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Tom Crann and Nina Moini
St. Paul

St. Louis Park mayor: Council to revisit Pledge of Allegiance vote

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The St. Louis Park City Council will revisit its decision to stop saying the Pledge of Allegiance before meetings, the city's mayor said Thursday.

Mayor Jake Spano said he and another council member were out of town when the Council voted 5-0 earlier this month to end the practice.

On Twitter, Spano said he was "not a fan" of the move and that council members had agreed to put it up for discussion at the July 8 meeting.

Anne Mavity, the council member who authored the resolution, told MPR News the public did not request the Council stop saying the pledge.

She said the community expects the city to be inclusive when it does business.

"If people want to talk to me about a sidewalk in front of their house that we're proposing, they should be able to come into the chamber and talk with us without having a need to pledge allegiance to the flag at each moment," she said.

Mavity said the decision was reached during a procedural review of meeting protocols that happens every several years.

Council members also agreed to meet earlier to make meetings easier to attend. The July 8 discussion is set for 6:30 p.m. at St. Louis Park City Hall.

Mavity, who has served as Ward 2 council member since 2010, said she knows that not saying the Pledge of Allegiance will touch a nerve.

"Our community has asked us to be inclusive," Mavity said. "To me, saying the Pledge of Allegiance is not the barometer on patriotism. If anything, patriotism and American values allows a variety of opinions and I welcome people to disagree. That's what democracy is all about."