Valentine's Day Fire Forces Tough Questions

When the fire at 4425 Aldrich Ave N--owned by the infamous Mahmood Khan--broke out several months ago, a common refrain was relief that everyone was able to escape in time.  Many wondered what would have happened if circumstances were just a bit different.  If the fire had started somewhere else, or if it spread just a bit faster, would we be mourning deaths instead of sighing in collective relief?  Tragically, we don't have to wonder "what if?" because the unthinkable has happened.  Five children are dead, and a family is torn apart.

When news spread about the Valentine's Day fire at 2818 Colfax, plenty of northsiders' first words were, "I bet it happened at a property owned by _____."  That blank had one of about five well-known landlords in it, and Paul Bertelson was among them.  Initial investigative results are already pointing away from foul play and indicating the fire was an accident of some sort, making the next question obvious:  How could we have kept this from happening, and how will we keep something like it from happening again?  We shouldn't need a senseless tragedy like this to cause us to ask some tough questions around housing in Minneapolis.  But it's happened and we better take a hard look at how and why.

Picking Up Trash and Watching 4th Street

Post and second photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.  First photo contributed anonymously.

Earlier this week, two neighbors and I took time out of our day to pick up trash along 4th Street North from 26th Street down to 24th.  We brought along 3 heavy-duty garbage bags usually reserved for Clean Sweep events.  Two of the three bags started to rip from the collective weight of liquor bottles we picked up.  This, unfortunately, is not an exaggeration.  But a funny thing happens when you walk around picking up garbage.  You have a convenient excuse to spend a fair amount of time watching a block and gathering details.  Heck, some of the people hanging out on the streets just assume that if we're picking up garbage we must be with Sentence to Serve or some such agency.  Since the only conceivable reason to pick up litter is getting caught breaking the law, then maybe, in the eyes of the thugs, we're all right.

In the top photo, we see a crowd gathered at 326 25th Ave N, which seems to bolster the claim by Michael Bell that people at that address are part of the problem too.  That contributed photo, however, was not taken during the time of the garbage pick-up.  I just like the juxtaposition of the squad car in the rearview mirror.

What we did see was a slew of problem properties, owned by some familiar faces - starting with...

Coffee with Paul Bertelson

Post and stock photo by the Hawthorne Hawkman.

Shortly after my first post about a property in poor condition formerly owned by Paul Bertelson, he called me up and asked if we could meet for coffee to talk things over.  I immediately agreed.  My goal in writing about problem properties and/or their owners is to change whether problems of crime or blight occur at these properties.  If that can happen through a constructive dialogue with landlords, so much the better.  And if not, then NoMi neighbors and bloggers shouldn't pull any punches about the extent of any problems we're seeing.

With that in mind, Paul and I first talked about...

Photos from a Shooting at a Bertelson Property

Post by the Hawthorne Hawkman, contributed photos.

After the post about the interior of a former Bertelson property, another NoMi resident sent me photos from a shooting that happened at 2815 Humboldt Ave N over the summer.  The address in question was and still is operated by Paul Bertelson.  Given the nature of these photographs, I had debated whether to publish them here or not.  They aren't graphic in any way, just sensitive.  But then another Hawthorne resident told me about problems on the 300 block of 23rd Ave N due to the behavior of tenants at two properties managed by this landlord, and I started to reconsider.  After all, parents should be able to let their kids walk home from the school bus without undue worry.  And the last straw was reading over on JNS about yet another shooting at a party (this one at a house NOT managed by Bertelson or Mission Inn).  And I thought that I'd rather keep such things on the front burner for a while so that we as a community don't forget what can happen at a poorly managed rental property.

Also, I really wanted to be wrong about Bertelson and Mission Inn Inc.  Like many a slumlord, he presents himself well and is well-spoken.  He had the guts to show up at block club meetings to discuss property and tenant concerns with the neighbors, and even appears to have responded directly to comments over on JNS (and I hope he still does those things).  He's involved in religious activities, and appeared to genuinely want to do right by the neighborhood.  But I've said it before and I'll say it again; being a nice guy and wanting to do the right thing aren't enough, and if landlords are contributing to problems in our neighborhood, we'll call them out on it.

Now, about the rest of those photos...

Inside a (Former) Bertleson Property

Post and photos by the Hawthorne Hawkman

In the midst of chronicling the downfall of Paul Koenig and the vast empires of slumminess run by the likes of Khan and Moghul, some NoMi residents suggested that John Hoff and I take a look at a landlord by the name of Paul Bertelson (who also owns properties under a quasi-religious entity called Mission Inn Incorporated, and sits on the board of an organization called YouthWorks, whose website boasts of previous involvement with Urban Homeworks).  Bertelson at the time owned maybe two dozen properties that we knew of, and I drove around to examine the exteriors.  They didn't seem to rise to the same level of blight as other problem landlords, so blogging efforts were focused elsewhere.  (Although Bertelson did get "Jerk du Jour" honors over on Irving Inquisition)

Not long after that, we'd heard of tenants at a Bertelson property on the block who had serious problems with the electrical systems and other basic aspects of a house that you'd think would be up to snuff if there were a rental license.  Neighbors called the city and county and were assured that the issues would be addressed.  To his credit, Bertlelson even came to a few block club meetings in south Hawthorne this summer.  (Simply showing up to a meeting doesn't grant slumlords neighborhood or blogging immunity; just ask Mahmood Khan and McKinley.  But it's a step above Stephen Meldahl, that's for sure.)

Bertelson put on a good show for the Hawthornites, and people seemed somewhat satisfied with--although wary of--his responses to our concerns.  After seeing the interior of this house, a property once owned by Bertelson or his LLC and now lost to foreclosure, it may be time to rethink that stance.  Upon entering the house, one immediately sees...