Star Tribune
Duluth residents push council to close section of Skyline Parkway after fatalities
DULUTH — Duluthians are calling on the city to permanently close to traffic a popular section of the famed Skyline Parkway after two fatalities along the boulevard this month.
The City Council heard from parkway neighbors and family of the deceased Monday night. They shared stories of speeding drivers and dangerous conditions along the 28-mile roadway that overlooks the length of the city, snaking high above the St. Louis River and Lake Superior.
Kenneth Bickel, 70, died last week after being struck by a car when he was walking on a section of the parkway near Enger Park. Logan Woock, 26, died earlier this month after rolling his car on a western section of the road.
It’s clear speed was a factor in Bickel’s death, his daughter-in-law Justine Bickel told the council.
A longtime resident of a neighborhood near Enger Park, “he was a safe walker,” she said, and had there been a speed limit sign or other safety measures, “Ken may still be with us today.”
A section of the road near Enger Park was closed to traffic during the pandemic to allow walkers, runners and cyclists the space to distance from each other outdoors when the Lakewalk became overcrowded. Speakers said that could easily be done again.
The city’s chief administrative officer, David Montgomery, said the city was gathering input from the community to improve safety along the entire boulevard, but didn’t have anything formal to propose yet.
Councilors, who held a moment of silence for Bickel, were supportive of making changes.
Councilor Mike Mayou cited several sections of the road he deemed dangerous.
“It’s a very narrow road that’s heavily utilized,” he said, and fixes for the entire stretch should be studied.
Laura Whittaker owns a nature preschool along Skyline not far from where Bickel was killed. She’s written to the city several times about safety concerns, as she crosses the road with small children daily to reach trails.
“I see firsthand how dangerous it is,” she said, with vehicles using the curving boulevard like a “racetrack.”
Doris Malkmus said crossings to trails are unmarked, and cyclists and pedestrians grow increasingly unsafe as the area becomes more popular.
The winding road makes drivers feel like they are “on top of the world,” she said, making it an “alluring” place to speed. “We have to be responsible to … make that impossible to do.”
The first section of the historic boulevard opened in 1892, and seven separate sections were joined in 1929. It was designated a Minnesota Scenic Byway in 2001.
The fledgling Minneapolis “safety-beyond-policing” department, which has been accused of mismanaging contracts with violence interrupters, is again under scrutiny for requesting nearly $1 million for a business owned by the sister of one of its staff members.
Unanswered questions about the Black Business Enterprises Fund and the purpose of the contract have repeatedly delayed a City Council vote on the contract.
Neighborhood Safety Director Luana Nelson-Brown came before the council’s administration oversight committee on Oct. 7 to argue for giving the business a one-year, $992,400 contract for “capacity building and compliance consulting services.” Black Business Enterprises Fund would use the money to employ a team of 17 experts to coach violence interrupters on financial literacy and how to comply with government accounting requirements.
“A good financial system allows organizations to track their spending accurately, ensuring that funds are used properly and enabling them to prepare regular reports that meet government expectations,” Nelson-Brown said. “It also streamlines invoice reimbursements, which allows us to make more timely payments, and it is necessary for audits and evaluation of program success. I also want to note that these are all things that have been identified as weaknesses.”
Nelson-Brown said the need for the contract is underscored by a lawsuit that accused the city of arbitrarily awarding millions of dollars to violence prevention groups without proper accounting, as well as the “Safe and Thriving Communities” report on building a comprehensive model of public safety. The city commissioned the Harvard University report after the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
City Council members have also been pushing for greater accountability in the Neighborhood Safety Department, particularly after a whistleblower complaint shared with council members this year questioned the relationships between contract recipients and department staff. One of the whistleblower’s claims had to do with Black Business Enterprises Fund owner Nancy Korsah, and her sister, Neighborhood Safety Department staffer Georgia Korsah.
On Oct. 7, council members asked Nelson-Brown about that relationship, whether the business had experience working with nonprofits — particularly those that provide violence prevention services — and whether it is an organization capable of helping others build theirs.
Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw said she wasn’t aware of what the Black Business Enterprises Fund had done besides “having a gala.” Council Member Jeremiah Ellison said a review of the organization’s website raised a “red flag.”
A motorcyclist set off a three-vehicle crash on a central Minnesota highway and was killed, officials said Monday.
The wreck occurred about 10:40 p.m. Sunday north of Royalton on Hwy. 10, the State Patrol said.
The motorcyclist was heading east on Hwy. 10 and struck a fish house being pulled by a pickup truck driver. The motorcyclist, a 27-year-old man from Sauk Rapids, Minn., was thrown from his bike and struck a median pillar.
A car heading in the same direction hit the motorcycle.
Occupying the pickup were a 46-year-old driver from Rice, Minn., and a 43-year-old passenger, also from Rice. The car’s driver, a 34-year-old woman from Cobalt, was her vehicle’s only occupant.
Identities of all the people involved in the crash have yet to be released, and there is no word yet on whether anyone was injured other than the motorcyclist.
A motorist died Sunday morning after striking a deer on a northwest metro freeway and then getting rear-ended by a second driver, the State Patrol said.
Julie Terwey, 60, of South Haven, Minn., was driving east on Interstate 94 near Brockton Lane in Maple Grove when she struck a deer at about 5:25 a.m. She was stopped in the center lane when she was hit from behind by a second driver, the patrol said.
Terwey, who was wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene, the patrol said.
The driver who collided with Terway’s Ford Escape, Jordan Land, was taken to a hospital with noncritical injuries, the patrol said.
Land, 32, of Becker, Minn., was wearing a seat belt, the patrol said.
Alcohol was not a factor in the predawn crash, the patrol said.
