Responding to a call from Downtown Sacramento Partnership and Midtown Association, volunteers began showing up at 7 a.m. on June 1 to clean up around several businesses in downtown Sacramento that had been damaged during national protests over the weekend in response to the May 25 police killing of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis. Two autoposies found that Floyd’s cause of death was homicide; one of four former officers involved has been arrested.
The volunteers staged at Ali Youssefi Square at Seventh and K streets, then fanned out to clean up graffiti, broken windows and other damage that included scores of businesses still trying to recover after being closed since mid-March due to COVID-19. Businesses such as Macy’s at Downtown Commons, Target on Broadway and BevMo on J Street suffered damage, plus several locally owned ones, including Sharif Jewelers and Tony’s Delicatessen & Catering. Some other buildings, such as the offices for Disability Rights California on K Street, were also damaged.
“People have been coming up all morning asking to help,” said Dewana Ljung, the director of retail operations at TRUE, a thrift store for the anti-domestic abuse nonprofit WEAVE at 18th and K streets, as she and Marnie Shuey, WEAVE’s human resources director, cleaned up damage.
About 200 volunteers turned up June 1 to help clean up around
businesses in Sacramento’s central core, according to an estimate
provided by Midtown Association.
Volunteers began showing up at 7 a.m. on June 1 to the staging
area at Ali Youssefi Square at Seventh and K streets in
Sacramento and began fanning out throughout the areas damaged
Saturday and Sunday nights.
Supplies were provided for volunteers at Ali Youssefi Square at
Seventh and K streets.
Francisco Kuhl, helping in the staging area, said the response by
volunteers to help clean up the areas affected was
“overwhelming.”
BevMo at the corner of 17th and J streets in Sacramento suffered
significant damage and looting both Saturday and Sunday nights.
Lisa Kraft (foreground) and Renee Kelley, two of three owners of
nearby Honey Salon, help board up the damaged Disability Rights
California building at 18th and K streets in Sacramento.
Volunteers clean up graffiti on the sidewalk along Ninth Street,
in between L Street and Capitol Mall Monday.
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