Sacramento businesses board up windows amid fears of Election Day unrest downtown
The plywood was going up again in downtown Sacramento, this time in anticipation of Election Day disturbances.
Several downtown storefronts and office buildings were boarding their windows Monday, echoing similar action taken in major cities around the country as one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in modern history comes to an end.
A crew was sawing plywood at the corner of 12th and J streets about 1 p.m. One block east, two men affixed pre-cut pieces to the windows at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel. A string of offices on J Street near a 7-Eleven appeared to have been boarded up once again.
“Just being cautious,” said David Shipman, general manager of the Citizen Hotel, which boarded up again. “It’s not ideal for us. It’s not the first perception you want to leave your guests with.”
Shipman said it’s unclear whether there is actually any reason to be worried. “Whenever we feel the building can be safe again, we’ll take them down,” he said.
At G Rossi Florist on J Street, boards went up on the front entry for the fourth time this year.
“I have the boards. Better to be safe than sorry,” said Michele Porter, the owner. “There’s so much going on between the pandemic, the election, Black Lives Matter. It’s just a big compounding of things and downtown is not what it used to be.”
Sacramento police spokesman Karl Chan said police aren’t aware of any threats but “we’re continuing to monitor the election process. ... We will have extra officers available for any potential civil unrest that may arise from the election.” Police said they would close down streets as needed.
Disturbances have rocked pockets of downtown and midtown already this year. In particular, businesses were hit with two nights of rioting following largely peaceful protests over the in-custody police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The damage was estimated at more than $10 million and broken glass littered the sidewalks along major stretches of J and K streets.
More violence ensued after the shooting of a Black man in Kenosha, Wis., although the damage was limited mainly to government buildings downtown.
The Downtown Sacramento Partnership, an alliance of property owners, began advising businesses to review their insurance policies and building-security procedures in the event of any disturbances. But the partnership’s executive director Michael Ault added, “We are not encouraging people to board their windows.”
He said he was hoping that no more destruction would hit downtown. “Downtown has already suffered enough,” he said.
Large cities prep for unrest
Fears of a disruptive election were spreading across the nation. NPR said businesses were boarding up their windows in such cities as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. Among the businesses taking these precautions: the iconic Macy’s on Herald Square in New York.
CNN reported that Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills was closing to street traffic at 11:59 p.m. Monday and wouldn’t reopen until Wednesday evening. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer posted a video on Twitter of boarded-up businesses in Washington D.C. “in anticipation of possible unrest. ... So sad!”
The governor of Massachusetts told the National Guard to stand ready in case of any unrest, according to the New York Times. Oregon’s governor Kate Brown declared a state of emergency in Portland, the scene of weeks of occasionally violent protests this year.
Republicans seized on the development as an argument for re-electing President Donald Trump.
“Notice what those cities have in common. They’re all Democrat cities,” Trump 2020 campaign senior adviser Kayleigh McEnany said on “Fox & Friends,” adding it is “all the proof you need that the left should not be given federal power.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 3:42 PM.