From the Saint Paul Pioneer Press editorial page, 11/1/17:
New rules are in place just in time for the season when we appreciate the warm amenity our downtown skyways — St. Paul’s “second-floor sidewalk” — provide.
City ordinance amendments approved in September and effective last week address public safety concerns and allow building owners to close their skyways at midnight, rather than 2 a.m.
The changes respond to skyway problems that made headlines as pressure built about personal safety worries and “quality-of-life” concerns, including an increase in transients and the presence of groups of unruly teens.
Behind the measures is a process that brought people together to do the job. At a time when people are polarized, the will to work side by side on a complex problem and make some headway is noteworthy.
City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who co-chaired the Skyway Vitality Work Group with Deputy Mayor Kristin Beckmann, describes a situation with “lots of different owners, none of whom had the ultimate responsibility or the ultimate authority.”
Most of the skyway system runs through privately owned buildings, while the city maintains easements allowing public access.
Interests can compete. Building owners’ concerns include the costs of maintenance and security. Business owners want to assure that customers and workers can get to their doors. Also to be considered is the growing corps of downtown residents who want to be assured they can use the skyways to get home after an evening at a sporting or cultural event, as well as people with disabilities who depend on the thoroughfares to navigate around downtown.
Getting “the right people in the room,” Noecker told us, also meant including representatives of those who work closely with young people and with St. Paul’s homeless population, as well as the various city departments with a stake in code enforcement in the skyways, including the police and safety and inspections departments.
Despite the differing points of view, everyone “wanted to see change and understood that the current situation was not desirable,” she explains.
Noecker, whose council ward includes downtown, said there was “genuine conversation” that asked people “for their best ideas on how to improve the situation.” She found people welcomed a conversation they had wanted to have for some time.
The new rules require building owners to maintain active video surveillance or install foot patrols, with formal plans reviewed by St. Paul police and approved by the safety and inspections department, the Pioneer Press reported.
The rules also outline signage improvements that are to include postings detailing a skyway code of conduct. A provision that police officers no longer will be required to issue warnings for first offenses and may instead issue citations at their discretion also is included.
Not everyone got what they wanted. But Noecker told us it was important to “strike a balance between safety and accessibility.”
Doing so acknowledges the building owners’ leverage, their investment in their properties and the importance of their ongoing cooperation.
Joe Spartz, president of the Greater St. Paul Building Owners and Managers Association, said the downtown building community “is very supportive of the direction the city is going in scaling back, reducing the hours in the skyway system.”
He credits officials’ hard work and willingness to listen. “You can’t please everyone,” he told us, noting the effort to take into account differing viewpoints and ultimately “go somewhere in the middle.”
Andy Flamm of the Skyway Governance Advisory Committee — part of the downtown CapitolRiver Council — told us in an email that the group “did not support the earlier closing time but realized it was a concession to building owners who in return will be investing in better security measures in the skyways and downtown in general.”
Flamm — whose business, Cedar Printing, operates on the skyway level of the Securian 401 Building — also said he doesn’t expect the change in skyway hours to affect his operation. “In fact, safer and more vibrant skyways help us all, which is why we need to continue to work together on solutions,” he said.
He’s right, and this effort is a good start.
