On Wednesday, June 4th, 2024, The Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) of the City of Minneapolis unanimously approved the nomination to designate Glendale Townhomes as a historic district. This is the second time the commission has approved this nomination, as the previously approved application from 2020 expired. Both times, the Community Planning & Economic Development ( CPED) and Minneapolis Public Housing Authority ( MPHA) recommended a motion for the HPC to deny the nomination. Here is CPED recommending HPC to vote no under item #7 of the June 4 agenda. It is interesting to compare this to the 3 other private properties on the agenda that CPED recommended yes for historic designation. These are single properties mainly vacant in the  North Loop. At the same time, CPED recommended no for Glendale’s historic designation. Even though Glendale is the only Section 9 public housing with 184 properties- townhouses with a 5 to 7-year waitlist.  

During the June 4th Heritage Preservation Meeting/ Presentation, from 1:17:37 to 1:29, MPHA representative Mr. Brian Schaffer uploaded a PowerPoint by MPHA and CPED that listed reasons why HPC should deny the nomination to designate Glendale Townhomes as a historic district. Please note that if Glendale becomes a historic sight, MPHA will face barriers to demolish it.  MPHA and CPED said: “There are better ways to preserve history than designation.” They give no consideration to the families that Glendale houses. During the preservation meeting (timestamp 1:26:39), MPHA used an image from the Glendale Exhibit’s Oral History Interview (timestamp 20:24), created by Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition (DG&PHC) to show that they want to preserve the history while  MPHA wants to displace its low-income families and children. MPHA demonizes, slanders, attacks, and intimidates the Glendale tenants that founded & run DG&PHC along with mainstream institutions and politicians. Yet they continue to use our work. It is difficult to comprehend why MPHA would use our labor on this exhibit and then manipulate it to justify why they should demolish Glendale Townhomes. Using the labor of the exhibit team, such as current and former Glendale tenants, volunteers, and MN Transform AGAINST, what we are advocating for is not just callous but also condescending, classist, and racist.  

MPHA, STOP using our work. 

If MPHA truly cared about “amplifying and supporting” the story of Glendale, they would have long ago. 

MPHA’s approach of putting the onus of preservation work on residents and organizers through storytelling rather than the historic designation mechanisms put in place by the City shows that the  Minneapolis political leadership does not value Section 9 public housing. This local history work is our way of advocating for the protection and preservation of the Glendale community and all Section 9 public housing communities at risk of being demolished and displaced for profit. 

We will not allow Glendale to be an afterthought written in history books as a displaced community. 

#StopMPHA