Join Rep. Jeff Haden and speak out against foreclosures and evictions in Minneapolis.
What: Stop Foreclosures and Evictions Rally
Who: MN Coalition for Peoples Bailout Welfare Right Organizations
State Rep. Jeff Hayden
When: Saturday, June 13th
Where: A march will begin at 11:15 am at Clinton and Lake and proceed to US Bank parking lot on Lake Street at Noon.
I'm usually up to cover marches, and the players in this one were familiar to me. Not long ago, I wrote unfavorably regarding a protest at the Sheriff’s auction at City Hall and some of the faces I encountered I'd seen up close and personal. In my opinion, the protest was generally disruptive and targeted the wrong people. However, this new protest was one that was needed, and I was to find was done properly and peacefully. The message of many of the speakers can be heard on the video below.
Jeff is someone I've written about numerous times. During his campaign he made quite a bit of noise about his paid gig at the time for the homeless. To my knowledge he did his job, whatever that entailed.
Until I arrived at the rally, I was unaware that Ward 8 council member, Elizabeth Glidden would be there. With the foreclosure becoming such an enormous issue for many Americans and Minneapolis residents specifically, I was anxious to hear what role my council member was willing to play in resolving the problem.
The protesters were heading towards US Bank from Clinton Avenue, but changed their route to make a stop at Wells Fargo on Nicollet Avenue. Council member Glidden was one of the speakers. She spoke of solidarity and of the people hurt by foreclosures. She spoke of a resolution passed by city council in response to the group's efforts.
“We need more solidarity with the faceless parts.”
She spoke of how she knew some of the faces present, but not all and of the people hurt by foreclosure.
"We hear this word foreclosure... we hear crisis. Mothers, children have been hurt by this. But what we're not seeing on the other side, are the faces of entities that are not working with us... the ones that are doing the foreclosures, and not being reasonable and helping to keep people in their homes."
When Glidden finished her speech, she left as the group headed to US Bank across the street from Midtown Global Market.
At US Bank there were many speakers, including a young Latino who you can also be viewed in the video.
State Representative Jeff Hayden spoke too. He spoke of how the foreclosure issue reminded him of the crack epidemic in the 1980’s. He charged that minorities are being targeted. He chided the banks to stop preying on these communities. He spoke of a couple bills in legislation: a moratorium bill and a mediation bill, that they were kind of able to get through the process and how the governor vetoed them. He postured that's why we're in the position that we're in today. Jeff bragged that he was with the group 100%.
"Anything I can do working as a freshman, I work as hard as I can on these issues. We worked hard to make sure the other side didn't put in rules for people who are on public assistance programs. We work as hard as we can to keep people in their houses. I’m committed to doing that. I’ll continue to do it."
He added that anyone could always call him because he's always available to come to rallies and March.
"What ever we do, you have my commitment as long as you have me in office to do that."
Then after his speech, he left too. He gave up a total of 15 to 20 minutes for this cause, and the fun was only just beginning.
Dave Bicking, the Green Party candidate for the 9th Ward gave a moving speech. Unfortunately, due to low batteries, I wasn't able to video tape it. I saved what little power I had left to videotape what occurred at the US Bank, which was full of security guards and two Minneapolis police officers standing at the door of the bank. They obviously knew what was coming. Luckily, Dave was kind enough to send me the transcript of his message:
We are here today because we know we have a crisis in our city. We have a crisis of foreclosures, we have a crisis of evictions, and we have a crisis of demolition of salvageable affordable housing. This is tearing apart entire neighborhoods, leaving empty holes in the fabric of our communities. It is forcing people into homelessness while hundreds of homes stand vacant. It is uprooting families, it is causing children to move during the school year, and it is tearing old neighbors apart from one another.
Like all crises, there are those who are suffering, and there are those who are profiting off of that suffering. The banks, like the one we are standing in front of, profited greatly while creating this crisis. Now the government is saving them from the risks they took, while these banks continue to squeeze homeowners with adjusted mortgage payments that they cannot afford.
The people who have been hurt the worst are poor people, people of color, and the residents of entire inner-city neighborhoods, no matter what their color. Discrimination in housing, and gentrification carried out by what we used to call “urban removal” is nothing new. ACORN and other groups fought against discrimination in the 70’s, eventually leading to the passage of the Community Reinvestment Act, which prohibited redlining. Banks had been targeting entire neighborhoods by making it impossible for residents to get mortgages to buy houses there.
The banks never changed their motivation; they have never given up their greed. Once redlining was outlawed, they targeted these neighborhoods and they targeted people of color with unaffordable, unjustified subprime loans.
Where has our government been? We can see that the federal government is still far more interested in saving the banks than in saving people’s homes.
Where has our city government been? Our local government, where we can hope to have more influence? Is it supporting the banks, is it supporting the developers, is it supporting the speculators who are buying up foreclosed properties and empty land? Or is it supporting those who are being evicted, those who are homeless? Is it supporting the neighborhoods that have been hit the hardest?
