DULUTH CITY COUNCIL

Duluth mayor enlists councilors to request Cargills share Park Point plans

Peter Passi — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 14:33:09 GMT

DULUTH — Agents acting on behalf of the Cargill family continue to acquire property on Duluth’s Park Point at a pace that has drawn the attention of neighbors and folks at City Hall.

Mayor Roger Reinert wrote a letter to billionaire Kathy Cargill on Feb. 8 asking to discuss her plans for several properties she and her representatives had recently purchased on Park Point, which has led to the removal and emptying of multiple homes in the neighborhood.

But it elicited no response. And the buying spree has continued, with upward of 20 properties now sold to the Cargills.

Now, Reinert hopes to enlist the support of city councilors to amplify his request for better lines of communication.

“Especially given this latest tranche of purchases, I’m going to invite Councilor Roz Randorf, as the district council representative, and the four other at-large councilors to join me on a follow-up letter that will hopefully maybe get a response, because apparently a letter from the mayor alone doesn’t warrant any attention," he said.

Randorf said she’s fully on board.

“The number of properties being acquired is extremely alarming,” she said, noting that many have been purchased at above-market prices.

Randorf said the city has been working hard to increase its housing inventory, and the prospect of moving backward seems disheartening.

Reinert acknowledged the Cargills have no obligation to share their plans with city officials and are fully within their rights to buy and sell property at will for whatever price they see fit.

But he said one thing remains non-negotiable: Park Point will not become a gated community.

“The beaches, the roads and the water accesses are going to remain public, no matter who is buying what. We will vigorously protect the rights to public access to both the bay and the lakeside,” Reinert said.

Dawn Buck, president of the Park Point Community Club, said folks can’t be faulted for selling their properties for top dollar. But the neighborhood remains uncertain what the future holds.

“We’re wondering and worrying. We’d like to know what they have planned,” she said.

“I’m trying to remain hopeful,” Buck said. “I’m really hoping she responds because I think people would feel better to know what might be coming. And we all like to have good neighbors.”

Buck said some Park Point homes recently have sold for nearly double their assessed value, and there are concerns about the potential tax implications for other property owners going forward.

County Board Commissioner Annie Harala said she worries about increasing property values. "I’ve been hearing constituents’ concerns about that," she said.

“We are tracking this closely, but how sale prices are set is ruled by state tax code,” she said, pointing out the county has limited latitude. “Because after a while, one-offs become a trend.”

Park Point has humble origins, as Buck noted. She said the area was redlined, making it difficult to finance a home in the area until the mid-1900s. Buck said her own family took up residence there in the early 1900s before it was considered a desirable place to live.

“It was not the Ritz,” she said. “People collected driftwood to burn. They collected coal off the beach. They were poor folks, working folks. It was not a high-end community. Things were pretty tough.

“Now it’s an exclusive place to live, where taxes are pretty high. But it’s an extraordinary place to live. And the word is out,” Buck said.

Reinert said Park Point is precious not only to Duluth residents but to people from near and far.

“In Park Point, we have the world’s largest freshwater sandbar, and the unique formation of Minnesota Point and Wisconsin Point is just that: unique to the entire world. So, both the Native history and the European settler history on Park Point is pretty amazing,” he said.

Reinert enjoys sailing and briefly made his home on Park Point. He admits to having a special personal affinity for the neighborhood, but he said the prospective loss of housing units there remains a larger community concern.

“When we only gained 39 net new single-family homes over a decade, to have nine torn down and a bunch of others sitting empty is a real issue. It’s a real hit to our housing stock, when we’re working really hard to improve that,” Reinert said, noting the difficulties major employers, including health care providers and aeronautics companies, have had recruiting talent to the community.

Reinert said he and city staff intend to maintain an open-door invitation to the Cargills to discuss their plans for the property they have acquired in Duluth thus far.

But until the family’s intentions are clear, he suggested another alternative to residents.

