Lake Street Council leaders say they are "disappointed" after a state aid plan for business owners died in House deadlock.
Following the demise of a $100 million state relief package, manager of Corridor Recovery Initiatives Russ Adams says that emergency aid for struggling immigrant and minority owned storefronts became a legislative bargaining chip.
"Legislative leadership allowed separate political agendas that were not related to the immediate needs of these businesses - emergency needs - to kind of get mixed in with the conversation," Adams says. "Supporting small businesses is supposed to be a bipartisan consensus."
He says while mutual aid has mobilized millions in local funding to help businesses navigate immediate summer overhead, the Lake Street Council and business advocates are already organizing to press lawmakers for more state intervention.
Adams adds the lack of state support leaves over 1,000 immigrant and BIPOC-owned shops to absorb heavy losses from recent federal immigration crackdowns.
"Hennepin County did do a survey, and this is not completely reflective," he explains. "It was a small sample, but the average loss of revenue was $57,000 per business. Some had much larger, over $1 million. But the businesses are definitely hurting."
Minneapolis city leaders released a grim assessment of the impact of Operation Metro Surge on residents and city operations in February showing over $200 million in losses to Minneapolis' economy, community livelihoods, residents' mental health, and to food and shelter security.
Adams says while Minneapolis leadership has stepped up with fee waivers and localized marketing events to help these cultural hubs survive the summer, the council is already planning to lobby for emergency funding during the next legislative session.
