Pedestrian Mall plan for George Floyd Square moves forward

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Pedestrian Mall plan for George Floyd Square moves forward_Jill Boogren.mp3

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20241211-170649-88b-Chavez Resolution TEXT.pdf

By Jill Boogren

On Dec. 5, 2024, the Minneapolis City Council voted to develop a pedestrian plaza at George Floyd Square. It was one of three concepts shared by the Public Works Department, who had recommended a different option that would open the streets at 38th and Chicago to all traffic in all directions. The pedestrian plaza would instead prohibit vehicular traffic on a small segment of Chicago Ave. north of 38th St., between Unity (formerly CUP) Foods and the Peoples’ Way (formerly Speedway), while creating a cul-de-sac to allow access to businesses on the rest of the block.
The street concept is part of a broader resolution that supports a community-led vision for the Square that includes the Peoples’ Way and memorials, and supports investments in the neighborhood, healing, truth and reconciliation. It largely reflects actions outlined in an alternate plan proposed in November by community members, but moves up their time frame from next October to June 2025 to create a vision for the space. This work would be done while moving forward with a pedestrian plaza.
In introducing the resolution, Council Member Jason Chavez (Ward 9) said he was “speaking on behalf of a big portion of the community that has gone unheard and unnoticed, a community who feels the pain from the lack of action on police accountability and reform from this administration, and a community that believes in a vision that is comprehensive and respects the dignity of the area....
“This vote should be about more than just infrastructure, and it should not gloss over or erase what happened here. It should be about healing, growth and honoring the voices of those who advocate for progress,” said Chavez, who was in his apartment six blocks away when George Floyd was murdered.
“I believe that we have one shot to get this right,” he said.
Council Member Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8) said it’s a delay and that staff already determined a pedestrian mall was not suitable in this scenario.
Council Member Katie Cashman (Ward 7) pointed to a new state statute that allows cities to create pedestrian-only spaces, provided they are not on trunk highways, among other criteria.
“I do think we have not played out the scenario of whether it’s possible to create a pedestrian mall here,” said Cashman, indicating her understanding that the city pursued that legislation specifically to try it at George Floyd Square.
At a Nov. 13, 2024 Committee of the Whole meeting, Minneapolis City Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher said public works started with a pedestrian plaza.
“What you’re seeing here is a pedestrian plaza option that would potentially work,” she said, and acknowledged the legislative effort which brought the statute. “We [the city of Minneapolis] sought expanded authority because potentially of this project. It could be used on this project.”
Anderson Kelliher described touring the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis, Tenn., where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Now a historic site and National Civil Rights Museum, the motel is located on a street that at first wasn’t closed to traffic but is now. It was from across the street that Dr. King was fatally shot.
Notably, on Dec. 4, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released its findings that the Memphis Police Department uses excessive force and discriminates against Black people, similar to the findings by the DOJ in Minneapolis. The Memphis investigation was launched after Tyre Nichols, who was Black, was beaten by five Black police officers after a 2023 traffic stop and then died in the hospital three days later. The ongoing protest at George Floyd Square calls for justice for all lives – not just George Floyd’s – taken through police violence.
City staff first unveiled their preferred option at an open house on Oct. 29. This was followed by a Nov. 6 Town Hall “In Defense of Black Lives” that drew hundreds of people in support of an alternate plan that would prioritize community needs over street reconstruction. The Community Visioning Council submitted a letter in support of the community’s alternate plan to the council prior to the Dec. 5 meeting.
The resolution was approved on an 8-5 vote, with Council Members Katie Cashman, Jason Chavez, Aurin Chowdhury, Aisha Chughtai, Jeremiah Ellison, Jamal Osman, Elliott Payne and Robin Wonsley voting in favor. Voting no were Andrea Jenkins, Emily Koski, Linea Palmisano, Michael Rainville and LaTrisha Vetaw. The project was sent back to the Climate & Infrastructure Committee, which next meets on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025.