Over a year after the MN State legislature allocated $10M for investments along the route of the Blue Line Extension light rail line, community leaders are calling on Hennepin County and Met Council to follow through on commitments to prevent displacement of local residents and businesses, especially the Black, Indigenous, and communities of color in North Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park, and Brooklyn Center who will be most impacted by rising property values and transit disruptions.

On August 7th, 2025, the Blue Line Coalition held a rally and press conference outside of Metro Transit offices.  Watch a full video of the press conference here

Anndrea Young, Executive Director of the Heritage Park Neighborhood Association, speaks at a press conference outside of Metro Transit on august 7, 2025. 

Key points

• Funding Delayed: Local businesses, organizations, homeowners, and renters across the corridor of the METRO Blue Line Extension (BLE) Project have been waiting to apply for funds from the Antidisplacement Community Prosperity Program (ACPP). Just as applications were going to begin to be accepted in July, Hennepin County revealed previously unmentioned bureaucratic hurdles that would make it harder for communities to access support. For example, instead of providing funds directly, Hennepin County announced they would only consider reimbursing applicants, effectively withholding the capital needed for projects to move forward.
• Racial equity data deleted: In May, Met Council published the Blue Line Extension project’s Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement. The chapter on environmental justice, which includes data on the disproportionate impact on Black, Indigenous, and communities of color, was removed– despite a long process of community engagement, leaving only a verbal commitment from Met Council to follow through on equity goals.
• Community demands agencies honor their commitments: On August 7th, the Met Council canceled a meeting of the Corridor Management Committee, where community members had hoped to find answers on how environmental justice impacts will be mitigated and how communities can access antidisplacement funds. “Hennepin County and the Met Council didn’t show up today, but we did,” said Ricardo Perez, an organizer with the Blue Line Coalition, standing alongside impacted community members. “We’re here to demand that Hennepin County remove unnecessary barriers to accessing antidisplacement funds. We call on the Met Council to commit to taking a proactive role in addressing displacement, starting with the release of a local addendum to the Environmental Impact Study that includes omitted data on BIPOC displacement.”

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Ricardo Perez, Coalition Organizer at The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, speaks at the press conference and rally alongside Blue Line Coalition members.

Community leaders speak out

“We have worked with the County for over a year to build a mutual understanding of how to create an equitable funding model,” said Ricardo Perez, chair of the ACPP Board and organizer with the Blue Line Coalition (pictured, above). “The County’s requirements come at a cost, and that cost will be paid by those most vulnerable to displacement, neighbors and businesses who have lived in the corridor for generations, communities who make this area vibrant and desirable for development to occur: Black, African and African American, Asian, and immigrant people of color.”

“Heritage Park is not just another stop on a transit map. It is home. It is the heart of North Minneapolis a neighborhood of legacy residents who have stayed through disinvestment, through demolition, and through broken promises. These residents have roots here, history here, and they deserve more than continued displacement. What’s especially painful is that $10 million dollars were allocated through community advocacy by our state legislature, yet the funds have not been disbursed into the community. The delay in releasing those funds isn’t just a policy issue. It’s a human one. It’s putting real pressure on families pushing them closer to the edge of displacement every day,” said Anndrea Young, Executive Director of the Heritage Park Neighborhood Association. Read her full statement here

“Right now, we’re still trying to gain back some of the businesses that have already been lost due to land acquisition along the light rail corridor. Our small businesses run by Black, Indigenous, and people of color are the economic engines for a lot of these cities,” said Denise Butler, Associate director of African Career, Education and Resource (ACER). “We welcome redevelopment but gentrification continues to happen. We need an economic ecosystem that centers the development and creation of wealth for BIPOC communities.” 

“In light of the displacement that has already occurred, along with the potential for increased displacement before construction starts, the project should halt all steps towards construction until all anti-displacement measures as well as adequate funding for those measures is in place,” said Martine Smaller, Executive Director of the Northside Residents Redevelopment Council.

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Media coverage

Business owners protest new insurance rules for Blue Line anti-displacement funds – Sahan Journal

Hennepin County and Met Council Accused of Backtracking on Equity Commitments – Blck Press

Metro Transit Blue Line Extension protest over displacement Fears – Fox9

Community members demanding funding for displacement related to Blue Line Extension – KSTP

Northsiders decry Blue-Line disruption, displacement – Minnesota Spokesman Recorder

Tell Met Council and Hennepin County:

Honor your commitments to our communities!

Funding antidisplacement can’t wait!

Our communities are on the line.

We’ve been fighting for over a decade to prevent displacement– now is the time for elected leaders and planning agencies to honor their commitments and release promised funding.

The Blue Line Coalition calls on community members across the Twin Cities to stand up for our right to build thriving neighborhoods and businesses.

