Six years since Democrats allowed Black Lives Matter rioters to rage through Minneapolis, city residents are still (quite literally) paying the price.
Market valuations for downtown Minneapolis commercial buildings have dropped by about $3.4 billion from 2021 to 2026, or about 45%, according to Minneapolis City Councilman Michael Rainville, who said that the number is still dropping. According to Rainville, “every renter, every homeowner, every small business building owner outside downtown is making up for that with their property tax.” Minneapolis homeowners were responsible for 49.4% of property taxes in 2021, but that share has risen to 55.6%.
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These struggles are a holdover from the chaos and disorder brought by the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020, which had businesses contemplating fleeing the city. Businesses were forced to close as they were caught up in “no-go zones,” where they were subject to the whims of violent rioters and criminals because the beleaguered police department wouldn’t even send officers to accompany ambulances, despite paramedics requesting the extra protection. As of last year, local media detailed how businesses are still “hoping they can go back to what they remember before everything changed in 2020.”
After the riots, the city of Minneapolis compiled a list of the more than 1,000 businesses that were damaged during the Black Lives Matter riots, including 48 properties that were classified as “destroyed.” Nearly half of those destroyed properties are now empty lots or boarded-up buildings, having been left for dead by the businesses that were subjected to riots and looting with the passive permission of Minneapolis leaders. Minneapolis suffered some $500 million in damages during those riots, with the city refusing to follow its emergency operations plan or craft a crisis response plan.
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What Minneapolis has learned (and, in fact, is continuing to learn) is that it is far easier to destroy a city than to build it up. One summer of riots, looting, and lawlessness has left Minneapolis with a series of financial consequences that are still crippling businesses and homeowners six years later.
The Black Lives Matter movement has done incalculable damage to society, from the racism of its supporters to the destruction of merit-based systems in favor of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Minneapolis residents and business owners may have received the worst of all, though, as their city was used as a battleground for racist, anti-police, pro-riot activists and media who abandoned them to pick up the pieces on their own for years after the news cameras left.