In response to Steve Sandberg’s piece in the August 2016 Corcoran News:

Delaying the demolition of 2019 East Lake Street will jeopardize a neighborhood-initiated redevelopment project by Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) to build a new school for Adult Basic Education and Transition Plus programs.  This school will transform a city block that has become known for blighted buildings and high rates of crime and it will retain MPS adult education services in our neighborhood.

We greatly respect the preservationists’ commitment to local history. But the building at 2019 East Lake Street has not housed the Burma-Shave company since 1941, and the building’s exterior has significantly changed since that time.  The building at 2019 East Lake Street no longer represents its earlier historical periods.

The CNO Board has written MPS twice to support the preservationists’ desire to access the building to document any internal features that may offer some historic value. The CNO Board would further advocate that the new school include features that communicate the site’s history.

If demolition is delayed, neighbors will be left with a blighted property that has a record of attracting criminal activity with no immediate prospects for responsible redevelopment, while plans for a highly anticipated school for adult students and young adult students with special needs would be compromised or cancelled altogether.

Find more information on the Minneapolis Public Schools Development plans at www.corcoranneighborhood.org/construction.