Endgame: Protesters arrested, pepper sprayed as Williams is removed from home

When I got there just after 6 pm.. I saw about 20 cops.. there were more in the house and maybe in the back.. 2 police vans. 2 crime lab detectives. Sgt Garcia, the PR person.
How much did this cost the tax payers?

for what? a house that would probably cost 90,000 now? That is probably how much the city spent for the cops.. it is sick. They spent all this money to put a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman on the street. Great going Chief Dolan and Mayor Rybak.. Thanks for working for the people.

There was a report from German there, and he interns for Washington Post. Looking forward to see what he writes.

Paul, this article would be a lot more useful if you explained how Rosemary Williams found herself in this predicament.

Is the issue that she was a victim of fraud?
Is the issue that a lender misrepresented loan documents?
Is the issue that a lender pushed her into taking on loans she wouldn’t be able to afford?
Is the issue that she thought her house would continue to appreciate and lenders would continue to allow her to refinance?

I can sympathize with people who lost their jobs and can’t keep up with mortgage payments — but it’s hard to feel bad for people who used their homes like ATMs, lived beyond their means, and are suffering the consequences.

For that matter, what’s the end game supposed to be here? Rosemary Williams doesn’t own that house anymore. Do she and her supporters want title to the house? What happens to the money she owes the lender? For that matter, even if there could be a magical moratorium on foreclosures, what do they think would happen to working-class people who apply for mortgages? Would any lender loan money to any poor person in Minneapolis under any terms whatsoever?

On the other hand, the pictures are flashy. Nice work there.

I agree with mike_s, Paul. This story needs some context. It is reminiscent of the foreclosure rallies (or mobs depending on your point of view) in rural America in the 1930’s which ultimately led to Minnesota’s foreclosure moratorium.

What amazes me are the inhuman human types that put dollar amounts on the peoples livelyhoods.

mike_s is such a person, and apparently so is jonerik.

I believe, however, that the bankers and the loan officers would be happy to have SOME MONEY coming in vs an empty house on the block to sit vacant for how long until the market moves again?

Of course I believe in SOME of the sentiment mike_s stated, but this is the point here:

It is the banks/police state government who are against WE THE PEOPLE. mike s talks a good talk about using a home for an atm, but what of predatory lending practices specifically tailored and engineered for the poor, with a flint heart and an eye out for a repo? What of that mike s?

Hmmmmm?

And again, like was mentioned, how much money did it take for them to apply this kind of tactic in the eviction?

Cop salaries, cop cars, guns, pepper spray, handcuffs…

the city paid dearly to take an old ladies home away from her so that the predatory bankers will make some more money on the next poor stiff that cant afford a 100000 house in a 20000 neighborhood.

SHAME!!!

It’s just a shameful scene to see so many police deployed to evict an old woman from a home. Where’s the humanity in the world today? Is everything about money and banks and crushing the small people? That’s how so many executives live their opulent lives, at regular people’s expense.

mike_s can “sympathize with people who lost their jobs and can’t keep up with mortgage payments — but it’s hard to feel bad for people who used their homes like ATMs, lived beyond their means, and are suffering the consequences.”

That’s a good slice of American society, including those who have racked up debt because of medical bills, student loans, etc.

I am troubled that the government is there for Wall Street and the automakers thanks to a federal bailout of at least $447 Billion (http://bailout.propublica.org/main/list/index), but working people are left to a Darwinian economic fate. AIG has not suffered the consequences of their crazy financial decisions.

@ZNOFOB, I don’t think you understand what the police were asked to do. From what I understand, she went to court during the foreclosure action and lost — it’s not her house anymore. It’s GMAC’s house. From a legal perspective, it’s pretty clear that a homeowner can have a trespasser removed from the property — even if the “trespasser” used to live there and has a compelling argument about how they’ve been mistreated. That’s an argument for the courts, not the police.

@greg, it didn’t take that many police “to evict an old woman from a home” — it took that many police to remove the protesters. If a lender was foreclosing on your house or mine, presumably it wouldn’t involve any police at all. What I continue to find confusing about all of this is how one particular case is repeatedly in the news yet no one in the media (either corporate or independent) seems interested in reporting the underlying facts.

@arnie, agreed it would make a lot of sense for the feds to help some homeowners. Presumably some borrowers who are victims of fraud shouldn’t even need a bailout because they should already have remedies in the courts, but it would be good for homeowners and the economy IMHO if something could happen with some of these ARMs so regular folks could pay their mortgages and banks could properly value their assets. That sounds like a win-win to me.

