Protests, coronavirus rules create surreal scene in downtown Santa Rosa

El Coqui co-owner Jackie Roman supports the peaceful protests against police brutality that have converged on downtown Santa Rosa over the past week, but she’s dismayed by the acts of vandalism and attempted looting that have marred some of the demonstrations.

Understanding is easy, she said, when it comes to the peaceful protests over the treatment of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis who pressed his knee onto Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes last week while three other officers looked on.

It is more difficult, though, for her to explain the acts of destruction committed by a small group of people well after the main protest action had dissipated from the streets of Santa Rosa surrounding her restaurant.

“Eight minutes is eight minutes. We all know that,” Roman said. “Why come to our beautiful Sonoma County and trash it?”

It is but the latest challenge faced by merchants who have already dealt with two major wildfires in three years, the continued possibility of widespread power outages and the coronavirus pandemic, which led public health officials to significantly curtail social activities and ban indoor dining at restaurants like El Coqui for more than two months.

Taken together, the combination of the pandemic and the recent unrest has contributed to an surreal atmosphere downtown.

Though a three-night curfew imposed by the city expired Thursday, concrete roadblocks in place since Monday are set to remain through the weekend at numerous intersections surrounding Old Courthouse Square, the main staging ground for hundreds who took to the streets in peaceful protest. Graffiti tags promoting Black Lives Matter and lambasting police have become common sights - particularly on the Santa Rosa Plaza mall along B Street. Vandals have broken windows and spray-painted slogans on several businesses, but estimated damage is believed to be limited to the tens of thousands of dollars.

In some places, the downtown aesthetic is jarring. On the stretch of Fourth Street immediately east of Mendocino, shop after shop is hidden behind boarded up windows and storefronts - some of which stayed shut or closed earlier than usual during the curfew. But on the block immediately to the west, restaurants and bars continued serving food and drink outdoors into the evening.

On the corner right across from the square, Neal Mogannam’s Fourth Street Deli has cut its hours and boarded up earlier this week. His business was starting to come back after being hit hard by the pandemic, but the recent unrest and street closures have contributed to a “real lousy” situation, he said. While he mostly doesn’t mind the daytime protesters, he considers the nighttime activity to be the work of “professional looters.”

“It’s way back down again, and it makes everybody sad,” Mogannam said. “Nobody likes to see the windows boarded.”

City officials are preparing measures to revitalize downtown, including the impending closure of several blocks of Fourth Street from late June through mid-October and a new city program freeing up street and sidewalk space for restaurants. Despite the unrest, the ability to use public space to serve customers is already being used by Ausiello’s Bar & Grill, where owner Armand Ausiello has had to shuffle hours due to the curfew but avoided any damage to his sports bar and restaurant, like most downtown establishments.

Some businesses, like Ting Hau restaurant on Fourth Street, have stayed open despite fears of vandalism and the limits on business operations imposed due to the pandemic.

“We need to pay the rent,” said co-owner Aihe Fang, who said she’s glad to see that her windows have been intact each morning she comes into work. “We have to take the risk.”

Others aren’t as worried, like the nearby Russian River Brewing Co., which does a hefty part of its business through retail and distribution compared to most other downtown eating and dining establishments. The protests and curfews haven’t had a major impact, said co-owner Natalie Cilurzo, who added she supports the road closures that could make it difficult for some to get to her Fourth Street location.

“I would rather have safe protests than somebody driving their truck through a crowd,” Cilurzo said, referring to the local teen who drove a red pickup truck through protesters on Saturday and now faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon. She added that the roadblocks also could help prevent sideshows that present a danger to pedestrians as well.

Roman also criticized dangerous downtown driving adjacent to the protests, pointing to the pickup truck incident and an incident she witnessed - which does not appear to have been reported to police - in which a sideshow driver lost control and struck an elderly man’s vehicle.

Her 11-year-old Puerto Rican restaurant on the corner of Mendocino and Fifth avenues has remained open this week. It has gone untouched, and she credits her late grandmother for watching over her.

She wants to focus on seeing the community improved, re-opening her restaurant for indoor dining - and preparing for whatever disaster is next to hit Sonoma County.

“I want to see peace, unity and love - stuff that we all believe in,” Roman said. “And I’m tired.”

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com.