“The easiest resolution to this is: Don’t sell,” he said. “I know it’s tempting, given the prices that are floating around out there. But step No. 1 is: Don’t sell. Then, step No. 2 is to get Ms. Cargill, or her representatives, to share what her plans and intentions are, because in the absence of that, people make up their own stories.”

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What do city councils do and why should I vote in the elections for mine?

Nicole Ki / MPR News — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 21:41:04 GMT

ST. PAUL — Local races for city councils across the state including in St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth are underway and on Tuesday voters will decide who will represent their ward. It’s an off-year election, which means fewer people vote than in a statewide or general election.

This year, every seat on the Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils is up for grabs, meaning the election could bring great change to those cities. Here are some commonly asked questions about city councils, what they do and how effective they really are, answered.

What is a city council?

A city council is a group of people that live in a community and come together to make decisions on behalf of everyone that lives there. That’s according to Luke Fischer, executive director of League of Minnesota Cities, a Minneapolis-based membership association representing thousands of city leaders and elected staff across Minnesota.

“The most common type of city council in Minnesota is probably a five-member city council,” Fischer said. “And that means that there is a mayor and four council members.”

Size can range, with others having up to 13 like in Minneapolis (bigger cities across the U.S. have even more). There are 855 cities in the state of Minnesota, which means there are 855 city councils.

This year, 19 cities are having regularly scheduled elections for mayor or city council. A mayor is usually the head of the city council, but not always. More on that below.

What do city councils have power over?

They’re responsible for setting the strategic direction of the city, from setting a yearly budget to creating policy for various departments to provide services to residents (think planning and zoning, police and fire or public works).

In Minneapolis, the public works department is the arm of the city that provides water, trash and recycling pickup and street maintenance to its roughly 425,000 residents. City council approves funding for them and other departments and sets guidelines they must follow.

“The city owns thousands of miles of streets — which the public owns, then — and helps manage those streets,” said Cam Gordon, who represented the east part of Minneapolis from 2006 to 2022 as the only Green Party member in city council. That includes building and repairing streets.

“One of the biggest things that councils have power over is setting the budget and approving the property tax levy,” said Gordon, which affects how much residents and businesses pay in property taxes.

Another big thing is the city council has the power to regulate building sizes and establish where industrial, commercial and residential uses should be.

City councils take up the day-to-day issues that residents run into, like a stoplight not working.

“City councils often have an individual complaint or observation that they hopefully try to elevate to a larger level,” said former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who was mayor from 2002 to 2014.

“Often with the city council members, they’re the closest person to the community and it’s the person who very often you can call to get the most direct response. The city council member can then change and solve that problem,” Rybak said.

Are all city councils the same?

The short answer is no. The long answer is it depends on if the city is a “home rule charter” city, meaning it has a charter, which is basically its own constitution. That can dictate the number of members on a city council and let voters to have a bit more control over their city government powers compared to the other type of cities, which are “statutory” cities, according to a League of Minnesota Cities handbook.

The biggest difference between a charter and statutory city is how it runs organizationally. Most cities in Minnesota are incorporated as statutory.

“So every city gets all of their authority from the state, then the state can change the rules on cities — what they can and can’t do — in the state legislature,” Gordon said. “In Minnesota, there are some ‘home rule’ or charter cities and Minneapolis is one of them. St. Paul. Generally they’re larger cities. Duluth, Bloomington, Rochester. And they have their own charter that sets their own rules and they can be run differently.”

Charter cities exercise any power outlined in their locally adopted charter as long as they don’t conflict with Minnesota laws. They have to get the state to approve their charter.

What does it mean if my city has a ‘weak’ or ‘strong’ mayor?

A majority of city councils in Minnesota operate as a weak-mayor council, which means that “the mayor has the same vote as everybody else does on the city council, just one vote,” according to Fischer.

By contrast, a mayor under a strong-mayor council oftentimes doesn’t vote or participate in council discussion but has the ability to veto an action of the council. You can think of a “strong” mayor as the “CEO” of the day-to-day operations of a city, according to Fischer.

