According to the Hennepin County District Court online database, Excelsior Development, LLC, the owner of the suuq, filed an eviction case (formerly called a UD) on January 30, 2004, against Ahmed Jama and Rukia Fatah, who operate stall A-114 at the suuq. The court database states simply that the filing was for non-payment of rent.
The court hearing appears to have been February 6, 2004, which is extremely quick for an eviction hearing for a non- payment case filing that occurred one week prior. Typically, the court hearings are 14 days from the date of filing. Why this one was seven days is beyond me. With some exceptions, not apparently present here, the absolute minimum amount of time to schedule an eviction is 7 days from the date of filing, on account of the need to serve the tenant 7 days prior to the hearing. There is no indication that the tenants failed to show up at the 2/6/04 hearing, and the database indicates that a judgment issued for the landlord on that date. We can assume--but not always--that the tenants showed up at the 2/6/04 hearing and argued why or why not a writ of recovery should or should not issue. If they did show up and argue their side, the Court is the ultimate arbiter of the issues raised and, presumably, made its decision based on the arguments it heard. Upon judgment, the landlord can obtain a writ of recovery which allows the HC Sheriff to 1. post the premises with the writ and the order to vacate and 2. forcibly evict the tenant if the tenant does not otherwise vacate within 24 hours of the posting of the writ and order. I assume this is why the sheriff's notice was present, which is typical, and also informs the tenant that they will be arrested for trespass if they attempt to access the premises. Yes, the landlord has a legal duty either to store the personal property of the tenant on the premises or off the premises. If off the premises, then the landlord has a lien against the property for the cost of removal and storage and may dispose of the property by public sale if the tenant does not arrange for payment of the lien and retrieval of the property. If stored on the premises, the landlord must make an inventory of the property and allow the tenant to obtain the property upon 24 hours demand. There are, of course, some varying and additional things that occur. That's the civic tidbit for today, though keep in mind that commercial tenants have significantly less statutory rights than residential tenants. Of interest, Excelsior Development, LLC, is headed up by John Bergin, of Bergin Nut Company fame, and has in the past (not sure if it still does) used one of the Sabri brothers as a leasing or management agent. Excelsior refers to the fact that the building housing the suuq is the former Excelsior Bakery, which you can confirm by the stone etched sign on the 24th street side. Gregory Luce Project 504 Residing in St. Paul > >> I just heard that a Somali businessman who is the spokesperson for >> other Somali businessmen at the Village Market in Ventura Village was >> forcibly evicted from his store this afternoon. Apparently, many of >> these business owners are now demonstrating in the street, and >> television crews from two stations are present. Does anybody in south >> Minneapolis know anything about this? >> >> Paul Weir >> Phillips > >I know something about this. I was at the Village Market suuq this afternoon >with Omar Jamal, from the Somali Justice Center, and some Somali elders. I >received a call from Jim Graham this afternoon about 1pm. Jim suggested to me >that there was, perhaps, an illegal eviction going on. > >I went there almost immediately. Upon arriving I found the Mpls. Police there >and a Hennepin County Sheriff's notice placed on the wall by the door of the >business in question and a number of Somali merchants wondering what was going >on. The police had in their possession a document from the Sheriff that >trespassed the evicted merchant from the building. There was a lot of "he said >she said" stuff going on, so it was somewhat hard to sort out. The stories that >I heard from the evicted merchant, from the owners of the mall, and from Jim >Graham were not all identical and so my observations and conclusions about what >happened (or is still happening) may or may not be the full picture. > >According to the owners of the suuq, the merchant in question has been a tenant >in the Suuq only about 3 months. Allegedly he is being evicted for violating his >lease by subletting his space to others and for not carrying required insurance. >Before you accept that as fact and spread it around, you might want to confirm >it with the owners and/or get independent verification. As to whether or not the >merchant is a spokesperson for the other merchants; I saw no evidence of that >nor did anyone ever suggest that to me, perhaps Jim Graham has some inside >information about that. > >What is clear is that the Sheriff's office is involved in the process of the >eviction. There seems to be a difference of opinion about whether or not the >merchant was given proper and adequate time to remove his possessions. There >also seems to be a difference of opinion about whether or not the merchant was >given proper service of the eviction notice. The suuq owners claim to have >photographed all of the merchandise before they began to box it up for storage. >I have no reason to disbelieve that, although I did not ask for nor did I see >the photographs. From the little I know about evictions and Unlawful Detainers, >part of the process requires the landlord to put the evicted tenant's >possessions into secure storage for sixty days. When I arrived at the suuq, >somewhere between 1pm and 2pm, I found the employees of the suuq owner inside >the merchant's stall boxing up the merchant's possession. At my suggestion, the >suuq owners opened the doors to the space to allow Jim Graham and others from >the Ventura Village Neighborhood Organization to photograph the scene and to >photograph the people who were actually doing the work of boxing up the >merchandise. Omar Jamal, some Somali elders, the police and I spent the next >couple of hours speaking with the suuq owners and other merchants about what was >going on and about how the eviction process works. When I left, sometime after >4pm, things were calm, there were no TV cameras nor demonstrations going on. >Your post is the first that I heard of TV cameras and demonstrations. > >If there were improprieties or violations of the law going on, that is to be >sorted out in court on Tuesday. Right now, this is, as the police said to me, "a >civil matter." > >A friend, John Kolstad, was at my home when Jim Graham first called me. John >accompanied me to the Village Market and remained there the whole time I was >there and left with me. He may have seen or heard other things that I did not. > >[some background information: The Village Market is a suuq (marketplace) >located at East 24th Street and 10th Ave S. in the Ventura Village Neighborhood >of the Phillips Community. The suuq stalls are leased to merchants, of whom >about 95% are Somali. The suuq serves as a defector community center for the >Somali Community. In addition to various merchants and service providers, the >suuq also houses a restaurant and at least one coffee house.] > >Dean Zimmermann >Minneapolis City Council Member/Ward 6 >612-673-2206, Office >612-724-3888, Home >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Peace/Shalom/Salaam > >REMINDERS: >1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. >2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > >For state and national discussions see: http://e- democracy.org/discuss.html >For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract >________________________________ > >Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy >Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e- democracy.org/mpls Gregory Luce Project 504 1922 25th Avenue N. Minneapolis MN 55411 (612) 521-8888 REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
