The Free Press, Mankato, MN - Angst lingers four years after evictions

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The city of Montgomery’s 2004 eviction of Latino renters in business-district buildings deemed unsuitable for tenant habitation cast the city in a negative light that some say was undeserved.
Pat Christman / The Free Press

LaNette Kuelper opened an antique store in one of the three Montgomery downtown-area buildings formerly used as apartments. Of the other two buildings, one was razed and the other remains vacant.
Pat Christman / The Free Press

A wall mural bespeaks a pioneer-era Montgomery. A few years ago, the city was envisioned as becoming an exurban living community for Twin Cities commuters, a notion that has been hampered by rising gas prices and flat real estate markets.
Pat Christman / The Free Press

Published April 13, 2008 11:50 pm -

Angst lingers four years after evictions
Mayor says situation with downtown Latino dwellers ‘spun out of control’

By Brian Ojanpa
The Free Press

MONTGOMERY —

The renters are long gone, settlement money has been paid, and the state of Minnesota appears satisfied that Montgomery is complying with mandated policy changes.

Yet nearly four years later, some frustrations linger among the parties involved, which is the way of it in a small town that found its city government accused of discriminating against Hispanics, and reluctantly agreed to pay each $17,000.

“It created a lot of ill will in the community,” Mayor Mick McGuire said. “But I don’t know if we would have done things any differently.”

City Council Member Dave King, who was not on the panel when the brouhaha began, said Montgomery, Minn., was unfairly cast as a latter-day Montgomery, Ala.

“It’s sad we’ve gotten this rap that sounds a whole lot worse than what it was,” King said. “Some people think we run around wearing white hoods.”

In 2004, the city bought three dilapidated apartment buildings in the downtown area and evicted 13 families, nearly all of them Latino.

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