Only four cities in Minnesota have a strong-mayor council: Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and St. Cloud. In 2021, Minneapolis adopted a strong-mayor council structure after operating on a variation of a weak-mayor council.

How can I impact my city council?

Attending a city council meeting and making your voice heard can influence a vote or the way certain issues are discussed.

“So often, one person who makes sense at a council meeting can change a vote,” Rybak said. “I don’t think people have any idea how much impact one person speaking in a council meeting can really have.”

Organizing with others is another way to have a huge impact on city council, Gordon said. Take for example, Minneapolis’s Climate Equity Plan.

“The groundwork has been laid for a long time on this moving forward, but there were actually people organizing ward by ward to meet with their councilmember, planning a meeting, organizing a meeting, having other people with you at the meeting,” Gordon said. “And having really clear asks can have dramatic influence.”

Your voice is more likely to be heard at the local level. Gordon said it’s impressive if councilmembers get even 10 emails from constituents on an important decision.

“That’s a lot of people weighing in on a decision, and it gets your attention,” said Gordon. “So you can imagine if you get 50 or 100, or you get to different groups who want to meet with you about an issue, those things do make a dramatic difference at the local level.”

How can I learn more about my city council?

Fischer advises anyone who’s interested in learning about their local city council or wants a say in what’s happening in their community should check their city’s website.

“You can call a city councilmember or a mayor and ask questions,” Fischer said. “And I can guarantee you they’re going to be interested and excited that you want to know more, and they want to hear from you.”

Going to city council meetings and community engagement events around topics that personally interest you are other ways to get informed on your city council. Rybak suggests following local news outlets, like MPR News, Sahan Journal and MinnPost, to learn about what a city council is deciding on and how you can get involved.

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Duluth benches memorial gifts as it struggles to manage them

Peter Passi — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 19:16:06 GMT

DULUTH — In the past few years, high lake levels and repeated gales have battered Duluth's shoreline, leaving portions of the Lakewalk in shambles and tossing aside many of the memorial benches that overlooked it.

Cyndi Hanson said she and her family members were heartbroken to learn that a bench placed in memory of her late father, John Norland, was swept away from its nearly two-decades-old perch below the Fitger's Brewery Complex.

"We were all really sad. It was like losing a headstone," she said, noting that her father left behind no other marker, as he had been cremated, and her family spread his remains in a favorite place along the shore of his beloved Lake Superior.

Hanson said she was relieved to learn the city of Duluth plans to replace the bench and others, with the help of federal and state emergency relief funds. That work is still in progress.

Hundreds of memorial items can be found throughout the city, said Director of Parks and Recreation Jessica Peterson.

"What I think has been very evident to us is that because there are elements of the memorial program that are very longstanding in our park system, some of those elements are reaching the end of their life cycles," Peterson said. "They perhaps have been damaged — and in the case of some of the benches along the Lakewalk, beyond repair or replacement."

Peterson acknowledged that city staff have sometimes been at a loss as to how to manage the situation.

"We are struggling to manage the inventory that we have and to communicate consistently to families of loved ones who are recognized through these memorials. There have been some inconsistent expectations from those who have placed memorials in our parks historically that those memorials, which came with one financial contribution, were expected to last forever," she said.

Peterson remains hopeful that an ordinance before the Duluth City Council could provide clearer guidance in the future and equip the city with the tools it needs to better manage both memorial gifts and donor expectations.

For the time being, however, the city continues to turn away offers of memorial items, as it has for the past few years, with the exception of engraved paving stones for the Angel of Hope memorial, dedicated to families who have lost children. Even so, Peterson said the parks department usually receives at least one and sometimes multiple inquiries each week.

John Lawien said his family donated a Lakewalk bench in memory of his mother, Nancy Lawien, and said he hopes other families will have similar opportunities in the future. He explained that his mother took solace from the lake and spent hours on the Lakewalk during a several-year battle with ovarian cancer, the disease that ultimately took her life. A couple of years later, when her husband, Clarence, followed her in death, the family added his name to the bench, as well, with the words, "Together forever."

