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Home My WebLink AboutCEC Agenda Packet_8.23.21CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Regular Meeting of the Falcon Heights - Community Engagement Commission City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue AGENDA August 23, 2021 at 7:00 P.M. A. CALL TO ORDER: B. ROLL CALL: Larrabee ___ Cooley-Kistler ___ LaDouceur ___ Ebbesen ___ Dumbacher ___ Locke ___ Campbell ___ COUNCIL LIAISON: Gustafson ___ STAFF PRESENT: Walter ___ C. PRESENTATION: D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 1. June 21, 2021 E. DISCUSSION: 1. Debrief on meeting with Just Deeds 2. Human Rights Day F. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENTS: G. ADJOURNMENT: Next Meeting: September 20, 2021 CITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Regular Meeting of the Falcon Heights - Community Engagement Commission City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue MINUTES June 21, 2021 at 7:00 P.M. Note: This meeting was held by web conference. A. CALL TO ORDER: 7:03pm B. ROLL CALL: Larrabee _X__ Cooley-Kistler _X__ LaDouceur _X__ Ebbesen _X__ Dumbacher _X__ Locke _X__ Campbell _X__ COUNCIL LIAISON: Gustafson _X__ STAFF PRESENT: Walter __X_ C. PRESENTATION: D. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 1. May 17, 2021 Motion to approve the minutes by Karen Cooley-Kistler; Approved, 7-0. E. DISCUSSION: 1. Ice Cream Social – Thursday, July 22, 5-7:00pm, Community Park a. Commissioner updates on resource fair contacts b. Staff updates c. Assign remaining tasks • CEC members will be attending, Julie may be unable to attend. • Karen is still waiting to hear from the International Institute, they are under construction at the moment. • Dana will reach out to MNHousing/RentHelpMN • Laure can reach out to Como Park Block Nurse Program • Julie will reach out to someone at the Minnesota State Fair. Dena asked whether the fair could sell tickets on site, Ashleigh said she would check • Julie connected with someone at Workforce Solutions as well as a Solar Energy Resource and will follow up • Karen will connect with someone at the Good Acre • Randy will connect with NineNorth and NYFS • Julie mentioned that outreach at apartments could be Fall or next spring • Ashleigh will connect with Julie to provide contact info for multifamily apartment management/ownership 2. Redlining & Racial Covenants Discussion • A group of residents met with Penny Peterson about racial covenants and believe there are likely properties with these in Falcon Heights, particularly in the Northome neighborhood • Volunteers have been reading deeds from Ramsey County and finding many in Falcon Heights • 11 cities are already part of Just Deeds • Would be good to provide residents information on how to remove covenants from deeds, or commit resources to assist residents • Eventually there will be a way to lookup deeds by address • If we became a Just Deeds city, there would need to be some commitment of volunteer resources by legal practices and/or some memo from Council acknowledging the partnership Roll Call for making this topic the Human Rights Day event theme; Approved, 7-0. F. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENTS: • Unity Day Event on July 6 will be at 8:00 for the groundbreaking for the Peace Garden • Restoration Day will be happening on July 7 at the City Hall lawn G. ADJOURNMENT: 8:18 pm Next Meeting: July 19, 2021 Racial Covenants Conversation: Just Deeds Program Thursday, August 12, 2:00pm Present: Jared Shepherd, Attorney, Campbell & Knutson, one of the founders of Just Deeds Yakasah Wehyee, Council Member Randy Gustafson, Mayor & CEC Liaison Ashleigh Walter, Staff Liaison • The Just Deeds project started in summer 2020, group of city attorneys were having conversations spurred by the George Floyd death and the aftermath. • Trying to determine if could be some pro-bono work done on behalf of residents wanting to discharge covenants; started working with Mapping Prejudice • Just Deeds came out of that effort- Cities connect residents with a network of pro-bono attorneys to help discharge racial covenants • The US Supreme Court ruled in 1948 at that racial covenants were unenforceable • While covenants were prohibited by the Minnesota Legislature in 1953, they remain in the deeds of many homes built prior to that. Falcon Heights has many homes that are pre-1953. • Participating cities in Just Deeds create a webpage with information. Usually a form is available for residents to request assistance removing racial covenants. Staff refer residents to list of pro- bono attorneys that have offered services to program. • Mapping Prejudice has completed Hennepin County and is projected to finish the mapping of Ramsey County in 2021. • Hennepin County waived recording fees associated with removing racial covenants, it’s possible that Ramsey County would follow suit. • Residents locate property using the map and determine that their property has a racial covenant. • City of Edina mailed postcards to every property with a racial covenant • No financial commitment to joining Just Deeds, but need to commit staff time to managing partnership and working with residents to connect them to resources • Sometimes cities own land with racial covenants. In Richfield, some city park land had racial language in the deed. • Free the Deeds is an arts group that provides yard signs/art installations- signs in yards of houses that have discharged their racial covenant. Jared can connect us if we would like. ITEM FOR DISCUSSION City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota __________________________ Item Human Rights Day Description At the meeting last month, the commission voted on the theme for Human Rights Day. The topic decided for this year’s event will be racial covenants. Below are a list of items that the commission should decide: 1. Date of the event- The international observance for Human Rights Day is Friday, December 10. If a date for the event can be determined, staff would like to publish a save the date in the fall newsletter to begin outreach. 2. Format of the event- Last year’s event, which focused on immigration and new Americans living in our community took place as a ~90 minute Zoom webinar that was broadcast live on Channel 15 by NineNorth. There was a presentation by an expert, followed by a panel discussion, and audience questions. What would the event look like this year? Video screening and discussion? Presentation and free time to look up deed language? Read an article and discuss in groups? Zoom vs. in- person? 3. Organization(s) to partner with- Partnering with the International Institute for last year’s event brought expertise and information about a local organization that residents could get involved with following the event. Depending on the format, what organizations might the CEC like to engage in this event, as speakers/presenters, etc.? Who will be contacting these organizations to request assistance? Budget Impact NA Attachment(s) NA Action(s) Requested Discuss items listed above. Meeting Date August 23, 2021 Agenda Item E2 Attachment NA Submitted By Ashleigh Walter, Administrative & Communications Coordinator