5/2/08:

Film showing, "Boom: The Sound of Eviction" on Friday May 2nd at 2:30pm in Blegen Hall room 125 on the U of M campus. See below for details.

you are invited to view a film "Boom: The Sound of Eviction"

(http://www.boomthemovie.org/). It is about San Fransisco, but similar

issues of gentrification and battles over space are happening here as

well. Bring yourself lunch or just come watch the film and stay for

discussion.

Friday, May 2nd, 2.30PM, Blegen Hall 125 (to be confirmed). Film

description is below:

Enthralled by dreams of instant wealth during the dot-com boom, the

world largely ignored the disastrous housing crunch that plagued San

Francisco - "Mecca of the New Economy."

Now the bubble has popped and most of the startups are gone, but the

tidal wave of gentrification that came with the new industry has

changed the city's landscape forever. This new documentary takes stock

of the dot-com boom and bust and asks the question - Who benefited?

By turns humorous and scathing, Boom delves into the ironies and

contradictions of the "New Economy" and delivers a potent social

critique that is ambitious in its scope while remaining close to the

human scale. The viewer moves easily between dot-com party crashing at

one end of the economic spectrum and painful moments with evicted

families at the other. Boom features interviews with dot-com workers,

real estate developers, and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, as well

as those who challenged the new economic order through community

organizing, electoral politics, and direct action.

3/18/08:

"Advantage", the $10,000 mortgage downpayment interest-free forgivable loan program from the city of Mpls, is getting rolled out soon. There's a public hearing on it Tuesday, March 25, at 1:30 p.m. before the Community Development Committee of the Minneapolis City Council. For more info, see the article in the Corcoran Neighborhood News.

 3/14/08:

Movement for Justice in the Barrio is a group we should look into. They fight gentrification in NYC using the philosophy of the Zapatista's Other Campaign. They're coming to Austin, TX on March 21st, so I'll just miss them.

2/25/08:

There will be a talk by Ryan Murphy on "The Gay Land Rush" at the U of M at 3:30pm Wednesday Feb. 27th.

(I attended this talk. Here's a brief summary and I'll try to get a copy of his paper to post -L):

• Looking at the last 30 years, a period of reduction of social welfare.
• The gay male identity becomes a "value add" for real estate, making fabulous gay lifestyles the new welfare state.
• Condos often host "Lavender Night", welcoming the GLBT community to the new development. One condo agent said at such an event, "Gays are great owners and really add value to the building and the neighborhood."
• To see how condos are being marketed to gays, just look at Lavender Magazine.
• Why are gays offered as a solution to economic problems in the Twin Cities? (Some stats on poverty and race, see paper for exact numbers, but the number of African Americans living in poverty in the TC has increased dramatically.)
• Frame: Myron Orfied explains poverty in a racialized and sexualized way. Sexuality is blamed for poverty (i.e. lack of family with a father). This justifies sate efforts to intervene in people's sexual lives, social lives, language and culture... claiming it will fix poverty. Therefore it's ironic that while sexuality is being used as a reason for moving people out of neighborhoods (African Americans), it's also being used as a reason for moving people in (gays).
• Gay men loved the bungalows in North Mpls. This led to a high level of real estate appreciation there.
• Angela Davis: Gender, race, and sexuality should be basis of solidarity.
• How does city policy support marketing to gays? How do developers identify their market to the planning commission?

2/25/08:

Starting next week we will no longer be meeting at the Jack Pine. Check your email or contact L for info.

2/17/08:

We decided at this class to narrow our focus to the Whittier n'hood, but you're welcome to continue to research West Phillips and bring info if you'd like.

We're going to meet next weekend at the Jack Pine, but may change location for future classes. Contact L after next class for info. Some people will be missing some March class sessions, so keep in touch with whether you're planning on coming or not so we make sure we have a critical mass.