Be part of the solution...
Residents of North Minneapolis - please leave your comments and suggestions for improving our community..Be part for the solution.
Be involved.
Tell your neighbors. Email us for a pdf of a flyer to distribute.
Together we can make a difference
this is a grass roots effort by homeowners, and concerned citizens to create change.
Join your neighbors for the next meeting of the Northside Homeowners' Association and find out what actions we've taken so far and what we are going to do next.
Northside Homeowners' Association meeting
Monday, November 12th 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Folwell Park Recreation Center
Posts
5 comments:
I hope I can attend some future meetings... I really like what I am reading. For those that may be interested there is an organization called The Northside Marketing Task Force that is dedicated to promoting North Minneapolis in a positive manner and creating a new image. We will be(Iam involved) unveiling our new logo and slogan on Saturday November 10th at 3:00 to about 5:30 located at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Headquarters (West Broadway and the Mississippi River...next to "Broadway Pizza").
We will also be electing a new board of directors if you are interested. For more information you can contact me at feethurtseekurt@yahoo.com. Thanks! Kurt Lawrason
I really hope this organization find positive solutions for what you feel the problem is. It concerns me that there are comments in your minutes about generalizing and stereotyping people on Section 8 or renters. People who come into section 8 are typically single moms who’ve been on a waiting list for six years sleeping on couches, living w/family members, etc. and sometimes come with a bad attitude and without education on how to be effective community members. This comment perpetuates the image of North Minneapolis and quite honestly by saying and thinking it—does it help the problem or only add to it? By that comment being posted on the WWW for everyone to view, it illustrates an image identical to the one your organization is trying to eliminate. Quite ironic, isn’t it? As a new homeowner in North Minneapolis I understand and empathize your apprehension; however, it is disheartening to know the premise of this organization is to improve the quality of North Minneapolis and I raise the question as to why those types of comments and ignorance are permitted and why does it have a place in this organization? There are a few concepts that we are missing out on…Are you mad at the people who are on Section 8 or renters? Why aren’t you mad at the investors who take the government subsidized money? Some of these investors are not repairing or remolding the properties, we all know they do not provide tools for their renters to succeed, tools to become homeowners, let alone even care about what is going on their properties…are they helping the problem or contributing to it? When are we going to hold them responsible? In addition, many members of the northside are not as fortunate as we are. They are broken, their spirits are broken, they are lost, and sometimes they just don’t know any better or how to do better—if you had people always saying they have you figured out, or saying you have an attitude or all of you are single moms—maybe I would be discouraged and disenfranchised too. I know it appears so simple…doesn’t it? People just don’t know how to access the tools that you might feel is provided for them. Again, you feel it is easy or that they have all the tools to succeed--it is always so easy to judge but a little harder to do. I strive every day to be a part of the solution! I am a homeowner—even if I was a renter, I am an educated professional who goes to work everyday, I take pride in my house and its appearance, I pay taxes, and overall I am a good citizen. But, if you saw me walking down the street with a swagger in my step, a type of arrogance that I only GOD can take away, mocha skin, pants slightly low…what would you assume…what would you think?
Wow. Too much content here to react to it all, but being a multiple property owner, devoted and attentive landlord, and real estate investor, all the talk about blaming landlords for the majority of the area's woes makes me a little nervous. Don't get me wrong; I'm all for stiffer standards and penalties for landlords, but higher licenses and things like that...I'm not sure that's the solution. Tougher screening standards, stricter renewal reviews, sure; but the area should promote and welcome with open arms "good" landlords, especially those with a stake/vested interest. We're a company that owns all our properties in North and calls North our home. We don't own 5 properties in North with a personal mailing address in Eagan. Good landlords can be just as much help to an area as owners.
Also, could we please get over the Politically Correct mindset and fear of offending anyone? No one is saying ALL Section 8 is terrible and horrible; just the vast majority. No one is saying ALL people with "mocha skin, pants slightly low, with a swagger in their step" are gang-banging youth thugs...just the majority. It's time we start judging peolpe by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin. A bad person is a bad person, no matter if they're black, white, red, yellow, green or blue. For this organization, or any movement, grass-roots or otherwise, to suceed in dealing with the problems of North Minneapolis, the issue of race, class, and community accountabilty needs to be able to be addressed openly without cries of "ignorance" each time someone hears something they don't agree with.
First off, there needs to be a separate blog post for comments like those from Anonymous and Blake. Moderators--please post an open comment thread so that discussions like this one won't cloud the suggestions here.
Why didn't you leave your name anonymous? I really hope that you decide to come to a meeting instead of simply posting anonymously to a blog that's really making an honest effort to try to make things better...I also see no proposed solutions in your rant, by the way...if I were to rant on like this I would propose some solutions to the problem that this organization is trying to address. Try being constructive, and not hide behind anonymity. Your comments will have more credit.
