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Minneapolis officials unveiled concept plans Tuesday for a possible pedestrian-only area in George Floyd Square — the latest step in a controversial effort to rebuild the intersection.
City planners shared the design at an open house. The plan suggests repaving blocks in each direction at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, and closing a short stretch of Chicago to vehicle traffic. That would clear space for pedestrians and a memorial.
Nathan Koster is the transportation planning manager with the city’s public works department. He said planners have figured out the nuts and bolts of a possible pedestrian-only design, and they’re now looking for feedback.
“A lot of the people who live here are experts,” Koster said. “They're here all day, every day, and they may be able to share information with us that we may not have gathered in this analysis over the last four or five months.”
The pedestrian plan would mean rerouting the D Line bus off of Chicago Avenue. Large delivery trucks and emergency vehicles could still drive through the square over a mountable curb on the mall. The design would also feature a cul-de-sac for smaller trucks and cars to turn around.
The pedestrian mall designs are the latest step in the city’s attempt to rebuild the square, where former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in 2020.
City officials say the roads are aging, and the lead pipes underneath need to be replaced. Plans were in the works before May 2020 but stalled after Floyd’s murder. Last year, city planners recommended a plan to repave the roads and keep them open to vehicles, with the ability to close the intersection to traffic for events.
That plan was based on community engagement; city officials said the majority of people living in the neighborhood wanted to see the streets repaved and open to traffic.
But some protesters and local residents pushed back on the reconstruction plan. They still maintain memorials and a community gathering site in the square and said it was too soon for the city to interfere in the protest area where Floyd was murdered.
In response to those concerns, the city council voted down the open-to-traffic plan and directed city planners to study a pedestrian option.
Koster said city planners tried to make the resulting concept feasible for everyone who uses the intersection, including businesses, visitors and the local protesters who take care of the memorial and community space.
“There's so many stakeholders and caretakers who've been committed to this square since the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, and we've tried to be really intentional of listening to everybody,” Koster said.
Marcia Howard is one of those caretakers. She’s at the square daily and helps with regular neighborhood meetings and upkeep of the memorial, piled with art and offerings from visitors and local activists.
She’s not eager to see the city come in and rebuild, and says she first wants to see officials meet activists’ list of 24 demands, compiled through doorknocking and community engagement in the summer of 2020. But, if the city wants to do construction, she says she believes a pedestrian mall will be the safest option for visitors.
“For those of us who have sat in protest since May 25, 2020, we are still saying that this place is a place of resistance and a memorial, and it is a community,” Howard said.
Local business owners were among the opponents of the idea. P.J. Hill owns a building on the 3700 block of Chicago, including the event space called The Square where the city held its open house Tuesday.
He said he wants the streets to stay open to traffic. He’s worried people won’t drive to visit businesses if they can’t park out front.
“The plan I like is an open flowing option, where there is a significant public investment,” Hill said.
Some advocates for the pedestrian mall printed their own poster and information to display at the public meeting, noting examples of successful, well-trafficked pedestrian mall examples in other cities.
Phi Khalar helps maintain the current memorial in the square and talked to guests about the pedestrian mall idea. They pointed to aspects of the design that have been successful in other cities: the proposed area is small, spanning only about a quarter of a block, and it abuts a memorial that people often visit on foot already.
“I think it's a great opportunity to make sure that community and people that come to visit are able to fully take in the space as a memorial and help create a cohesive space for people to fully experience our neighborhood,” Khaler said.
City officials say there are still logistics issues to work out. A state law says cities can’t convert streets to pedestrian-only zones if owners of more than half of the abutting land oppose it. The city would need to get those landowners on board before moving ahead.
City planners will present the concept layout to the city council in December. The council could then vote to move ahead with the pedestrian plaza or the open-to-traffic option — or send planners back to the drawing board.
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