South

I was born and raised in St. Paul’s Midway and have lived on and off in South Minneapolis neighborhoods (Longfellow, Corcoran and Powderhorn) for over ten years. As an artist, previous renter now landlord, previous student now full-time academic, I can trace my personal transformation alongside the neighborhoods I have lived. When I moved back from California after attending graduate school, I was shocked by the changes in the Midway and Frogtown neighborhoods. The light rail with its fancy mixed-usage housing and commercial spaces up and down University Avenue eroded my childhood memories. These were the blocks where I went trick-or-treating in the 1991 blizzard, walking with my family to my grandmother’s house. The snow, way above my knee, meant I was dragged most of the way by my father. These were the blocks where I first fell in love, learned to drive, and developed lifelong friendships. Across the river in South Minneapolis similar changes have occurred.

While the scholarship and community organizing around gentrification is extensive, I want to respond to two points in this study regarding culture. First, gentrification requires a change in naming practices by residents. The fear of “uptowning” is a legitimate concern as new, often middle class and white residents, move into the area. I would argue, however, that while we, as residents, fear uptowning, the real detriment to our community has already happened — the neighborhoods have been “Midtowned.” Walk up and down Lake Street, especially near the Midtown Global Market and you will see blue and yellow banners proudly hanging Midtown pride. Business owners along the corridor push for this branding as a way to unify a racially diverse area and simultaneously spotlight the avenue as a tourist destination for outsiders. Nancy Mirabal (2009) argues in her study on gentrification in San Francisco, the erasure of neighborhood names and the renaming of areas are vital to displacement.[1] With all the new names in Minneapolis — North Loop, South Loop, Near North – I become dizzy as I try to remember what was before. The five neighborhoods in this South Minneapolis study have unique, culturally specific histories. Gentrification requires new residents to believe nothing of value existed before, and requires long time residents to forget. There is resistance in remembering what was present before a $20 candle store came to the neighborhood or remembering the dreams that gave rise to Black-owned small businesses on 38^th and Chicago Avenue.

Second, gentrification is fueled by the fantasy of play. Foundational to the creative economy is leisure. The creative class’ award for working hard, is playing hard. Entire cities transform to bring the freshest and hottest amenities to urban epicenters. In Minneapolis, new professional sports stadiums, transit overalls, greenways, bike lanes and walk-able corridors entice the creative class. Under a racist capitalist settler colonial system, however, not everybody is free to play. Part of our history as a nation-state is coming to terms with the reduction of Native bodies and bodies of Color (especially African and Black) to merely a means for labor production. Ritual, performance, and leisure were stripped from these communities. Fast forward to 2017.  We witness the residue of this work continue to manifest in our police departments, neighborhood watch programs, and park systems. When interviewees in this study highlight the “white women running in the neighborhood” as a sign the neighborhood is changing, these residents are identifying a historical and racialized practice of disciplining certain bodies and allowing other bodies to move freely in public space. To challenge leisure politics, we need to play in public space and protect those who do not have the privilege to do so without being harmed. I am inspired by groups like Left Wing TC soccer who play in Powderhorn park, the Ecua-Volley players at Sabanthani, the Black bicyclist groups and Tamales y Bicicletas who slow roll around the neighborhoods, and the Native Water Protectors that shut down Cedar Avenue to play their drums. We don’t need greenways or bike lanes or micro-breweries. We need to support the businesses that “promise [to] not go nowhere,” and tell each other the stories of what existed before Midtown.

The gentrification that is in process in South Minneapolis is growing and ever apparent. The building our business and community organizations we are stakeholders in are in is now on its third owner in just three months. The price of the building  increased by over $100,000 with each flip of the building ownership and now the price has gone up again. This building was listed at $250,000 at the beginning of 2017 and now less than 12 months later is being quoted at $525,000, more than doubling in price. This of course affects us directly because with each turn over, rent increases. Our future in this building that we and so many others have invested our lives into is even more unstable as we don't have a clear picture of what the new owner intends for us or the building. We only secured a 12 month lease. We need to buy a building that community can have confidence will continue to be there for and with them. We need funding sources for long term, stable ownership. Anyone out there got half a million they wanna donate?

