Update from comments: First, there is good news. The judge has ordered a representative of GMAC to meet with Rosemary tomorrow, June 17th, the goal being for them to arrange a deal in which Rosemary can stay in her home at an affordable rate. This does not mean that they will reach a deal, but it does mean that if a deal is not reached the eviction will not happen until - at the soonest - next Wedensday, June 24th. 

If a resolution is reached on Wednesday, June 17th there will be a block party on Rosemary's block.

Taking it to court in Minneapolis: Fight against foreclosure and eviction

Rosemary Williams outside courthouse, with supporters. Photo by Madeleine Baran

Rosemary Williams eviction trial pushed back to May 26; Momentum builds in fight against foreclosures.

For Immediate Release

April 26, 2009

Rosemary Williams eviction trial pushed back to May 26.

Momentum builds in fight against foreclosures

Press conference and picket
April 28, 9 am
Front of Hennepin County Government Center (5th St side)

(Video is from 4/22 press conference and hearing) After receiving an eviction notice taped to her door last week at the end of the six month redemption period on her foreclosed home, Rosemary Williams showed up at Housing Court at the Hennepin County Government Center Wednesday morning - along with about 50 of her friends and neighbors.

As the defendant at the preliminary hearing, Rosemary was represented by Jordan Kushner and Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyers Guild, who prepared to argue that in addition to disputing some facts of the complaint against her, the eviction would cause a public nuisance to the community and should therefore not be permitted to continue.   This experimental legal defense was met with skepticism by the housing court referee - but a trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday, April 28 at 9am at the HCGC.  The trial has since been rescheduled for May 26.

Neighbors, Friends and Community Organizations Rally & Intervene in Court on Rosemary Williams’ Eviction Case

Wednesday, April 22nd

Over two weeks after being told she had to leave her home on Clinton Avenue in Minneapolis, Rosemary Williams is still staying put - and the campaign to keep her there is getting ready to escalate.  Neighbors and activists still waiting for a potential forced eviction are calling for mass attendance at a noviolent civil disobedience training to take place Saturday at 2pm at the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign office in Sabathani Community Center.  Organizers announced that the training will be conducted transparently and that members of the press will be in attendance. Williams' fight, a flashpoint of the national foreclosure crisis, has drawn the attention of national media.

On Wednesday, tax day, Williams was among the speakers at a Minnesota Coaliton for a People's Bailout Rally at the State Capitol.  If you have more news about Rosemary's campaign or the foreclosure crisis in the Twin Cities, please publish a comment or article to TCIMC!  (The video here is from a March 30 press conference.)

Related: MPLS Woman Becomes Center of Foreclosure Debate | What Housing Crisis? | Opposition to War and Occupation Statement of Solidarity | Video: People's Resistance to Scheduled Minneapolis Home Eviction | Evict the Poor--Rescue the Banks? | Stopping Foreclosure: One Woman's Home (from TC Daily Planet) | TCIMC Video of March Hennepin County Sheriff's Sale Action | Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign