Featuring the Keep Aways.

This is the maiden voyage of the Gonzo Science youtube channel, the Gonzonomicron.

In a Feb. 18 post the maps for the proposed Cross City Trail — which will connect the Munger Trail to the Lakewalk — were laid out, with photos showing the various route options for the westernmost section shown in the comments. A Feb. 28 post showed a photo tour of the middle section of the proposed trail.

In this post, the route options for connecting Clyde Park to the Duluth Lakewalk are shown. Here are the maps to follow along with:

29th Avenue West to 18th Avenue West
18th Avenue West to Mesaba Avenue
Mesaba Avenue to the Lakewalk

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Cheryl Skafte as Don Ness.
John Munson as Rockin’ Johnny Rocker, Morning Drive Homicide Detective.
Christa Lawler as Christa Lawler. And music from Sara Thomsen.

That’s a lot of entertainment for just five dollars.

The Rubber Chicken Radio Hour, broadcast live on KUWS 91.3FM this Thursday at 8pm. (But all the fun is had in the live studio audience at The Shack in Superior…) Call (218) 213-2780 for tix.

Here’s a press release we’ll be sending out about our intent to explore Google’s offer to bring gigabyte speed broadband to an entire community.  There are many unanswered questions and any application may be a long shot, but it would be a game-changer for Duluth.  I think it’s worth putting our best foot forward and see what happens…  If you want to help out, check the bottom of the post.  See you around…  Don

Mayor Don Ness has indicated the City of Duluth’s intent to pursue a partnership with Google to bring fiber-to-home connections to city residents.  Google plans to select a community to test ultra-high speed connections at more than a gigabit per second later this year through a competitive process.

The following is a statement from Mayor Ness on the city’s intent:

We want Duluth, Minnesota to be at the forefront of a new gigaband revolution in America.  For America to be competitive into the future, we need to be aggressive at investing in our data infrastructure.  To unfairly paraphrase Tip O’Neill “All bandwidth use is local” – Google’s community initiative will be a powerful tool to demonstrate the positive impact of local broadband improvements.

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Talk among yourselves…

Precinct Caucus Information
February 2, 2010

Precinct caucuses are meetings organized by Minnesota’s political parties to begin the process of selecting candidates for the 2010 election and policy positions to shape the party platform. Caucuses are held in locations across Minnesota, are open to the public, and participation is encouraged.

To find your precinct caucus, go to www.sos.state.mn.us (MN Secretary of State).

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Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States and many other books died this week.

Here are references I found to Duluth and Minnesota in “A People’s History of the United States” (more…)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60K3SK20100121

SCOTUS

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/156923/publisher_ID/36/

FYI, SMDC netted $28.7 million in profits (despite being a “nonprofit” hospital) in 2007 and purchased over $5 million worth of property last year. CEO Peter Person makes $1.1 million per year. The average medical transcriptionist makes just on the threshold of a living wage – $35,000 per year. Solidarity! (Stay tuned for info on how you can help out…)

News story

anyone feel like throwing snowballs around 1 at lake and superior today?? just don’t bring any guns.

Kenny wishes you all a Happy Holiday!

After numerous comments on my “Merry F***ing Christmas” thread, I got a phone call from Chief Gordon Ramsey. He was most cordial and apologetic about my ticket and offered to take care of it in a manner amenable to me. So, I deleted the previous thread- and have a lot of respect for the power of this little ol’ PDD blog and for our DPD Chief. Kenny wishes you all a Happy Holiday (and he is still for sale).

In 1998, Dick Cheney made this statement. “I cannot think of a time when we have had a region emerge as suddenly to become as significant as the Caspian. But the gas and oil there is worthless until it is moved. The only route which makes both political and economic sense is through Afghanistan”

Feb. 28, 1998. Unocal states that the Taliban government should be removed and replaced by a government acceptable to his company. He argued that the creation of a 42-inch pipeline across Afghanistan would yield a Western profit increase of 500% by 2015.

There is much more history but it certainly appears our newly elected Republican president has bought into this, otherwise we certainly would be doing a green energy revolution, the change that I voted for.

Full page ad in Washington Times by ProtectOurLiberty.org.  WOW!

Full Sized PDF – Obama’s Lack of Constitutional Eligibility

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

The proposed Northern Lights Express from Minneapolis to Duluth runs into complications after a MnDOT “worst-case” estimate comes in much higher than a more conservative estimate by rail supporters.

AP Chief Asian Photographer David Guttenfelder has been covering Afghanistan since 2001. His photos are impressive to say the least.

He vacations every summer with his wife and two daughters at Three Lakes, near Eagle River, Wis. His wife is from Neenah.

Listen to Mike Simonson’s interview with Guttenfelder on KUWS.fm.
View Guttenfelder’s photos on Denverpost.com.

These are the final numbers.

Still no mandate on the school district’s long-range facilities plan. Half of the opponents of the plan were elected, and half were not. Jim Stauber is the comeback kid in the at-large city council race.

