What is Duluth's appeal? (Rochester, Hermantown: crime rates, hotel, houses)

[aluminumpork]

Well, I love winters haha. I love driving around in a fresh foot or more of snow watching the expression on big truck drivers as this tiny AWD Audi plows through over a foot of snow. I don't love the cold, but I do love snowboarding/sledding and ice skating. I'll probably get sick of it someday, but not yet.

[snowblind9]

I moved to Grand Rapids last year and have been enjoying the northland. It is so nice here. I love to visit duluth. To give an example of what I think of Duluth's appeal. I'm going to share a few photos I took there this last weekend.

[newcastle]

Well, I've lived in Seattle (which I do miss but not enough to move back), and Minneapolis (will never live there again), and spent large amounts of my time with family in Portland, OR (love it)., Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scotland (love them too), and been all over the US, Canada and many parts of Europe and still think Duluth has a lot to offer that some of these other cities I have mentioned do not.

Winter in Duluth has a lot to offer for sporting events obviously e.g., hockey, skiing, snowshoing, ice climbing etc. If you are not active during the winter, you may end up really not enjoying Duluth too much.

Winter is great for kids in town too. Chester Bowl's skiing program is second to none. What a great program. Then you have Spirit Mountain, Curling programs, great youth hockey programs, figure skating, community ed swimming, indoor skate parks in the Encounter, and more.

The drawback in Duluth is a horrible perception (based on a realty from maybe 20-30 years ago) that Duluth is a bad place for business. The last three administration have tried to turn things around and offer pro business attitudes. Mayor Doty with Cirrus, Bergson (what did he do?-ok skip him) and Don Ness currently cutting the fat (and then some) in order to get the city back on the right track.

You have a growing chamber and young persons group in Fuse Duluth, and private for business expansion programs in APEX, and strong foundations in the Zeppa and Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation. These orginizations are designed only to enhance the community and do just that.

I have never lived in a place that has so much to offer all year long. Ok, you gotta get out of town once and awhile to really appreciate coming back home. With all its drawbacks, I stil love the city. If they ever fix my street, I'd love it more.

[tvdxer]

Well, things I find that Duluth does very well are:

- Nature right in the city, or very close by. You're never more than a mile or two from undeveloped wilderness in Duluth. An excellent hiking trail (the Duluth portion of the Superior Hiking Trail) runs about 30 miles through the city, and although parts of the length are on sidewalks and streets, you're soon enough back in the woods, seemingly isolated with nobody around you although still in city limits. There are also some great parks right in the "urban" fabric...for example, you can live in a studio apartment on 4th Street and have no land of your own, yet still have an excellent (albeit shared) "backyard" right behind your house with Chester Park.

- The geographic setting is, as others have said, simply excellent. Duluth has a wide variation in elevation (600 to 1,400 feet), the city abuts both the shoreline of one of the world's great inland seas and a sizable river (St. Louis River), etc.

- There's a lot of good architecture downtown and in the East End, as well as some further west. Though there's bad architecture and poor urban layout also.

- There seems to be a certain vibrant atmosphere during the summer months that's hard to explain.

- Summers are nice.

Unfortunately, there are drawbacks too. The nearest medium-sized city is 2.5 hours away, the nearest large city (Chicago) 8. And the winter weather is terrible, and the lengths of winters even worse.

[Collideascope]

Originally Posted by acrylic

I for one can't figure it out.

I guess the scenery can be pretty, driving down Mesaba, and being in Canal and Park Point, but for those of you that say "I really like/love Duluth!":

Why?

Cool summers, a quieter and slower place than the Twin Cities while still offering far more than small towns, the gateway to the North Shore and lots of great outdoors, the mystique of Lake Superior, a blue collar town.

What's not to figure out?

Hey, I lived there for two years (and another forgettable two across the harbor in Superior) and I have no interest whatsover in going back. But is it really that hard to see the things that suit the preferences of others?

[Conroy25]

I used to live in Duluth and found it to be a bit depressing in the winter. Having grown up in Red Wing, MN I was used to the cold but Duluth reminded me of my time in McMurdo Antartica as far temperature goes. It for some reason is a great place though. I made a lot friends quick, partied a whole lot and still did the outdoor thing. Not laying out at the beach or anything but hiking, snoboarding, fishing and all of the good stuff. There is some poverty issues with the city since most of the jobs left town "from what I was told." While T-bonz bar a guy summed it up for me by saying "I had to work my ass off day and night to make thirty thousand a year, but that's Duluth for YA, DON'T CHA KNOW." I'd go back. Behind Wilmington, NC, it's my favorite place I've lived so far.

[acrylic]

Originally Posted by Collideascope

But is it really that hard to see the things that suit the preferences of others?

For me, yes, a tiny bit.

I am a very big "weather" person. The day to day weather means a lot to me and my happiness. This summer especially, I've seen a lot of fluctuation in the weather. And usually, the nice days happened to be when I worked. So, on my days off, I was just mad that the weather could be so unpredictable all the time. I only went to park point once this summer. Why? Cuz it's not really worth it when the sand is too hot to walk on, and the water is way too cold to cool off in. It's lose lose around here it seems like.

If other people like Duluth: that's great! I can understand some things that make it appealing. Like I've said before, there are some things I'd miss about it, but the coldness of the winters, the length of the winters, the April snow (AGGHH!!!), and the rest of the younger people in my family are either in the cities or somewhere else compells me to leave once I'm done with college. I know no place I go will be perfect, but again, like I said, I need nice, good, sunny weather. I like that.

[aluminumpork]

Originally Posted by acrylic

I am a very big "weather" person.

Then don't move to Seattle

I can understand how somebody would want to get out of town, especially if family and friends are not here. For me, I wouldn't want to be in Duluth if I didn't have the friends I have here.

I'm actually quite fond of the weather here. I don't like it when it's above 80, too hot for me, especially when humid. I also don't really like going down to Park Point, there's a bit too much traffic more me. I prefer jumping in at Brighton Beach for a quick cool off.

I of course could do without the cold, but I wouldn't trade the snow for anything. I manage to have my fun in the winter, although this last winter did get to be too long.

Who knows, maybe when you leave and check out other cities, you'll miss the slower pace that Duluth offers and come back to raise a family. Or maybe you won't. Different places suit different people, and as much as I'd like everybody who grows up in Duluth, to stay in Duluth, I know that's not going to happen.

[newcastle]

Originally Posted by aluminumpork

Then don't move to Seattle

I can understand how somebody would want to get out of town, especially if family and friends are not here. For me, I wouldn't want to be in Duluth if I didn't have the friends I have here.

I'm actually quite fond of the weather here. I don't like it when it's above 80, too hot for me, especially when humid. I also don't really like going down to Park Point, there's a bit too much traffic more me. I prefer jumping in at Brighton Beach for a quick cool off.

I of course could do without the cold, but I wouldn't trade the snow for anything. I manage to have my fun in the winter, although this last winter did get to be too long.

Who knows, maybe when you leave and check out other cities, you'll miss the slower pace that Duluth offers and come back to raise a family. Or maybe you won't. Different places suit different people, and as much as I'd like everybody who grows up in Duluth, to stay in Duluth, I know that's not going to happen.

Ha! Don't move to Seattle, that's for sure or anywhere along Pacific Coast 101 because you will live in a temperate rainforest and a permanent cloud! Then you will really know what a damp, wet, cold, long winter really is!

I agree with aluminumpork (again) and wish you well on finding your best place.

[Waves5]

I love their tunnels!