Why Duluth is a great place to live. (Minneapolis, St. Cloud: 2010, city hall)

[lukeache]

I have been to Duluth many times and I always find it so boring! It is a great place to visit if you live in the Twin Cities like myself, but it keeps me entertained for about a day or two. For those who love skiing, it would be a great place to live in, since you have Spirit Mountain right there, and you can drive to Lutsen if you get bored. Spirit Mountain gets really crowded on Sundays, so it can be a turn off. Maybe you guys can suggest some things to do around the area, I have been to Superior too and I was even less impressed. Maybe a little too slow for me.

[MidniteBreeze]

Newcastle...I agree that the revitalization projects downtown as well as the "upscale" hotel and housing developments (which will most likely be "vacation" homes for wealthy people from the cities as opposed to year-round homes for higher income people actually interested in MOVING there...I could be wrong about that, but I suspect that's probably the case) are certainly steps in the right direction. Excepting the money pit that is the aquarium, I think Duluth has been successful in attracting tourism to the area. I remember when canal park was nothing but a bunch of old run-down warehouses and now it's one of the busiest tourist spots in the whole state.

Tourism/hospitality/retail jobs are great for students or housewives looking to make a little extra money, but as noted above you can barely support yourself on an $8/hr job (see the example about my friend above), let alone a family.

The key to economic success in Duluth is to make it a friendlier place for (non-tourism/retail) business, including small business. The other examples you cited are great and I hope those organizations are able to do something. Duluth has a lot of positives going for it as far as transportation and potential workforce (i.e., keeping educated college graduates here), but the taxes and huge amount of red tape and resistance from the "don't you dare build anything in Duluth" groups/environmentalists often send potential business prospects elsewhere.

Duluth also needs to work on its infrastructure outside the popular tourist areas. The residential streets are in terrible shape and have been that way for as long as I can remember. With the big retiree healthcare fiasco, I'm not sure when or if they'll ever come up with the money to fix things, but it's long overdue.

[MidniteBreeze]

Originally Posted by lukeache

I have been to Duluth many times and I always find it so boring! It is a great place to visit if you live in the Twin Cities like myself, but it keeps me entertained for about a day or two. For those who love skiing, it would be a great place to live in, since you have Spirit Mountain right there, and you can drive to Lutsen if you get bored. Spirit Mountain gets really crowded on Sundays, so it can be a turn off. Maybe you guys can suggest some things to do around the area, I have been to Superior too and I was even less impressed. Maybe a little too slow for me.

Well Duluth isn't a big city so there's obviously going to be less to do than in a big metro area like the Twin Cities. But there is a little something for everyone. Lots of outdoors stuff...downhill skiing, x-country skiing, snowmobiling, fishing, hiking, canoeing, the list goes on. Not far away you have all the state parks along the north shore, the Superior Hiking Trail and the BWCA. If you're not an outdoors person you have to look around a little more, but there are things like the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Ballet, community and college theater productions, Huskies baseball, coffeehouses, etc. The "club" scene is certainly not as "upscale" as the twin cities, but there isn't a lack of places to drink/listen to bands/sing karaoke or whatever in the area, especially Superior. (Yes, dive bars CAN be fun, lol.) Annual events include Grandma's marathon, the inline skating (rollerblading) marathon and the bayfront blues festival among others.

Of course for visitors there's all the touristy stuff in the canal park/lakewalk area, but most locals tend to avoid that area like plague (especially in the summer) because it's so crowded.

[newcastle]

Midnitebreeze, I agree that Duluth needs a friendlier and more welcoming attitude toward business and a overhaul of the building permits department(takes forever to get anything done). I really don't care who lives in those fancy condos just as long as they contribute to the tax base. The simple fact that projects are moving forward and modern structures are being built advertises that investment is being made in the community. Don't get me started on those that want to preserve every little brick building that is 50 years old, like that old armory building. I'm all for prerservation when the building can be rehabed and used for anew purpose and it actually has some historical signifigance.

The environmental groups in this area are nearly as bad as they were in Seattle. Out west they would hang from bridges downtown, spike trees, pour salt and sugar in your gastank, and one time they nearly killed a whale by running it over in their speedboat an attempt to prevent the Makah tribe from spearing it!

Did you see the lady from PETA bare naked in January on the corner of Lake and Superior? The environmental permitting process here is a nightmare for companies. It takes nearly two years to get anyhting done. I agree the make potential businesses look elsewhere.

[MidniteBreeze]

No, I didnt know about the PETA lady! As crazy as I think those "polar bear" swimmers are, at least they have a sense of humor about it, lol.