Lawien said he and his family have found visits to the bench meaningful and rewarding through the years.

"In a way, it feels like you're visiting your folks in a cemetery or something like that. The bench provides a really nice moment for us as a family to stand around it and say a prayer or two and just remember Mom and Dad," he said.

But only so many memorial benches can reasonably be placed on Duluth's popular Lakewalk, Peterson observed.

She said the ordinance "gives us the opportunity to strategically organize the program and to more proactively identify areas in our park system that may benefit from placed memorial items and other areas that may be, quote-unquote, 'full' or at capacity with the number of those items."

The proposed ordinance would give the city's parks and recreation manager authority to determine appropriate fees, the purchase and placement of memorial items, as well as the maintenance protocol that will be employed for the "useful life" of those items.

It also spells out that any memorial fees paid "are not intended and do not cover replacement costs." The city also reserves the right "to temporarily or permanently remove or relocate memorial elements when it determines they interfere with site safety, maintenance standards, parks planning, master planning or construction activities."

"I never thought we would own the bench," Lawien said. "To me it was more like a sponsorship."

But Lawien said it seems a bit unrealistic to expect the city to maintain or replace a bench in his parents' name, as needed in perpetuity for the family's up-front relatively modest investment, which he suspects was in the neighborhood of $2,500 nearly 20 years ago.

He suggested that the city ask families to periodically renew their financial commitment to keep a memorial in place.

"Then, they would have a revenue stream to more than pay for the upkeep," Lawien said.

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Duluth mandates face masks in indoor public buildings

Teri Cadeau — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 13:45:50 GMT

DULUTH -- In a unanimous vote, the Duluth City Council Monday night, July 13, voted to approve an emergency ordinance which requires people ages 10 and older to wear masks or other face coverings when inside publicly accessible common areas of buildings.

Councilor Joel Sipress said the vote was one that has weighed most heavily on him.

"We’re about to do something that we’d never do in normal times. But I think it’s important to recognize that we’re not in normal times," Sipress said. "We’re facing the most serious situation in probably my lifetime. It’s not going to end anytime soon. We need to think about how we’re going to work together and prepare to persevere through this situation."

The mask requirement applies to all public-facing businesses, such as retail operations, but would not require private buildings that are not open to the public to comply, so long as workers there are able to maintain at least 6 feet of distance from each other.

What does Duluth's new mask ordinance mean for you? On July 13, 2020, the Duluth City Council passed an emergency ordinance requiring people wear masks or other face coverings when inside public areas. Here's what that means for you.

Exemptions also will be provided for people who are unable to wear face covering because of medical conditions and for patrons of eating and drinking establishments. ��s, child care facilities and fitness facilities already aligned with state guidance would not be affected by the ordinance.

Duluth joins a growing list of Minnesota cities that have enacted face mask requirements, including St. Paul, Minneapolis, Rochester, Edina, Mankato and Winona.

Councilor Arik Forsman thanked his fellow council members and community members for their opinions on the issue.

"I know that some will oppose it but that doesn't change that it's the right thing to do," Forsman said.

Councilors cited the support the ordinance has received from businesses and business organizations such as the Greater Downtown Council, Duluth Chamber of Commerce, the Minnesota Nurses Association, Duluth Transit Authority, area unions, health care facilities and individuals. Councilors noted surveys the Chamber completed which showed 67% support from the business community and 65% from the general public. A survey from the GDC found 73% in favor of the move from its business membership.

Councilor Janet Kennedy noted that the decision was contentious in the community.

"I want to thank all the people who sent emails, including the folks who are against this. They're in the minority and as someone who has lived in the minority, I know how you're feeling," Kennedy said.

Councilor Derek Medved said he was trying to look at the decision through many lenses and that it ultimately came down to looking at the ordinance through the lens of public health.

"We can talk about business but when we don't have our health, we don't have anything," Medved said. "I think it's my duty to say, you know what, health is important. I know the controversy won't stop but I will work to be a positive voice behind my business every day."

