How police presence in Ferguson shut down one business
Not far from the Swiish Bar and Grill, business owners are boarding up their windows and preparing for another night of clashes between protesters and police in Ferguson, Missouri. Swiish’s owner, Corey Nickson-Clark, is absolutely certain his business will be safe. The parking lot out front is filled with police vehicles and police officers.
Nickson-Clark’s popular hangout spot is tucked into one corner of a large, suburban mall in the town of Jennings, just down the road from where the Ferguson protests turned violent. About a week ago, he and his wife got a call from the property owner, who told them the parking lot was going to be used as a command center for the police. In the past week, Nickson-Clark has seen a lot of the police.
“I’ve seen St. Louis County, I’ve seen St. Louis City,” he said. “I’ve seen state troopers. I’ve seen some FBI. I think pretty much every department of the police department has been here.”
Nickson-Clark’s sister, Andra Crawford, who was keeping him company in the silent, empty bar, can barely believe what she’s seen: helicopters landing in the parking lot, tanks being loaded.
Nobody has been able to tell Nickson-Clark why the parking lot of his small business, with it’s two-for-one happy hours and famous strawberry chicken wings, was chosen as a command center, rather than the Target, Schnucks grocery or Foot Locker that occupy the same mall. Their parking lots are at least partially accessible.
“Those guys are able to open at some point during the day,” he said. “I’m not able to open at all. At least they’re able to get some type of revenue coming in.”
Nickson-Clark guesses he’s lost around $30,000 in the past week. He admits that if he’d purchased riot insurance, he’d be covered, but he asks, with disbelief in his voice, “when was the last time there was a riot here? The 1950s?
The officers outside Swiish don’t know why this part of the parking lot was chosen, either. “That’s above my pay grade,” said Sergeant Al Nothum of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Nothum says he hates to see a small business owner losing money, but the police plan to stay until the situation improves.
“There’s not one of us here that want to be here any longer than we need to,” Nothum said.”We want things to settle down. We want the citizens of Ferguson to know we’re doing the best we can. And that we’re looking for a good resolution to this whole thing here.”
Thus far, though, there has been no resolution. Sunday night was one of the worst nights in Ferguson to date. The National Guard is being sent in… and Nickson-Clark has just found out they’re going to be using his parking lot, too.
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