Daredevil, Gentrification, NIMBYs and the Neighborhood

NIMBY: "not in my backyard: used to express opposition by local citizens to the locating in their neighborhood of a civic project, as a jail, garbage dump, or drug rehabilitation center, that, though needed by the larger community, is considered unsightly, dangerous, or likely to lead to decreased property values."--Dictionary.com. 

Please note that the dictionary definition of NIMBY does not include people who resist the displacement of neighbors by luxury real estate development.


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Last year, Marvel's "Daredevil" leaped out of the small screen via Netflix to millions of viewers worldwide. The story of a blind New York native fighting to save his neighborhood, "Daredevil" was heralded as "TV's first gentrification-fighting superhero."

By day, the title figure is Matt Murdock, a young attorney. Murdock and his partner Foggy Nelson use their newly-formed practice to defend Hell's Kitchen residents of limited means who are being forced out of their homes by a big-time developer and his associates. Unlike billionaire superhero Bruce Wayne (Batman), Murdock operates frequently in the red (pun intended). He lives in a dingy warehouse walk-up flat. He and Foggy struggle to pay their bills and their assistant Karen's wages. Their clients are the poor, the down-on-their-luck, the marginalized.

Murdock is blind, but he can hear and smell exceptionally well.

Murdock's adversary is heavyweight real estate developer Wilson Fisk. A native of Hell's Kitchen, too, Fisk had a disadvantaged and dysfunctional childhood. His collaborators are heads of crime syndicates, bankers, and corrupt police and city officials. What he can't acquire through money, Fisk acquires through violence.

Unlike many superheroes, Daredevil frequently gets the crap beat out of him. One wonders how he can even walk the day after a fight--and sometimes, he can't. He's laid up for days recuperating from being battered, sliced and diced by criminals and those hired by uber-criminals  like Fisk. The human persona, Murdock, fights these same elements as a lawyer, and finds the violence spilling over into the daylight neighborhood as well.

Both Murdock and Fisk like to talk about "my city,"as if each feels he somehow owns it. Murdock doesn't like the old neighbors being replaced by affluent newcomers. He hates to see affordable, rent-controlled old apartment buildings replaced by luxury condos and lofts. He wants to save his city from the corrupting influence of big money and power. On the other hand, Fisk thinks he's doing "his city" a service by removing those who can't afford the fine dining, upscale living, and cultivated tastes of the upwardly mobile.

Fisk: Are you there? Can you hear me?
Daredevil: Who is this?
Fisk: I think you know. You've been asking about me. I thought it was time we spoke.
Daredevil: Say your name.
Fisk: You first. That's what I thought. You and I have a lot in common.
Daredevil: We're nothing alike.
Fisk: That's what you'll tell yourself.
Daredevil: You're feeding off this city like a cancer.
Fisk: I want to save this city, like you... only on a scale that matters.

Boom! There goes the neighborhood. Fisk blows up parts of Hell's Kitchen to seize it for development.

If Daredevil/Murdock lived in the Wedge, his attempts to stop the wrecking of old buildings and the building of thousands of high-rent units would be met with a cry of "NIMBY!" from local development supporters. NIMBY is a term accurately applied to hypocrites like the pro-fracking Exxon oil CEO who sued to stop fracking near his multi-million dollar home. NIMBYs want to stop half-way houses, Section 8 housing construction, thrift shops, but they aren't against luxury condos and trendy new apartments. The relentless cry of development boosters is a kind of NIMBY-Tourette's, the accusation hurled again and again at those who don't like the escalating wrecking and building of high-density high-rent units in the neighborhood. It's an egregious misuse of the term, designed to shut up complainants. And so far, that's what it's done.

Unlike NIMBYs, Wedge residents want more affordable housing for both renters and homeowners. But thanks to the City, the banks, the corporate media, and local developers, the Wedge is being crammed with high-priced units, units that are proving slow to fill up, with the more expensive places having the highest vacancy rates.

In a breathtaking display of hypocrisy, 10th Ward CM Lisa Bender and her supporters spout oral formulaic about "affordable housing" and "green living" while methodically destroying affordable housing and replacing it with unaffordable housing, raising rents and taxes--and sending thousands of tons of reusable buildings to the landfill. The City Planning Commission, City Council, CPED (Planning), and CM Bender have their chosen developers, Drew Levine and Danny Perkins (a.k.a. KLP Realty Holdings, D&D Realty Holdings, DDMZ REal Estate, Lotterman-Madan, 2817 Girard), whose projects are rubber-stamped without comment, no matter how far they stray from City zoning and other regulations. Yet CM Bender and her acolytes have the gall to call their detractors NIMBYs--which is the exact opposite of what those opposing her pet development projects are.

If you're going to call names, at least use an appropriate epithet, DIMBYs.

