Seeking a home for a Mexican hero in Minneapolis

He's revered by many back home in Mexico, but since arriving in Minneapolis a little more than three years ago, one immigrant has had a hard time getting traction.

We're not talking about a low-profile newcomer here. He's Emiliano Zapata -- or rather a statue of him -- that's been holed up in a Lake Street mercado while fellow immigrants try to raise the money for a permanent home.

Some background: Zapata is known as El Caudillo del Sur for his leadership of a southern army of peasants that joined in the popular uprising against dictator Porfirio Diaz that is known as the 1910 Revolution. He particularly espoused the cause of land reform before he was ambushed and killed in 1919 at age 39.

Zapata's relevance to Minneapolis arises from his birth and death in the Mexican state of Morelos, the source of the preponderance of recent Mexican immigration to Minneapolis. One of the organizations that have sprung up among Mexican-American business owners and others on Lake is known as Club Morelos, a group of Morelenses who gather and discuss events back home.

The statue is a gift from the government of the state of Morelos. "This revolutionary icon is well known all over the country, and people from Morelos take pride in that," said Rolando Borja, a businessman who is leading efforts to get the statue installed. "It's something like a little a piece of home in the place that we now call home."

The six-foot-high bronze statue sat for its first week outside La Alborada, where Club Morelos meets. That's across Lake Street from Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery. The bronze then moved inside to the entryway. About six months ago, according to co-owner Orlando Cruz Jr., the statue was shifted to a more out-of-the-way elevated perch overlooking the food grill that's part of the market. It's a gaily decorated perch, flanked by murals and U.S. and Mexican flags. But Zapata isn't home yet.

An initial hope of placing Zapata in Powderhorn Park was dashed. You can't just plop a statue on public land in Minneapolis without going through a process. Another obstacle was the objection of some Powderhorn residents to installing the statue of an armed general in a park that has had some Latino gang conflict. Zapata is holding a rifle and is draped in bandoliers. "It wasn't that easy to find a place to set the statue," Borja said.

But it now looks as if the siting question has been resolved. City Council Member Gary Schiff helped to arrange the donation from Hennepin County to the city of a tax-forfeit lot at 1200 E. Lake St. The statue still has to go through a vetting by city art officials, including a design for the small plaza that's planned.

Borja's goal for what will be known as Plaza Centenario is to create "a little square with a taste of Mexico." He's working with architects and landscapers and businesspeople to create a design with trees and benches, and possibly engraved paving stones as a fundraising tool. "It's not going to be something really ambitious. It's going to be something humble," Borja said. He'd like the statue and plaza to be installed this summer. That depends on approvals and fundraising.

As it happens, the group leading these efforts meets Wednesday at 6 p.m. at El Colegio charter school, 4137 Bloomington Av. S. Borja said he'd love to see people show up tonight. "We're trying to get the community involved as much as we can," he said.

As they say back in Mexico: Zapata vive, la lucha sigue.

Be a charter member

We've written several times in this space about the desire by some activists to see more racial and age diversity on the all-white Minneapolis Charter Commission. Residents can apply for two current openings on the commission, Chairman Barry Clegg reminds us.

Clegg is seeking reappointment to one of the vacancies; the other is not being sought by an incumbent. The deadline is April 8. For more information, go to tinyurl.com/68b8kpu.

The commission is also seeking nine people to advise it on the redistricting of Minneapolis wards and park districts. That deadline is March 25. More info is at http://tiny url.com/5swvk2z.

A taxing situation

If you're one of those Minneapolis property taxpayers, like John Wanninger, who got his notice of assessment hours before the deadline for appealing it, all is not lost if you didn't appeal by the March 4 deadline. Wanninger said he got a notice on one of his Minneapolis properties the day before the deadline, and was still waiting for the other.

City Assessor Patrick Todd said that the last mailing went to the printer Feb. 23 and that his office expected those notices would be sent by the end of the week before the deadline. He said residential notices are sent earliest, with apartment and commercial property notices sent last to include any year-end sales in market trends.

Todd said those who missed the deadline still can appeal as long as paperwork is received before the city's appeals board adjourns. It begins hearing appeals April 11; appeals received after the deadline but before the board adjourns can be heard by the county appeals board.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438