Rally and press conference

Thursday, August 7th, 2025 1:00PM, Metro Transit Headquarters

Check out this opportunity to help shape antidisplacement efforts along the Blue Line Extension (BLE) corridor. Blue Line Coalition partners and supporters are encouraged to apply, and spread the word about this opportunity.

The Anti-displacement Community Prosperity Program (ACPP) Board is developing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to distribute $10 Million in funds appropriated by the Legislature to mitigate displacement caused by the Blue Line Extension. The Board seeks RFP review panelists to review proposals against evaluation criteria established by the Board.

Get involved

• Ideal review panelists include residents and business owners in the BLE corridor, including those with expertise in real estate development or financing, housing, small business supports, and workforce.
• The time commitment is approximately 10-15 hours beginning Summer 2025, and compensation is available in the form of a $50 prepaid debit card for each day of service.
• In the event a panelist applies for ACPP funding or is involved with an organization that applies, the panelist will be ineligible to participate in the review of that application.

Contact Eric Gustafson, eric.gustafson@hennepin.us to learn more or apply to the review panel.

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Background

The community-led ACPP Board includes residents and business owners, people with lived experience of displacement, people from the nonprofit and philanthropic communities, and representatives of local government agencies.

The Blue Line Coalition has been working with community and government partners for over 10 years to develop anti-displacement commitments and strategies. Members of the BLC sit on the ACPP Board.

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For more than a decade, community members and organizations along the Blue Line Extension Project have called for government leaders to ensure that the immigrant communities and communities of color along the corridor directly benefit from the multi-billion-dollar public investment. 

Because of this advocacy, project leaders established and funded a first-of-its-kind Anti-Displacement Working Group specifically focused on listening to community concerns and putting forward tangible policy recommendations to prevent people from being pushed out of their homes, businesses and neighborhoods so they can thrive in the places they choose to live, work and create community.

On Thursday, more than a dozen organizations united to call on project leaders to officially adopt the recommendations of this working group at the Corridor Management Committee meeting as a first and crucial step toward an accountable and equitable process that can make the Blue Line Extension Project a national model for community-centered transit planning.  

“This represents 18 months of hard work that Blue Line Coalition was a part of,” said Ricardo Perez, Coalition Organizer at The Alliance. “Today is an historic day where we will learn more about this plan to address displacement on the corridor.”

“Our people live, work and own businesses from Minneapolis all the way up to Brooklyn Park,” said Karla Arredondo, Executive Director at Pueblos de Lucha y Esperanza. “Our community has given so much vibrance to our cities but we’ve seen alarming data that shows a disproportionate lack of engagement with the Latinx community. We must continue to invest in connecting with our community so the development project does not displace us but helps us thrive. Our esperanza — our hope — is that cities adopt all recommendations brought forward in this report and secure the sustainable, ongoing funding needed to create an abundance for our families. We hope project leaders can see that this is our neighborhood and we are here to stay.”

“It is unacceptable to move forward without first conducting health and economic impact studies, thorough community engagement and implement policies and protections that make sure this project doesn’t continue a long history of transportation projects that have caused displacement, division and divestment in communities of color,” said Alex Burns, Advocacy and Policy Manager at Our Streets Minneapolis. “We stand alongside members of the BLC in calling on Hennepin County and project leaders to fully adopt the anti-displacement recommendations… and fully fund implementation before, during and after construction.”

“Many of individuals we serve endure poor-quality living conditions and anti-displacement can generate millions of dollars to secure affordable housing in our communities,” said Tambryanna Williams, Public Policy Manager at CAPI USA. “[These anti-displacement recommendations can] ensure that residents benefit from this expanded opportunity and prevent a repeat of I-94 in the Rondo community.”

“The community has been speaking for over 13 years,” said Nelima Sitati-Munene, Executive Director of African Career, Education and Resource Inc (ACER). “We are in support of the line but we know that a focus on infrastructure in itself does not address the needs of the community. We are advocating for a people-centered development strategy; one that is going to uplift the lives of our community members and prevent them from being displaced. Brooklyn Park has the most stations on the line, with five possible stations. It also has the most developable land along the line. What we’d like to see is investment to get our residents capital-ready to take advantage of the development so we are not left behind. The Blue Line Extension is also the most diverse line in terms of racial and economic diversity and it is also the most youthful line. This is the most significant investment we will see in our city in our lifetime so we want to make sure that it is done right. We want this line to serve as an example of what can happen in our region when we do development that is centered around the people who need it most.”

“We have to ask is it worth it?” said Amanda Xiong, a 21-year-old organizer from Brooklyn Park and member of the Anti-Displacement Working Group. “We aren’t opposed to the train but we are opposed to injustice and displacement. And in our history we have seen communities of color constantly rolled over and looked over — and we don’t want to let that happen again. So let’s change that!”

