Totally f**king agree.

I hate stuntboards...get an old school dogtown ramp deck and keep the kiddie plank in the closet with the other toys.

Just be thankful you didn't get your ass kicked by a bunch of rednecks for boarding down the street.

I find the best solution is to generally avoid the lakewalk during the summer. Most tourists are oblivious when on the lakewalk, whether they are riding a quad, or walking 6 abreast, or walking their wandering dog on a 20 foot leash. The ringing of a bike bell doesn't register with most of the public, no matter how incessant or near them it happens to be. Others are so excitedly discussing the last episode of Survivor, that they don't even hear you yell "on your left."

I say let them have the lakewalk, or expect to have to be patient. It could be argues that the only reason the lakewalk is there, and the only reason you are riding the lakewalk to Canal Park is because of the tourists. They may be irritating, but they are necessary. 

I would even go so far as to say we should strive to be ambassadors for the city in our actions and treat them politely, even though my first inclination is to buzz them at full clip while smacking them upside the head with one of those foam floatie tubes that has the words "GET A CLUE" painted on it. 

We should also be thankful for the regulars and the locals who get the system.

That's just my 15 cents, because two cents won't buy you squat anymore.

I think they should be required to where "Dopey Tourist" t-shirts when they ride those things.

I used to commute to and from Canal Park on the lakewalk by bike too, and when they first introduced those, I thought it was a bad idea and was surprised it was approved by whoever approves such things. I certainly wouldn't mind bike rentals, but those are so huge, they take up pretty much the whole path.

Uhg.  People are just venting a little and cracking a few "tourists suck" jokes.  Lighten up.

Hmmm.  Apparently I was wrong.  Apparently this is a serious topic.

Oh, and I don't think the Lakewalk was designed as a highway for commuters, it is a recreational path.  So use the streets for your commuting like you should be and traffic on the Lakewalk would be much more sane.

Bicycles always get the shaft in this town. This is a main reason why I'm leaving Duluth! The lakewalk extension (and the future cross-city trail) were built specifically so bike commuters could get through town quickly and efficiently. It's like a bike highway. City engineering did this because they don't want to put bike lanes or shoulders on Superior St or any of the one-ways (which would actually work better).

Imagine if you were driving down I-35 and a 20-foot wide Zamboni taking up both lanes was petering down the highway at 5mph and made you come to almost a complete stop. Wouldn't you be agitated? That's exactly what many Duluthians have to deal with every day!

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Email Cindy Voigt (city engineer) and tell her that there should be bike lanes or shoulders on Superior St, because the Lakewalk is too impractical to ride on. Her email is:
[email protected]

You can also email your city councilors and tell them that those pedal-cars take up the entire lakewalk and they should be restricted to a certain area where they won't impede commuters. Their website is this: 
http://www.duluthmn.gov/clerk/council/ccmembers.cfm

Bitching on this website won't change anything! Take the energy that you were going to use to type your next post and email your city officials instead... that's what they're there for! Let them know how the citizens of Duluth feel!

Lots of strong feelings about boards, rollerblades, bicycles, tourists, urban planning, and so on that would make interesting discussions, but they're off topic.

I agree with Drifter. This isn't about tourists. It's about what kinds of transportation should be permitted on the Lakewalk. Is there any disagreement about the four wheeled behemoths? They're unsafe, and mess up the flow of traffic. Recreational or not, this is still a piece of transportation infrastructure that needs to be kept safe and efficient.

It is not people on bikes, boards, skates, tricycles, pogo sticks or tennis shoes. It is just the dumb asses on them who don't know where they end and the rest of the world begins. I've given up biking on the lakewalk as it is just no fun. Too many people either don't know what "on the left" means or don't know their left from their right or just don't care. I do think the 4 wheel bikes are oversized for the lake walk. I also think there could be a healthy (polite I hope) discussion of the concept of private  parties using the public spaces for private profit. As in the folks renting the bikes are making a profit at the expense of the rest of the public that are using the lakewalk.  Do they buy a special permit with the money going back to the public to maintain the resource? Not to single out the 4 wheel bike rental, you could extrapolate the same about Grandmas Marathon where in the entire city is inconvenienced for the profit of a few. You can blabb about that extra taxes collected etc. but for the most part it is a major pain in the ass for anyone not involved and no matter how you slice it it does not put an extra dime in my pocket. Just a thought (long winded though it may be).

Cody Says:
The lakewalk extension (and the future cross-city trail) were built specifically so bike commuters could get through town quickly and efficiently. It's like a bike highway.

Is that correct?  Then why didn't they name it the Lakebike?  I have a hard time believing the lakewalk was built "specifically for bike commuters" or that it is a "bike highway."  Although with that mind set it is easier for me to understand that the majority of bike rage bikers I see racing and weaving through us pedestrians think the rest of us have no business enjoying our vacation/leisure/fun/dog walking, etc there.  

It's very uncomfortable to have bikers/boarders run nearly up my backside or holler at me or race by me. I see this same bad behavior on the part of bikers on the streets.  I wish there were a bike patrol like in some towns.  Hopefully, Duluth will get a volunteer force of uniformed volunteer bikers out on the Lakewalk to police it. That would help everyone. Because it clearly is becoming more of a hazard to be out there walking than it is a pleasure.