I couldn't agree more about the need to lessen the hurdles for new businesses to get started in Duluth. It's always taken FOREVER for anything to get going there (there were rumors about a Kohl's coming to town for at least 10 years before the building was actually built!) I do think things have gotten a little better though..the retail area by the mall, for example, has really grown in the last 15 or so years and there are MANY more places to shop in town than there were back then.

Again, a big step in the right direction...but Duluth can't hope to retain/attract highly skilled/educated people with low paying retail jobs.

[spunkysara]

We are probably transfering to Duluth in the next few months. I would love some helpful info on places to live, schools, ect... Anything would be appreciated. I know we are all busy so thanks for your replies.
We will probably spend about 200,000 on a house. So is that sufficient enought for a nice home there? We have a 7 year old and a 5 year old. I am a college student as well. The boys love soccer!! How is soccer in Duluth?? Do many people live in Wisconsin and work in Duluth?? We are currently in Texas and the produce is awful! And to find anything organic is just about impossible. We are 2 hours from the nearest Whole Foods.
Like I said, any info. would be great.

Have a great week! :-)

[MidniteBreeze]

Generally speaking, the east side of town is where all the "rich" (good) schools are. The Hermantown (sort of a suburb of Duluth) district is also good. The homes up there usually come with some acerage, so 200K may not get you as much "house" as you might be looking for. For your price range in Duluth proper, you might want to look in the Woodland, Kenwood or Lakeside neighborhoods (nice middle class neighborhoods in the "good" side of the Duluth school district.)

Soccer has gained in popularity over the last 15 or so years in Duluth. I know they built a new soccer field up by the mall several years ago. I believe there are youth soccer programs in the summer for kids of various ages. If your kids can adapt to hockey, they'll have something to do in the winter too!

There is a whole foods co-op on 4th street. Even the Cub Foods grocery store has a small organic section. Just remember you will pay more for "out of season" produce up north, especially organic. In the summer/fall you can get some good deals at roadside vegetable stands (can't beat that fresh Minnesota sweet corn!)

Yes, plenty of people commute "over the bridge" to work (both ways, but probably more Superior folks working in Duluth than vice versa.)

Good luck to you...when are you getting here, January? Very brave Texans, you

[newcastle]

There are a lot of nice homes in the 200k range in Hunters Park. Most of the homes in Duluth were built before 1970. The Hunter's Park neighborhood has a mix of homes from the 1970's and 1950's and 1920's. All of the homes from the 20's usually have nice woodwork, built-ins, and hardwood floors.

A good idea may be to rent in a neighborhood close to UMD and CSS that is a mix of rentals and families until you find a house you are intertested in buying. There are a lot of homes on the market right now, so you'll probably get a good deal. My family bought a home near the university and we are veyr happy here.

Duluth is divided into neighborhoods like Kenwood, Woodland, Hunters Park, Chester Park, Endion, Lakeside, Morgan Park, Fond du Lac etc. So when you search for houses you will be searching by neighborhoods. As far as soccer goes, you will find that the "season" begins in August and runs through Septemebr until the kids are out of grade school. It has really taken off the last few years.

As midnitebreeze said, there is a whole foods co-op downtown on fourth st. Also, Cub Foods has a larger organic section in the store now.

You will find that Congdon Park has the best reputation for grade schools in the city of Duluth, but that isn't always the truth. The Edison Charter schools are just as competitive scoring higher on some aspects of the "high stakes tetsing" that is all the rage in schools. The Edison Schools also focus on reading heavily (90 minutes of it everyday in the morning) and start later 8:30 and get done later at 4:00, which is pretty convenient.


Hope your move goes smoothly!

[roneb]

Duluth actually has quite a large soccer community, given the size of the city. Arrowhead Youth Soccer, which schedules the fields and referees for all the area clubs has, I believe, the largest mailing list in the state for youth soccer. I'm pretty sure the seasons also run longer than newcastle stated; beginning earlier in the summer (It's been a while since I've talked to the soccer folks I know in Duluth, so I can't be sure of this). They are starting to run some indoor leagues for high schoolers at the sports center on the College of St. Scholastica campus. There are also adult leagues for men and women every summer.

[newcastle]

Grade school soccer registration is in the summer around July. Practices do not begin until the first week of August (if they have any) and the games begin shortly therefater and finish around the end of September.

The leagues begin to become competetive at U10 and U12 with many of the kids taking advantage of playing in both leagues. Registration is around $75.