There are some hopeful signs. It is good to see city representative’s here standing with us. It is encouraging that the city has passed a resolution urging banks to work with people to keep them in their homes.
But the city can do more, and we need to press the city to do more. Just as the banks have targeted certain neighborhoods, just as the banks have targeted people of color, the city has also targeted these neighborhoods and these people for discriminatory treatment. We know that police service and police protection varies by neighborhood. We know that police treat the residents differently in different neighborhoods.
We know that the city inspections department has been more of a problem than a solution in many neighborhoods. While slumlords get by with letting housing deteriorate, some homeowners receive heavy-handed treatment. For instance, the Northside was targeted a few years back with an inspections sweep that added serious burdens to homeowners in that neighborhood. Some homeowners have to pay to replace their sidewalks even as they try to save enough money to stay in their house and keep it from being a vacant neighborhood eyesore.
We need the city to take a strong stand on the side of those who have been the victims of this crisis. The city needs to focus on saving our existing neighborhoods, not on encouraging new condominium developments.
The city should be working with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. The city should be encouraging putting people without homes into the homes without people, not sending in the police to forcibly evict people in the middle of the night.
The city should be working harder to fight the discrimination that is behind so much of our foreclosure and homelessness problems. Right now, the mayor is proposing eliminating the part of the city’s Civil Rights Department that hears claims of housing discrimination. The city has never given enough support for the Civil Rights Department; we need to call for the city to strengthen civil rights enforcement, not cut it.
In short, we need the city to take sides – will it prioritize the profits and rights of the banks, or prioritize the needs and the rights of the city residents? We are the residents, we are the voters, and the city needs to work for all of us.
The group had created a declaration that they wanted to give to US Bank. They headed to the door where police stopped them shouting, "You must leave. You are on private property."
The demonstrators were peaceful, but they weren't budging. Three to four more squad cars arrived and again police told the protesters to leave. After a few minutes the group did head back to the sidewalk and thanked everyone for coming.
I was so pleased with this demonstration, but disappointed that Hayden and Glidden abandoned those that are truly in a state of desperation. So much for the promise of "Call me any time" or the pledge of "solidarity."
Neither of them marched with the group. Why weren't they standing along side the marchers leading the group to the doors of the bank? How much more powerful could these two politicians message have been had they done that? This scene reminded me so much of the promises of support by Minneapolis politicians prior to the RNC, only to have them, Poof! Disappear without a trace when the time came to back words with actions.
They passed a resolution?! What the hell? Why didn't they create a program for those losing their homes like they did for the Advantage Program, which allows others to buy the homes of those they're supposedly helping standing along side now?
According to the link on the City's website under the section devoted to Post-Purchase Foreclosure Prevention and Mitigation, Hennepin County and the Family Housing Fund added $400,000 to expand the foreclosure counseling capacity in Hennepin County. If one is to believe the information contained there, there's counseling available for distressed homeowners for just about everything to do with the crisis. Catastrophe averted... everyone can go home now. I guess as long as elected officials and members of the media have homes to go to, the crisis is over. Right?
From where I sit, the City and CPED (Community Planning and Economic Development) own enough homes to give some of them up. The City bought a building for $500,000 for 6 people to open an art space, allowing them 6 months to purchase it from the City. This is a business that's not likely to bring a dime into the community. Then the City throws them another $275,000 in stimulus money. Hello! I can think of better things the money could be used for. How about keeping people in their homes, people who are losing them because they have been laid off from their jobs and can't find work that pays more than $7 an hour. I don't want to hear that one thing has nothing to do with the other. The times, the economy and job loss has changed so many variables since the election last fall. Anyone who handles a budget knows that we must make changes when the proverbial rug has been pulled out from under them. What makes elected officials think they don't have to be creative? Where's the money from the bailout, the stimulus bill and the omnibus bill? Why does the government have money to increase its spending to record levels without helping out the people that will have to pay off this enormous debt?
On a city level, I've heard about the financial burden put on people by city inspections through the Clean Sweep program, and Dave mentions it in his speech. That was created and enforced by our City Council. I know Don Samuels did it on the Northside, and I know it was done in the Central neighborhood too, two of the hardest hit neighborhoods in the city. I realize that we all want things to look as though nothing has gone afoul around us, but this type of enforcement is crushing to many and for many, not enough time has been allowed to resolve the complaints. Our city officials have to be held accountable for much of this demise. This has been going on a lot longer than the past year or two.
Our City, and our government representatives, all of them, could have done a lot more for the people that they now claim to stand along side. But this is an election year, so words are cheap and the appearance of action is everything. Remember at election time, our city created a program to allow people to buy your homes at rock bottom prices off of your misfortunes. On this issue, I am with your fight!
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/foreclosure/#P10_1532
