GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Green Bay’s bridges are lit to remember a man who died after snow-covered, city-owned sidewalks forced him onto the street.
Friday marks eight years since 20-year old John Kennedy of Green Bay was hit and killed while operating his wheelchair on Velp Avenue.
If you see the colorful display on the bridges, you’re asked to remember to shovel your sidewalks, so no one else is dealt the same fate as Kennedy.
“It definitely does not seem like eight years has passed,” said Blake Kennedy, John’s brother.
It was an easy decision for Kennedy’s family when Green Bay Public Works Director Steve Grenier called asking if the city could light the bridges to remember him.
“I never expected the city to do anything like this,” said Blake Kennedy.
Yellow shines like the caution tape that went up after a driver hit Kennedy and took off from the scene. The lights turn red and white, the colors of Crime Stoppers, where a tip came in leading to an arrest, then blue for the police work that went into the case. Finally, the bridge turns pink and purple, two of Kennedy’s favorite colors.
“I think he would be pretty happy and pretty proud of us and for pushing for change to see some positive outcome from a really bad situation,” said Colleen Kennedy, John’s mother.
Years before the bridges were lit in honor of Kennedy, as part of a lawsuit settlement, the city put a plaque in his honor at the bus station, a bus shelter was put in on Velp Avenue, and the city changed its sidewalk shoveling policy.
The new policy states all sidewalks must be shoveled 24 hours after snow is done falling. If it isn’t, the city could come clear it, and bill the property owner.
