In the weeks since Augsburg student Ahmednur Ali was shot and killed
just feet from Currie Park and the Brian Coyle Community Center, area
residents, community organizations and institutions, and police have
stepped up efforts on a number of fronts to improve public safety and
community relations in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.
The complicated issues being hashed out are of particular concern to
the city’s Somali community, which has suffered three killings and even
more shootings this year. Ali was the second young Somali man gunned
down in the Cedar-Riverside area over the past six months.
Ali
was killed Sept. 22, after finishing up his first day at a work-study
job at the Coyle Center. Four days later, police arrested 16-year-old
Ramadan Abdi Sheikhosman, a resident of Riverside Plaza. According to a
juvenile court petition, Ali had argued with Sheikhosman earlier in the
day and again as he left the center, just after 5 p.m.
Sheikhosman
allegedly struck Ali in the head with a handgun and then shot him in
the head and fled. Sheikhosman has been charged with second-degree
murder and will be tried as an adult.
The incident — after
which Ali’s body lay in the street uncovered, despite repeated requests
from friends and elders — also further tested a problematic
relationship between police and the Somali community. After the April
killing of Abdullahi Abdi, police and other officials begged the
community to come forward with information. Six months later, Abdi’s
murder remains unsolved.
In the days and weeks since Ali’s
murder, however, the Cedar-Riverside community has come together to
improve the situation at the Coyle Center and in the neighborhood at
large. Police credited witness and community assistance in the quick
arrest of the suspect, and the diverse groups that comprise the West
Bank have stepped up their efforts and investments toward public safety.
Immediate action
On
Sept. 25, three days after the murder of Ahmednur Ali, a crowd packed
the gym at the Coyle Center, representing the diverse cultures,
generations and institutions in the neighborhood. For many, it was an
all-too-familiar scene of mourning and anger, but it included a call
for immediate, specific action from Tony Wagner, president of Pillsbury
United Communities, which runs the Coyle Center.
Hussein
Samatar, executive director of the African Development Center, gave
qualified agreement that more is being done to improve public safety.
“I
am seeing some momentum,” he said, “but it’s not enough unless that
momentum becomes actionable — some specific programs that are sustained
and funded and also accountable to the community.”
A month
later, some action has been taken, starting at the park and the Coyle
Center. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has trimmed back
bushes and brush that obscure sightlines in the park and in front of
the Coyle Center, where cameras were added.
Minneapolis,
Park and U of M police stepped up patrols in the area, and First
Precinct Inspector Janee Harteau committed two night beat cops to the
area, seven days a week.
The addition of the beat cops was welcomed by Rosemary Knutson, long active with the West Bank Community Coalition (WBCC), Cedar-Riverside Neighborhood Revitalization Program (CR-NRP) and West Bank safety committee. “I’ve been beating that drum since 2002,” said Knutson.
In
addition, George Sherman, president of Sherman Associates (an owner of
Riverside Plaza) has given $20,000 in seed money for a “buyback”
program that would hire off-duty police officers dedicated to specific
areas. Russom Solomon, chair of the West Bank safety committee,
estimated that at $40 an hour, the $20,000 would buy about 500 hours of
police time. Solomon said the hope was for a pool of regular officers
who would know the area and the people there.
Other actions
called for at the Sept. 25 meeting have yet to be fulfilled, including
the hiring of two Somali outreach workers focused on connecting with
Somali young adults and the onsite presence of a security officer or
police liaison from 5–10 p.m. nightly at the Coyle Center. “We would
much rather prefer to have competent youth workers than visible
security,” Wagner told The Bridge in October. At another meeting at the
Coyle Center later in September, however, attendees voiced their desire
for actual security or a police presence in the building.
‘The right fit’
First
Precinct Commander Harteau echoed this point in her commitment to
adding night beat cops. “We are in the process of identifying officers
who would be the ‘right fit,’” she wrote in an Oct. 1 email to West
Bank institutional stakeholders.
