Minneapolis Homeless Tent City Walk Through-Bob Davis Podcast 771

Minneapolis Homeless Tent City Walk Through-Bob Davis Podcast 771

During the summer homeless people pitched a few tents along a highway in Minneapolis. Politicians visited. Publicity helped the camp population swell to hundreds. Take a walk through a homeless tent city in Minneapolis Homeless Tent City Walk Through-Bob Davis Podcast 771.

Homeless People In Lots of Tents Equals Instant Controversy

Now, as the weather gets colder interest and controversy about this encampment grows.

Native Americans In Tents-New Immigrants in Public Housing

Most of these folks are Native Americans. The camp is less than a hundred feet away from public housing. Especially relevant many of the public housing units in the neighborhood are occupied by recent immigrants to the US.

Tent Cities Everywhere-America’s New Homeless Problem

Across the country these tent cities are popping up. These days everyone knows about homeless in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. What about Minneapolis? Documentarian Brandon Fertig is making a video detailing America’s homeless problem. Brandon’s website and links to social media are here. Last summer he decided to focus on the tent city here in Minneapolis. He says things have changed a lot when it comes to the Homeless since the 1950’s.

More Homeless Than Houston-Despite The Cold

Why? Many people don’t know the City of Lakes has more homeless than Houston.

Walk And Talk Through The Encampment

What you hear is what we experienced when Brandon and I did a walk and talk through the encampment.

Some Are Helping Now

We met James Cross of Natives Against Heroin and Allan Law, better known as the Sandwich Man. We also spent some time talking with residents of this tent city at Franklin Avenue and Highway 55 in South East Minneapolis. Check it out in Minneapolis Homeless Tent City Walk Through-Bob Davis Podcast 771.

Solutions May Not Be In Time

Finally what about solutions? One of the Tribes is tearing down a building across the highway. The plan is to bring in trailers. They won’t be ready for another two months. Moreover not all the residents of the camp will be able to move in. Then what? No one knows. Learn more in Minneapolis Homeless Tent City Walk Through-Bob Davis Podcast 771.

Politicians Visit In Summer-Not Around When November Winds Turn Cold

In conclusion Minneapolis could have a very serious and controversial problem on its hands when the weather changes. The real question is whether the city’s policies of subsidized apartment buildings for the rich, as well as other ‘regentrification‘ projects fueled by public money have contributed to the problem. Meanwhile the problems of the old city are stubborn reminders all is not well in the shining city of Minneapolis.

Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul

Minneapolis Homeless Tent City Walk Through-Bob Davis Podcast 771

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Podcast 342

Fighting City Hall. They say you can’t fight city hall and win, but residents of Invergrove Heights, Minnesota recently proved getting involved in your community has a big pay off. Unelected planning councils, county planning commissions, and other layers of local, regional and state government can sometimes be daunting. There are a lot of complaints about the heavy hand of government, and you often hear the words, “I would get involved but it never does any good anyway”. A group of residents in “InverGrove” as it is called, found out they were going to lose their homes through Eminent Domain Condemnation when they learned the county planned to build a 6 lane highway right on top of their homes. Homeowners gathered, organized, learned the details, suggesting solutions. Moreover, they learned to work together. Sometimes partisanship can be a great thing, but sometimes the ‘my way or the highway’ approach literally means, the highway. Learn how these people worked the system to a ‘win-win’, and how compromise isn’t always a dirty word. The question is whether this kind of approach can be applied to bigger problems in bigger cities; Invergrove Heights is a suburban city of about thirty two thousand people. The moral of the story? Faceless councils and bureaucrats make decisions for communities that are often simply guidelines, and they’re adopted because no one says anything. You can alter these plans if you get involved. Hear how they did it, in their own words. By the way, yes we can cover local stories from the road, this time in Amarillo, Texas! Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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