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Honoring Lee Ann LaBore and expressing gratitude for her outstanding service, dedication and contributions to the community and the City of Saint Paul.
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WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore has long been an active and committed supporter of Saint Paul as a resident of both the Summit Hill and Lowertown communities; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore immediately joined the Mears Park gardener volunteers upon her move to the Airye Condominiums in Lowertown in 2017, quickly assuming administrative duties for the Friends of Mears Park organization and becoming Co-Director of the group in 2019. Lee Ann spearheads the fundraising campaign and oversees the design and implementation each year to provide the glorious winter holiday lighting in Mears Park while battling the squirrels who so love to chew the electrical wiring. According to her Co-Director, Mears Park is the gem we all appreciate thanks to Lee Ann’s endless energy and efforts in the organization; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore is the face and spokesperson for downtown parks and gardens, teaching us all how to skillfully navigate the potential pitfalls of working with television/newspaper reporters and social media audiences to provide measured, patient responses regarding issues to improve ALL parks in downtown. She has coalesced successful partnerships with City administrative units such as the Saint Paul Police, Parks and Rec, and the Department of Safety and Inspection as well as the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance to improve the community; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore shares her wealth of experience in mentoring other fledgling Friends of Park groups, initiating the conversation with the City and Parks and other stakeholders about ways to increase community parks safety and developing solutions for the tsunami of waste from dogs new to downtown. She shares her expertise with volunteer gardeners, modeling evidenced by her beautiful Mears Park garden; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore has been instrumental and proactive in helping the Friends of Pedro Park with their quest to create the newest downtown park and to help the Friends group understand how to successfully operate to support Pedro Park; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore joined the Saint Paul Parks Conservancy Board of Directors in 2021 and serves now on the Rice Park Endowment Committee and the Party for the Parks Committee. To show appreciation to Parks and Recreation staff, she organizes annual ‘donut drops’ for park operations, forestry, and natural resource teams as well as deliveries to every City recreation center; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore was recognized in 2022 as the Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Volunteer of the Year; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore has been instrumental in numerous other improvement activities including the Union Depot Blood Drive Campaign since 2019 and the Lowertown Homeowners Forum in 2022-2023; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore has also served the sports loving community of Saint Paul for more than half a decade through her ‘hobby jobs’ at the Xcel Energy Center and CHS Field. After her retirement from executive positions in the food industry, she chose to sell tickets and serve as a box-office representative of Saint Paul to the general public. One of Lee Ann’s managers commented that Lee Ann’s warm friendly personality was welcoming to everyone and that her intimate knowledge of downtown coupled with her joy in sharing that knowledge was a huge asset in her front-line position; and
WHEREAS, Lee Ann LaBore channels her energies into Ward 2’s Capitol River Council, particularly in her work with the Public Realm Committee wherein she has advocated for public restrooms in all Saint Paul parks and the downtown skyway system, more tree planting for parks as well as a downtown tree canopy, and a system to adequately and consistently water all the plantings in the parks and boulevards; now therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Saint Paul City Council is sincerely pleased to recognize Lee Ann LaBore for her extraordinary commitment and dedication to the people, parks and well-being of the City of Saint Paul, and the Council applauds her outstanding leadership, contributions, and service.