Trahern Pollard’s organization, We Push for Peace, is now in its third week as the new management of Merwin Liquors.
The organization was hired by Merwin Liquor both as security and as staff, just as Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced the business was being investigated as part of addressing continued gun violence and drug dealing along Broadway in North Minneapolis.
Winners Gas Station is also being looked at as a business that may be permitting crimes to occur.
Shootings have happened outside both stores in recent weeks. Neighbors are demanding the businesses be shut down due to ongoing problems.
“I’m not personally just the answer, let’s be clear,” Pollard said in a Fox 9 television report. “It’s going to take all of us working together collectively to have an impact.”
“To say that people are skeptical of possible change that will stay at the intersection of Lyndale and West Broadway is an understatement,” said Jeremiah Ellison, Council Member for the 5th Ward. “And that’s taking nothing away from the new management on the corner. I really like ‘We Push for Peace’ as an organization, and again, I do hope there’s a permanent solution here one way or another. But two weeks of changes in the grand scope of how long this intersection has been a problem, the community’s not going to be convinced right away. Time and diligence will prove whether we have made progress. The city’s going to have to be diligent as the Attorney General’s office continues with their case.”
Ellison was addressing the Thursday, October 6 virtual Hawthorne Huddle meeting of Hawthorne Neighborhood Council (HNC). His remarks followed an update on State actions against Merwin Liquor from Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, who is also the Council Member’s father.
In describing what the Attorney General’s office had authority to do to support public safety concerns of North Minneapolis residents, Keith Ellison detailed Minnesota regulatory compliance requirements that the businesses must meet or face sanctions including fines and license revocation.
The Huddle discussion elevated community concern for illegal and dangerous activity in the Merwin Liquor’s store and parking lot, and, at Winner Gas Station across Lyndale on the northeast corner of the intersection. Fourth Precinct community liaison, Bill Magnuson said community and Precinct concerns include the Walgreen’s parking lot on the south east corner. He said open illicit drug sales and use have been observed in the Metro Transit Bus Shelter on the south west corner. The flooding of North Minneapolis with high potency synthetic fentanyl, a deadly opioid, is one of the factors causing elevated alarm in the community, Magnuson said.
The community wants a permanent solution. But, there are legal barriers, he said. “These businesses have property and state rights. And maybe they should have rights that can protect them. The government shouldn’t be free just to snap their fingers and change the whole landscape of a corridor. We’ve all been living with this intersection and a few more or quite some time,” Ellison said. “Different plans for the West Broadway intersection take us back 10 to 15 years. But now I’m encouraged that Inspector Adams has afforded us some continuity and brought us a real vision for what MPD’s role will be in tackling some of these issues. This collaboration has certainly been of benefit to me as a lawmaker in this Ward.”
Ellison said there has been a long history of community and city officials trying to work with Merwin’s Liquor Store, the loitering eyesore and crime hotspot on the northwest corner of the West Broadway/Lyndale intersection. “We’ve had a choice of coming to them with regulations and fines, or we could come with negotiations and incentives. But then the state stepped in, and a civil action is going forward. The city is still in conversations with the business, Minneapolis Police Department’s 4th Precinct Inspector Charlie Adams, and with the city’s business licensing and other legal departments.”
He said the area’s only hope for sustainability at that intersection is to continue with the regulatory approach until community leaders and city and state officials can land on a permanent solution, something that ultimately creates safety on that corner forever.
We Push for Peace with founder and CEO TraHern Pollard and his team have made a lot of progress working with ownership and customers, he said.
Sanctuary Church, which built a multi-million dollar edifice and headquarters adjacent to the Merwin’s store, owns and controls the balance of the block. Sanctuary had expressed an interest in purchasing that corner and made a good faith effort. Ellison said it was unfortunate the church deal didn’t happen, but the neighbors still have a vision for the area.
He said folks in the neighborhood have observed that boulevards facing parking lots are a place where bad things occur.
“Bringing the business activity up to the street level to make it more walkable and with security in place could be a possible solution,” he said.
“Some residents prefer new businesses all together for the area, but that’s easier said than done. It’s a process,” Ellison said.
Ellison said he will convene more meetings as the Attorney General’s investigation pushes forward. The business licensing department will continue to wade through their findings, and document how the new management is doing to create safety on that corner.
“I think we do need to have a vision for that corner,” Ellison said. “But anytime you’re talking about privately owned land, you’ve got to have a willing seller. That’s a necessary component we’ve never had. And if we were able to interest a willing seller, they want to get out of there with a windfall that banks might not approve, and appraisers might not agree with. These realities are the barriers we have had to face. But I do agree we need a bigger vision for that intersection, and I believe the city needs to be a major partner in making that investment.”