People up here are frustrated. Property values are declining, and property taxes are rising. I used to feel the way you do that many community action groups paint with a broad brush. Until you've not slept for a year because of noise and drug dealing, had your car window smashed because you left it out of the garage, or had graffiti spray painted on your garage, you will not know the frustration that I know. It may seem like this organization may be picking on S8, and maybe they are, but I wish I could make it to meetings, but I'm trying to finish a college degree at the moment.
Second in an attempt to lead by example and pull this post back on topic, here are some things that I've been trying to get the city to do for a while that maybe this group can help with:
1. Step up and strictly enforce the following laws:
- Littering
- Jay Walking/walking down the middle of the street
- loitering
- Curfew violations
- Noise Violations
- Rolling Stops
- Speeding
- driving too slow
- Truancy
if the violator is a minor, put them in the squad car and DRIVE THEM HOME. Folks looking to cause trouble will move on if the heat gets put on them for nuisance crimes. Also, in the case of littering, how about a little pride in the neighborhood, eh?
2. Give cops a salary bonus or some sort of sweetheart loan to buy and live in a house in a higher crime neighborhood like ours.
3. Bring back foot patrol. Cops walking the beat are far more likely to bust something when potential criminals don't see the squad car coming...
4. I know that this improved some, but step up property inspections (see littering comment above)
5. If you break the law in the neighborhood, do the time in the neighborhood. Fines for littering, jay walking, graffiti, etc. go unpaid. Instead, you get caught littering in the 3500 block of X ave N, you spend a couple of days picking up trash on the 3500 block of X ave N (in addition to the fine if necessary). No trash? Mow lawns of elderly. Winter? shovel snow, remove graffiti, pull weeds or if there's really nothing else to do, sweep the alley or the street. By hand. Jay walking? Same thing. Give back to the people that you disrespected/took from. Don't show up? Sentence doubles. Don't show up again, go to jail.
Remember that these are just the opinions of a farm boy turned city boy. I hope there's some helpful info in here.
I have owned a rental property in Webber-Camden and one in Lind Bohanon for 20 years. I have noticed worsening behavior in the last few years, apparently corresponding with the housing price bubble. I attribute this to the up-surge of amateur and novice landlords buying and renting formerly homesteaded properties to undesirable tenants.
I have a suggestion for a way to improve the neighborhood and the city, using the juggernaut force of the free market. Unfortunately, the solution is not free, and therefore will probably never be implemented, since the old system--more ordinances, reorganization of city departments, sweeps, etc. is free (given that the resources involved are already within the budget).
The city used to have a department that would write mortgages to help marginal buyers buy a house. I suggest the city guarantee a mortgage through a conventional lender. (This means the city would have to buy the mortgage and foreclose the property if the purchaser defaulted, in the manner done by the VA and HUD currently.) This has the effect of turning marginal and sub-prime borrowers into excellent ones, backed by the city's resources. Like HUD, such mortgages would only be for those occupying their home, and assumable only by an owner-occupant purchaser.
Further, recognizing that few people chose the north side for their first home, the city could subsidize the interest rate. Would the come-on of a 3.9% fixed rate mortgage attract new homeowners to the north side? I think it might. This would cost around 8% at current market rates, say $8,000 on a $100,000 loan. Of course the expense of buying down the rate would be reduced by the city guaranteeing the loan--the low-risk nature of a city-guaranteed loan might bring a low enough rate without further buy-down.
Would it be worth bribing new homeowners at $8,000 or $10,000 each? I think so, but I'm sure many would disagree. In the long run, subsidizing purchases would drive the price of houses up, increasing tax revenue and reducing service costs. In the long run, this program would pay for itself. How much is the city spending to put more bad tenants in subsidized housing on the north side? I bet an equal amount spent to create homeownership would totally change the neighborhood.
However, I can confidently guarantee this program would be a total failure after one year. It won't make a difference (except to a couple of neighbors) when there are one or two extra homeowners. But how about in ten or fifteen years? What if there were twenty new homeowners every year? What if the previous year's twenty were still in place? Property values go up with demand. If anybody bought a house in Camden and then sold it for more five years later, how much appeal would that add to the neighborhood?
It's all connected. When values are low novice landlords can experiment. Bad tenants and falling values drive homeowners away. Homeowner flight drives values down.
Use the free market to reverse the trend. Only market forces can remake a neighborhood.
It is possible you can influence the city council to increase regulation of landlords, and some novice landlords may quit and sell if the penalties are severe enough. However, any novice who sells will probably sell his run-down, distressed property to a landlord more experienced at dodging city hall. If regulation creates a burden--which is what you want--in time it will be reflected in the market by lower property values. If it's more expensive to run a rental unit then the value of the unit when sold is less.
Unless there are owner-occupant buyers standing in line to buy for their own use.
Hope this gives you some ideas,
Karl
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