Signs of the times:
Plywood covers storefronts as threat of election unrest looms
With political tensions running high across the country, plywood is going up over many Bay Area storefronts as business owners and landlords worry the election may kick off days of tumult.
Buildings in Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, Walnut Creek and elsewhere are boarding up ground-level windows and doors, hoping to avoid smashed glass, looting and vandalism if post Election Day-demonstrations take a destructive turn.
After months of protests, people are on edge, said Rick Mitchell, owner of Luka’s Taproom & Lounge in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood.
“I think everyone’s worried,” he said Monday. “My staff is worried. They asked actually if we could close early tomorrow before it got dark.”
The Bay Area has been a hotbed of civil unrest this year, with regular protests sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, and the police killings of other Black men and women. While most of the demonstrations have been peaceful, some spurred vandalism, and looters broke into stores in Emeryville, San Francisco and Walnut Creek.
There already have been clashes leading up to Election Day. When a caravan of several hundred cars in support of President Donald Trump passed through Marin City on Sunday, police received reports of screaming matches, fights, paintball shots and eggs thrown at cars.
It’s not just the Bay Area that’s bracing for unrest. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills is closed for Election Day, and store owners have been encouraged to board up. Businesses in Washington, D.C., and New York City are putting up plywood as well.
On Monday, a crew of workers was covering the many large windows of a Volkswagen dealership on Broadway’s Auto Row in Oakland.
At the Powell Street Plaza in Emeryville — the site of mass looting in May — Marshalls, Ross and Carter’s Babies and Kids were boarded up Monday morning. But most stores, including Trader Joe’s, still had their windows uncovered.
In San Francisco, several businesses in the tony shopping district around Union Square had plywood coverings, including Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus and Macy’s. Even the iconic Salesforce tower covered over its groundfloor windows.
“San Francisco looks terrible. Downtown San Francisco looks like a war zone,” said 51-year- old Bruce Taylor. “I’ve lived in San Francisco for almost 25 years now, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Taylor was in Emeryville on Monday, heading into the boarded- up Ross to buy furnishings for his new apartment. The plywood is dispiriting, he said.
“In a way, I’m kind of used to it now. It seems like that’s just the way things are,” he said. “I feel like the world’s changed so much, really in the last year.”
Many storefronts around the Bay Area — including some that have closed during the pandemic — have had boards over their windows for months. Instead of taking them down and putting them back up every time there’s talk of a protest, the owners have left them up and had them painted with colorful murals. In downtown Walnut Creek — also a scene of looting in May — Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom boarded up their windows in anticipation of the election.
Downtown businesses are working with the city and police depar tment on staying informed, said Kathy Hemmenway, executive director of the Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association. If word comes that people are heading to Walnut Creek to protest, it’s up to individual businesses to board up their windows or close.
On the Walnut Creek Police Department’s Facebook page, some people responded to the department’s warnings of the likelihood of protests with calls for the police to impose a curfew. They expressed concerns that the protests could involve property damage or worse.
Several Bay Area jurisdictions set curfews to quell civil unrest in late May and early June. If demonstrations get out of hand again this week, Alameda County may bring the curfew back, said sheriff’s office spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly.
“I think it’s a tool we may have to look at again,” he said. “When done the right way for the right reasons, it’s very impactful.”
In downtown San Jose, it was mainly business as usual Monday near San Jose City Hall plaza — the site of daily Black Lives Matter marches earlier this year. But a work crew from Sacramento nailed plywood across one of the ground- f loor businesses of Vintage Tower, an art deco high-rise constructed in 1928. Other businesses boarded up include Chase Bank on East Santa Clara Street, the VTA’s downtown office, Erik’s Deli Cafe and Umbrella salon on North Market Street, and several offices on South First Street, including the SPUR office.
For Ryan Summers, who owns Pizza Flora on South First Street, the threat of election unrest and vandalism adds to a long list of pandemic- era worries.
“Having a lot of the downtown boarded up is of concern,” he said. Summers did not put up plywood, and plans to remain open.
At Luka’s in Oakland, owner Mitchell worries what will happen on the streets after the election. A few months ago, his employees had to run outside with fire extinguishers to put out trash fires during a protest, Mitchell said. Shortly after, one of his managers resigned — and Mitchell thinks it was at least partly over the stress of that night.
But to him, plywood isn’t the answer. It’s bad for business, and it’s not sustainable during a pandemic when the restaurant’s revenue already has been cut.
“It’s expensive to board up and take them down,” Mitchell said. “We can’t afford to do it every time there’s concern on the street.”