Originally published in the Park Bugle, October 2026.
A neighborhood idea that began with a simple problem at Westgate Commons Park – not enough shade – has taken its biggest step yet toward becoming reality.
Mayor Kaohly Her’s 2027 proposed budget, including the City’s multi-year capital plan, carries forward the full $214,000 recommended for permanent shade infrastructure and solar-powered lighting at Westgate Commons Park, with funding proposed for 2028.
For Westgate neighbors who have followed the project through surveys, applications, community voting and a public hearing, inclusion in the Mayor’s budget is a major milestone.
It is not quite the final one.
The Saint Paul City Council will review the proposed budget throughout the fall, with final adoption scheduled for December 2. If the Westgate allocation remains in the adopted budget as expected, the project is anticipated to move toward development and completion in 2028.
Westgate Commons Park opened in 2023 at 717 Berry Street, near Myrtle Avenue and the Wabash Spur Trail. Neighbors quickly identified the lack of permanent shade as one of the new park’s most significant shortcomings, particularly during hot summer weather.
SAPCC eventually turned that concern into a proposal through Saint Paul’s Capital Improvement Budget, or CIB, process.
The concept combines permanent shade structures with integrated solar panels and pedestrian-scale lighting, creating covered gathering areas during the day while improving visibility as daylight fades.
When we last reported on the project this spring, City staff had determined it was eligible to compete for CIB funding.
A lot has happened since then.
SAPCC submitted a more detailed application and presented the project to the City’s Long-Range Capital Improvement Budget Committee. Neighbors supported it through the citywide community poll, and residents had another opportunity to make their case during the CIB public hearing.
City and Parks staff also worked with SAPCC to refine the project and develop a more detailed cost estimate. On June 30, the CIB Committee submitted its final recommendations to the Mayor. Westgate was recommended for the full estimated project cost of $214,000.
Mayor Her then carried that full amount into her proposed capital budget as a tentative 2028 allocation.
That progression matters because neighborhood ideas do not automatically become City projects.
They have to move from identifying a problem to documenting the need, developing a workable proposal, establishing a cost and ultimately competing for limited public funding.
Westgate has now made it through each of those stages.
“This is one of those projects where every step in the public process mattered,” said Zev Radziwill, SAPCC Executive Director. “Neighbors identified the need, participated in surveys, voted, testified and kept following the project. There’s still a final budget vote ahead, but getting the full $214,000 into the Mayor’s proposed budget is a major step toward bringing permanent shade to Westgate.”
The proposed investment would make a relatively straightforward but meaningful change to the park.
Permanent shade would make gathering areas more comfortable during hot weather, particularly for older adults, children and neighbors who depend on shared public space rather than private yards.
Integrated solar lighting would help extend comfortable use of those areas later into the day while avoiding the need for the same level of new electrical infrastructure.
Those improvements are increasingly important in a part of South St. Anthony Park that continues to add housing and residents.
The next major decision now belongs to the City Council.
Councilmembers will review capital spending this fall as part of the broader budget process. The City’s Truth-in-Taxation public hearing is scheduled for November 30, followed by final budget adoption on December 2.
SAPCC will continue following the project and updating neighbors as that process moves forward.
If the $214,000 allocation remains in the final budget, attention can begin shifting from winning funding to getting the project built – including final design, placement, scheduling and the other steps required to turn a capital-budget allocation into improvements people can actually use.
There is still a December vote ahead.
But Westgate has come a long way from neighbors looking around a new park and asking where they could get out of the sun.
The CIB Committee recommended the full project. The Mayor carried that recommendation into her proposed budget. And the City is now proposing 2028 funding to make it happen.
Learn more and follow the project at sapcc.org/cib2026.