Counterpoint: Four and a half years of authentic community engagement at George Floyd Square

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For the last four and a half years — indeed starting just days after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer — I have led the city of Minneapolis’ community engagement efforts in George Floyd Square. These very efforts that have been called into question in a heated political debate over the last few weeks, and most recently in Molly Priesmeyer’s March 5 commentary “Frey’s manufactured consent: How the city failed George Floyd Square.” With all the election-year fervor, it may be difficult for readers to discern the truth.

So, here’s my contribution to the discourse: an account of years of thoughtful, time-consuming, complicated and often passionate community conversations that led to the development of a vision for the square.

What exactly did the more than 17,000 staff hours and $2.23 million in engagement look like?

Meetings. Lots of meetings. In the square, at local and mostly Black-owned businesses, at neighborhood organizations, door-knocking at nearby residences, pop-up events, focus groups, weekly office hours. Countless community members investing their own time to participate. Local Black-owned organizations (4RM+ULA, Cultural Wellness Center, NEOO Partners, Public Policy Project and TC2) providing their community engagement expertise. And all of us coming together meeting after meeting, working through disagreements at the slow pace of shared grief.

Values. In the first few years of engagement, discussing the future of the square was polarizing, but we also found common ground. We worked with community members to formalize a set of shared values that would guide a future vision for the square:

• Repair the collective harms experienced by the community due to the historical impacts of racism and the murder of George Floyd.

• Honor George Floyd Square as a sacred and active memorial space.

• Center the needs of the community of George Floyd Square.

Vision. Four and half years of engagement, the set of community-created values, and expertise from the city’s planning team and our community engagement partners led to a finalized vision for the square in late 2024. It’s a 45-page document that outlines priorities for memorials, the Peoples’ Way, streets, and racial healing. We presented it to Mayor Jacob Frey a few weeks before we brought it to the public.

This was not a predetermined vision. It was the exact opposite — an epic, yearslong amalgamation of community voices put to paper.

Last week, the City Council overrode a mayoral veto, which will result in another $500,000 spent on studying a pedestrian mall despite overwhelming community opposition and delaying construction until fall 2026 at the earliest. That day, businesses along the square expressed frustration about the council’s decision. PJ Hill, business owner and former vice president of the Minneapolis NAACP, said, “This is our livelihood, this is our community, this is how we feed our kids … . We’ve already been damaged enough. We’re trying to move forward.”

Moving forward requires listening and truth-telling. It’s how we’ve approached the engagement since 2020. I’m proud of the work of our engagement team, made up of dedicated, caring and thoughtful city staff, alongside our team of consultants – Black community organizations and facilitators with deep roots in south Minneapolis. We’ve been recognized internationally for the engagement approach we’ve taken.

It’s clearly an election year. But even in an election year, there should be some basic adherence to facts.

No, the city didn’t procure or develop the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) survey. In fact, the Community Co-Creation team did, and the results found that 70% of area residents want the street open to traffic.

No, the CURA survey was not the driving factor in staff’s recommendation for the optimal street layout. In fact, it was the community-established shared values honoring George Floyd Square while also serving the needs of residents that led to the flexible-open proposal.

No, we didn’t cherry-pick 15 property owners who opposed the pedestrian mall. In fact, we followed state law allowing property owners along a proposed pedestrian mall to weigh in. All property owners who responded opposed the pedestrian mall concept. No agenda is being advanced in making an infrastructure decision based on community feedback.

No, the Black community is not a monolith, nor does it have a singular opinion about the square. In fact, we’ve done everything we can to center Black voices, and they represent a variety of beliefs and needs. If you were to go door-knocking within a three-block radius of the square (like I’ve done many times), you would encounter Black and non-Black residents and business owners with a mixture of feelings and desires for the square, but primarily you would see that the George Floyd Square Vision that we developed captures their sentiments.

Much of the discourse over the last few weeks is clearly politically motivated. But attempts to use the square to attack the mayor really just have the effect of attacking the work that city staff, engagement partners and community members have accomplished together.

Bottom line? This was authentic community engagement, and the plan we put forward was carefully developed to best serve the whole community around George Floyd Square. As this project — and the debate around it — continues, we as city staff will continue to do what we do each day: proudly serve the residents of Minneapolis and keep them at the center of our work.

Alexander Kado is senior project manager with the city of Minneapolis. He has worked with the city since 2018 and oversees the city’s engagement work at George Floyd Square, among other projects.