Businesses Start To Take Down Boards Following Looting In Downtown And Midtown Sacramento

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Board by board and screw by screw, the pieces of plywood are coming off of businesses in downtown and midtown Sacramento.

Some people feel it's time to get back to some kind of normal again.

"As things got more peaceful and the rioters kind of left and the looters kind of went away, we felt safe to take the boards down," Miranda Brown, bar lead at Saigon Alley, said.

"The last several nights have been much calmer downtown. And its just time and we got to generate some income," Kim Anderson, Manager of Ambrosia Café

There are some business owners who hope when the boards are taken down that they can be used to build others up.

"I really, really, really want to see something good come from it. I'll be here and I've got my impact driver and three fully charged batteries," Aziz Bellarbi-Salah, Proprietor & General Manager of Aioli Bodega Espanola, said. "So, if we can shelter somebody, I'd be grateful to do it."

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The city of Sacramento said it does have a plan for the boards that are being taken down from businesses.

"We're going to recycle the boards, save them. Those with murals on them we're numbering them; keeping them separate and there are some groups within the city of Sacramento who are working on some art projects," Peter Lemos, Code & Housing Enforcement Chief for the City of Sacramento, said.

The city says it's working with businesses to have the boards taken down; most of which were donated. The typically expensive operation is being done for pennies on the dollar to support the community.

"If we had to refer them to a contractor to get unboarded and they had no contract or no interaction with these contractors before, it's probably going to be 50 dollars an hour. So I'm guessing 100 to 200 dollars to un-board their properties," Lemos said.

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The damage and fear is done. But there's a sense that more places will un-board and carry on.

"A lot of positivity, so I want to see everybody bring their boards down.," Bellarbi-Salah said.

"I was actually surprised yesterday when I drove down J Street that everybody was still completely boarded up! So I think this week it'll be coming down," Anderson said.

Midtown Association told CBS13 that a non-profit called Boards for Change plans on auctioning off some of the mural boards. Those details are still being worked out.