Protests focused on racial inequality and police treatment of African Americans boiled over on May 29-30 into violence and vandalism that left businesses across downtown damaged and looted.

Eric Wells, president of the Stadium Village Business Association, says the city failed to adequately protect businesses and has not communicated a plan or a vision for bringing the city's core back after the one-two punch of coronavirus and the riots. 

She talks with podcast host Mason King about ways the city could step up to help businesses not just survive but thrive again. 

Then Mason talks with Mayor Joe Hogsett's chief of staff, Thomas Cook, about the city's reaction, whether it acted quickly enough to quell the violence and how the administration plans to move forward from here.

You can read about the actions the Stadium Village Business Association is requesting here. Wells is also one of four columnists featured in IBJ talking about the protests and the damage.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.