Duluth Needs your Business, tax free (Rochester, Trail: best city, how much, homes)

[skipast75]

It is becoming well known That Duluth MN is a great place to live, and play. Ranked in the top ten in OutSide Magazine. Now the city is beginning a new chapter with a great new Mayor. Exploiting the cities offerings, Don Ness is quickly helping Duluth by repairing roads, cutting government, and rebuilding how Duluth does Business.The city is now using tax free zones to gain your business. Once an industrial area, Duluth has plenty of properties located in Ideal areas for you to expand your business. Often with proper infrastructure already in place. All it takes is getting a hold of the mayor for help. Duluth is a sea port, and rail transport hub.It is centrally located for export to the US and Canada. If you are tired of Your Location, and want to live in one of the greatest outdoor cities in America, Look into Duluth. Area activities include, Downhill skiing at one of three ski area located within the city including Spirit Mountain with 20 runs and 600 verticle feet and night skiing, XC skiing at one of the several groomed areas within the city, biking on hundreds of miles of both mountain bike and paved trails. Surfing at stoney piont in late summer through early winter.( that's right, I said surfing ) Boardwalks, Skateboard parks, an amazing Hockey scene with public rinks in most neighborhoods. Hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail. Fly Fishing on streams , and spin fishing on several lakes including the largest lake in the world. Even Bird watching is nationally ranked in Duluth. With the longest sand beaches of any city in America, not on one of the overcrowded coasts, Duluth is a major tourist destination with many large attractions and festivals that last through out the year. Duluth's water abundance compliments its avid sail and motor boating culture. And with an amazing work force in the area, finding great people to work is a snap. Add in Minnesota Nice and you can see why people choose Duluth over many mid sized cities to live, play, and work. So get a hold of the cities Mayor Don Ness if you want a no brainer experience expanding your business.
Duluth by the numbers:
approx. 90,000 residents with a metro area of 225,000 people.
11,000 acres of public green space (most of any city in america)
180 public parks thanks to its founding Mayor Snively who's vision for Duluth was a superior city, with more activities for its residents then any city in America.
With Downtown at 600ft in elevation and the International Airport at 1400ft, Duluth's rugged terrain is more like a west coast city then a midwest city.
Average commute time is only 14 minutes.
Only two hours from several Big Snow Country ski areas in Northern Michigan
Thousands of miles of snowmobile trails can be accessed from Duluth
Only one hour to the Apostle Island National LakeShore (kayakers paradise)
Plenty of Shopping in three major areas, and a great school system.
Other major Players in Duluth include: Maurices Clothing Store Headquarters, Minnesota Power, Cirrus Airplanes and Jets, Extensive Healthcare system, University of Minnesota Duluth (12000 students). Grandmas Restaurant Chain Headquarters
So good luck and thanks for looking into one of the last great undiscovered places. You won't be sorry.... Check out Northernimages.com for a quick tour of Duluth's Beauty

[kuan]

Surfing? Dude!

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by kuan

Surfing? Dude!

Some people are crazy.

Photos, pics, pictures, images of surfing, windsurfing, surf kayaking on Lake Superior

[skipast75]

Check out the movie UNSALTED. great lakes surf flick with some great Duluth footage.

[aluminumpork]

As an admitted "Pro-Duluther" and current resident, I appreciate the sentiment of this thread and also your posts in other threads. You certainly seem to like Duluth and are willing to defend it, which is admirable. However, I think you're going about it the wrong way. I feel that in some ways, your arguments in the "Is Rochester a friendly city?" thread only reinforce certain opinions from others about Duluthians and how we seem to adamantly defend our city against all logic, especially if the arguments drop into immaturity and end with putting down other cities/towns.

When I first read your post here, I thought for a second that it was some advertising or tourist agency from Duluth posting. To be honest, it read like spam. Spouting numbers (fudging them at that) and outdoor activities is only following the pattern of what other Duluth supporters do. Frankly, I understand how others could become annoyed with us. Sometimes, it seems like we're the loud, annoying kid in the class who just won't stop talking. Heck, my friends (and significant other) sometimes become annoyed with how much I talk about what's going on around town, or what store is rumored to be built.

In reality, posts like this and immature arguments with other forum members is only hurting our cause. We need to be honest with ourselves about our city's issues. If someone moves here based on lies, only to find out it wasn't what they expected, chances are good that they'll leave. We need people who like Duluth for what it actually offers. No city is for everyone, and Duluth is no exception.

If we want to change the state's perception of Duluth, we need to start with changing how we talk about the city. The city isn't the best thing since sliced bread, but I still love it anyways. In some ways, the city isn't the problem, but rather the attitudes that permeate business and some culture here. We need to push fresh, modern downtown development, even if it means getting rid of old, unused structures. We need to work on breaking city business from union strangleholds that kill opportunity and natural competition. Roads need to be repaired, many older homes need to be renovated (or torn down). There is much to do.

