None of the 36 Minneapolis businesses that signed a statement in support of replacing the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) were damaged in the George Floyd riots.
A business coalition called Common Sense Safety announced this week that it wants voters to pass Question 2 during the citywide election on Nov. 2. This question will ask city residents if the “Minneapolis City Charter [should] be amended to remove the Police Department and replace it with a Department of Public Safety.”
Although the passage of this question would not immediately put all police officers out of work, it would remove them from the charter and create a new agency that can be defined and expanded at the will of the left-wing Minneapolis City Council.
“We are a coalition of Minneapolis small business owners and employees. We are calling for a change in public safety in Minneapolis,” reads a website for the Common Sense Safety coalition, which seeks measures like “unarmed professional response teams” to be “dispatched through 911” rather than police. The coalition also seeks the “decoupling [of] medical response from police response,” a measure that may leave EMTs unprotected in dangerous situations.
“We support Yes 4 Minneapolis because we know our current police-only approach to public safety isn’t working, and we can and deserve a higher standard of public safety, where qualified mental health responders and social workers, along with police, can work to make all our communities safer. Minneapolis small businesses like us need alternative response options that work towards safer and more equitable outcomes for our community,” the coalition of businesses said in a statement this week.
None of the businesses that support Question 2 were damaged in the Floyd riots last summer, according to a list of businesses affected by the unrest.
One of the businesses, the Main Street Alliance, doesn’t even list a Minneapolis address. Rather, its website reveals that it is a left-wing, D.C.-based group that promotes the Build Back Better agenda and specific Democratic legislative efforts like limits on voter ID requirements.
Other businesses like the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center are deeply involved in other anti-police causes. The arts center co-sponsored George Floyd’s birthday celebration earlier this month that featured a gang-affiliated rapper.
Meanwhile, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo says passing Question 2 is bound to have unexpected impacts on law enforcement in the city. Earlier this week, he explained how if this measure is to succeed, city councilors will be given authority to make changes to policing, yet they have failed to disclose what they have in mind.
“I was not expecting some robust, detailed, word-for-word plan but at this point, quite frankly, I would take a drawing on a napkin,” Arradondo said, illustrating the vagueness of the proposal to replace his department. “To vote on a measure of reimagining public safety without a solid plan and an implementation or direction of work — this is too critical of a time to wish and hope for that help that we need so desperately right now.”
Here is a full list of businesses that support replacing the police department:
- 826 MSP
- Angel Bomb
- Arbeiter Brewing Company
- Asa’s Bakery
- b. resale
- Butter Bakery Cafe
- Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center
- Chudgar Consulting
- Cooperative Energy Futures
- Dangerous Man Brewing
- Davis Law Office
- Dual Citizen Brewing Company
- Eastlake Craft Brewery
- FrameWork Consulting
- Happy Earth Cleaning Co-op
- iWare Northeast
- Knit & Bolt
- Kyatchi
- Linebreak Media
- Main Street Action
- MBMB // Made by Michelle Brusegaard
- Minnesota Women’s Press LLC
- Modist Brewing Company
- Next Day Animations
- Northeast Tree, Inc.
- Queen of Swords Press
- Railbox Consulting
- Reverie Cafe + Bar
- Smart Set, Inc.
- Sociable Cider Werks
- Software for Good, GBC
- Solcana Fitness, LLC
- Some Sort of Escapade LLC
- Star Haus Psychotherapy
- Twin Town Guitars
- Witch Hunt Minneapolis
Kyle Hooten
Kyle Hooten is Managing Editor of Alpha News. His coverage of Minneapolis has been featured on television shows like Tucker Carlson Tonight and in print media outlets like the Wall Street Journal.
