Posted on 11/28/2014 1:17:57 PM PST by SeekAndFind
It will be a quiet Black Friday on Ferguson's West Florissant Avenue. The modest commercial strip that runs through the heart of the embattled city has been devastated by rioting and looting. Now, a haze of doubt hangs over many workers and merchants there who wonder whether their businesses can survive the terrible toll — and the fear of possible uprisings to come.
Some retailers, like Mohamad Yaacoub, have been slammed twice by violence. His store, Sam's Meat Market, was looted in August after unarmed, 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. On Monday night, arsonists nearly burned that market to the ground.
"To be honest with you, I'm lost now," Yaacoub told NBC News after touring the charred shell that once was Sam's. The exterior brick walls are the only salvageable chunks. The roof is gone. "I'm not sure money-wise. Money-wise, it's just too hard.
"I had to borrow $700 to buy some wood, just to put the boards together to close up where (the rioters) came in from, to close the building. It's just too much, you know," added Yaacoub, who carries insurance coverage for fire damage but isn't certain when or how much he might be paid to begin a rebuild. A friend launched a fund to help pay for the market's restoration.
At a strip mall two doors down from the remnants of Sam's, looters smashed the glass at the Clip Appeal salon then hurled a Molotov cocktail inside. Two local men grabbed plastic water bottles and dashed inside the shop to try to douse the flames, said Leeanna Moore, a 22-year employee.
While Moore cheered those heroics, she admitted she hasn't decided if she will ever return to work at the salon, which also carries insurance.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Look like a possible food desert starting there.
I feel terrible sorrow for the honest business owners in that neighborhood. But they should move and never return. Let those feral savages reap what they’ve sown
L
Next up, protesters blame racist corporations for the lack of basic services in “the black community”.
They'll get Section 8 vouchers and infect other communities.
Watts and Liberty city grew again because the gubmint came in and spent your money, and a bunch of good bid ness men like Magic Johnson went in and rebuilt Opportunity.
Unarmedteen M. Brown, RIP.
All this, for a thug?
“I had to borrow $700 to buy some wood, just to put the boards together to close up where (the rioters) came in from, to close the building. It’s just too much, you know,” added Yaacoub, who carries insurance coverage for fire damage but isn’t certain when or how much he might be paid to begin a rebuild. A friend launched a fund to help pay for the market’s restoration.
I don’t know about this particular business. But, most retail storefront businesses are in leased space. Which means that we’ll have to see if the landlord’s master insurance policy covers damage caused by rioting or civil unrest. Then, see if the landlords choose to rebuild, because even if covered by insurance, they may choose not to rebuild. In which case, a small businessman such as this man will have no choice; he’ll have to relocate or close his business altogether.
Some neighborhoods in some places such as Detroit, remained wastelands decades after the riots of the ‘60s. We can’t take as a given that these businesses will come back.
The riots that followed the Grand Jury decision led to the
the St. Louis County Police department to fly helicopters over Ferguson, Missouri, and drop job applications as a means of dispersing the crowds to avoid further riots and looting.
Great job, Ferguson....you just burned your local economy to ashes forever.
I wouldn’t run a business there if it was given to me for free.
1. They hate white people
2. High crime
3. Scared police
4. Insurance companies may not offer coverage to protect investment
Guess this made them feel really powerful. DISGUSTING
Who would want to rebuild there. Take your life in your hand with savages stealing and stick ups with guns.
If Officer Wilson was forced out how much police presence
can they expect. If the law does their job they are out of a job, if they don’t lawlessness rules. Either way the people of Ferguson who made Bear Brown a loathsome thief turned bully a hero will reap what they justly deserve.
One of the untold stories of Ferguson is that, up until now, the Ferguson community took pride in being a racially mixed community.
Ferguson is about 2/3 black and about 1/3 white. And they took pride in being a diverse community.
After all of this, what will become of Ferguson? I can imagine that many of the 1/3 white minority have been making plans to move. And that no new white residents will move in. Or any decent black people for that matter.
In a few years, Ferguson will be 99% black, and they will be mostly ghetto black at that. The business community will be long gone. It will be a wasteland.
I’m hope to be wrong about such predictions. But, time will tell. Let’s see in five years what Ferguson looks like then. See how many businesses are still around and what the population patterns look like.
It took Asbury Park, NJ nearly 40 years to come back after its riots. And it still has dicey areas and many nice businesses that simply can’t make a go of it.
I feel so sorry for these people who lost their businesses and jobs.
It would be better if they did not rebuild
RE: drop job applications as a means of dispersing the crowds to avoid further riots and looting.
It would be interesting to find out :
1) How many bothered to read them
2) How many even UNDERSTAND what was written on them
3) How many even bothered to apply if they understood what was written on them.
The reporter keeps carping on “also carrying insurance” as if that is some sort of reward that completely covers the cost of rebuilding, twice now. It doesn’t. Insurance very seldom makes a claimant whole after a loss. Then, there’s the loss of revenue while the business is closed, often for a lengthy period. Many small businesses cannot recover from the loss of revenue alone.
This is the first of the boo-hoo stories about Fergadishu.
Screw them, let them suffer for what they have done to their community for supporting a thug. His life was worth little more than the half dozen cartridges it took to end it, because he thought it was only worth a box of cheap cigars to begin with.
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