Hello! I am Mary Gaasch, Mayor of the City of Lauderdale.  I am running for my second term as mayor and hope to have your vote on Tuesday, November 6th, 2018!  

My vision for Lauderdale:

Resilient City: Resilient cities prepare to adapt to challenges due to climate change and severe weather.  
Green City: We are committed to preserving as much green space as possible in our Breck Woods.  Luther Seminary is selling this land, and the buyer is entitled by law to a "reasonable use of the land."  We are working on an innovative conservation/high density zoning, rarely seen in an urban environment, in the hopes of preserving as much green public space as possible.  We are also working with the Trust for Public Land to see if any finds might be available to enable the purchase of the entire area.  Since this land will cost many times our annual city budget, we would depend on grants for this kind of purchase.  
Welcoming City: I want Lauderdale to be a safe and welcoming community for all. I work for the safety and inclusion of our immigrant and refugee communities; our LGBTQ communities, and peoples of all ethnicities and religions.  I believe in building bridges, civility in government, and working across partisan divides.  I set the table for community conversations where everyone has a voice.  
Safe City:  As a council, our hearts were broken by the death of Philando Castile.  We have worked with the Department of Justice and the St. Anthony Police Department to improve policing in our community.  We were very moved by a listening session with our residents where many spoke of their excellent experiences with the Saint Anthony Village Police Department AND our need to always be improving the services we offer.  
Thriving city: Let's develop our downtown so we can finally enjoy a walkable community!  We all want to be able to enjoy a cup of coffee or an ice cream cone in our downtown.  

Major Accomplishments:

-We are close to a solution to buy back Roselawn and Eustis north of Larpenteur from Ramsey County.  Our community has negotiated for this, on and off, for 35+years.  We hear over and over from our community that this is an important goal to keep our streets in good repair and to be able to manage our streets in a way that works better for us as a city.  Thanks to the hard work of the city council, city and county staff, and many community partners, and me,  we are close to an agreement that would work well for all the partners.

-We purchased the Chinese Christian Church site and will work with developers to enhance housing in Lauderdale.  We are hoping to work with a developer to build senior housing so that Lauderdalians can safely age in place.

-We purchased a few homes on Eustis with the hope of working with a developer to improve our housing stock.  Watch for exciting changes soon!

-We made improvements to our Dog Park, investing in lighting and infrastructure.  I love this wonderful amenity and the community it has created.

- Installation of Sidewalks on the north side of Larpenteur Avenue
- Installation of new playground equipment at Lauderdale City Park
- Development of Skyview park by recycling equipment replaced during the playground upgrade
- Extending infrastructure life with sewer relining project
- Lauderdale Farmer's Market
- Sidewalk on Eustis extending from Como to Idaho

Mary Gaasch, first female mayor of the city of Lauderdale.

Civic Leadership and Electoral Experience:

- Mayor sinice 2016
- City Council Member since 2009
- President of the Metro Cities Board of Directors
- Board member, League of Minnesota Cities
- Humphrey Policy Fellow
- Program Director, Hammer Residences, Inc.
- Former board member, Ramsey County League of Local Government
- Former member, Comprehensive Plan Committee, Lauderdale 

The monkey bars at the old Lauderdale School.Chinese Christian Church in an undated photo. We had a wonderful open house to welcome people back to visit the old school before it is demolished. We had 300 people attend!

Top Priorities if Re-Elected:

- Developing a commercial district at Larpenteur and Eustis
- Installing sidewalks on Eustis from Como to Larpenteur
- Maintaining and improving our housing stock
- A coffee shop!