Tornado, The Aftermath

by Polly Mann

Would I be willing to hand out leaflets to north side residents of Minneapolis who  lived in housing which had been hurt in the May 23rd  tornado?  The Disaster Loan Outreach Center would be available for informational help and the U.S. Small Business Administration would offer recovery loans for homeowners, renters and business owners on Saturday July 16th.  The organization, Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB) of which I am a member, was interested in ascertaining who and who was not getting help and if not, why not.  I had no excuse to say No, so I went along with Michelle Gross, president of CUAPB.

 Not many people turned up for help at the Lucy Craft Laney Elementary School, and if success were measured by numbers, the few hours spent there might have been deemed a failure.  But those of us who engage in tilting at enormous windmills like the wars in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq have learned that success cannot be measured by attendance numbers alone.  Just too many coincidences that ensue proving your presence was important.

Here is what happened:

A couple of police people walked in and out of the school building. I figured they might ask why I was there and I was deciding how I would answer.  However, their questions never came and I wondered if my being white had anything to do with that.  Most all the people affected by the tornado were Black.  If the tornado had chosen Minnetonka, would police have been stationed at a Minnetonka school building?

A couple of  people left the school with applications for loans.  Several others that Michelle and I talked to said that, for one reason or another, they didn’t qualify for help.  One man told us that he had been homeless since the tornado.  His lodging had been destroyed, and he had no money for a down payment on anything else.  One woman said that her car had been totally demolished as well as all her furniture and possessions in the apartment building in which she had been  living.  There was no help for her.

After a couple of hours Michelle and I took the long way home – through the area the May tornado had traveled. It was impossible to estimate the area affected for the tornado must have skipped and turned, demolishing one house and leaving its neighbors on each side absolutely intact.  According to newspaper accounts, 11,035 people reported damaged property.  Though badly damaged, it was apparent the houses had been well-cared for; shrubs and trees were healthy and some geraniums and roses still bloomed in sheltered side yards and clay pots. The scattered laths from broken-down fences were  intact.  In almost every neighborhood workmen were busy at some stage of roof repair, and the sound of electric drills or saws filled the air.

The houses damaged were still in an unfinished state of repair.  Some, obviously, were not going to be repaired.  Roof after roof was covered with plastic, awaiting new shingles.  Many trees had been cut down – not removed but cut down.  There were huge tree stumps in every block that had been hit – huge root structures upending sidewalks and skeletons of trees with only a few leaf-covered split branches.  Across the top of one garage rested a sixteen-foot section of a large tree.

There were also many many houses with windows and doors boarded up.  There would be no return for these structures.  It would be interesting to know just how many people will have no housing to return to.  If we lived in a society where the well-being of the people was the first priority of the government, we’d have answers to such questions, as well as the government’s plan for assisting all affected people to secure housing.

This concern would be a far cry from one response of the Minneapolis city government, which was the placement of a pink printed slip on the doors of many damaged houses, a warning that read that if the house was not repaired by July 30th, the owner would face fines and possible criminal charges.

I think this policy would have been challenged by Abraham Lincoln, who said that the legitimate object of government was to do for the people that which needs to be done but which, they, by themselves, cannot do too well.

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2 Comments

  1. Lucia Wilkes Smith July 19, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    I live in an area of North Minneapolis that the tornado missed. I know that thousands of people from inside and outside the area have helped with donations of time, money and equipment to assist in alleviating the destruction since May 23. I believe the addresses posted with a pink-slip deadline are owned by absentee landlords (with few exceptions), and I believe they SHOULD be fined and charged when they do not repair their property. However, it can be cheaper for them to default and have the city demolish the structure, so these leeches escape any responsibility. Please don’t jump to conclusions about what has happened and what is happening with and for Northside residents. Low-interest loans from any governmental body may be available but won’t be helpful to renters with low-wage jobs or anyone who is unemployed. Repayment isn’t feasible. Many people require direct aide, which is being provided by several agencies and organizations as well as individuals.

  2. carollmasters July 19, 2011 at 6:30 AM

    An important article — how can we address this issue as WAMM?

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