[Mpls] Power of Neighborhood Groups

[Jim Bernstein]

The most recent issue of the Southwest Journal contains a well written piece by Michael Metzger about the desire of a local business, Unbank, to locate a facility at the 46th & Nicollet commercial node.  The article raises some valuable questions I think about the role of neighborhood groups in determining where a business may locate.   Unbank is a fee based operation that provides “bank like” services to people that, for their own reasons, choose not to use traditional banks.  In many instances, these are people that banks do not want or seek as customers but who still need to do financial transactions.  Most of these “check cashers”  like Unbank have a wide range of services that include not just cashing of checks but also sell money orders, handle bill payments and provide notary service among other things.    Check cashing services have been a staple of many inner city neighborhoods but are relatively new to the Twin Cities.   They exist because as banks merged and sought wealthier customers, they closed inner city locations.  Also, most major cities like Minneapolis used to have a network of community banks that served various neighborhoods.  Virtually all of those community banks are gone now, usually bought out by larger banks who closed that location after time or just went of out of business.     Check cashing services are regulated by the Minnesota Department of Commerce.  I for one, think that there is a need for greater regulatory oversight of check cashing services especially with the “payday loans” that some check cashers now make available. I do not represent any check cashing services or the industry and have at times when I was Commerce Commissioner, been very critical of certain practices.  Yet, they are part of the financial services industry and do provide a necessary and useful service for people who choose to use them.      The article in the Southwest Journal raises some very disturbing issues.  The Tangletown Neighborhood Association (TNA) fought the location of Unbank at 46th & Nicollet because they – according to one TNA board member – “because the neighborhood doesn’t want it”.    I have to ask the question:  who the heck is the neighborhood association to decide what business gets to locate in their neighborhood if that business meets the regulatory, zoning, and licensing requirements?   If a legitimate business – we are not talking strip club, porn shop, massage parlor, etc. here – wants to be part of a neighborhood, why should the neighborhood association be able to stop it?  If a traditional bank would have sought to open at that location, would there be similar opposition knowing that the bank may well refuse certain residents loans, or checking accounts, or other services?   The Southwest Journal piece suggests that some TNA leaders oppose the location of Unbank because people in the neighborhood may not use it! Does a neighborhood association get to prevent a chiropractor, or a record store, or tax preparer, or a furrier, or a shoe repair, or a securities dealer, or a criminal defense lawyer, or a host of other enterprises just because some people in the neighborhood may not want to use it?  And does the TNA know with any certainty that people living near 46th & Nicollet may not welcome a check cashing service?    At least one TNA board member made clear her prejudice:  she thinks that people who use check cashing services are “unsavory-type people who have a criminal record and can’t get a checking account or have such bad credit . . . I don’t know who those people are that need check cashing services, but it just doesn’t sound good.  Doesn’t look good, doesn’t sound good.”   Another TNA board member went even further: “our residential makeup isn’t really a lot of immigrants or poverty, so it doesn’t really seem like it would fit us.”  It is very disturbing that some people in positions of neighborhood leadership choose to characterize their neighbors that way, especially when they have clearly not made any effort to learn about the enterprise or the people that patronize it.    The article goes on to tell how the Minneapolis Planning Commission approved the location over the objection of the TNA.  Congratulations to the Minneapolis Planning Commission for doing the right thing!  Shame on the TNA for allowing a few people to let their ignorance (at best) and/or bigotry (at worst) control their decision!   Jim Bernstein Fulton