‘It’s been just so intense’ for weary Lake Street business owners again beset by street violence

Solcana Fitness owner Hannah Wydeven, like many fellow business owners along East Lake Street in Minneapolis, has for months picked up dirty needles, human waste and litter from her property.

The disruption from a private homeless encampment near Lake and 28th Ave. came to a crescendo with a shootout on Sept. 15 that killed one and wounded six and heightened safety concerns of business owners, who say they have lost customers and money.

The business owners have sympathy for those addicted or unhoused, but said they are fighting for survival. Many of the same owners suffered through pandemic restrictions and the fallout from George Floyd’s murder by police, which culminated in riots centered just down the street from the more recent shootings.

“A lot of us are just tired. It’s been just so intense,” said Wydeven, who helped organize a neighborhood cleanup earlier this month.

More than 20 business owners packed a meeting a few days later with City Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, police Inspector Jose Gomez and other city personnel to share frustrations of lower sales and concern for employees’ safety.

While the encampment was cleared nearly two weeks ago, business owners say safety concerns persist with the sale of illegal drugs in the neighborhood and other ongoing problems.

Hayat Mohamed said she was afraid to disturb three unhoused people blocking the front door to her salon last week.

“This is our daily grind,” said Two Bettys Green Cleaning owner Anna Tsantir.

Tsantir said she keeps waiting for her managers to quit.

“They go out in the morning, pick up all this stuff, the defecation and the biohazards,” she said. “We are going to see a lot of businesses leave if we don’t start managing this in a way that is good for the people that are obviously suffering and for the businesses and the communities here.”

The shooting occurred Sept. 15 at the private encampment set up by prominent Minneapolis landlord Hamoudi Sabri in a parking lot behind a vacant building he owns on E. Lake Street, city officials said.

Investigators in Hennepin County allege that the shootout stemmed from a dispute over who got to sell drugs inside the “makeshift urban campsite,” just hours after another mass shooting just off Lake Street hindered efforts to deal in another spot.

At nearby Boker’s Inc.’s metal stamping plant, a new employee had his car stolen. It was recovered, only to be stolen again. That worker quit, said co-owner Tony Kersey during the meeting.

Another worker was held up at gunpoint at Boker’s front door, he said.

Owners and managers of Zipps Liquors, Pizza Luce, Moon Palace Books, AA Equipment and more businesses told city officials they worry that continuing drug, crime and homelessness problems could worsen as temperatures plummet this winter.

They describe a sense of constant vigilance — walking customers and workers to and from cars, installing more security cameras and hiring armed guards.

In the newly renovated Coliseum Building where Hayat’s Beauty Salon is located, both Lagniappe Restaurant and Du Nord Cocktail Lounge closed, partly because of the neighborhood issues. “Challenges proved too great for us to stay open,” said signs on the business doors.

A homeless encampment near Pizza Luce on Franklin Avenue has caused issues there, said co-owner J.J. Haywood. Sales at that location have dropped 20%, she said.

Last week, the manager there ejected a couple doing heroin in the restaurant bathroom in front of two young children, Haywood said.

Some diners aren’t coming back because of incidents like that, she said. The business hired security guards, but it’s not enough.

Tsantir, who also is president of the Longfellow Business Association, told city officials at the meeting that two different businesses were turned down for bank loans.

“When they share where their businesses is, they are denied loans,” she said.

The city opened a Lake Street Safety Center last year and a Temporary Resource Center after the shooting to help connect families with addiction, housing and mental health services, the officials said.

The city has also expanded “boots on the ground” style partnerships to Lake Street and Franklin Avenue neighborhoods, they said. Those efforts are focused on breaking up loitering, cleaning up needles and steering the unhoused toward resources.

The city for months had tried to shut down the encampment, working through the courts.

Gomez, the police inspector, asked residents to report problems no matter how small, which should identify trends and help pinpoint fund allocations.

“We are still deploying resources” to the area and working with neighborhood groups, the county and state to address problems along Lake Street caused by the pandemic, the 2020 unrest after George Floyd’s murder, the fentanyl crisis and homelessness issues, said Erik Hansen, the city’s community planning and economic development director.

The state and Lake Street Council also have grants to help with security lighting and other exterior building improvements, said Jon Edwards, community safety navigator for the group.

Edwards pointed to temporary resource pop-ups held in conjunction with the city.

Solcana Fitness’ Wydeven said she used to rent space near Lake Street and 22nd Ave., but moved after several break-ins at her business and neighboring storefronts.

After she moved to Lake Street and Minnehaha 11 months ago, she had a respite for a while. But after Sabri set up the encampment, the problems started in her new spot and worsened with the shooting.