Fire destroys Neighborhoods Organizing For Change office, a number of other buildings

[progree]

Activist group Neighborhoods Organizing For Change is homeless for the moment but still active. A fire destroyed the NOC office and several other buildings on Wednesday morning at 913 West Broadway in Minneapolis.

None of NOC’s staff were harmed in the fire, but several people were taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.

A few hours later NOC organizers were busy participating in a day-long protest for higher pay for fast food workers.

“NOC is more than a building. We’re a movement,” said organizer Anthony Newby.

NOC has launched a fundraiser to help the residents who were injured or displaced by the fire.
No more at: http://theuptake.org/2015/04/15/fire-destroys-neighborhoods-organizing-for-change-office/

The NOC office is right in the center of the below Google Maps Street View (click the link below) -- the golden van is parked right in front of it

Being Google Maps Street View, you can "grab it" by holding down your left mouse button and, while holding the mouse button down, pan left and right and ... . You can zoom with your mouse wheel.

. v-v-v----Click the below
Google Maps Street View


The 900 block is between Bryant and Dupont

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[] Fire triggers evacuation of West Broadway block in Minneapolis, 4/15/15
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/04/15/mpls-fire

The fire department said the fire started at 913 W. Broadway Ave., between Dupont and Bryant avenues. That's listed as the north Minneapolis location of an Unbank check cashing business.

The second floor of the building collapsed and firefighters retreated to fight the blaze from outside the building.

Fire spread to adjacent buildings, including 905 ((Digital City)), 907 and 909 ((Salco)) W. Broadway Ave.

((901 is Sports Dome, 903 is kind of like another entrance to Sports Dome. BTW Brix Grocery is 915 - see below: heavily damaged))

Becky Dernbach, communications director for Neighborhoods Organizing for Change ((911 W. Broadway -- between UN Bank and Salco Lighting - no address that I can read, but has "NOC" white on upward pointing green arrows signs on the Google map street view)), confirmed that the fire damaged the building that housed the group's office.

"It sounds like our office has pretty much burned down. I am hearing that the building is gone," Dernbach said.

She said that the NOC staffers were safe but that the organization was still trying to assess the impact of the fire and potential losses.

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[] Updated 237p 4/15 - http://kstp.com/article/stories/s3766462.shtml

The fire is believed to have destroyed a check cashing store ((UN Bank)), a grocery store ((Brix)), the office of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change and a cellphone store. A lighting (Salco) and sporting goods store (Sports Dome) have been damaged.

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[] http://gazettereview.com/2015/04/fire-destroys-w-broadway-historic-buildings/

The community will be losing something special, considering that the buildings impacted will have to be torn down, because they were all built between 1893 and 1910. The buildings that were part of the fire are all historic buildings, and some of the last historic buildings on the North Side.

at least 12 people having no place to call home anymore.

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[] http://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/04/16/north-minneapolis-fire

Nader Abuammo bought the Brix Grocery at 915 W. Broadway Ave. about 25 years ago ((~1990)). Abuammo's building appeared to be heavily damaged. Brix Grocery opened in 1893

Several of the storefronts had apartments above them, where about 20 people lived. All were accounted for

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As far as the cause of the fire, I should add that I haven't heard or read of anything being suspicious or any ideas what the cause was.