The predatory building and home buying that is happening, i.e. offering lower than market value to struggling owners, is changing our neighborhoods. If there were real accessible programs available for current owners of commercial and residential properties, and current business owners, we could help long term residents and business owners stay in the neighborhood. Instead, those folks are forced out by rising property taxes, predatory development corporations, foreclosures, etc. and new folks move in.

The city does have several programs for business owners and for property owners, but they are hard to find and access. The programs also don't often compliment one another, or make it easy to even collaborate between business owners and landlords.

The process of owning and running a business is quite stressful. When, as a business owner, you are unsure about the longevity of the space your renting for your business it makes it almost impossible to plan for the future.

Development or redevelopment is not a bad thing. The displacement of residents and business by those developers is tragic. The lack of sharing of the development derived resources that come into the neighborhood with the existing communities in that neighborhood, is gentrification. The solution to the food desert in our neighborhood was a coop, which is more expensive to shop at and inaccessible for many. The coop received millions from the government to open and run, but yet the long standing food shelf across the street from the coop often doesn't have fresh food available for most of the community of folks who cannot afford to shop at a generic grocery store let alone an organic coop. That's so messed up.

Even the writing of this response has proven difficult for us. It brings up fear, anxiety, feelings of not being in control of our business, uncertainty about the future and frustration because we don't have the resource to just buy our spot. It brings up the reality that unless you have a boatload of money or great credit that you are at the mercy of those who don't really care about you, your home, your business, or the people you serve and live in community with.

Roxanne Anderson and Anna Meyer, co-owners of Café Southside, are both life and business partners. Recently, Roxanne and Anna announced that Cafe SouthSide would close on Friday, February 23, 2018. In a statement from Roxanne and Anna they note, “We have been trying for months to negotiate a fair and equitable agreement with the building owner. After years of beautiful connections, artful expressions, happy reunions, resistance, healing, community connections AND sub-par space accommodations, property turn over and gentrification we have decided to refocus our energies and efforts.”

Roxanne Anderson aka DJDaddyRocks is a local broadcast journalist who's been on the airwaves of KFAI Radio’s Fresh Fruit since the late 90’s. Rox is also a community organizer who’s been working in social service for some 25 years and is an award activist - 2016 Co-Grand Marshal for Twin Cities Pride, honored by the University of Minnesota with a Community Excellence Award, Lavender Magazine’s 100 Fab Community Organizer Award, Twin Cities Black Pride Community Service Award for Diversity and Inclusion. Rox has been featured in Curve magazine, Lavender Magazine, Star Tribune, The Column, Rolling Stone and several Radio and TV stations for their community leadership and activism.  Currently Roxanne is the Board Chair for the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition, co-owner of Cafe SouthSide, the co-founder and director of RARE Productions, a multimedia arts and entertainment company focusing on producing and promoting queer artists of color.  Rox is a skilled and highly sought facilitator and is a parent, producer, promoter, DJ and likes to write and take pictures, and is a SouthSider for LIFE!!!

Anna Meyer is a light skinned mixed race queer femme who lives, works and loves in South Minneapolis. Anna has been working in local and national LGBTQ and POCI communities for over two decades. She spent over 15 years working with youth and families experiencing homelessness in the Twin Cities and in Washington DC. She has worked for equity and supported community in a variety of movements, organizations and methods throughout the years. She is skilled in creating, supporting and holding space for folks to be seen, supported and resourced with a harm reduction based holistic framework. She has been an advocate with and for youth, people of color and indigenous people, queer, trans and gender non conforming folks. She is the Co-Owner of Cafe SouthSide, works with RARE Productions and is focused on healing within our communities. Anna also helps organize sex positive education and events for the POCI kinky communities. She is an artist and is a fierce believer of art and expression as revolution and survival. Anna loves to spend time in the woods, by the water and with her two rescued pitbulls.