Minneapolis business owners who want to install security shutters on the outside of their buildings to bar looters from entrance and to protect the windows of their stores cannot do so because the city of Minneapolis has banned security shutters on building exteriors since 2004.
Chapter 535 of the Minneapolis zoning code states: “Exterior security barriers. No retractable metal security gates or grilles shall be placed on the exterior of any portion of an enclosed principal non-residential building façade facing a public street.”
“Nearly 1,500 businesses were heavily damaged in the riots, and many were completely destroyed, forcing owners to clear the site before rebuilding,” the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal noted. The Minneapolis Star Tribune noted in early June, “Owners and insurance experts estimate the costs of the damage could exceed $500 million. That would make the Twin Cities riots the second-costliest civil disturbance in U.S. history, trailing only those in Los Angeles in 1992 …”
Minneapolis’ sister city, St. Paul, allows business owners to install external shutters if they acquire a permit. But Minneapolis officials said in a report that external shutters “cause visual blight” and imply that an area is “unsafe” and “troublesome,” the Star Tribune reported. – READ MORE
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