Anyway, I’d still like to know more about this. I haven’t been able to find the court documents, but it would be cool if someone could point us toward a compilation or at the very least the court’s orders.

Mayor Rybak,,,as clear in this video of the arrest yesterday september 11th,,2009,,,one officer was kicking a passive lady,,,identified as “Angel”, a very peacefull activist safeguarding the house of Ms Rosemary Williams,, she was complient sitting on the ground when one minneapolis officer began kicking her,continually,,,and outside the police perimeter. There is no excuse for this behaviour!,and this need to be addressed accordingly.

Police Chief Dolan, yesterday being september 11th 2009,,one of your minneapolis officers intentionally kicked an activist and repeatedly while she was passive and on the ground and outside the police perimeter,being complient with your officers,,she is an activist,,a peacefull activist “Angel” who was unjustly accosted by your officer,(,see video),,on you tube,,this needs to be addressed immediately.

I agree: I’m interested to hear if this woman was a victim of predatory lending practices (perhaps it was mentioned in a previous article?) If that is the case, this scenario is playing out by the thousands every day. It’s hard to listen to the media say the economy is improving. For whom? The banks and corporations that got bailouts, apparently. Some more info would be appreciated on this story. People, no one is saying throw her out, just give some more info!

OK, here’s a previous article:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/42700/no-exit-rosemary-williams-remains-in-home-three-weeks-after-eviction

Seems she had an ARM? Payment went from $1200/mo to $2200?

Why was she in an ARM when she has lived there for 30+ years?? Re-financed to take out some equity?

[...] Original Article: http://minnesotaindependent.com/44498/endgame-protesters-arrested-pepper-sprayed-as-rosemary-william... [...]

This may seem infantile, but….where is the 44 billion dollar bailout for the american homeowner? What is this place? How can this be happening? Money that they take (without my permission) from my hard earned piddly paycheck goes to multi-million dollar corporations and for governors to go on a vacation to see their whores, but they can’t help me if I falter? They can take my taxes, send me to war, but can’t feed me, clothe me, provide shelter? They spend billions on telling other countries how they should do business, when RIGHT HERE they can’t handle their own.
We are in a recession and my employer put on a wage freeze and turned and asked everyone to work “just a few more hours a week”. Since then, he went out and purchased a brand new JAG.
I am so sick of it. It then seems that money is everything and if you ain’t got it then your certainly nothing.

I wonder if the police would be willing to put a moratorium on evicting homeowners from properties they lose through foreclosure. Or at least a procedural slowdown on cases where it’s obvious that the homeowner acted in good faith. Or something.

I know, I know, the police aren’t the ones driving this system, and some homeowners simply are screwing the lender. But i’d bet those cases are relatively few.

If the police slow it down procedurally, perhaps lenders will be more willing to be more flexible in work-outs. It is not good to have so many people losing housing through foreclosure.

Seriously…when did America become a $h!t hole? Scroll up a few posts to Dezzamns post. They hit the nail on the head though. We need like a 50 million man march and demand change. Screw voting. Voting is probably rigged anyways. We need to make history before we become history lol. Someone get the ball rolling and get this movement going already GEEZ

50 people stood there pretending to give a hoot about this woman.
And countless others lied to her about the depth of the concern they felt while months of non-payment went by.
If these folks REALLY cared, REALLY wanted to help, why didn’t they take up a monthly collection to PAY THE MORTGAGE??? She lived there for nearly 30 years?
That’s the longest you could have legally gotten for a mortgage term back then, and the price of a home 30 years ago? Please. There’s more to the story than is being admitted here.

And the comments on predatory lending make me sick. The same folks who insisted that banks must be FORCED to create these loans for people they KNEW could not afford to pay them are now whining about – people being forced to pay the loans they never should have taken out in the first place.
Come clean and admit it- you just wanted to the bank to GIVE her the house.

Let me get this straight:

Housing is a right, as long as you don’t own the property. The fact that she lived there entitles her to continue living there, but the fact that the house is owned by a bank means that the bank has no right to it.

And the protesters think that it’s wrong to evict her, but they don’t think it’s *so* wrong that they come together as a community and HELP HER keep the house by pooling money together and working something out.

So it comes down to this: a bank with no personal ties to Williams has a duty to take care of her, but her friends and neighbors don’t.

Sounds like typical liberlism: blame everyone but the person at fault, solve problems by getting someone else to deal with them and pat yourself on the back.

Housing is a human right? I don’t know about that… She couldn’t pay for the house… The bank owns it. Why should she be given it?