Star Tribune
Owner of Burger Moe’s wants to tear down St. Paul’s historic Justus Ramsey house
The Justus Ramsey House, built in 1852, sits on the patio of Burger Moe’s on W. 7th Street in St. Paul.
It’s one of the oldest houses in the city and the oldest surviving limestone house from St. Paul’s pioneer era, and it’s listed on three historic registers — including the National Register of Historic Places.
But recent damage has prompted the stone cottage’s owner to seek its demolition.
Neighbors say the owner apparently wants to add more tables to his patio.
“That’s what Moe always says,” said Dave Thune, a longtime area resident and business owner. ” ‘I could get four more tables in there.’ “
Contacted by phone Friday, Burger Moe’s owner Mojtaba Sharifkhani — who uses the name Moe Sharif — was asked why he applied to knock down St. Paul’s oldest stone house.
“I’m not in position to talk about it,” he said.
Asked if he would be willing to sit down and discuss it later, he said, “I don’t need to talk to you.” When asked for the name of his attorney or representative, Sharifkhani said, “No.”
“Moe’s been wanting to get it out of there for eight years,” said Thune, the area’s former City Council member. “He’s been asking me, and I have been saying, ‘Moe, this is an incredible asset. This could be a wedding chapel.’ “
Thune added: “He just doesn’t see it as an option for him. It’s hard to keep a building upright if the owner doesn’t want it.”
Sharifkhani’s move to raze the 16.5-by-34-foot cottage has mobilized preservationists to save another historic building in city’s most historic neighborhood, said Tom Schroeder, an attorney and area resident. The Historic Irvine Park Association, Historic Saint Paul, the Little Bohemia Neighborhood Association and the West 7th/Fort Road Federation have joined in the effort.
Schroeder said preservationists filed an emergency petition with the state Environmental Quality Board for an environmental assessment in order to “stop the clock” on demolition. It was accepted for review.
Because the Justus Ramsey House is a local Heritage Preservation site — on the state and national historic registers — demolition permits must go to the Heritage Preservation Commission for review and approval.
A hearing before the city’s Heritage Preservation Commission has been scheduled for Nov. 7.
Questions about damage
According to Crystal King, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections, Sharifkhani submitted a standard demolition application on June 29. DSI inspectors wrote condemnation orders on Sept. 21 and Oct. 10.
“This means that the house and the patio cannot be occupied,” King wrote in an email.
Schroeder, who owns the historic Waldmann Brewery nearby, and Jim Sazevich say they wonder how such a historic building so quickly came to warrant demolition.
One of five surviving pioneer stone houses in St. Paul — a list that includes Waldmann — the Justus Ramsey House has been extensively reviewed and inspected over the years, Schroeder said. As recently as 2015, it was in “perfect condition.” Now, there is a hole in the roof, the interior has been damaged, and part of an exterior stone wall has collapsed.
Sazevich, a historian with an encyclopedic knowledge of St. Paul’s oldest houses, said he’s known Sharifkhani from when he was “slinging hash” at the diner across the street from Burger Moe’s. That diner is now the Downtowner — also owned by Sharifkhani.
The little cottage is an aggravation, Sazevich said.
“He came to me and said he wanted to tear it down or change it to better serve him,” Sazevich said.
As the owner of an historic property, Sharifkhani should have been required by the city to keep it in good repair, Schroeder said. He wonders why that didn’t happen.
“That’s a great question,” Schroeder said, adding he is required to do so for Waldmann.
Schroeder and others are raising the alarm on a fellow business owner because they say preserving even a few historic sites enriches the entire community.
“I don’t know Moe very well, but I know him enough to know he’s a good person,” he said. “His values may not lie in preservation. Clearly not. I mean, he’s applied for a demolition permit for this structure.”
What now?
In an email, a spokesman for Mayor Melvin Carter wrote that “the mayor is aware of the issue and is monitoring with city staff.”
City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represents the area, helped broker a deal in 2016 that saved St. Paul’s Hope Engine Co. No. 3 fire station from being razed. It is now the Hope Breakfast Bar. Preservationists have asked Noecker to intercede again.
“I’ve heard a lot of concern from the community, from neighbors. I’m working to slow [demolition] down,” Noecker said. “Often, we can find more creative solutions than it originally appears.”
She pushed for an independent review of the structure, which has been cordoned off to keep the public away. The cottage’s future, she said, is likely somewhere else.
“Everybody agrees this isn’t the best location,” Noecker said.
Neighbors have suggested moving it to other sites, including several vacant lots in the area or to open space near Keg & Case Market, on the grounds of the former Schmidt Brewery. A meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Waldmann to discuss alternatives.
Has she heard from the mayor’s office?
“I have heard nothing from the mayor so far,” Noecker said.
The small house was built in 1852 for Justus C. Ramsey, brother of Alexander Ramsey, who owned the property jointly with Alexander and others from 1849 to 1852, according to Sazevich. The first known resident was Robert A. Smith in 1853. Smith would later become St. Paul’s longest-serving mayor.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings