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By Estelle Timar-Wilcox, Minnesota Public Radio News

In a visit to Minnesota this week, Sen. JD Vance took aim at Gov. Tim Walz’s response to the 2020 civil unrest. He spoke in front of the former Third Precinct, which still bears scorch marks from the protests.

“Minneapolis — thanks to the leadership of Tim Walz — has now become overrun with crime,” Vance said. “This 3rd Precinct drives home the stakes here. We cannot let bad guys burn down our cities.”

But the building’s closest neighbors say Vance got the story wrong. While politicians point to symbols of past destruction, locals are rebuilding.

“I know why you want to stand in front of a burned out building, because that’s the story that you want to tell. And I know why I want to stand in front of a renovated building, because that’s the story that I want to tell,” said Chris Montana.

He co-owns the new Du Nord Cocktail Room and Lagniappe restaurant on the first level of a building that was destroyed during the protests and recently restored. It sits kitty-corner from the precinct building that has become a popular backdrop for politicians criticizing Walz and the Democratic party. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson gave a speech from the same spot in August, accompanied by Minnesota U.S. Reps. Pete Stauber and Michelle Fischbach.

On Monday, Vance blamed Walz for a rise in violent crime in Minneapolis — though statistics show a recent downward trend. Reports of violent crime were down in the Twin Cities, and nationwide, in 2023, after a nationwide spike following the start of the pandemic and protests in 2020. According to Minneapolis Police Department data, citywide homicide offenses and reports of shots fired have trended down since peaking in 2021, but remain above 2019 numbers.

Vance also focused on the immediate aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd and the unrest that ensued, claiming Walz failed to protect police and city infrastructure.

“The story of Minneapolis is coming to every community across the United States of America if we promote Kamala Harris to President of the United States,” Vance warned.

“Anyone who wants to continually live in that narrative and suggest that there’s no progress isn’t useful to me, and I don’t think it’s really useful to the city,” Montana said Wednesday.

His cocktail room opened in September with a celebratory public concert. Montana said it was a cathartic return to the neighborhood. Du Nord’s former cocktail room down the street from the 3rd Precinct has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was damaged in the unrest.

Montana said he vividly remembers the scene on this block in May 2020, shrouded in smoke and blockaded by police. But that’s not what he sees out his window now.

“Those images are burned into my head, and I think a lot of people’s heads, and they’re always going to be there,” Montana said. “What matters, I think, is what happened next.”

A still-rocky road to recovery

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was quick to defend his city on social media. While on a run along a lake, Frey rattled off several of the city’s top rankings, including coming in second on the Trust for Public Land’s list of best park systems and being named the happiest city in the United States by a London research firm.

“You got a couple things wrong,” Frey said. “You should love your people more than you love your ideology. Here in Minneapolis, we love our city.”

Many who share his sentiment joined in, posting picturesque photos of the city.

For some businesses on the ground, though, recovery has been rocky. Many buildings damaged or destroyed in the unrest have been rebuilt, while some, like the Third Precinct, remain in limbo.

Alison Sharkey is the executive director of the Lake Street Council. Speaking before Vance’s visit to Minneapolis, she said she’s focused on getting businesses and visitors back on Lake Street — and reminding people that it’s far from burned down.

“If you don’t come here very often, and maybe the last you saw was images of fires burning back in 2020, you may think that it’s still like that. And people need to know Lake Street’s not on fire,” Sharkey said. “People are going out, getting good food and having a good time on Lake Street.”

Sharkey points to several reconstruction projects progressing nearby. The Du Nord Cocktail Room is one of the first businesses in the historic Coliseum Building, which reopened after heavy fire damage shut it down in 2020. The building is oriented toward businesses owned by people of color. A local nonprofit called Redesign helped rebuild the space and co-owns it with tenants, including Montana. More businesses who want to open there can buy in and become owners over time.

New development in the neighborhood is interspersed with still-empty lots. Sharkey blames a perfect storm of challenges, beyond just the protests.

A lot of small businesses were already suffering a loss of customers during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. That put business owners in a tough spot when faced with damage. Construction costs are still high, and many impacted businesses were small operations running on thin margins at the best of times. Some haven’t returned or moved to different cities.

“It’s not shocking that it’s taken a while to rebuild these spots,” Sharkey said. “It has been challenging.”

Francisco Segovia is familiar with those challenges. He’s the executive director of Communities Organizing Latine Power and Action (COPAL), a statewide nonprofit headquartered on Lake Street.

COPAL purchased the former O’Reilly’s Auto Parts lot. The store there was heavily damaged by arson in 2020. In April, crews demolished what was left of the old building. It was the first step in COPAL’s plans to build a new Latino community engagement center on the property.

But expenses might push the project back. COPAL estimates it will cost about $15 million — a few million more than their original estimates suggested. The organization still hopes to break ground in 2025, if they can secure further grants and funding.

Segovia said in an interview before Vance’s visit that he’s heard other national critics suggest that Minneapolis is still on fire or a burnt-out shell of itself. He shrugs it off. He’s too busy pulling together the money for this new development, plus COPAL’s other projects.

“Our job is to build,” Segovia said. “And if we find an issue, we prefer to partner with people who want to solve that issue, rather than just using that issue for political gains.”