Boston Businesses Prepare For Fallout After Election Day

BOSTON, MA — Several businesses in the Back Bay — from the Prudential Center down Newbury and Boylston Streets to the Common — have boarded up storefronts in an effort to prepare should there be fallout after Election Day.

In Boston and around the country, cities and businesses are hoping for the best but preparing for tensions going into the election to spill into the streets. City officials and law enforcement say there has been no credible threat of violence anywhere in Massachusetts, but in the event that changes, business owners are not taking chances.

Boston's Prudential Center property management sent an email to tenants and posted online this week saying they were in touch with Boston Police and planned to increase security staffing throughout the complex "in preparation for potential unlawful activities," for two weeks following the election.

They also said they'd install temporary barricading and boarding throughout the property to deter potential looting and property damage. The street entrance at 101 Huntington Ave. and 111 Huntington Ave and 888 Boylston St., were all boarded up on Thursday. The main Boylston Street and Huntington Avenue entrances would still be open, they said.

The Pru was among those damaged this spring during a night of ransacking and vandalism. It came after a day of peaceful protests centering around the death of George Floyd and other Black people killed by police in America earlier this year. A group of people lit a car on fire and some businesses downtown were damaged or ransacked.

Mayor Marty Walsh this week said he is finalizing the city's security plans for election night, and that he expects there to be protests regardless of the outcome.

"There’ll probably be demonstrations on both sides, on victories and losses," he said during a news conference this week. "What’s kind of alarming to me is that the preparation that we’re putting into this election, we’ve never had to put into an election before. I don't think any mayor before me, or I certainly wasn't asked in 2016, what's your election safety plan?"

Tuesday night will be unlike any presidential election that has come before.

The country may not know who won the election immediately, as the onslaught of mail-in ballots will likely take extra time to count. Amid that backdrop, President Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated he does not believe mail-in voting to be legitimate and has called on his supporters to keep watch at polling places.

Boston Night Of Violence Damage: Cleanup Begins [Photos]