Mpls. aims to speed cleanup months after unrest in wake of Floyd's killing
Minneapolis city leaders hope six-figure grants to some businesses will help them with the costs of cleaning up from the civil unrest following the killing of George Floyd.
City staff identified 16 properties apparently in need of the aid, most of them along Lake Street. Business owners are expected to learn this week if the city will help cover demolition payment gaps in excess of $100,000 each.
Last month, Ruhel Islam, the owner of Gandhi Mahal Restaurant, reported insurance would only cover a fraction of the overall demolition costs. His property is on the city’s list of 16 Lake Street sites. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Monday announced an additional $7 million for clearing rubble and business development, with a portion of the pool specifically for business owners without the money to clear properties.
The funds come from a combination of new federal grant income and unspent city funds from previous years.
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The demolition is so expensive in part because the soil under the ruined structures is contaminated and must be dug up and disposed of in a dedicated landfill for toxic materials.
Frey explained he wanted to wait to commit city money until business owners knew what insurance would cover.
“We view this $2 million as an important allocation for public health, for public safety, and then for economic growth and revitalization along some of these corridors that were hardest hit, sadly both by COIVD-19 as well as the unrest following Geoge Floyd’s killing,” Frey said.
Frey said the other $5 million will enhance a fund that existed before Floyd’s death. The city created the Commercial Property Development Fund to support businesses run by people of color, Indigenous people, as well as immigrants, who may have trouble staying in neighborhoods when it becomes too expensive.
“This is an anti-gentrification measure to ensure that business owners and communities that have made these corridors wonderful to begin with can continue to stay there,” Frey said.
Jim Terrell with Minneapolis’ planning and economic development department, said the fund has incentives to keep the businesses local.
“It is a loan that is forgiven, provided the city reaps that 40-year benefit of keeping the project in the hands of a community member,” Terrel said.
City officials have said rebuilding the business corridors impacted by civil unrest could take a decade. City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins said Minneapolis has an opportunity to rebuild with intention.
“We have been on this path, however it is time for us to do more, to take advantage of this transformational moment in Minneapolis history and address some of the issues and concerns that have been really keeping this gap between the broader community and communities of color,” Jenkins said. “In some areas some of the highest disparities in the country.”