The need is underscored by a long-standing disconnect between the police and the Somali community.
In
an interview with The Bridge at the Coyle Center, Youth Coordinator
Tally Washington talked about the importance of the quality, not just
quantity, of police presence. The 28-year-old coordinates the athletic
programs and FANS program, which offers youth up to $10,000 in scholarships for higher education.
With
seven years under his belt at the Coyle Center, Washington knows the
kids there, and he has seen examples of good and bad policing.
“The
exact same police car just drove by three or four times,” said
Washington, looking out the window from the Coyle Center’s community
room. “That’s intimidating to the kids,” he said. Asked if that isn’t
what the community has called for — increased police presence — he
said, “Yes, but not in that way.
“Park your car, get out of
your car, come in and talk to these individuals,” said Washington. “If
you’re going to be around here every Friday, at least get to know who
these kids are. That is engaging to me.”
Leveraging institutions
West
Bank stakeholders have convened a new organization, called the
Cedar-Riverside Partnership, the goal of which is to foster
collaboration among existing organizations.
The partnership
is chaired by Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow. The original
feasibility study was funded by the West Bank Community Coalition with
$10,000 of NRP funds, and Augsburg,
Fairview, the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County have all since
contributed $10,000 each to the collaborative. Pillsbury United
Communities, the West Bank Business Association and the African
Development Center are also partners.
Though it will be up
to the partners to decide on specific actions, partnership consultant
Louis Smith gave examples of how similar partnerships — he has
facilitated efforts in Philips and Midtown — have leveraged their
collective resources to make sweeping improvements in a community.
Parking, job training, housing, capital infrastructure and the future LRT Central Corridor are all areas where neighborhood-wide collaboration could take place.
“I
have worked with similar groups in other settings that have mobilized
millions of dollars in investments that otherwise wouldn’t have
happened,” he said.
Pribbenow pointed out that one of the
partnership’s goals is to highlight existing cooperation in the
neighborhood, including collaborations that some might not be aware of,
like Augsburg scholarships — made available through local schools,
these awards have helped many local Somali youth attend the college —
and the many student volunteers from Augsburg and the University of
Minnesota who work at places like the Coyle Center.
“We have
dozens of students everyday at Brian Coyle Community Center, Trinity
[Lutheran Church], St. Martin’s Table, at mosques with religion
courses, Mixed Blood,” said Pribbenow.
Several people
interviewed for this story said that while the killing of one of those
students is frightening, it has strengthened the resolve of other
volunteers to continue their work. Washington said that the majority of
interns have stayed on at Coyle. “They said, ‘I’m not going to let it
scare me off; that’s the whole point of working in a neighborhood like
this,’” said Washington.
At the same time, he has seen a
drop-off in the number of kids at the center after this summer’s
shootings, particularly the non-fatal shooting near the park. “There
were so many kids that were shaken up, and I haven’t seen some of the
kids from that day,” he said.
Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon said the safety situation is a “wake up call for the neighborhood.
“We
want people to come and use the programs and services at the Coyle
Center, just like we want them feel good about using the housing
nearby, or going to the businesses nearby, or coming to the Cedar
Cultural Center or Mixed Blood or Bedlam [Theatre],” he said.
“Absolutely
this creates a problem, and that’s one of the reasons we have to work
harder and make sure we prevent it in the future, but also to make sure
we keep taking advantage of great stuff that’s there,” he said.
At
Currie Park, Amina A. (who declined to give her last name), a resident
of Riverside Plaza who frequents the park with her two young children,
expressed the lingering fear that many in the neighborhood are feeling
and that neighborhood stakeholders are working hard to stem. This past
June, as her children played in the park, gunshots rang out, and the
family, along with the rest of the people in the park, fled for safety.
“It wasn’t safe that time,” she said, “I waited a month to come back.”
If the situation doesn’t improve, she said, she’ll have to leave for a safer neighborhood once her year lease is up.
Jeremy Straton writes for the Bridge. Becky Clawson contributed to this story.
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