The catastrophe that has befallen Minneapolis this year gets a soft focus treatment in the the Eric Roper/Maya Rao Star Tribune story “‘Hard to be downtown’: Between riots and COVID, allure of downtown Minneapolis tested.” Subhead: “Six months into pandemic, downtown remains largely empty with 85% of area’s workforce still at home.”
Staff writers Liz Navratil and Jim Buchta also contributed to the Star Tribune story. It takes four reporters and an editor or two to come up with such a blurred picture of the catastrophe.
Last week’s riots and looting in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, a few blocks from the offices of the Star Tribune, were the last straw for at least two businesses that had hung in there until now. Brit’s Pub is outta here, as noted previously. Now WCCO TV reports that Dahl Medical Supply, down the block from Brit’s, is also closing its doors thanks to the riots. Video of the story below includes a look inside Dahl Medical as looters got a little emotional, consistent with Reid Forgrave’s invaluable analysis of the festivities last week.
The editors of the Star Tribune are a little emotional themselves. They have endorsed a permanent memorial to George Floyd. It should not go without saying that the Star Tribune continues to make its own unique contribution to the civic degradation of Minneapolis.
