Minneapolis Delays Plan to Relocate Police Precinct After Protest Fire

On Wednesday evening, renewed unrest sparked by a rumored police killing – which was later confirmed to be a suicide – led Democratic Governor Tim Walz to redeploy the state’s National Guard to suppress looting, arson and vandalism. A curfew was enforced in Minneapolis on Wednesday night and in both cities on Thursday night, which was much quieter. Curfews are expected to stop Friday night, but the council also approved a resolution extending the emergency that enabled them through Monday.

May and June’s uprising was the second most destructive incidence of civil unrest in U.S. history, topped only by the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Plywood-boarded windows are still a common sight in both cities, many bearing messages like “Black owned” or “Black Lives Matter.”

Along Lake Street, where the bulk of arsons and looting took place, husks of burnt-out buildings still stand. FEMA denied Governor Walz’ request for $16 million in aid in July, a decision which the state has appealed. Meanwhile, the U.S. Small Business Administration declared a disaster on Aug. 18 and has offered low-interest loans to businesses and nonprofits in the area.

Some funding has also come from the Twin Cities’ stable of corporate giants, including Target, U.S. Bank and Medtronic. Cash, however, is not the only barrier to rebuilding. A brief snafu in which county officials in Minneapolis demanded property tax payments before they issued demolition permits for destroyed buildings was quickly resolved after media outcry, but heaps of rubble remain along both commercial corridors.

The fastest-moving efforts have so far gone only as far as leveling those piles. And in St. Paul, the poorer of the two cities, the landlord of a strip mall damaged by fires and looting has evicted all of its tenants, pushing out dozens of businesses in order to demolish and replace the mall.

It’s not all bleak for area businesses, however. Less than a block from the burnt-out Third Precinct, the four founders of Arbeiter Brewing are still planning on opening up – just a little behind schedule. The owners’ plans to open were delayed by about a month, they said, when clashes between protesters and police kept subcontractors out of the area for a few weeks.

“That’s been our basic hang-up,” co-owner Juno Choi said.

As for the Third Precinct’s relocation, co-owner Josh Voeltz said he’s not especially impressed with the city’s decision.

“I would have rather seen that money spent on the community,” he said.

Voeltz specifically pointed to a series of evictions of hundreds of homeless people from encampments in city parks in the months since the riots.

“Seems like they could have spent those funds to help that situation,” he said.

While some public figures have claimed that riots and council rumblings about a now-stalled effort to defund the Minneapolis Police Department will lead to an exodus from the city, the Arbeiter founders say the protests have cemented them in their new location.

“It’s become part of our story,” Choi said. “We’re driven a little bit more to provide a space for the community.”

A few blocks west of Arbeiter and the old precinct, the Midtown Global Market is navigating the complications of anchoring a community hit by the one-two punch of rioting and Covid-19. The market, which houses 17 local businesses, had a few windows and doors damaged during the unrest, according to market director Earlsworth “Baba” Letang.

It’s also been hit hard by the shift of nearby Allina Health, whose workforce makes up a large part of the market’s daily customer base, to working from home.

“Some people think that the market is still closed,” Letang said, noting that a few of the market’s windows were still boarded up pending repairs. “We’re fighting perceptions, because of what happened. Some people still feel that the market, and Lake Street on the whole, is not very safe to go. In their mind, they have memories of the rioting, and destruction, and buildings, so we’re working against that.”

He said the market’s owners are working with community groups to support Lake Street businesses and to lobby the legislature for relief funds – an effort that has been put off while the legislature is out of session.

Letang expects that the last of the damages to the market itself will be fixed soon, but said its community work is ongoing. The market has already leased a space to one of its neighbors whose building was destroyed by fire, he said, and hopes to attract more.

Meanwhile, it’s working with neighborhood organizations and its vendors on recovery efforts and making sure people feel comfortable shopping in the area.

That can mean anything from providing security services to hosting events. One planned for this weekend will showcase foods that vendors would have normally been hawking at the canceled Minnesota State Fair.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, but we are very optimistic that together… as more bonds are renewed, that’s going to bring more life in here,” Letang said.

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