Case in point: 2008 Bryant Ave. S. The existing house was sold to KLP (Levin and Perkins) immediately after being listed, before any other interested parties could react. KLP quickly came up with plans for demolishing the house and replacing it with a four-story, ten-unit apartment box. The proposal--despite its requiring significant variances from the City zoning code--breezed easily through the first steps for approval by the City, through CPED and through the Planning Commission. No notices were sent to surrounding property owners, the City's new stealth policy about neighborhood development. Last Friday, March 28th,Wedge neighbors went to the Planning Commission hearing to see what would be said about KLP's 2008 Bryant proposal, #3 on the agenda.  They got there at 4:38 to find a note on the door advising them that items #1 and #3 had already been approved. When they went in, the commission members were discussing item #2.  The commission gave the reason that no one was there to testify, so why not just skip over #2, and approve #3 out of order? Right.

Daredevil looks down on the mean streets of Marvel's Hell's Kitchen

Wedge residents who are trying to stem the tide of luxury condos and high-rent apartments think of Minneapolis as "our city." We hate seeing a battalion of real estate speculators and developers bulldozing their way through our neighborhood. We hate it when many Wedge residents can no longer afford the rents or taxes on their homes. We hate it when our streetscapes are being littered with ticky-tacky architectural monstrosities. We hate it when our streets are becoming packed with vehicles. We hate it when Levin and Perkins acquire the homes of  resistant sellers by making offers that they can't refuse, premiums of tens of thousands of dollars that no other buyers can match. We don't want these things in our back yards for good reason.

But most of all, we hate it when we feel that the City is not listening to us, that citizens' voices are being methodically silenced in public discourse, that local government has gotten out of the control of City voters and into the control of moneyed interests. Sound familiar? This sense that government representatives on all levels are becoming increasingly disconnected from the people they allegedly represent is a loud complaint coming from both left and right wings in the current presidential campaigns. The ones that understandably don't want this situation to change are the ones who brought us to this sad pass in the first place--the political establishment. Both parties have a lot to answer for, but in Minneapolis, the one-party town, the party that needs to start listening to the electorate is the DFL. From where I sit, the only representative who is making an effort to listen to his constituents is Keith Ellison. For City officials, especially CM Bender, there's only self-righteous, self-serving political theater.

But--returning to Hell's Kitchen--don't kid yourself. The kind of gentrification we're seeing in the Wedge has been going on in New York neighborhoods for decades. The real Hell's Kitchen--not the Marvel one--has already been given over to the gentrifiers--the luxury developments, the upscale restaurants, the fitness centers. And that's what makes "Daredevil" so poignant, yet terrifying.

What is satisfying about the Netflix "Daredevil" narrative is that we can clearly identify who's fighting whom. Fisk is a larger-than-life figure, a powerful man who talks directly with those fighting him. He reminds the officials he's bought who's boss and what will happen to them if they don't perform. He does not hide behind a corporate veil. He doesn't play a real estate shell game using a dozen LLCs and multiple surrogates. He doesn't have private meetings with city officials to hide what he's really up to. Fisk stands up for what he believes in, no matter how twisted it may seem to others.

Fisk in his office. Prominently visible behind him is a copy of Robert Caro's 1974 biography of NYC urban planner Robert Moses.

Fisk may be a ruthless real estate developer, but his motives are pure. He loves Hell's Kitchen, his home since birth, and wants to improve it.  But the road to Hell is paved with good intentions--in his case, megalomaniacal good intentions. Venal Minneapolis city officials, armed with their corrupted version of current urban planning theory (a la Fisk and Robert Moses), have turned over the Wedge to rapacious developers. Who's going to stop them? Does anyone know Daredevil's phone number?

At the end of the second season, Daredevil is farther than ever from his goal of saving his neighborhood. He's nearly been killed, he's lost friends, he is battered and unsure of what to do next. But the satisfying thing about him is that though he may lose his way, he never doubts his goal of protecting his neighbors and neighborhood he loves from the ravages of greed and corruption.
 

                                      Whose city is it? Ours? Or the developers'?
 --T.B.

Don't Mess Around with the Demolition Men

1963-1975: 100+ Wedge houses wrecked for apartment buildings.
1975-2015: 0 Wedge houses wrecked for apartment buildings.
February 2015-February 2016: Wedge houses wrecked for apartment buildings:

2320 Colfax
2316 Colfax
2808 Colfax
2743 Dupont
2809 Girard
2815 Girard
2821 Girard
2424 Lyndale
*2008 Bryant 
*slated for demo soon

Michael Lander and At Home Apartments brought the first two down for what is now Motiv Apartments. But all the rest are the work of Drew Levin and Danny Perkins of KLP Realty (a.k.a. D&D Reality Holdings, DDMZ Real Estate, Lotterman-Madan, 2817 Girard Avenue, Farkas Wagner).