Read coverage of the press conference in Sahan Journal!

The BLC is part of the Corridor Management Committee (CMC) — a voting body that advises the Metropolitan Council and Hennepin County on the design and construction the Blue Line extension project. Most projects like this have a CMC — but this one is different. Thanks to years of advocacy, BLC partners (with the support of then Rep. Keith Ellison) secured two seats at this table, which is otherwise composed of mayors and senior planners from the corridor cities. Our inclusion intentionally makes room for underrepresented communities who are disproportionately impacted by the construction of the Blue Line extension project.

On June 9, 2022, the CMC voted on the recommended modified route. BLC took a strong stance and voted NO. This is not because we are against transit development. It is because we are a coalition of organizations that deeply care about and love our communities and demand that patterns of harm are broken and history is made — with us and for us.

This is what we shared with the committee when we voted NO:

We, the Blue Line Coalition, are disappointed at the lack of intentionality to align the timing of the route modification to the efforts to ensure that Black, immigrant, and people of color communities benefit directly from the construction of this transit project — rather than paying the ultimate price: being displaced.

It is disappointing that all we have learned and seen at the city, county and regional level over the past several years was not enough to compel action on anti-displacement before choosing a new route for the Blue Line extension project. 

Our collective memory has not changed. We remember Rondo. We remember Olson Memorial Highway. We remember all of those community members and families who have been disproportionately negatively impacted by transportation projects funded by our tax dollars.

We continue to look for ways to support this project. We welcome investment and the ability to create pathways for our micro and small businesses to move from renters to owners. We welcome safe, reliable transportation for our community members, who are transit dependent and currently unable to take their kids out on the weekend to visit the cities where we live and work. We strongly believe that our community deserves nice things, like a grocery store where we can buy healthy foods to cook meals for our families.

But, because of the enormous respect and love that our communities deserve, we must stay true to our principles. We cannot support a project that is being built in the name of equity, when we still do not know how much money will be allocated to address the inequities that have shaped our neighborhoods for generations. So we are voting No.

We do remain hopeful that change is possible. Through our collective efforts we were able to produce many comments during the commenting period for the route modification report that agreed we can do better on the Blue Line extension project. We appreciate and support the efforts of Minneapolis City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison, Hennepin County Commissioners Irene Fernando and Jeff Lunde, Representative Ilhan Omar, and Senator Tina Smith. However, every day that passes without cohesive and concrete efforts by all levels of government, we miss the opportunity to build a different kind of legacy — a legacy that can catalyze our communities’ economic success.

We will continue to eagerly and assertively find ways to support this project once we see in place the demands that we are putting forward and once the timeline is build to break historic patterns of harm.

Read more in our comment letter and community report!

BLC recently participated in a panel discussion about its use of the Equitable Development Principles and Scorecard at a workshop titled, “Building Healthy Communities with Equitable Development Principles and Scorecard.” Part of the event was filmed and can be viewed online (Part 1 and Part 2).

See more about BLC’s work with the scorecard on our Policies page.

The Blue Line Coalition has issued a response to the Brooklyn Park 2040 Draft Comprehensive Plan.

In part, BLC’s response reads, “The Blue Line Coalition calls for the city to expand its racial equity analysis in the plan. A city’s responsibility is to provide a high quality of living for all residents, but this is impossible to do without a clear commitment to understanding and ending racial and economic disparities across all areas of city services, including transportation, economic development, and housing. Brooklyn Park should include in its community profile an analysis of income, housing cost burden, home ownership, education, and employment disparities by race. Policies and actions specifically designed to address these disparities should also be added to the final comprehensive plan.”

BLC’s full response, with specific policy recommendations, is available here.

Community advocates are encouraged to submit their feedback on the draft comprehensive plan to Cindy Sherman. Public comment closes on October 26.

This fall, BLC is co-sponsoring a series of Equitable Development Workshops. These workshops are a partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield Center for Prevention, Hennepin County, Nexus Community Partners, Twin Cities LISC, and BLC.

The goal of the workshop series is to help community advocates, city staff and officials, businesses, and others plan for equitable development in LRT corridors, with a focus on the suburban context. They are free and open to all and food will be served.

September 13th, 4-7 pm: Equity Advances Economic Growth: Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses

Registration is open! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/equity-advances-economic-growth-tickets-48934257682

Moderator: Shauen Pearce, Economic Development & Inclusion Policy Director, Minneapolis Mayor’s Office

Panelists: Isabel Chanslor, Neighborhood Development Center; Bill Blazar, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce; Jackson George, Liberian Business Association

October 10th, 4-7 pm: Housing Affordability Grows Healthy Communities: Preservation and Production

November 8th, 4-7 pm: Community Development Innovation and Opportunity in Diverse and Changing Suburbs