YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES

Global Search
Friday February 10, 2012
« White House watch, day 30: no response yet
Read about it in Sunday’s Whistleblower: Two stories of mystery charges appearing on account statements »

Latest homes on the demolition list: 301 Burgess Street, 1195 Bush Avenue in St. Paul, two burned-out hulks in Minneapolis

Posted on April 29th, 2009 – 5:59 PM
By James Shiffer

301burgess.jpgThe gabled house stood on Burgess Street in St. Paul for a hundred years. In December, the owner of record, Wade Brummund, was told by the city to abate the “nuisance” that the dilapidated home had become. It didn’t happen. On April 15, the St. Paul City Council ordered the demolition of 301 Burgess Street and another troubled home, 1195 Bush Avenue, within 15 days. Other homes on the demolition list got reprieves. That happens a lot, as property owners come up with last-minute renovation plans. Those frequently fall through as well, but it’s one reason the process can get so drawn out. Also this month, the Minneapolis City Council ordered the demolition of two houses that were struck by fires. No one is likely to mourn the loss of these two from the city landscape.

3808 17th Avenue South
380817th.jpg

1201 9th Street South
12019thst1.jpg

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 5:59 pm and is filed under Disposable cities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “Latest homes on the demolition list: 301 Burgess Street, 1195 Bush Avenue in St. Paul, two burned-out hulks in Minneapolis”

  1. John Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 2:01 am

    So what’s your point in blowing the whistle on such irrelevancy?

  2. James Shiffer Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 9:48 am

    Glad you asked, John. One of Whistleblower’s missions
    is to hold government accountable by seeing how it spends
    our money. Right now, the cities of Minneapolis and St.
    Paul are demolishing dozens of houses left vacant by
    the housing crisis. There’s a huge amount of federal
    money going into “Neighborhood Stabilization,” and that
    includes widespread demolitions. I think it’s interesting
    to see how this policy is changing the city’s landscape.
    It’s also pointing out, in some cases, who were the
    landlords who left taxpayers in the position of having
    to pay to demolish their houses. If you want to see my
    prior posts on the subject, go to http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/whistleblower/2009/03/11/disposable-cities-urban-foreclosures-vacant-houses-and-the-demolition-derby/
    and
    http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/whistleblower/2009/03/30/the-little-house-on-park-avenue-has-a-date-with-a-wrecking-ball/

  3. Whistleblower » Blog Archive » Cities using federal money to flatten decrepit homes, while St. Paul tells dozens of landlords to replace their windows Says:
    May 7th, 2009 at 11:41 am

    […] demolition push in St. Paul and Minneapolis that Whistleblower has been blogging about house by house got some big-picture treatment, thanks to reporting by my colleague Chris […]

Subscribe to Whistleblower

Learn more about RSS

The Star Tribune investigates

Categories