Dec 4, 2025 - News

Key group proposes new George Floyd Square design

Kyle Stokes

Several people stand indoors in a gym with wooden floors, interacting with a large white projector screen; one person in a bright yellow furry hat touches the screen as a man in a black beanie looks on. — Neighbors review a rendering of the Community Visioning Council's proposal for the street design at George Floyd Square, where temporary barricades still ring a memorial to Floyd. Photo: Kyle Stokes/Axios

An influential grassroots group has released a proposal it hopes will resolve a years-long debate over the future of George Floyd Square — and it wouldn't involve a pedestrian mall.

The big picture: The Minneapolis City Council has been studying pedestrianizing the square for the past year, delaying city officials' plans that would've installed permanent infrastructure around Floyd's memorial.

The fight has become a vessel for at least five years of pent-up frustration among activists, neighbors and business owners living at the epicenter of a global racial reckoning.

The latest: The grassroots group — the Community Visioning Council (CVC) — unveiled a design Tuesday night that involves keeping the streets around Floyd's memorial at least partially open.

The CVC's proposal overlaps with the city's design, but there are some notable differences: Instead of two lanes of traffic in front of Floyd's memorial as in the city's design, the CVC calls for only a single, one-way lane to remain open.
Some buses would likely still have to bypass the 38th and Chicago intersection.

What we're watching: Whether the CVC's plan — and its lack of support for a pedestrian mall — ends the council's impasse over the city's so-called "flexible" design for George Floyd Square, which Mayor Jacob Frey supports.

A procedural vote last month to revive the city's "flexible" plan passed the council by a vote of 8-5, which may indicate support for the pedestrian mall was softening anyway.

The intrigue: The CVC's plan has no official standing in the city's planning process and would need extensive vetting to move forward.

But at least six City Council members were present at the plan's unveiling, a sign that the group has the council's ear.

Friction point: If the council doesn't act at its Dec. 11 meeting — the last of its current term — the legislative process will start over.

What they're saying: Council Member Jason Chavez told Axios that he thinks the Frey-backed plan is "completely different from the CVC plan."

"I do not support rushing [the mayor's plan] through approval, but I am supportive of [the CVC's] compromise plan that reflects the vision of the community," Chavez wrote in an email.

What's next: City officials and the CVC will present at a council committee hearing on George Floyd Square on Thursday.

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Key group proposes new George Floyd Square design

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