Duluth skywalk: A relic or still critical?

DULUTH – The city’s 3-mile public skywalk system could see closures of some sections and investment in others following a deep look into its viability.

The Duluth City Council next week will consider a measure that asks for an evaluation of the sprawling system, which first connected buildings nearly 50 years ago.

“I think it’s long past time to have an honest conversation about how it’s not working right now and what we need to do for the future,” said City Councilor Arik Forsman, among those on the council who support the resolution. “It really feels right now like it was built for an era gone by.”

The flux of downtown workers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic has meant fewer people are using the system and fewer businesses have storefronts in it. Open drug use, public urination and other lower-level crimes have deterred use, as have its hours — closed on weekends and by 7 p.m. on weekdays.

The city’s approval of controversial new ordinances last summer was intended, in part, to improve conditions in the skywalk.

In recent weeks, the Duluth Police Department has increased its presence in the system by dedicating two daily shifts of community service officers. Patrol officers are also asked to walk the skywalk when they have time. Police staff overseeing the entire downtown include peer recovery specialists and social workers.

“We were continuing to hear concerns from our community about their feelings of safety,” Police Chief Mike Ceynowa said recently. “We wanted to make sure they were seeing a face in uniform that is friendly, that gives them a sense … that people are keeping eyes on the area.”

He said the most frequent calls to police from downtown concern disturbances, medical events, theft, unwanted people and welfare checks — quality-of-life issues that impact perception of safety.

And those calls are largely associated with people who are unhoused or have mental health issues or substance-use disorders. In a recent two-week period in the downtown core, just three arrests and three citations resulted from 87 incidents that required enforcement.

The city has studied how to improve the skywalk for several years; previous research has shown public easements vary, depending on when a section was built. Depending on where a complaint originates, police may have limited enforcement options, Ceynowa said.

But Forsman said crime isn’t why the skyway evaluation is needed: It’s more about activities that make users uncomfortable but aren’t necessarily a threat, he said.

Still, Forsman said, that as a near-daily user of the skywalk, he’s encountered meth smoking and other behaviors that could threaten another person’s safety.

Mariah McKechnie of Northland Special Events owns the former Superior Street Bagley building, where the skywalk bisects her businesses. She said that because she invests in colorful displays at her second-level storefronts and has a busy working environment, she hasn’t seen the sort of real or perceived crime that less populated areas do.

However, McKechnie said, some sections haven’t been updated or maintained in years. She said she would like to see a standard set of rules requiring building owners to make the skywalk experience more pleasant.

McKechnie said she doesn’t want to see the skyway system closed, but a better experience offered to encourage more people to use it.

Kristi Stokes is president of Downtown Duluth, a business booster. She said that besides an evaluation of underused sections of the skyway, she hopes to see investments in artwork and new artist tenants in the system.

Having lively street fronts and skywalk passages is tough to do post-pandemic, but both are necessary to showcase the revitalization of downtown, Stokes said.

And as the city tries to attract more downtown housing development, it’s uncertain whether the skywalk will help or hurt those efforts.

How new downtown residents might use the skywalk is still unknown, Forsman said.