Skateboarding was banned because they swear and scare old people.

It's not the surreys — many folks just don't know how to fucking drive.

Elden, Mike H and Drifter have the right idea here.  Tourists can be an inconvenience, but they're a key element of such economy as we have here, and I don't have anything against people out enjoying the beautiful surroundings--I could be mistaken for one of them often enough.  That said, the "surreys" are too big for the path.  Ban them, sell them for scrap.  End of that story.

On people riding (too?) fast on the Lakewalk though:  I ride my bike as fast as I can [1] on the streets, and more so the nicely paved, barely traveled rural roads north and east of town.  I really like the Lakewalk extension, because it allows me to ride with my (little) kids down to Canal Park and/or Park Point with a minimum of worry.  But once we pass Leif Ericson park, I have no illusions about getting anywhere fast. If you're in a rush, cross over to Superior or First, bomb downtown.  Easy.  That doesn't get Lakewalk pedestrians completely off the hook, mind you--letting your dog stretch his/her retract-o-leash into a 20' clothesline, walking obliviously 8 abreast, etc... that's not very neighborly.  I wonder if continuing the green center stripe that adorns a portion of the Lakewalk might help in that regard.  Perhaps that's overoptimistic.

Codie does point to a real potential issue.  Once the Lakewalk extension is completed, and in the future the cross-city trail, a subset of our finest local motorists are going to be even more bitter and moronic than they already are at losing precious seconds of their lives to having to avoid me riding my bike on Superior Street.  You and I would probably agree that somebody going 20 mph has no business being on a fairly narrow path with a gratifyingly large number of dogs, children, walkers, etc.  But the guy who honked repeatedly at me for waiting to turn left on Lester River Road yesterday, and those like him, are going to be tied up in knots.  This is potentially problematic.

[1] Which, sadly, isn't that fast.

This is the most adorable argument ever. Long live Duluth.

What I hear in this dialogue are arguments for and against speed on the Lakewalk.  People on vacation are about S-L-O-W and slowing down. I love to see that in our frantic world.  Those of you who are trying to get to work in record time are about speed.  The two do not mix on one narrow path.  

As soon as we ban the big wheelers, I feel certain you will start complaining about strollers, wheelchairs, etc.  You already don't want dogs there. People with dogs on the LW seem to me to be pretty respectful, unless I consider those few who do not use pooch bags.  

But of course, if I am going 20 mph (or way faster) and that dog moves one foot in the wrong direction it will cause a speedster on a bike to have to make adjustments and that seems to me to be what bikers do not want---anything that requires you to make room for anybody else.  In other words anybody who is not going your speed is going to block your destination in some way.  I ride bike too, but not on the LW after seeing how the speedsters about take off my back wheel zooming by me.  And yes, that is too bad for me, but lots worse for tourists who go home with a negative opinion of our LW because they didn't feel safe or welcome to use it.

I"m glad so many people hate those goddam bikes as much as I do. Somebody is going to get seriously hurt by a foursome that doesn't know how to drive those infernal machines.

There was a story in the DNT about the Surrey issue on the Lakewalk in 2005 or 2006.  And as I was one of the interviewed I had heard then that these quads could go no further than the big bend or elbow on the lakewalk.  Guess that's not the case.  The lakewalk only seems to be suitable for cyclists before 9 a.m.  And I agree with several of you that Duluth is simply not a bicycle friendly town.  Guess these old narrow streets, climate and geology are simply too much for motorists to contend with in the first place, let alone bicyclists.  Hence I ride dirt, and go the long way around.

LeBlancness,

Why do you hate families and little kids?

I remember when that News Tribune article ran in 2004. What struck me as really funny at the time was that the owner claimed they'd insist that drivers of the surreys be 16. But the article ran along with a photo of a family in a surrey being driven by a kid who was way under 16. Eleven, if I remember the caption right.

I inline skate on the lakewalk nearly every day March through December and like to think of myself as very respectful to the users of the lakewalk. I always try to announce myself as I near surreys, strollers, old folks, slow bikers, runners with headsets, dogs on leashes, those half asleep etc. I do get tired of saying "on your left" but it beats taking a tumble. I find the biggest inconveniences to be those half-asleep runners with headsets and dogs on leashes being walked by those half asleep. The surreys are a minor inconvenience, and as I pass them I always say "enjoy your time in Duluth."

Well, once the snow melts and the stand opens back up, I'll have to swing down and drop off a comment card.

And for the record, Duluth doesn't hate families or family entertainment. We have a lot of beautiful areas in our city that everyone likes to get out and enjoy (walkers, skateboarders, bikers, etc.). Despite the large groups of people using different modes of transportation, everything still flows without incident because people know how to be respectful and aware of others. No one hates the surry bikes, it's an annoyance when the surry bike drivers lack common-sense and/or basic knowlege of biking skills. 
There's no way to prevent all idiocy that happens, but maybe a friendly "Remember, keep right!" sign on the bikes would make a huge difference.

Also, way to represent your business. You should be addressing concerns and promoting your business, not sniping at people with valid concerns. Customer service fail!