Business owners near Hennepin and 5th in downtown Minneapolis are responding to a string of recent violent events this month as the Minneapolis Police Department has promised more patrols this weekend.
Manger of the Loon Cafe, Marcus Dorn, says enough is enough as far as he’s concerned.
“It’s just a different beast these days,” says Dorn. “I think the police are frustrated because it’s a bunch of young kids that seem to be committing the same crimes over and over again and it goes to the prosecuting attorneys that seem to think that these kids can be reformed. And they get a slap on the wrist.”
Dorn says it hasn’t hurt business yet, but when fears about coming downtown start to creep up again it won’t be good for the city as a whole. This comes after three deaths and a string of injuries in the area over the past three weeks.
Dorn says city leaders need to step up and start to get real about the issues and concerns from businesses.
“(Mayor) Jacob Fre goes on TV yesterday morning and you see him painting in the street, the exclamation point on the end of ‘Go Lynx’,” says Dorn. “And you know, that’s the kind of stuff that they’re trying to show downtown. But try to sweep the other stuff that’s happening at two o’clock in the morning under the rug.”