West Siders: Are you ready to be a voter?
Whatever our color, origin or zip code, our vote is our power. This election season, we will vote in record numbers to swear in a government of, by, and for the people. Now is the time to confirm you're registered to vote – and get registered if you're not.
WSCO supports POC journalists calling for change at the Star Tribune. Here’s why you should, too.
Recently, the Star Tribune lifted up WSCO’s Solidarity Fund for COVID Relief, organized to protect families most impacted by the pandemic – and the resulting economic fallout – from evictions. We are glad to see our work and our community gaining attention throughout the metro, and we’re grateful to the reporters shining a light on one of the many grassroots efforts supporting Twin Cities families during the pandemic.
However, we were disappointed when we saw that the original version of the article used the phrase “people here illegally” to describe undocumented people eligible for support through WSCO’s Solidarity Fund. At our urging, the Star Tribune eventually amended the articule to use the word “undocumented.”
New mural will transform West Side’s iconic Gateway Pedestrian Bridge in St. Paul
On August 3, 2020, artists Ernesto Ybarra and Xilam Bilam will begin their two-week transformation of the West Side’s iconic Gateway Pedestrian Bridge (also commonly called the “Girl Scout Bridge”), which provides a safe pedestrian crossing on Delos Street over Robert Street on the West Side of St. Paul.
Ybarra, born and raised on the West Side, and his cousin Bilam, a St. Paul-based artist, will create a mural, commissioned by West Side Community Organization, that celebrates the history, culture, and people of the West Side, connecting past and future generations.
PLEASE NOTE: During the mural installation, Robert Street will be reduced to one lane of traffic.
WSCO Lawsuit
St. Paul, MN. July 15, 2020 – Accountability and organizing are fundamental to our vision for a just and joyful community where everyone has access to safe, quality housing they can afford. That’s why, in June 2020, WSCO filed a lawsuit against residential rental business Quetico Property Management, LLC (QPM), managed by Lake Elmo City Council Member Justin Bloyer.
You can read the full complaint here.
SAFE Renters Ordinance Passed
We did it!
The S.A.F.E. Housing Tenant Protection Ordinance passed City Council with unanimous support this Wednesday, making St. Paul home to the strongest renter rights in Minnesota. This ordinance is the result of community efforts- so thank you to all you West Siders who came out to support this issue by giving our Council member Rebecca Noecker a call!
Starting March 1st of 2021, this ordinance will change five points of tenant-landlord law:
- capping security deposits at one month’s rent
- reforming tenant screening criteria (with regards to credit scores and criminal history)
- forbidding landlords from terminating leases without a “Just Cause” in writing
- requiring landlords of affordable housing to give advance notice of sale and
- requiring landlords to provide tenants with a manuel on their rights and responsibilities
Root & Restore Book Club Scheduling - We Keep Us Safe
Book Club- We Keep Us Safe (author Zach Norris)
Click here for book club registration!
WSCO, in partnership with Root & Restore, will host this book club. You will be contacted with more information once your registration is filled out.
To build community power and a shared vision of what real community safety is, Root & Restore St Paul is hosting a book club this summer to read and discuss Zach Norris's We Keep Us Safe. Norris presents a compelling argument for why our current system of policing and punishment doesn't work and why we need to transition to a care-based model for building safer, healthier communities.
Let's get this party started and pin down a date for us to meet online to talk about the book!
WSCO Tenant Protections Letter
As Board directors for the West Side Community Organization (WSCO), the district planning council for Saint Paul’s mulit-ethnic enclave across the Mississippi River from downtown, our work has long been involved with housing justice. Injustice and displacement have impacted the West Side for generations and the Covid-19 pandemic has only aggravated the already precarious housing conditions of many long-term West Side residents. But that is not all.
The social unrest that has erupted in the Twin Cities is not only a response to the murder of George Floyd and others at the hands of the police. It is a response to other racial injustices, against Black and Brown communities, with housing injustice as just one of them. Community has spoken at a magnitude and collective clarity few of us have ever witnessed in our lifetime. The listening has happened and now is the time to act. We will not stand for injustice, we will not make excuses for inaction, and we are pressing elected officials to make meaningful change that protects the basic needs of every individual and family.
That’s why WSCO so strongly supports the S.A.F.E renter protection ordinances coming before the Saint Paul City Council on June 24th for a public hearing and final vote.