A Minneapolis manufacturing company that was heavily damaged during the George Floyd riots last month is fleeing the city over its lack of leadership, the owner said Monday.
“They don’t care about my business,” Kris Wyrobek, president and owner of 7-Sigma Inc., told the Star Tribune. “They didn’t protect our people. We were all on our own.”
7-Sigma Inc., a leader in the production of precision rollers used in high-speed printing systems, has operated in south Minneapolis since 1987 and employs about 50 people, the Tribune reported.
Mr. Wyrobek, who was sorting through what was left of his business Monday, said he plans to move his company out of the city as soon as he can.
“We are cautiously optimistic we can do that,” he said. “But we are certainly not able to do that in Minneapolis.”
Mayor Jacob Frey told the Tribune he was unaware of 7-Sigma’s decision to move, and he declined to comment on the criticism he’s faced by local businesses that are struggling to rebuild.
The city’s first survey of property damage shows that nearly 1,000 commercial properties in Minneapolis were damaged during the riots, including 52 businesses that were completely destroyed, totaling upwards of $500 million, the Tribune reported.
Mr. Frey announced Monday the creation of the Minneapolis Forward: Community Now Coalition, which includes representatives of local business and community groups who will seek financial help to rebuild from a broad range of private and public partners, but he refused to say how much money the city is willing to commit to local businesses.
Mr. Wyrobek said it is too little, too late. When asked if he thought of relocating before the riots, Mr. Wyrobek told the Tribune, “not in my wildest nightmare.”
