Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sent a message to the Minneapolis City Council Wednesday about a new site for the city's Third Precinct police station:
"If you're not going to pick it, I am."
In a letter, Frey says he wants to build the city's first 'comprehensive safety center at the previously-considered Minnehaha Avenue site, just a few blocks from the charred remains of the original building destroyed in the George Floyd riots.
Frey did not include a dollar figure, but the cost is expected to be between $22 and $26 million. Frey has asked the council to approve the funds or give him the money to move ahead with the project.
The plans to replace the Third Precinct have taken on quite a journey. In July, the Minneapolis City Council has voted to no longer use the Police Department's Third Precinct building ever again for police purposes.
Then in September, the Council gave final approval to a plan for a downtown building, Century Plaza Building, to serve as the home of the Third Precinct. Then the Council pulled back on those plans, saying they "didn't understand" what they voted for two days earlier.
The Minnehaha Avenue location has come up previously. Frey had made the vacant lot near the original Third Precinct one of his original preferences but those plans appeared to be abandoned.
In March, the city planned to look at the new Minnehaha location or renovate the previous station, before the Century Plaza Building came up, giving the Council three options to consider.
"I've been clear since the very beginning, I would support any of those three if the council would move forward with any of those three options, I would sign it and we would begin the process of creating that new Third Precinct," the Mayor said Wednesday. "And what I believe we should be doing is pushing for a safety center. At this point, the council has told you what they're against. I'm telling you what I'm for."