This city needs to be reinvented, but blind promotion isn't going to help it one bit. If anything, it'll hurt it. The problem isn't that people don't know about Duluth (in fact many people in my travels know exactly where it is and have been here), but rather they've either heard bad things or consider it simply a tourist destination with no real substance. If we want to change that perception, we need to fix the problems that feed it.

Hope to see you around the forum.

[edit]By the way, in regards to surfing, I took some video during last winter's final storm. In our adventures along the shore, we encountered some lake surfers and I got some descent footage of them. Check it our here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHVk8S42kBE[/edit]

[skipast75]

When I started this thread I was being a little bit of a liar. But with intention. See, a while back, I wrote to the duluth news tribune about how duluth needs to change its ways. That it was beautiful, but to liberal. To dirty, and to backwards minded. I had so many people lash out against me, I was dumbfounded. And nobody backed me. So when I wrote this, I was being over zealous. The numbers are correct though, I did not lie. And the mayor is doing good with the mentioned subjects. But My real goal was to get a thinker of your caliber to join my crusade. Because Duluth is falling apart at the seams, due to its old time thinking. My goal was to get the other gentleman I argued with to Give me reasons why Rochester is thriving and Duluth is not. But by wording it the way I did, I still hope someone who likes the qualities of Duluth will come and talk to the mayor about free land or Tax Free Land. Because I have spoken with the mayor, and know first hand he is all about it. Of course, not everyone would qualify, but the right company with the right goal for Duluth could go a long way. So, no I did not fudge the numbers, just recited stuff I've read or have seen in History films about Duluth. I think if Duluth Pushed pro business ideas like Fargo, Siox Falls, and Rochesters and moved its ideas more towards center, It would be the best city in Minnesota. Because the other cities just lack the things that I and many others look for in a city. Namely, being able to escape it. So thank you speaking up, because the only way to fix things, is by acknowloging them. More People need to speak up. Because more and more good hard working people like myself have to leave Duluth every year for a better life. And more and more people looking for hand outs are moving in. And yes, the Unions play a large role in the system too, But out here in Montana, there are no unions, and workmenship is often time terrible. So Unions are a good thing to a point. Any ways, Lets start a thinking revelution, and fix up the prettiest town in the midwest. Because if we don't it could end up a whole lot worse.

[fromupthere]

I am not a man.

[skipast75]

The Surf footage is great. Only makes me miss that place even more though.Is that Stoney Point?

[knke0402]

If you like a 1980s way of living, aging and disgusting builings and neighborhoods - Duluth is for you!

Mayor Ness is a fool, just like Tim Pawlenty called him out the other day. Why does Duluth think that St Paul and MN wont help them out? Because everyone knows it is a failing region. Unless the "seaport" can start having a great industry, it wont sustain off of a few coal shipments a week.

Plus, anyone who knows anything is rediculous to look at "tax free" for businesses. That is just silly. How do you think the City will make money? The city just doesnt give exemtions to taxes because they want a business real bad. How is the city going to pay for the now newly needed police protection and other services wihtout any new revenue from Taxes? And what happens when the City decides it is now time to collect property taxes on business? - The businesses leave!

Duluth is great, but it is a place that COULD have been much better. TOo bad it is a dying, decaying 1980s wasteland full of hikers and hippies.

[skipast75]

First off, I never said I loved Mr. Ness. But he is trying to make city government smaller, which is a good thing coming from a liberal. Second Duluth is not a decaying wasteland. If it was, it would not be the tourist destination that it has become. Half of Duluth has been redone in the past 20 years to make it the place it is today. And tax free does work, because when big businesses take advantage of tax free areas, they put people to work. People who end up making money, buying homes and paying property taxes. (Open your eyes to see the bigger picture) Duluth has a whole end of town that is full of vacant land.Land that could be used for anything. But instead it lays dormant. Downtown is clean and vibrant again. But more needs to be done. It is the left wing, give everything away to wrong people , mentality that has hurt duluth for so long. If your going to give something away, give it to someone who will employ people. Its just plain common sense. Duluth needs to put the unions in check, so they contribute to the economy, not just lock it up. And Duluth needs to attract wealthy folks who want to give to the community. Not just lock themselves up in there pretty hillside homes. Everyone exploits Duluth. The poor, and the rich. Its people like me who moved away, saw the rest of the country, and realized Duluth Should be a great place to work, not just a place to play. And Its people like you who should not talk about places you obviosly have no interest in. So please feel free to leave this thread. I know there are more people in this country who left and miss a lot about Duluth. If you are one of them, please Contribute something inteligent to this thread. If you are going to bash it, do it in a constructive way. Its a great place, filled with funny, hard working people. People with character. A kind of character only found in a few corners of this country. But we all know its problems, so lets talk about them, fix them, and make duluth the great place we all know it should be.