By Kristina Early
Kristina is the owner of the Curl Salon. The Curl Salon is located at 2006 Hennepin Ave, in Uptown, around the corner from Sebastian Joe’s Ice Cream.
When The Curl Salon opened its doors on November 11, 2021, it was meant to be a haven, a luxurious, welcoming space where women and children could feel beautiful, safe, and cared for. Today, that dream is under constant attack by the very city that should be protecting it. Like many business owners in Minneapolis, we expected challenges, staffing, supply chain issues, and the everyday demands of running a thriving salon. What we never anticipated was having to become our own security force, janitorial crew, and crisis response team, all while trying to serve our clients.
The reality is grim. Homelessness, drug use, prostitution, violence, and vandalism have taken over our streets. Every morning, we arrive not knowing what we’ll find, graffiti, shattered windows, human waste smeared on our walls, or worse, people passed out or aggressive at our doorstep. We have witnessed open drug use, public defecation, fights breaking out just feet from our entrance, and prostitution happening right in front of us. At the street corners, panhandling is constant, creating dangerous situations for drivers and pedestrians alike. The liquor store on the corner fuels the chaos, allowing panhandlers to turn their collections into alcohol, which they bring to the bus stop directly outside our front door. Drunken disorder spills into the sidewalk where our clients, 99% of whom are women and children, must navigate these unsafe conditions just to receive a service.
Despite calls to the city council and local officials, nothing changes. Minneapolis leadership has failed its businesses, its citizens, and its economy. Instead of prioritizing public safety and supporting the very businesses that keep this city alive, they turn a blind eye. The police force, stretched thin and demoralized, can only do so much when policies enable lawlessness. Yet, in the face of these obstacles, we persist. We refuse to let our city’s decline define us. We continue to show up, to serve our clients, and to push for change. But Minneapolis cannot thrive if its leaders refuse to lead. We need real action, stronger policies, consistent law enforcement, and a commitment to making this city safe again.
Until then, we remain on the front lines, not just as stylists but as protectors of our community. We will not let Minneapolis fail us without a fight.
I would imagine this was the case in a post George Floyd world when you mived there. My understanding as a former client of the salon that was there prior to your existence closed as a result of that very problem. Minneapolis used to be a magical city. Sadly she has fallen on hard times. Any change takes 20 years. I bid you the luck you deserve on your journey but may consider consulting a realtor to look for a more suitable location that reflects your personal style.
Good to see this piece made it on to Next Door. Two comments on that post.
These Mpls elections in the fall are critically important, especially since this next term will be for 4 years, 2026, 2027, 2028, and 2029. That is a big chunk of time for this city to get substantially better OR worse. In 2023, less than 1/3 of those that could vote in Mpls did.
I think this time will be different, better, because so much is at stake, and more now are aware of WHO exactly will be on the ballot.
Of the encumbents running, I could only support three, Palmisano, Vetaw, and Rainville. Very much looking forward to a Fresh Start City, one that knows to retire CMs Wonsley, Payne and the three Chs, (Chavez, Chughtai and Chowdhury)…at the minimum. More may be filing to run before the DFL Caucus on April 8th, or so I heard.
Another relevant piece from December…
Where We Are Now: Seeking Solutions to Crime and Disorder | Minneapolis Times
https://minneapolistimes.com/where-we-are-now-seeking-solutions-to-crime-and-disorder/
Turnout was low overall last cycle, but it was healthy in competitive wards like 12 and 8. If I was on your side, I’d be putting all my energy and focus on Wards 5, 7, and 8. Maybe Ward 12 will be a somewhat competitive, but Becka Thompson seems like a worse candidate than Luther Ranheim, who Aurin defeated easily. We are a month away from the start of the caucus process. I doubt we get any serious candidates announcing in March or April. All the serious people running have been working behind the scenes for the past year to get things in place.
It may be a bit to EARLY to call it, as the involved and aware public continues to pay close attention to the actions, all manner of rhetoric, ( and interesting dispays) and individual and group VOTING patterns for this council, with more to come, these next SIX plus months, BEFORE early voting begins in Sepember. What happens monthly, and even weekly, matters in this city.
Case in point.
https://minneapolistimes.com/open-letter-to-aurin-chowdhury-re-george-floyd-square/
Our current CC is startling proof that most people who vote are too uninformed, ignorant or maybe stupid to understand what they are voting for. This Cashman CC is completely out of touch. She’s said on record she is not concerned about crime. She has stated she is more concerned about the homeless than crime. The homeless commit much of the crime. The left wing have no idea what socialism means. These nit wits are idealistic. Do they ever get off their ass and talk to their constituents. The George Floyd Square nonsense is an example
It’s important these people don’t get re elected. However, why would anyone with a good job run for city office? The candidates are mostly people barely employable. Giving nit wits power is always a dangerous thing. Out current President is an example.
Thank you, Minneapolis Times for publishing Kristina’s story, and thank you, Kristina, for providing a clear and concise picture of what it’s like for Uptown business owners as their complaints continually fall on deaf ears. This is a travesty. We should be outraged.
The only way to change it is to vote out the far-left CC members. But it takes more than that. We need as many reasonable citizens as possible to attend their caucuses. That’s where decisions are made about how the May convention will be run. Our only hope is to make reasonable people the majority at the caucuses to out-vote DSA members who want to control the convention.
Please mark your calendar for April 8th. If we want change, it’s up to us. For more information, visit: https://minneapolisdfl.org/
The mayor has been in office since 2018 and has been in full control of public safety since then. Voters approved a strong mayor system, giving him even more power. It has only been the last ~14 months that we’ve had a progressive majority on the city council. For most of Frey’s tenure, he had majority support on the council. Crime went up at higher rates when he had majority support on the council – not that it should even matter, since they don’t oversee public safety or policing! We’ve given MPD and the mayor more resources and support. Blaming all of our problems on a progressive majority that hasn’t been in office that long is ahistorical and reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how our city government works. It’s time people wake up and blame the person who is literally in charge.
Mayor Frey isn’t a dictator. We now have a strong mayor system, not an absolute power mayor system. City Council couldn’t keep vetoing him if he were all-powerful. To be clear, I’m not a fan of Mayor Frey. But I am a fan of reality.
The rapid decline of our city in the past 14 months can, in fact, be laid quite easily and persuasively at the doorstep of the recently-elected, vocally progressive, anti-police, anti-parking, anti-business City Council and their DSA political ideology.
Try again. When the city council controls the purse strings–THEY have control. The DSA CC members rejected raises for the cops time after time, claiming “Money is not a motivator.”
That was disproven after significant raises were offered and more applied to join the force. Sadly, the CC then cut the police recruiting budget.
Now they have put the violence interrupters on hold…until who knows when. It’s all about the DSA platform: defund the police. And limit shot-spotters for who-knows-why reasons. They pursue it still, whether they admit it, or not. But one thing is clear, the DSA really have no interest in public safety.
The reason the Third Precinct doesn’t have police or ambulance service is because of the far-left clowns on the city council. No sane business person is going to open a shop anywhere near where Cup Foods was. The city residents sent the council a message when they voted to make Minneapolis a strong-mayor city, but the council members doubled down on the clownishness.