Robbinsdale Joins Golden Valley In Just Deeds Project

Press release from the City of Golden Valley:

August 28, 2020

It has been less than one month since the City of Golden Valley launched its Just Deeds Project, and the City of Robbinsdale has already committed to join the cause.

Like Golden Valley, many of Robbinsdale’s properties were developed with racially restrictive covenants to keep people of color and people who practiced certain religions out of the community.

At its July 21 meeting, the Robbinsdale City Council adopted a resolution to inform the public of racially restrictive covenants and to direct staff to provide the public with instruction on identifying and removing these covenants.

In the resolution, the Robbinsdale City Council recognized that “segregated housing patterns have resulted in an uneven distribution of wealth and in some of the largest racial disparities in the country in metrics such as income, homeownership, education, and health outcomes.” The resolution also affirmed that the City of Robbinsdale “has a responsibility to acknowledge the purposeful segregation of its past, identify the lasting effects of this abhorrent practice, and begin the process of unwinding the detrimental effects it has had on communities of color.”

Robbinsdale City Manager Marcia Glick said the City has begun social media outreach to inform its residents about this issue. The City also houses information on its website about Mapping Prejudice and how residents can work with the Just Deeds Project to find and remove these covenants.

“We appreciate the work that Golden Valley has undertaken to connect property owners to information and instructions on how to renounce the restrictive covenants,” Glick said.

To find out if you have a restrictive covenant on your property and to get support removing it, complete the registration form and submit it to tromano@goldenvalleymn.gov.

For more information about racially restrictive covenants and the Just Deeds Project, visit the Just Deeds page on the City website.

This press release was produced by the City of Golden Valley. The views expressed here are the author’s own.