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<br />RESOLUTION NO. 20 – <br /> <br /> <br />RESOLUTION CONDEMNING THE USE OF DISCRIMINATORY COVENANTS, <br />DISCHARGING DISCRIMINATORY COVENANTS ON CITY-OWNED PROPERTY, <br />AND APPROVING PARTICIPATION IN THE JUST DEEDS COALITION <br /> <br /> <br />WHEREAS, discriminatory covenants were tools used by real estate developers to <br />prevent BIPOC and non-Christian individuals from buying or occupying property in certain <br />areas, and they were common throughout the United States from the early 1900s to the 1960s; <br />and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the purpose of discriminatory covenants was to racially and religiously <br />homogenize communities by excluding BIPOC and non-Christian individuals from Golden <br />Valley. These tools segregated the metro area and built a hidden system of apartheid; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, in 2016, the University of Minnesota founded Mapping Prejudice to expose <br />the racist practices that shaped the landscape of the metro area. Mapping Prejudice <br />researched restrictive covenants in Hennepin County and created the first-ever comprehensive <br />map of racial covenants in an American city. The project mapped 24,131 covenants in <br />Hennepin County, including 1,604 covenants in Golden Valley; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, an example of a common covenant in Golden Valley declared that “No part <br />of said premises shall ever be used or occupied by or sold, conveyed, leased, rented or given to <br />Negroes, or Mongolians or Hebrews or any person or persons of the negro race, or Mongolian <br />race or Hebrew race or blood; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the discriminatory covenants in Golden Valley are concentrated along its <br />borders with Minneapolis and Robbinsdale, and in other desirable areas in the City, such as <br />near downtown, around parks and open spaces, and near the private golf course; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the City of Golden Valley owns sixty-one parcels of land that contain a <br />discriminatory covenant, including parcels located in the Golden Ridge Nature Area, Lakeview <br />Park, Seeman Park, North Tyrol Park, and South Tyrol Park; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, City leaders knew about the use of discriminatory covenants and sanctioned <br />their use. For example, meeting minutes show that in 1938 the Planning Commission and City <br />Council required the developer of the West Tyrol Hills subdivision to impose discriminatory <br />covenants on all lots in the development as a condition of granting the required land use <br />approvals; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, restrictive covenants are no longer enforceable. Legal efforts to eliminate <br />Discriminatory Covenants include Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948), in which the United