The ordinance will go into effect immediately. The ordinance also allows for the city to issue fines for businesses that fail to comply with the mask requirement. The fine ranges from $100 for a first violation, $250 for a second and $1,000 for any additional offenses.

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Duluth businesses circumvent flavored tobacco ban

Brady Slater / Forum News Service — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 14:01:12 GMT

DULUTH - Duluth convenience stores are retaliating against a 2018 city ordinance which restricts the sale of menthol and flavored tobacco to designated smoke shops.

The Holiday Stationstore on Grand Avenue in West Duluth and the Korner Store in Gary are building smoke shops within the stores — something that Derek Medved said he hopes will restore the 19 percent drop in sales his Korner Store endured in the year since the ordinance was adopted.

“This was a no-brainer,” said Medved, the owner of convenience stores in Duluth, Chisholm, Superior and Hermantown. “If it’s disrespectful, if it looks bad, if it’s throwing shade at the City Council — they had no problem doing the same to business development within the city.”

CBS 3 Duluth first reported Holiday’s smoke shop expansion earlier this month. In a statement, Holiday Vice President of Operations Rick Johnson said the tobacco shops opened only after being in regulatory compliance with the city.

“When Holiday opened its first tobacco shop in Duluth, Minnesota last week, it did so only after obtaining city approval and licensing,” he said. “This was not a workaround or a loophole, rather the shop was created in complete compliance and support of the Duluth City Council’s ordinance moving the sale of flavored tobacco out of convenience and grocery stores into ‘smoke shops.’”

Medved argued the ordinance fails to curtail the use of flavored tobacco products, and instead shifts sales to retail outposts surrounding city limits.

The Duluth City Council passed the restriction in February 2018. Last month, the City Council further restricted tobacco sales to people 21 and over — a maneuver City Council President Noah Hobbs called “the more appropriate route.”

“There is a lesson here,” Hobbs said. “You can have well-intentioned policies and have poor outcomes and this is an example of that.”

The 21-and-older ordinance will go into effect in June. Hobbs added that he wasn’t surprised by the exposure of the loophole, and called the addition of smoke shops to convenience store interiors “valid pushback.”

Johnson stressed that Holiday Stationstores would do everything possible to ensure tobacco products are not sold to anyone under the legal age.

“At Holiday, we fully recognize the need to prevent young people from using tobacco products, and we take great pride in our stellar record concerning the sale of age-restricted products,” he said in a statement. “Our new tobacco shops will card everyone 100 percent of the time, and we will not take any chances of selling tobacco to those under the legal age.”

Medved said he was glad to let another entity lead the way.

“I didn’t want to be the pioneer on this, and I’m glad Holiday took the first steps to do it,” he said, describing how the smoke shops are walled-in and designed to be autonomous with separate entrances, purchasing registers, employees, invoices, the works. He said working with the city to secure building and tobacco sales permits and undergo requisite inspections has gone smoothly.

“Very pleasant,” he said. “I appreciate the timely manner it was addressed.”

The Korner Store smoke shop will open within a matter of weeks, he added. Holiday’s is already open.

Pat McKone was not so understanding of the workaround. The regional senior director for the American Lung Association in Duluth called the emergence of the smoke shops “very disappointing.”

“Is that clever?” she said. “Or is that just profit over health? The intent of the (ordinance) was to limit access to these products — the most widely used products by our youth.”

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration outlined a national proposal that would force retailers to wall-off flavored tobacco products — a measure the new smoke shops would seem to meet.

The city of Duluth defines a smoke shop as one that receives 90 percent of revenues from sales of tobacco and tobacco products. The loophole model would seem to be able to achieve that threshold easily — given that the stores aren’t likely to risk it by selling anything else.

