Five years after George Floyd’s murder, temporary barricades still ring the memorial on the pavement where he died. Protests here have never stopped, but tension over the intersection’s future is rising.
The big picture: A plan to install new, permanent infrastructure in the streets around the memorial has become the subject of heated debate on this corner and at Minneapolis City Hall — a struggle that’s as much about street design as it is about who gets to shape the future of George Floyd Square.
- In one camp: business owners, who envision a mecca for local and Black-owned enterprises at 38th & Chicago — but say delays to improvements in the square undermine those plans.
- In another camp:curators of Floyd’s memorial, who suspect city officials and developers are trying to profit off of a pilgrimage site — and signal an end to their long-running protest.
What they’re saying: “They want the Fist without the fuss,” neighbor and memorial caretaker Marcia Howard tells Axios, referencing the square’s iconic Black Power sculpture. “They want the protest zone without the protesters.”
- She believes business interests “are waiting for economic infusion,” which they feel will come into fruition once protesters are gone.
TodayThe other side: The commercial district at 38th & Chicago had been desperate for new investment for years before Floyd’s murder, argues P.J. Hill, who bought buildings in George Floyd Square in 2023.
- Delays to city street projects “signal that we’re just going to keep going around and around, and nothing will happen,” Hill told Axios. “Then over time, it’ll just go back to business as usual.”
Catch up quick: Nobody is talking about removing the memorial to Floyd. What’s at issue are competing plans for rebuilding the streets around it.
- Many business owners and Mayor Jacob Frey have backed a proposed “flexible” design, which mostly locks in the square’s current car-accessible layout, but with new retractable arms that could close the street periodically.
State of play: City Council members — many of whom arealigned with the memorial caretakers and protestors — blocked that plan in December.
- Instead, a veto-proof majority voted in March to study permanently closing part of Chicago Avenue, creating a pedestrian mall between the memorial and the former gas station across the street — which is soon to be redeveloped.
Under Minnesota law, creating a pedestrian mall would be difficult, though not impossible, without business owners’ support, and several who spoke to Axios oppose it because it would reduce parking and bus access.
Yes, but: The “flexible” design is “not a community-led plan. George Floyd Square is a community-led place,” says Jeanelle Austin, executive director of Rise and Remember, the nonprofit that preserves the memorial.
- “The city is trying to take it back, take it over, and not allow it to be community-driven,” adds Austin.
Between the lines: Underlying the debate is fear on both sides of gentrification or displacement.
- Austin fears a wave of development, driven by developers and city officials positioning the square as a tourist destination, which could push up rents and property taxes — and drive out current residents.
- Howard, another “unpaid docent” of the memorial, believes many developers see dollar signs: “George Floyd Square, for some people, is considered a prize.”
Friction point: “You think 38th & Chicago is going to be a gold mine for who, when? It might not be in my lifetime,” counters Ace Rice, who rents space for his art gallery from Hill, and founded a land trust that’s still raising startup funds.
- “Businesses over there are already struggling,” adds Hill, who says he charges below-market rent to his apartment tenants and the newly-opened Bichota Coffee.
- If businesses can’t scrape by, Hill worries about outside investors coming in to “buy these assets for pennies on a dollar. … Who’s going to buy those assets? Not Black business owners like me.”
What the neighbors want
Between city staff time and consultant contracts, Minneapolis spent more than $2.2 million over the last two years figuring out what neighbors want at George Floyd Square…