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The Minneapolis city council has revoked the rental licenses on 45 properties located in north Minneapolis.  

Council members say the properties were owned by TJ Waconia, an investor group under a federal flipping investigation. All but nine of the properties have been abandoned and city officials say they believe the company owns perhaps 200 properties in Minneapolis.  

Council member Don Samuels represents a section of North Minneapolis particularly hard hit by the rash of mortgage foreclosures.  

He said the people involved in the alleged scam are part of a crime problem that most residents aren't aware of.

"The young men who sell drugs on the corner get such ire from us, because we see them everyday.  We don't see these characters," Samuels said.  "They're just names on a page. And yet they create and wreak way more havoc, than 10 drug dealers per house in this case."

The council also voted to increase the fee it charges the owners of abandoned buildings from $2,000 to $6,000.

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Brandt Williams

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The Minneapolis city council has revoked the rental licenses on 45 properties located in north Minneapolis.

Minneapolis revokes rental licenses from 45 properties

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