(NETWORK INDIANA) Many pieces of plywood and boards are still covering windows of businesses who’s windows were damaged or busted out during riots last month in downtown Indianapolis.
On top of that, businesses are still limited for another week because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Many business owners are asking Mayor Joe Hogsett for a plan on how to get the downtown area back to the state it was in before the riots and the pandemic happened. But, some like Brian Shapiro, the owners of Shapiro’s Deli, say they have not heard anything of the sort from the mayor’s office.
“Every day that passes it delays the possibility of a return,” Shapiro said to WISH-TV. “I don’t understand why we don’t have a proactive plan for the pandemic. I don’t understand why we don’t have a proactive plan for getting the city back on its feet.”
Shapiro has sent a strongly worded letter to the administration demanding something more concrete be done to rejuvenate downtown. He said the Mayor should have intervened sooner by providing a safer place for protesters to demonstrate.
“That didn’t happen,” said Shapiro. “It got two people killed, one a very affable Shapiro customer. Six people injured. 120 businesses damaged. Millions of dollars wasted.”
Jack’s Donuts was one of the first businesses hit when the riots started. Owner Chris Karnavas still has the windows boarded up and new glass still hasn’t been put in.
“We’re not really in any big hurry to replace them,” he said. Because we just don’t know if the rioting has subsided or not yet.”
Karnavas, like Shapiro, is concerned that he has not heard anything from Mayor Hogsett about a plan to revitalize the downtown area. Hogsett’s office gave a statement wit WISH-TV in response to the assertions from business owners:
“Over the last several weeks, Mayor Hogsett and administration leadership have been meeting with Indianapolis business owners to better understand the challenges they are currently facing,” Hogsett’s office said. “The effects of the pandemic, combined with costs to safely reopen and property damage from recent protests, have created hardships for so many of the small businesses that serve as the backbone of our neighborhoods and our local economy.”
“We continue to work with the Indy Chamber, Downtown Indy, Visit Indy, and other organizations to create programming that supports impacted businesses and helps to address this difficult moment head-on.”
