The Minneapolis City Council voted Thursday to deny a contract with the Minnesota Agape Movement to develop the Peoples’ Way, sending plans for a new building in the square back to the drawing board. It also agreed to waive a special tax for property owners, as construction in the square begins.
Council waives special property tax assessment
Property owners at the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue recently received notice of a special tax assessment.
It’s to cover some of the cost of a street reconstruction project that started Monday — about $630,000 of the $15 million project.
Those assessments are applied to property owners adjacent to any city street project.
But property owners and other community members around the square said the charges are unfair. They noted that the street reconstruction isn’t a typical city project. It includes a redesign of memorials to Floyd, who was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer at the intersection.
City council member Soren Stevenson represents the area. He urged the council to waive the fees.
“This project has been billed for so long as something that the city was doing for the community, and you can't do something for the community and then charge them for it,” Stevenson said.
The council voted unanimously to waive the tax — a rare level of agreement in the often-contentious process of reconstructing the square. Some council members, including Linea Palmisano, cautioned against taking similar steps to waive the tax in the future, though.
“It feels like it's just the thing to do in this extraordinary situation, but I also want to make it clear for the record that this is a one-time solution,” Palmisano said. “Street assessments are laid out in ordinance, and they're reflective of a direct benefit to the property. None of us wants to pay them, but our properties are improved.”
Stevenson said he’s in talks with Mayor Jacob Frey to make up the money with city funds in next year’s budget.
Speaking at a city council public hearing last week, several community members said the taxes deepened distrust in the city, after a years-long and often contentious debate over construction in the square.
And business owners said the assessment hits harder following slow sales during the federal immigration surge, and with construction now disrupting traffic. That's on top of ongoing economic challenges and stress following Floyd's murder.
Lachelle Cunningham owns City Food Studio on Chicago Avenue.
“For years, this community has experienced extraction. People have extracted wealth, attention, stories, research, political capital and opportunity from this place,” Cunningham said at the public hearing. “The residents and businesses that stayed are now being asked to shoulder another financial burden. That feels less like investment and more like another form of extraction.”
Council denies Peoples’ Way development contract with Agape
The council also rejected a plan from city staff for a redevelopment of the Peoples’ Way, a former Speedway gas station in the square.
The city owns the property, where residents and memorial caretakers still gather daily. City staff have a goal to pick a local organization to redevelop — and eventually buy — the site.
City staff recommended the Minnesota Agape Movement from among several organizations that applied, with approval from Mayor Frey. But a majority of community members had said in a survey that they preferred a proposal from another applicant — a group called Rise and Remember. The arrangement with Agape failed to pass a council committee last week.
Council member Stevenson said he wanted to stick to the community’s preferences, even if rejecting the proposed deal delays the project.
“This process has been so extremely painful for everyone involved,” Stevenson said. “This vote to deny the recommendation is painful as well, but it is also the right thing to do.”
Two council members voted against denying the contract with Agape — LaTrisha Vetaw and Michael Rainville. Council member Pearll Warren abstained from voting.
Vetaw said she was disappointed in the move, which will delay the redevelopment project.
“I thought this would be an amazing thing for us to come together on,” Vetaw said.
Council member Stevenson said he and council member Jason Chavez, who also represents a section of the square, plan to meet with Frey in the coming days to talk about the next steps for the project.
City planning staff told the council at Thursday’s meeting that the vote likely means an indefinite delay to the application and selection process that led to the recommendation of Agape as the developer. That could result in an indefinite delay to redevelopment plans.
Several memorial caretakers and local activists at George Floyd Square had called on the city to block the deal with Agape and follow the community’s preference indicated in the city’s survey.
Local advocate Mileesha Smith said the way the city handled the process wasn’t fair to Agape, or to Rise and Remember.
“There’s a lot of hurt right now,” Smith said. “At this point, the way that the mayor just toyed with them, you owe them both.”
The mayor’s office said in a statement that he’s coordinating with council members representing the area to determine a path forward.
“Voting down Agape and returning to the drawing board is the Council’s prerogative,” his office said. “Mayor Frey’s goal is to move forward at George Floyd Square and stop delaying.”