INDIANAPOLIS--More than 100 businesses were negatively impacted by riots that happened Friday and Saturday night in downtown Indianapolis, according to Downtown Indy, Inc.
The riots came from people who are angry over the death of a black man named George Floyd in Minneapolis. He died last week after he was pinned to the ground by a white police officer who investigators have identified as Derek Chauvin. Chauvin has since been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. The death of Floyd is one of many recent incidents that have rioters angry.
“Our current count is 112 businesses that have been damaged and/or boarded up and been tagged by looters as well as graffiti,” said Bob Schultz, senior vice president of marketing and communication at Downtown Indy Inc. in an interview with 93 WIBC’s Tony Katz Monday morning.
Now those business owners are trying to figure out what comes next.
“Sunday night was a positive sign with a curfew in place, but do we have to live in a state of curfew for our businesses to be safe? That’s where we will be looking at those businesses, understanding their cleanup and repair efforts, and seeing what happens next and watching what our peer cities do as well,” said Schultz.
As far as the estimated financial total of damage from the weekend, Schultz doesn’t know that yet.
“It’s going to be large. We have extrapolated well into the millions simply by hearing from a few places who have initial damage. That was from Saturday morning. This wasn’t even considering what continued Saturday night,” said Schultz.
Graffiti was sprayed on many buildings as well as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.
“It’s so disappointing and it’s not the first time it’s been defaced. This Monument is a beautiful piece of architecture and it’s made of Indiana limestone. You can’t just go up there with certain chemicals and power wash it because you can damage it even further,” said Schultz.
Schultz said many people are working to bring that “luster” back to downtown at a time “where we really, really need it.”
