnesota. The U of M recently sold Community Park to Falcon Heights. Now we are in a better position to make major improvements to the park building and grounds. Meanwhile, we’re excited that the basketball courts at Curtiss Field and Grove Parks now have painted lines.

When Philando Castile was killed in 2016, I began talking with other residents and we started to meet regularly to discuss how we could help our community. We wrote a letter requesting that the St. Anthony Police Department Chief attend a council meeting and answer questions about police training and department procedures. We drafted a resolution proposing a citizen task force to research policing practices in other cities and make recommendations. Another resolution suggested reducing revenue from traffic tickets in the 2017 budget by moving away from broken tail light policing. We also organized panel discussions for residents on community policing and implicit bias. We drafted a resolution proposing a citizen task force to research policing practices in other cities and make recommendations. 

We knocked on doors across Falcon Heights and posted an online petition. Nearly 450 people signed the petition asking our city council to end the contract with the St. Anthony Police. The St. Anthony City Council passed a resolution in July 2017 to end the contract.

Other Volunteer Roles

For nine years I represented Falcon Heights on the Ramsey County Library Board and was chair for two years. During my tenure, we created a branch in the New Brighton Community Center, remodeled the White Bear Lake Library and built a new Shoreview Library.

I currently serve on the governing board of Metronet, one of seven state-funded multi-type library networks created by the Minnesota Legislature in 1979. Metronet serves school, public, college and university, and special libraries in the seven-county metropolitan area

When my sons attended Falcon Heights Elementary School, I was president of the PTA and developed the first Read-a-Thon, which is still the school’s main fundraiser. Along with other parents, I worked to lift the ban on biking to school and helped secure a solar powered pedestrian light to make it safer for students to cross at Hamline and Garden.

ELECTION DAY NOV 7,

EARLY VOTING SEPT 22 –NOV 6

Professional background

For 30 years I worked in public relations and marketing, serving a wide range of organizations, including General Mills, the Executive MBA Program, Honeywell, 3M, Manufacturing Technology of Minnesota and Cerenity Senior Care. In 2014, I launched a new career when I purchased Grahn’s Upholstery in Minneapolis, a small furniture restoration shop. I sold the business in 2018. For the past three years I was a literacy mentor with the East Side Learning Center, helping children learn to read fluently.

Education and Training

In March 2019 I completed the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation Neighborhood Leadership Program. The focus of the seven-month program was expanding knowledge of community, understanding individual leadership style and developing leadership skills, intercultural communication and conflict resolution.

I have a Master of Business Communications from the University of St. Thomas and a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications from Bemidji State University.

Long time Falcon Heights resident Paula Mielke

Paula Mielke, Falcon Heights city council candidate

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    Paid for by Campaign Fund of Paula Mielke, 1506 Crawford Ave., Falcon Heights, MN 55113