Star Tribune
Minneapolis has $8M to help people remove ash trees, but no relief for those paying off removals now
A federal grant will provide Minneapolis with $8 million to remove ash trees on private properties in disadvantaged neighborhoods, a significant relief effort for homeowners who would be otherwise assessed hundreds of dollars in removal costs.
But those resources can’t be used retroactively — meaning there’s no relief in sight for thousands of homeowners who are paying off tree removals previously ordered by the city.
They include Amoke Kubat, who reluctantly removed two ash trees from her North Side yard that city inspectors tagged in 2021 as infested with emerald ash borer, leaving her with two large stumps and a $6,000 bill. She’s glad the federal funding will help homeowners with future tree removals, but thinks the process of identifying and removing infested trees is flawed.
“The bottom line is, the ship has sailed for me. It’s on my bill,” she said.
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the agency that condemns infested trees on private property, has condemned more than 18,000 ash trees since 2013, with homeowners either paying up front for their removal or the city handling the job and then assessing their property taxes.
Tree removal assessments total more than $7.3 million, according to the Park Board.
Homeowners in more affluent neighborhoods typically pay out of pocket for a contractor to remove a tree, according to Park Board data. But residents of low-income neighborhoods, such as in north Minneapolis, disproportionately pay for tree removal via assessments and then see increased monthly costs. The $8 million funding is targeted at residents in such neighborhoods.
“We’re really grateful to have these resources,” said Kelly Muellman, environmental manager with the Minneapolis Health Department.
Several homeowners told Park Board officials at an October meeting that removal costs hurt their family budgets and that people of color, seniors and low-income residents were particularly affected.
North Side homeowner Melissa Newman, who paid $3,100 to have three ash trees taken down in 2021, told the Sahan Journal: “I inherited the tree trying to create the American dream of homeownership.”
City officials applied for the U.S. Forest Service grant, funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, in coordination with the Park Board. The $8 million will help hundreds of households, but the money could go fast; the city and Park Board are pursuing a $500,000 state grant for the same purpose.
The funding applies to U.S. census tracts considered to be environmental justice areas, where Minneapolis officials say at least 12,000 trees grow on private property.
The average tree removal in Minneapolis costs around $1,500, and the funding will cover the cost of removal, stump grinding and tree replacement. The city’s tree program manager, Sydney Schaaf, said officials are waiting for more details on how the grant can be used.
North Side residents disproportionately paid for tree removal via assessments, Park Board data show. More than half of the roughly 3,000 households citywide that paid for tree removal via property tax assessments in 2021 were in north Minneapolis. North Side homeowners also have seen high rates of tree condemnation.
The Park Board doesn’t target parts of the city for ash tree condemnation, said Philip Potyondy, sustainable forestry coordinator for the Park Board. “This has impacted people in every part of Minneapolis,” he said.
Newman said she would have been happy to spend $200 every couple of years to treat her trees to prevent infestation. But the Park Board doesn’t tell people that’s an option, and the Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution in 2010 advising against using insecticides to treat emerald ash borer, Forestry Director Ralph Sievert told the Park Board.
One day this summer, a crew showed up at Willis White’s house in the Jordan neighborhood — much to his surprise — to cut down a massive ash tree in his backyard. The final assessment came to more than $7,500 after fees and interest, according to a records request, making it the seventh most expensive removal handled by Minneapolis since 2013.
Nearly 900 assessments were done this year, amounting to about $2 million, before the Park Board paused the process in May to make changes. The board now requires removal companies to first examine the trees in an effort to get more competitive bids, Potyondy said. And the city offers homeowners the choice of repaying the tree removal debt on their property taxes over five, 10 or 20 years, reducing the monthly cost.
Park Board Superintendent Al Bangoura said he’s working with philanthropic groups to secure relief funding for people already paying assessments. “This is an absolute priority of mine,” he said.
Newman said she’s not unwilling to pay the cost of removal, but no alternatives were offered and no answers given about why her trees needed special removal techniques. She doesn’t want to see her neighbors get price-gouged, and she’s angry that no relief is coming to people who are paying off assessments.
“It’s such a slap in the face,” she said.
About the partnership
This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for a free newsletter to receive Sahan’s stories in your inbox.
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.
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