The most dangerous block in Minnesota

Back in June, David Zimmer and I toured the infamous block in North Minneapolis featuring Winner Gas and Merwin Liquors.

The intersection of Broadway and Lyndale is much in the news these days. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has vowed to go after the businesses located there, rather than the criminals who ply their trade nearby.

As the Star Tribune reported in January 2021:

Situated in the heart of north Minneapolis’ commercial district, the corner of W. Broadway and N. Lyndale Avenue is home to a grocery store [Cub], a Walgreens, and a gas station that locals have taken to calling the “murder station.”

The paper gets specific about what’s going on there:

Locals say something has to be done about the violence and drug trade at Broadway and Lyndale, which many feel would not be tolerated in more affluent parts of the city. 

The corner hosts one of the city’s largest and longest-standing open-air drug markets. By my count, there are five levels of government that could shut down the crime there, but choose not to:

Federal: FBI and ATF. State: State patrol and BCA. Regional: Met Council transit police. County: Hennepin Sheriff and county prosecutor. City: Minneapolis police department.

Instead, the Attorney General wants to prosecute the businesses there for continuing to exist. In contrast, a few miles to the south, Speedway has abandoned their gas station to the George Floyd Autonomous Zone.

The video from our June visit to Winner Gas:

And Merwin Liquors