An overflowing trash can. Dirty sidewalks. A dark street that feels just a little too quiet.

When calling the police seems like overkill, but something is amiss in downtown St. Paul, there's a way to let somebody know and to ask for help. The St. Paul Downtown Alliance and its Downtown Improvement District has a hotline and email address, and the group is trying to get the word out about the service as it expands the area it covers.

St. Paul's post-pandemic empty downtown can feel a little unsafe, and the negative feelings are compounded when a visitor sees something that grosses them out, or someone who makes them uncomfortable.

John Bandemer, the alliance's director of safety strategies, said he thinks downtown is safe, but relatively minor things that feel "off" can contribute to visitors feeling ill-at-ease. And when things are taken care of, he said, downtown feels better for everyone.

"People will notice the difference downtown. They will notice public spaces that are being well cared form and paid attention to, and being occupied," Bandemer said. "That tends to drive away bad behavior and problem-makers."

Safety escorts and sidewalk cleaners

The service has been around for about five years, Bandemer said, and gets tens of thousands of reports per year about quality-of-life issues — the kinds of things people might not feel comfortable dealing with themselves, but don't require a police officer.

"We're cleaning up graffiti, cleaning up trash, cleaning up feces on the sidewalk," Bandemer said. "We do escorts for people, we do safety patrols, we try and do welfare checks."

Trash on the sidewalk was by far the most common call, according to downtown alliance data, with more than 500,000 reports in 2024. Safety escorts and other "hospitality assistance" accounted for another 28,000 calls last year.

Most other calls are about cleanliness in downtown St. Paul.

"They see a mess, they see somebody went through a trash and dumped all the trash on the sidewalk, we can get someone there in 10 to 15 minutes to clean it up," Bandemer said.

During a recent community meeting in St. Paul, a few residents brought up the problem of feces on the sidewalk — both animal and human.

Call data provided by the Downtown Alliance showed 3,619 calls in 2024 about human and animal waste.

Some St. Paulites have not picked up after their dogs, and empty streets mean there is some human excrement on the sidewalk. St. Paul also tends to have more pigeon droppings on the sidewalks than Minneapolis.

Dennis Kuhn of the Minnesota State Pigeon Association said that is probably because the older buildings in downtown St. Paul provide more roosting spots on their windowsills and cornices than the smooth glass of many Minneapolis downtown buildings. Kuhn said Minneapolis also seems to have more birds of prey, such as falcons and Cooper's hawks, which are pigeons' primary predators.

Bandemer said he hopes people continue calling the hotline so that problems downtown can keep getting addressed.

The message now applies to more of downtown St. Paul, Bandemer said, as the Downtown Improvement District has expanded its reach this year to Lowertown and the skyways.

The safety ambassadors are also now present on light rail station platforms while trains are running, Bandemer said, after starting a contract with Metro Transit in February.

The Downtown Improvement District is holding community meetings on March 3 and March 10.

The hotline

Call or text 651-236-0284 or email info@spdid.org.

The hotline operators can dispatch a safety ambassador and are also connected with private security at many downtown buildings.