‘When you give back, it comes back to you’

Daniel Kennedy has seen Longfellow at its best and worst, and worked to build community through 30 years of volunteer work.

The longtime business attorney founded his legal practice, Kennedy & Cain, PLLC, in Longfellow in 1995, just across the river from where he grew up in St. Paul.

“I just never left,” said Kennedy, who attended St. Paul Public Schools and later Breck School in Longfellow before it moved from 4200 West River Parkway to Golden Valley.

In the 30 years since, Kennedy, now 60, has sought to play a key role in its revitalization, especially in its darkest moments.

“When you give, it comes back to you,” Kennedy said. “Everybody benefits.”

Kennedy joined the Longfellow Business Association right after opening Kennedy & Cain, right as LBA was being established.

Kennedy, who is now on the LBA board of directors, said he was motivated to join both because of networking opportunities with future clients, and because of the positive impacts his local business association had on his community growing up.

“I knew the power of that dynamic, when businesses worked together, to strengthen the community,” Kennedy said. 

Kennedy said the LBA achievement that was most rewarding to him had been revitalizing the intersection of 27th Avenue and Lake Street prior to the damage done during the civil uprising in 2020.

Kennedy said the intersection had long been neglected when revitalization efforts began.

“It’s the gateway of Longfellow from the western side, where Hiawatha [Avenue] and Lake meet,” he said. “The buildings had not been given enough attention. They were in some part vacant, some parts degrading, and there was trash blowing around in the street.”

Kennedy’s involvement in both the LBA and LCC ultimately facilitated uplifting the intersection. Because of Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) funding that the Longfellow Community Council (of which Kennedy was on the board at the time) had access to, those buildings were given the attention and investment they needed, according to Kennedy.

“[27th and Lake] really got a shot in the arm as one building owner after another saw that the investment could pay off as other owners were also investing,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy’s care for his community extends beyond the businesses he serves to the very people that live in Longfellow, as seen in the critical role he sought to play in its darkest times.

Just one city block separates 27th and Lake from the site of the former Minneapolis Police Department third precinct, which was destroyed in the civil unrest following George Floyd’s murder. 

Gandhi Mahal owner Ruhel Islam lost his restaurant building at 3009 27th Ave. S when it burned down. With no place to do business, Kennedy gave Islam his spare office.

“Dan is a wonderful human being,” said Islam, who now operates Curry in a Hurry at 3025 Franklin Ave. “I really appreciate his service and how he leads by example, and he’s very accommodating.”

Kennedy and Islam engaged in deep discussions as the dust settled on E. Lake Street. Eventually, the two invited other Longfellow community members affected by the Uprising to join the meetings.

The conversations were hosted on the front lawn of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, the warm summer weather facilitating COVID-safe connection.

“We had a strong need to find one another – to share both the trauma of the preceding days and the conviction that not all that was destroyed was to be mourned,” said Holy Trinity lead pastor Ingrid Rasmussen in an email statement. “Those were the seeds of a powerful and sustained organizing collective that has continued to meet and to advocate for our corner of the city.”

Those seeds eventually grew into Longfellow Rising, a group still working to rebuild Longfellow with a focus on BIPOC ownership and the knowledge that the community’s strength lies in its diversity.

According to Kennedy, 19 buildings within two blocks of the former third precinct didn’t recover after 2020, many of them being underinsured and unable to cover the costs of remodeling on top of demolition.

What’s more, Kennedy said, “The city did not step forward, the state did even less than that, and the federal government did virtually nothing.”

While Kennedy said Longfellow Rising is “still a work in progress,” their work has shown business owners the possibility of successful investments and has brought Kennedy closer to his community. 

“We’ve been able to keep [27th and Lake] relevant,” he said. “The latest victory has been re-opening the Coliseum Building. I also got to know the business people who had become my friends in a completely different way.”

Overall, Kennedy said he views life as an accumulation of friendships and knowledge that continuously grows.

“Now I can drive down Lake Street and say, ‘I know that person, I know that person,’” he said. “It just makes you feel very at home.”

“I don’t feel 60, I don’t feel 50. I feel about the same as I always have,” he continued. “I don’t run as fast anymore, but life is great.”

Sommer Wagen is a University of Minnesota student majoring in journalism. They’re an arts and entertainment reporter for the Minnesota Daily and just started as a contributing writer for Lavender Magazine.