Saint-Cloud city council candidate Ibrahim will discuss policy before November 5

Saint-Cloud City Council candidate Huddah Ibrahim has already made her mark in Saint-Cloud. She influenced the mayor’s downtown task force with her Dinner and Dialogue program and by becoming a board member of the St. Cloud Chamber of Commerce.

The 39-year-old Saint-Cloud resident now aims to take the city to the next level and hopes to serve on the city council. She is one of six candidates vying to fill three City Council seats on Nov. 5. elections day.

Ibrahim’s campaign focuses on downtown revitalization, housing and economic growth. She told the newspaper St. Cloud Times that it believes its experience in public-private partnerships will be critical to moving St. Cloud into the future.

“I can bring value to the City Council and create a strategic, sustainable plan for our neighbors,” Ibrahim said. “One that promotes economic growth and supports small businesses and keeps communities safe.”

Public-private partnerships, where the private sector works with government agencies, have become a talking point in efforts to revitalize downtown St. Cloud. This idea was part of the city center vetoed business improvement district for which the business community raised $750,000.

Ibrahim said a public-private approach could help with housing, too. Public-private partnerships could be achieved in real estate if St. Cloud’s policies are attractive to home developers, Ibrahim said, citing one approach to meet payment deadlines for infrastructure costs rather than requiring upfront payments.

“(We could look into zoning to) allow higher density developers (to build) more housing in our area,” Ibrahim said. “Maybe this is happening in areas previously zoned for single-family homes, and then working with both single-family and single-family homes. the public sector will build such housing.”

Ibrahim also hopes to work with the private sector to redevelop potentially vacant land left behind if Stearns County moves its justice center project outside of downtown. She said this could open the door for St. Cloud to work with private developers to build more housing in the area.

“This opens up a great opportunity for the public and private sectors to come together and redevelop this area so that … we can really use these spaces to think about an innovative way to actually develop housing,” she said.

Ibrahim recently completed her doctorate in education at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in Conflict Resolution and a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Conflict Resolution from the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University.

Corey Schmidt covers politics and courts for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at [email protected].