Twin Cities vs Duluth

[MN55]

I disagree with that. If it wasn't for unions and anti-growth NIMBY's, companies would much rather consider Duluth as a possible place to do business. Unfortunately anything new proposed there meets a giant pushback and the mayor usually just caters the union wimbs and blocks anything and (almost) everything. The amount of projects that have fallen through in Duluth is astronomical.

[Kid Cann]

Duluth is the reddest blue city I have ever seen. Actually St. Louis County is pretty weird too.

[Duluth07]

I've lived in downtown Duluth and downtown Minneapolis. Some of these comparisons are just what I feel (ideally I would be living in Toronto or Winnipeg or even Windsor, Ontario now) but for now Duluth is comfortable. I loved living downtown in Minneapolis. I lucked out by finding a reasonably priced apartment closest to everything (1212 Yale Place - great landlord, etc) so in that sense I was spoiled. I always saw interesting people, met friends from all over the world, all walks of life, and best of all I didn't need a car. Everything was within five blocks.

Duluth, I have to admit, has really changed. I can't say it's been good or bad, because I simply wouldn't have come back here if it were still a homophobic, racist city. We have every stripe of people here now. We have GLBT Pride every Labor Day weekend. People are much, much more open to people that I never thought would be welcome here. There are a few downsides though. It's very tough to be single here if you are, say, 23-40. Everyone is married and has kids (it seems). This is a good city to live in after you've met the right person, while Minneapolis is a good city to live in after you've earned your masters degree. I tried living there with just a high school diploma and it sucked. I came home to attend UMD, graduated and of course now I'm living in Duluth still. The job market in Duluth is tight, but it's tight in Minneapolis as well, just multiplied by ten.

I guess the cool part of being in Duluth is...it feels like a unique, interesting city where you can hang out downtown and get your city fix...or ten minutes later be on Old Highway 61 along the North Shore. I feel very safe in Duluth, but I did in Minneapolis too. Most of that is self confidence and common sense (my friend, who still goes out to the 90's in downtown Minneapolis and walks home alone at 2 am has been robbed 3 times and still doesn't get it). It's kind of funny because while I haven't traveled much up until last year, I generally see a lot of similarities with Duluth and Minneapolis (or Minnesota). Two weeks in Detroit last year definitely changed my perspective on how good we have it here. As well, visiting Phoenix in May was an experience that made me appreciate Minnesota (my aunt and uncle live in Cave Creek; I'm thinking, okay, typical metro area...20 minute drive to downtown Phoenix? Nope! It was 45 miles, and their public transit is terrible). In both Duluth and Minneapolis, the bus system is 'not that bad' and the light rail in Minneapolis, which I rode for the first time in May, was a long time coming.

The only problem with Duluth, and this will never change, is geographic isolation. This is the end of the line. I-35 ends at 26th Avenue East. There are no cities of equal or larger size north of here, meaning that it's unlikely that people pass through Duluth and discover it on accident. It's almost like you come here for a reason or because you know someone here. It's close enough to Minneapolis that you can drive down and back for a fun day, no big deal, but too far to realistically commute, unless we got something like a bullet train. The only thing I see getting worse is downtown Minneapolis is, to me, not affordable. The small studio apartments that just opened (Stages at 814 Hennepin) are close to $1000 a month. While downtown Duluth is just getting started with downtown housing, it's much more fair in regards to downtown workers. Downtown Minneapolis is definitely geared toward high income white collar professionals. Duluth is a bit more diverse and a lot more affordable. And with that, we continue to get a lot of people moving here who can no longer afford to live in the Twin Cities.

[CMartel2]

Originally Posted by gearedtowardssalad

Problems like this would still exist if Duluth was a conservative city. Neither liberal or conservative values will ever have the answers to any of our problems. One set of values favors corporations, gov't regulation on everything, and income redistribution, and the other wants to give tax breaks to the rich and limit personal freedoms... unless we're talking guns. It's all the same garbage.

Limit personal freedoms? You're on the wrong side of the political spectrum. It's not conservatives who dream up regulations as to what you can and can't do with your land, what you can and can't drive, what sin taxes should be placed, how businesses must abide by absurd regulations that are killing our competitiveness overseas, or even worse, inventing thought crimes with the thought police. Hate crimes? Whatever. A crime is a crime. Period.

If you're talking about the abortion argument, sorry, if you consider a fetus a living person, there's no way around arguing against abortion as a means of enforcing personal freedom. No human has the right to murder another. That's the sticking point that will never allow those who argue about abortion to ever see eye-to-eye.

I never know where I sit on these issues. I long for an America that passed away in the 1950s that demands traditional values, personal accountability, and individual liberty. As a nation, we're losing all of that. I grew up busting my hump on a farm, got an MD, and am now looking at places to live. An area of wilderness where one can still own a farm. I've looked in the Duluth region. The unions are a point of disgust for me. Beautiful city, though.

This thread has been useful. A bit of a downer, but so it goes.

[Bslette]

Originally Posted by nick is rulz

With the exception of Lake Superior....Minneapolis has just as much nature to explore as Duluth does.

Well, although im always in favor of Minneapolis, I don't think it has quite the amount of nature as Duluth, considering Duluth is on the north shore and is in the Sawtooth Mts, but Minneapolis does come close.