Paul Cantrell
Hey #Minneapolis: Another hearing coming up on the Third Precinct building!
This is one during the day on a weekday, but if you can show up to help fill the room, please do. It’s one of those times when “packed” means “impact.”
The Mayor is still trying to ram through plans the neighborhood doesn’t want, and Longfellow Community Council wants folks to show up for this one to keep the pressure on.
Monday, June 26th at 1:30pm
Minneapolis City Hall chambers, Room 317
1/2
Paul Cantrell
Re the above, fom @iangreenleaf (with the caveat that it’s “reading the tea leaves” and not definitive info):
“I don't want to get overconfident here, but it seems like we have at least backed Frey down from his initial timeline for forcing through whatever he wanted. His office had originally been angling to make an announcement at the end of May, and they have been very quiet since opposition started getting a bunch of press.”
Pressure is working! Keep it going!
Paul Cantrell
For those out of town / not in the loop:
The Minneapolis Police 3rd Precinct building — the one that was the epicenter of the global uprising, the one that burned down — is now the center of a local controversy.
The short of it is the mayor wants it rebuilt in situ, and the neighborhood wants it gone / turned over to community. The mayor’s been trying a community input process with a “heads I win, tails you lose” structure, and neighbors are not having it.
Paul Cantrell
Here’s some news coverage that gives a bit more of the flavor of the local controversy, though (like my post above) still just brushing the surface:
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/community-organizations-demand-more-transparency-for-mpd-third-precinct-future/89-b1e6c96f-2886-431a-aa19-15677f744065
Paul Cantrell
There’s a lot of unhealed wounds in the neighborhood, Jacob Frey’s city government has done an absolute shit job of handling it all, and feelings around this run •deep•. The building is both physical and symbolic blight — and thus what happens to it is symbolic too.
Imagine, after everything they’ve done with basically zero real accountability for the department, imagine the Minneapolis Police getting a giant shiny new building. Imagine, and you’ll begin to understand the community outrage.
Paul Cantrell
As long as I’m rambling on this topic:
Many of those “unhealed wounds in the neighborhood” are situated in the other buildings next to the Third Precinct, the people who live and work there.
This is, among other things, an immigrant neighborhood. Folks fled their homes, seeking refuge from state violence and riots, and came to…this.
I hear some of those immigrant business owners were still sleeping •in their businesses• months or •years• later out of fear it might all happen here again.
Paul Cantrell
Something that’s hard to appreciate from afar is the extent to which the Minneapolis Police not only failed to keep us safe during the uprising, but actively •provoked• the violence, allowed the destruction of neighboring building to protect their own, even actively •prevented• fire crews from putting out burning businesses. Yes, really.
Imagine you’re one of those neighbors living in fear of the next time. A new 3rd Precinct building looks like a giant time bomb.
Paul Cantrell
It feels like we had a nuclear power plant meltdown here in Longfellow, they dealt with it by vowing to keep failing nuclear safety reports private in the future, and now they want to build a new nuclear power plant in the same spot run by the same people, but with a nicer facade.
Daniel Taylor
@inthehands I'd feel safer living next to a nuclear power plant than a MPD station
Paul Cantrell
@RandomDamage Yeah, true, nuclear power plants experience meaningful oversight and have safety standards they actually have to follow
SocialistStan
@inthehands get a bulldozer and smash what's left?
Paul Cantrell
@SocialistStan
This has long been the prevailing neighborhood sentiment, yes. Even people who aren’t on board with police abolition view that ruined building as a blight and an insult and are furious that it’s still there.
Paul Cantrell
UPDATE: Date change; the 3rd Precinct is no longer on the agenda for June 26th.
Don’t know if this is deliberate fuckery from the city in response to word getting out among activists, or just normal bureaucratic foolishness. Also don’t know if there’s a clear line between those two.
I’ll post more info when I get it.
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