Along with their financial partner, Steven Kalin, Levin and Perkins own dozens of properties in Minneapolis, including 26 in the Wedge:
         1008 W. 26th Street
         2344 Aldrich Ave. S.
         2008, 2113, 2612 Bryant
         2612, 2621, 2808, 2814 Colfax
         2521, 2557, 2612, 2644, 2701, 2725, 2743 Dupont
         2812 Fremont
         2700, 2709, 2715, 2809, 2815, 2821, 2828, 2832 Girard
         2424 Lyndale

Do their names sound familiar? That may be because Drew Levin and Danny Perkins are the stars of HGTV's "Renovate to Rent" series, described on the network website this way: "Real estate agent Drew Levin and his partner, contractor Danny Perkins, have been friends since college and now run a successful renovation business together.  They strategically buy old or foreclosed homes in desirable locations, but rather than flipping them for a quick profit, they Renovate to Rent.  Using specific design plans, they transform these homes to attract top rental dollar.  Even though they’re young, they already own and manage over 70 homes, and the number just keeps growing."

But instead of flipping seven of these "for a quick profit," they are demolishing them and building apartment buildings for even bigger profits.

Last year, KLP wrecked this 1880s duplex at 2743 Dupont:

And replaced it with this four-story thing that towers over its neighbors:

Then they wrecked this bungalow on 2800 block of Girard and the two houses to its north for an apartment building now under construction:

2821 Girard Ave. S. before demo by KLP

The living room of 2821

The new DUMP, er, KLP apartment building on 2800 block of Girard

                                                             Bette Davis comments.
The next wrecking is planned for 2424 Lyndale Ave. S. The replacement appears to be a clone of the 2743 monstrosity.

 2424 Lyndale before demo

UPDATE: 2424 Lyndale being wrecked, March 7, 2016

KLP's most recent project, their second Wedge apartment building, is slated to replace the house at 2008 Bryant Ave. S.  Plans for the new building show a  four-story stucco box containing 10 units with small, cramped rooms, covering most of the lot. Despite the fact that the building will house at least 10 tenants and as many as 20, plans call for only two parking spaces. That's because the orthodoxy of Minneapolis City Planning insists that everyone should be walking, biking, or taking mass transportation, not driving. If you are a tenant with a car, you'll just have to join the melee for spaces out on the streets of the Wedge.
 

Bummer: Your car is wedged in so tight, you can't get your bike onto your car's bike carrier. At 4 p.m. today I walked the 2800 blocks of Fremont and Girard. There was not one open parking space on these blocks.

KLP's demolitions and replacements with new higher-density apartment buildings have been done with the approval of the City of Minneapolis, notably of 10th Ward Council Member Lisa Bender. Again, planning orthodoxy demands that the City provide medium- and high-density housing for the 50,000 new residents it hopes to attract. But for some reason, this high density housing winds up being built in the Wedge by demolishing and rebuilding, rather than on the North Side, where scores of lots remain vacant. And the new Wedge apartment units are far from affordable; instead, the new ones replace ones that did have modest rents.


When will the wrecking end in the Minneapolis? It's hard to say. Perhaps when this fantasy-driven high-density building craze ends in a crash, perhaps when the area zoned for higher density is filled.  What area is this?  Take a look at this zoning map. Any building outside the pale yellow area is potentially in danger. The areas most in danger are the Wedge apex north of 26th Street and the area just north of the Greenway.

Endangered: the remaining houses on the 2700 and 2800 blocks of Girard and other blocks around 28th Street.

For decades the neighborhood association repeatedly petitioned the City to downzone the area north of 26th. It hasn't happened yet, and given the current political climate, certainly won't in the near future. The City wants more young affluent suburbanites and well-to-do retirees and fewer of the motley assortment of renters of modest means.

This afternoon the City Council sent a clear signal to neighborhoods in approving the Graves hotel at Emerson and Lake in Uptown: Whatever developers want, they get. The City has scrapped the Small Area Plan, zoning, and environmental concerns in favor of a development which, at six-stories, is way out of scale with the surrounding houses. It will certainly lower the property values and attractiveness of the houses around it, but who cares? Density is all.

The rising sun illuminates the six-story hotel coming to Emerson and Lake. No traffic, no traffic lights, no nearby buildings, no trash. Just an empty horizon full of promise.

What's your vision for the Wedge and other Minneapolis neighborhoods? If the City and KLP get their way, we'll see more big, chintzy boxes out of scale with the neighborhood and fewer of the old houses that have been the trademark of the Wedge and other Uptown neighborhoods for decades.

        "Tied to the tracks and the train's fast coming
          Strapped to the wing with the engine running
          You say that this wasn't in your plan
          And don't mess around with the demolition man
          Tied to a chair, and the bomb is ticking
          This situation was not of your picking
          You say that this wasn't in your plan
          And don't mess around with the demolition man."
                  --from "Demolition Man" by Sting 1993

First to go down: 2320 Colfax, the Orth House

--T.B.