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Duluth City Council votes to license retailers of synthetic drugs

Forum News Service — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:00:44 GMT

By Peter Passi

Forum News Service

DULUTH - In its ongoing efforts to combat the sale and use of synthetic drugs, the Duluth City Council passed ordinances Monday night that require retailers of the products to be licensed by the city and that make it illegal for anyone to smoke, ingest, inject or snort any product that’s labeled as being not for human consumption. Synthetic drugs typically bear such a warning.

David Ross, president and CEO of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, urged passage of the ordinances, saying his board of directors had unanimously voted in support of the measures so downtown Duluth would not have to endure another summer of unrestricted synthetic drug sales. He said action was needed to restore "comfort and normalcy to the downtown."

Jim Carlson, the owner of Last Place on Earth, a Duluth head shop that does a brisk business selling synthetic drugs, embraced the concept of licensing sales of the products.

"I feel that by licensing this product, you are admitting the legality that I’ve always stated," he told the council at an earlier meeting.

City Councilor Linda Krug, who co-sponsored the ordinances, disagreed with Carlson’s characterization.

"We are not condoning the use of synthetic drugs. We are not legalizing synthetic drugs. We are merely regulating synthetic drugs," she said.

Councilor Sharla Gardner, the other co-sponsor of the ordinances, said federal and state authorities have been unable to effectively regulate the synthetic drug industry because chemists have been able to develop new mind-altering compounds as quickly as others are outlawed.

"I would like to see synthetic drugs made illegal, but until they are, we should use the tools we have available," she said.

Councilor Jim Stauber recalled an ordinance the council passed in 2010 that attempted to make synthetic marijuana illegal in the city. The city later determined that ordinance was legally unenforceable.

"I think the council made matters worse instead of better," Stauber said, contending the action increased the profile of the Last Place on Earth, boosting its sales substantially.

Stauber said he did not want the council to repeat that mistake by making headlines as the first city in the state to license sales of synthetic drugs.

"I think we just continue to make the situation worse and worse and better for Mr. Carlson rather than actually solving anything," he said, explaining why he would not support the licensing ordinance.

Stauber cast the sole dissenting vote on the council.

The ordinance authorizing police to ticket anyone who consumes synthetic drugs was passed unanimously.

Although Carlson likes the idea of licensing his sales, he has taken exception with several requirements the city plans to impose, including a requirement that the ingredients of all synthetic drugs be clearly identified on product labels and that the substances not be sold to anyone younger than 18. He has questioned why his shop should be more highly regulated than others throughout the state and nation.

Carlson said his shop already has a policy of not selling synthetic drugs to anyone younger than 18, the age at which it is legal to purchase cigarettes in Minnesota.

The ordinance would not allow the city to issue synthetic drug licenses to any business located within 500 feet of a park, school, day care or residential neighborhood. But existing businesses that already carry the products would be allowed to apply for synthetic drug licenses by way of a grandfather clause.

Dr. Nicholas Van Deelen, an emergency room physician at St. Luke’s hospital in Duluth, said people suffering from adverse reactions to powerful synthetic drugs show up in need of medical attention daily. Often they are highly agitated and require physical restraint and sedation. He said about 95 percent of these people lack the resources to pay for the care they receive, which is often extensive and costly.

Van Deelen said the long-term effects of using these drugs also is a frightening unknown at this point, and many of his colleagues are deeply concerned.

"We think this is a public health crisis," he said.

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Duluth regulates synthetic drug sales

Associated Press — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:37:55 GMT

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - The Duluth City Council has voted to regulate the sale of synthetic drugs by requiring retailers selling the products to obtain a city license.

Council member Sharla Gardner says she would like to see synthetic drugs made illegal, but until they are, the city will use the tools available, including licensing.

Jim Carlson owns Last Place on Earth, a downtown store that sells synthetic drugs. The business has prompted numerous complaints by city leaders, residents and neighboring businesses. Carlson says that by licensing the sale of synthetic drugs the council is admitting the products are legal.

Councilor Linda Krug says the council is not condoning their use, but merely regulating the drugs. The Duluth News Tribune reports Councilor Jim Stauber says the vote only makes matters worse by raising the profile of the store.

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