Five years later, George Floyd Square still mired in controversy

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and the City Council are at odds over the future of George Floyd Square at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. 

City Council proposed studying a Pedestrian Plan that would restrict vehicle access to George Floyd Square, with the exception of emergency vehicles. Mayor Frey attempted to veto the proposal, which the City Council overrode in a 9-4 vote. 

Approving the Square as vehicle-restricted would eliminate D Line and Route 5 service on Chicago Avenue, redirecting those routes to other streets; although Route 23 would continue on 38th Street. 

Mayor Frey favors allowing traffic access while restoring Metro D Line and Route 5 transit services — known as the Open or Flex Option. This plan also includes wider sidewalks, on-street parking, and space for community gatherings and memorials.

Councilmember Emily Koski, who is running against Mayor Frey, flipped her no-vote from last December in support of studying the pedestrian option. “The mayor’s argument is about infrastructure and economy,” Koski said in a statement. “But I refuse to reduce this to a debate over convenience when we are talking about the very site where George Floyd was murdered.”

Ally Peters, spokesperson for Mayor Frey, added, “The bottom line [is] the Council’s plan would delay further progress at the Square and is not supported by the surrounding community.” Council member, Andrea Jenkins acknowledged her agreement with Frey in a statement on February 27, alluding to community engagement data.

“Overriding the mayor’s veto and moving forward with this pedestrian mall plan is not just a poor decision — it’s fiscally irresponsible,” said City Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher. “On top of the $2.23M already spent on engagement, we will have to delay other projects around the city to cover the unbudgeted cost of further studying a plan that the community opposes and the law doesn’t support. This is a disservice to residents.”

Debate over delays and priorities 

Mayor Frey and Council Member Jason Chavez sparred over potential delays to two options. “The conversation about delay, delay, delay, it’s not a delay. We are choosing a pathway forward,” Chavez said. “I had met with Paul Works directly and I said, ‘Bring forward the concept plan for the pedestrian mall.’ And the answer was, ‘That might not be under your jurisdiction.’ So who’s the one delaying now?”

Frey, however, emphasized that the pedestrian plan required 50% business-owner approval and rejected accusations of obstruction. “This is not like some arbitrary roadblock that we’re putting up,” he told Kare 11.

Activists weigh in

Community activists, including Marcia Howard and Mileesha Smith, expressed concern that disregarding the Square’s significance would cause more stress. “There are property owners that do not live here, that live in the suburbs, that have a monopoly,” Howard said. She argued that business owners are more directly affected by the outcome of the square. “There are business owners that have the storefront that pay their mortgages or their leases to those property owners. Those are two separate things.”

“We still gonna keep on keeping on,” Smith said, “but for the City of Minneapolis to disregard that, it’s just gonna cause more hurt, more harm, and more trauma on top of the hurt and trauma that’s already there.” 

Howard also spoke about property owners who are not considering the painful context of Floyd’s death. “We’re sorry we inconvenienced people and capitalism by having a Black man lynched,” Howard said. 

“Sorry that George Floyd happened to inconveniently get lynched on your roadway,” she continued. “Minnesota used to be known for Minnesota Nice…and now it’s the byword for police brutality.”

“Hurt people hurt people,” said Smith. “If you leave us hurt and in a space where we can’t even process…overlooked and having our history washed away like it doesn’t matter…but to those that it does matter to, we matter, and we think about those who don’t think about this space.”

Concerns over police accountability

Anger and grief over George Floyd’s death has resulted in scathing reports by the Department of Justice and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) that found patterns of policing practices that violate the Constitution in Minneapolis. A state consent decree was reached between the City of Minneapolis and the MDHR in 2023, and a report on that progress is due next month. 

Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson has granted a pause, adding nine more days of review to the federal settlement before proceeding. Consent decrees or settlements are legally binding plans to reform troubled police departments that require a judge’s approval.

Howard questioned whether a DOJ under a Trump administration would still honor the terms of the settlement. “I’m not sure whether or not the consent decrees will even be honored at this point. And quite frankly, we’ve seen very few consent decrees actually lead to a reduction of police brutality,” Howard said.

Howard recalled a meeting with Frey when he showed her a list of officers he planned to fire, but none were dismissed. “What I know is that we have a mayor who was elected to his second term as a strong mayor. He personally told me that there was a list of officers he would fire immediately, but none of them got fired. He even turned a laptop around to show me the officers in question, and that’s all I’ll say about that.”

The mayor’s office denies the existence of the list Howard cited: “This never happened and such a list didn’t even exist,” the mayor’s office emailed us after a request for comment.

Clint Combs welcomes reader responses to ccombs@spokesman-recorder.com.