Santa Monica city officials said Tuesday that they’re forming a team to work with local businesses and the Chamber of Commerce to help businesses impacted by Sunday’s unrest.
The city listed five steps affected business should take:
— Secure property by boarding up storefronts and removing inventory.
— File a police report for vandalism or looting at santamonicapd.org. Answer `no’ to all questions except #3 to be able to file the online report. Keep any evidence related to your location, except broken glass. It will be collected when contacted for the official report.
— Submit other evidence. If you would like to submit any evidence not related to a report being filed (video, photo, vehicle or suspect descriptions), submit to info@santamonica.gov.
— Open a claim with your insurance carrier. Insurance is the first resource in recovering from any disaster. Contact the California Department of Insurance for assistance by calling 800-927-4357.
— Take the city’s online damage assessment survey, at: ow.ly/P2We50zX3BR.
The destruction happened when a peaceful protest that started around noon with a march down Ocean Boulevard devolved into looting. Several stores in the Santa Monica Place shopping center and on nearby Fourth Street were hit, and news footage captured scores of people carrying merchandise and running out of stores that had been broken into.
The criminal destruction of local businesses and city property continued into the night, with law enforcement — aided by the National Guard — arresting hundreds people on various charges of looting, curfew violations, burglary and assault with a deadly weapon, according to Santa Monica police Chief Cynthia Renaud.
At sunrise Monday, volunteers with brooms and buckets began cleaning the trail of devastation.
Santa Monica officials issued a 2 p.m. curfew on Tuesday, with more demonstrations scheduled around greater Los Angeles spurred by last week’s in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.