Stone Arch Bridge visitors divided over July 4th weekend night closures

The Minneapolis Park Board's overnight closure of the Stone Arch Bridge this holiday weekend had visitors to the Minneapolis landmark on Saturday debating questions of access versus public safety.

The Park Board announced the decision last Wednesday, stating that the park would be closed to pedestrian and bicycle traffic from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. through July 5, citing a series of gun- and firework-shooting crowds gathering in or near downtown Minneapolis late last July 4. Criticism quickly ensued, and the following day the board announced it would push the closing back by two hours to 10 p.m. in response to community requests.

Craig Johnson of St. Louis Park, who was walking the bridge Saturday afternoon, said he still thought it was a bad call.

"I think it's, pardon the pun, a cop-out," Johnson said.

"You could put a few uniform police officers on each end and you control this," he said, adding that it "isn't fair to the businesses … this is the heart of Minneapolis this time of year, so you can't just shut it down and pretend that's going to solve anything."

Others walking the bridge, such as Morgan Thompson and Alex Hall, might agree.

"It kind of makes sense to keep people safe, but I don't know if closing it would be necessarily the best way," Thompson said.

Many in the nearby Marcy-Holmes neighborhood have sought to prevent the bridge closing.

The Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association shared multiple posts on social media questioning the closure, asking Facebook followers to contact Minneapolis Park Board members about it. Several park board members also publicly questioned the decision.

Some public officials say the closure will ease the burden on park staff and public safety agencies scattered across the cities managing celebratory weekend crowds. This weekend sees the return of the long-dormant Taste of Minnesota festival, held for the first time in Minneapolis.

The chaotic crowd gatherings that marked last Independence Day at times turned violent. Fireworks were launched at buildings, cars and first responders. Less than a hundred on-duty officers responded to more than 1,300 calls to 911, and a mass shooting at Boom Island Park injured five people.

"It's kind of taking away my walking spot, but I'm not mad at it," Gabriel Olajonlu said as he walked across the Stone Arch Bridge on Saturday afternoon. "I do understand it. It is a big celebration, so you can't always have everything."

"Even if the idea is, 'We're going to try to keep riff-raff out,' I don't think closing the bridge is going to have any effect on that," Pitts said. "These are just gestures that are meant to make wealthy people that live here feel comfortable."