2022-08-03 PC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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By MaryJo Webster and Michael Corey • Star Tribune • Aug. 7, 2021 Drone video by Mark Vancleave, audio by Michael Corey. L iz Stroder has dreamed of owning a home since she was a teenager. Definitely a garden. Maybe some chickens. More than anything, the St. Louis Park apartment dweller wants to give her 14-year-old son the stability that comes with homeownership. But Stroder has realized that’s out of her reach, with a median home price in the Twin Cities now topping $350,000 and her income as an insurance underwriting assistant holding stagnant. Those “rose-colored glasses were lifted,” she says. All of this was on the 42-year-old’s mind when she approached the microphone during a contentious public meeting in St. Louis Park early last year. The crowd had spent the first hour opposing a developer’s plan to build a 4-story, 80-unit apartment building, saying it would threaten their property values and bring crime into the Elmwood neighborhood. “There’s a monster being built in front of our cottages!” one woman exclaimed. “I will not risk my children for this kind of stuff,” said another. Despite hecklers and a lot of “hatefulness” in the room, Stroder said she felt compelled to speak up for people like herself who cannot afford the American dream of a single-family home. “I’m used to not being heard because of the fact that I’m a renter, and I’m a Black woman, and I do not make a lot of money, not enough to afford a $400,000 house in St. Louis Park,” Stroder told the mostly white crowd. “Do I not deserve to be here because of that?” (http://www.startribune.com) (https://www.facebo u=https%3A%2F% twin- cities- housing- rules- keep- the- metro- segregated%2F600 (https://twitte url=https%3A twin- cities- housing- rules- keep- the- metro- segregated% (https:/ section