Duluth reverses decision, will now light Aerial Lift Bridge for Ukraine

KSTP Staff WDIO

Duluth city officials say they will now be lighting the Aerial Lift Bridge in support of Ukraine, a reversal from a previous decision.

Tuesday morning, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson the Aerial Lift Bridge, as well as Enger Tower, will be lit in solidarity with Ukraine through Sunday.

In a letter to the community, Larson wrote that decisions are sometimes made based on variables such as “rules and fairness and then understand that those things really don’t apply. Sometimes you are working to do all the right things, and your heart confirms that there is more.”

She went on to thank the community for “reminding me of who Duluth is.”

Previously, officials said it wasn’t city policy to take requests to light the bridge.

The discussion began Friday when other landmarks around the state and country were lit yellow and blue as a show of support for Ukraine, according to reporting by sister station WDIO. Enger Tower was lit blue and yellow over the weekend, but citizens wondered why the same wasn’t being done on the Lift Bridge.

LED lighting installed on the Lift Bridge in 2020 allows the bridge to be lit in different colors, a practice the city used several times in 2020 first “to spread joy” during the early days of the pandemic and later to honor health care workers and high school and college graduates.

But the city said in a news release Monday that the reason for installing the LED lighting was to save on energy costs and not to change colors.

“The ability for the lights to change color, or to be lit in favor of causes, was never the implicit, explicit, written, or spoken intent,” the news release says.

The city said in a statement Monday that when the lights were first installed, city staff was inundated with a large number of requests to change the bridge colors for everything from personal reasons to stunts and commercial use, and that the requests “endangered the intent and the value of the bridge – a working piece of public infrastructure that serves pedestrian, vehicle, and maritime traffic.”

The city had announced in April 2020 that it would not take requests to light the bridge.

In 2013, years before the LED lighting was installed, the city council passed a resolution that established a procedure for people to request alterations for bridge lighting. The city says the current administration has determined that the process is outdated now that the new lights have been installed.

Larson’s letter also said the city will have an updated lighting policy in place in 60 days, and the policy will also be shared with the community.

The controversy has now led the city to stop taking requests to light Enger Tower until it develops a policy for the lighting of that iconic structure.

But the city said in a news release Monday that the reason for installing the LED lighting was to save on energy costs and not to change colors.

“The ability for the lights to change color, or to be lit in favor of causes, was never the implicit, explicit, written, or spoken intent,” the news release says.

The city had announced in April 2020 that it would not take requests to light the bridge. Mayor Emily Larson said in Monday’s news release that the bridge is iconic and memorable and a bridge “that lets you know where you are.”

“For these same reasons, the City has chosen to make the bridge off-limits for personal life events, political, financial, commercial or causal gain,” Larson said.

Meanwhile, the city has honored requests to light Enger Tower various colors since the Rotary Club of Duluth donated money to install a new lighting system in 2011. The city now says it will honor all existing 2022 lighting requests for Enger Tower but will stop taking new requests until it adopts a lighting policy, which will include only Enger and not the Lift Bridge.

The city’s news release says it’s vital to protect Enger Tower and the Lift Bridge from “politicizing and conflict.”