I read you blog with interest. I am looking to possibly buy a home in North St Paul and had no idea about the wood fires smoke issue. Has the city looked into addressing this in anyway? Is it all from back yard fire pits or is this also brush burning?
I was searching on line for crime reports to get a better feel for the neighbor hoods – any resources for this you know about?
Thanks,
If you purchase a home in this smoky city, it could be the biggest mistake you ever make in your life. Don't even consider it. You will regret it!
This city is a very nice place to live except for the daily wood smoke which is usually so bad you have to close up all your windows. Most people look at houses during the daytime, so they will have no idea what the air pollution is like in the evenings. As you can see from this blog, the wood smoke in this town is terrible. North St. Paul is a nightmare and has been for years.
Most of the air pollution in this town is the result of recreational wood burning in the evenings. There are some who burn brush, grass clippings, and soon will be burning leaves. But there are less of these people than there are wood burners. Yard waste burns quickly. Logs burn slowly. There are a handful of yard waste burners within a quarter mile radius of us. I've smelled burning grass at 7 AM earlier this summer and smelled it several times in the late morning or early afternoon as well, usually on the weekends when I'm around. Truth be told, I prefer yard waste burning to wood burning. I don't like either.
I have been complaining to the city since 2008 about the wood smoke problem. The problem has been growing worse every year. Wood smoke became an issue a few years ago, possibly back in 2003. Ten years ago, nobody burned wood. You never had to close your windows. You never had to worry about someone starting a bonfire late at night. Wood smoke is a daily event now. The Mayor, Mike Kuehn, feels strongly about the wood smoke problem. He is the only elected official in this town who has demonstrated a willingness to help. Unfortunately, he cannot do anything about this problem without action from the city council. All four of the city council members have refused to address this issue.
The root of the wood smoke problem is the city's recreational burning ordinance which allows the burning of wood all seven days a week between 4 PM - 11 PM. If the city allows burning everyday, somebody somewhere is going to be burning. If it isn't raining, I never have trouble finding wood smoke when I go looking for it. I usually don't have to look for it because I can smell the wood smoke in our yard. Wood smoke does not stay confined to the property of the burner. It travels wherever the wind blows it. I have tracked wood smoke a half-mile to its source. So somebody burning a half-mile from you on a Sunday evening can smoke up the air where you are if the wind is right.
There seems to be three or four burners on every block, which is a small percentage of households. I estimate that about 15% of the households are burners north of Highway 36, which is where we live. Most households never burn. There are a few frequent burners who burn several times a week and there are those who burn a few times a month or a few times a summer. But with hundreds of homes in a residential area about a mile square, you will always find someone burning every night of the week.
People often burn after the allowed time of 11 PM. Then you get people who don't extinguish their fires and leave them smoldering all night long. This happens all the time. Several times this summer the air has been horribly smoky at 3AM or 4 AM. If you have a burner within a block or two of you, you can often smell the odor of burnt wood on the breeze in the morning. Do you want to smell burnt wood at 7 AM? If you want to live in North St. Paul, you better answer "yes" to that question.
I contacted city council member Jan Walczak in late May of 2008 about the wood smoke problem. Her response was patronizing, reminding me of the hours allotted for recreational burning, as if I didn't already know the city allowed burning 49 hours a week. She refused to help.
I contacted Mayor Kuehn and city council members Bob Bruton, Terry Furlong, and Dave Zick in late May 2009 about the wood smoke problem. Mayor Kuehn was sympathetic and understood the scope of the problem. All three of the city council members were of no help. Bruton stated his support for recreational burning. Council members Furlong and Zick ignored me completely.
We have suffered tremendously because of this wood smoke problem. It is not isolated to my neighborhood. It is a city-wide problem that is not going away on its own.
Living in North St. Paul, MN, is like living in hell.
As for crime, there is crime in every city. There isn't much here. North St. Paul has a large population of seniors, many of whom have lived in the city for decades. If you are friendly to them, they will look out for you. If you stay away from the areas with apartments, duplexes, and lower income areas such as the areas around 11th & McKnight and 7th & McKnight, crime will not be something you will have to be concerned about. If you want further information about crime in North St. Paul, you could try contacting the Police Chief to see if he can be of assistance to you.
If you enjoy breathing smoky air everyday and want to breathe smoky air as you lie in bed every night, North St. Paul is the perfect place for you. If you don't want to breathe smoky air everyday, you are best to buy a home elsewhere. You have to love wood smoke to live in this town or you will be very unhappy.
If the city ever eliminates this wood smoke problem, which does not seem likely to happen anytime soon, I would recommend living here highly. Until then, steer clear of this town.