Duluth Second District City Councilor
Patrick Boyle – 2,543 | 78%
Rob Wagner – 668 | 21%

Duluth Fourth District City Councilor
Kerry Gauthier – 1,932 | 52%
Gordon Grant – 1,779 | 48%

Duluth At-large City Councilor
Top two candidates are elected
Dan Hartman – 9,322 | 26%
James Stauber – 9,045 | 25%
Beth Olson – 8,851 | 25%
Becky Hall – 8,256 | 23%

Question 1: Amending the city charter so the mayor can appoint a communications and policy officer and a community relations officer.
Yes – 10,797 | 59%
No – 7,431 | 41%

Question 2: Amending the city charter so city employees are not required to take a leave of absence from city employment to run for any political office, except city offices or Duluth’s board of education.
No – 9,069 | 50.07%
Yes – 9,044 | 49.93%

Duluth District One School Board
Ann Wasson – 2,925 | 54%
Marcia Stromgren – 2,513 | 46%

Duluth District Four School Board
Art Johnston – 1,972 | 53%
Laura Condon – 1,770 | 47%

Duluth At-large School Board
Top two candidates are elected
Tom Kasper – 11,757 | 32%
Mary Cameron – 8,960 | 24%
Nancy Nilsen – 8,308 | 22%
Maureen Booth – 7,975 | 21%

Tuesday, Nov. 3, municipal elections will be held in Duluth. Vote early, vote often.

AFSCME’s endorsed candidates are: Kerry Gauthier, Beth Olson, Daniel Hartman, and Patrick Boyle. If you are a public employee, my wife is probably going to knock on your door or call you tonight. Be nice.

http://www.sos.state.mn.us/index.aspx?page=134

I cleaned the gutters on my house today and found, among the clumps of various yard waste, a flier for a school board candidate forum and a slice of bologna slathered in mustard.

Trick or treat?

Although many of its highways and bridges are in severe disrepair, the traditionally undemanding state of Minnesota isn’t comfortable asking for more interstate funding, sources reported Monday.

Read the story in the Onion.

“Duluth said it has some scrap metal we might be able to melt down to make some lamp poles.”

According to estimates by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Minnesota could raise $10 million in tax revenues simply by allowing liquor stores to sell on Sundays.

Read this brief story from Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report for more info.

But the real reason to allow liquor stores to sell on Sundays is because it’s stupid not to, right?

Is there a person who has frequented PDD that actually saw The Replacements play Duluth ? I saw The Suburbs play here twice (1986 & 1987 I believe…) But I, a very big ‘Mats fan from my Duluth HS influences, never saw them as a band live. I’ve seen Paul in MPLS, but he has yet to play Duluth.

Why do I bring this up? Because Wilco, who has covered The Replacements “Color Me Impressed”  song.php?song_key=234 numerous times since 1997, and cite The Replacements as their influence, are a Chicago band coming to Duluth for the third time.

So why the hell can we NOT book Paul Westerberg? And did The Replacements ever play Duluth?

We all can talk about supporting local talent and wanting great acts  to play Duluth, but why the hell do we not get the MPLS acts that have gone national and are influences to the acts we do attract?

Do you know how you’re voting on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3? There’s no substitute to hearing the candidates speak in person. You may surprise yourself and change your mind after attending the following candidate forums.

Please join us:
School Board Candidate Forum
Thursday, Oct. 22
Lowell Elementary Music Magnet School
2000 Rice Lake Road, Duluth, MN 55811
6:30 – 7:00 PM Tour Lowell’s renovation
7:00 – 9:00 PM Forum with Questions from Co-Sponsors, Students, & the Audience
Co-Sponsored by League of Women Voters Duluth and the Duluth PTSA Council – Parent Teacher Student Association

At-Large, District 2, and District 4 City Council Candidate Forum
Thursday, Oct. 29
Holy Family Church
2430 W. Third Street, Duluth
6:00 – 8:30 PM Forum
Co-Sponsored by League of Women Voters Duluth, Community Safety Initiative (Duluth Local Initiatives Support Corporation), Neighborhood Housing Services, and Churches United in Ministry.

Vote on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009
If you have any questions about where to vote or exactly what school district you live in check out www.lwvmn.org. The Minnesota League of Women Voters website can help you answer any of your questions about election day.

Mocking state mottos.

You’ll probably be surprised to discover there are two questions on the Nov. 3 ballot regarding amendments to the City Charter. There’s nothing highly sexy about the questions, so there hasn’t been much reporting about them. Read the questions and you’ll pretty much get the gist.

Another note: There are more races going on than the ballot image below indicates. What will be on your ballot depends on what precinct you vote in.

A complete and more legible list of candidates can be found here. PDD presents this ballot image because, well, some of us are visual learners.

On his DNT blog, Buzz Duluth, Brandon Stahl interviewed St. Scholastica Econ Professor Tony Barrett about the city council’s frequent talk regarding “expanding the tax base,” and what that actually means. In the post, Barrett explains that the only direct way that the council can expand the tax base is to attract new business “through subsidies or TIFs,” or through zoning changes, or “to eliminate steps” involved with business development.

Barrett then goes on to explain that Duluthians are often resistant to this kind of growth.

“Every community has certain groups that oppose growth; environmentalists who don’t want to see trees cut down, or less green space… people who fear that growth is going to require higher taxes,” he said. “Duluth has a strong element of people who just don’t want Duluth to change. They like it the way it is. That’s why they didn’t move away to the Twin Cities, maybe get a better job. Duluth, of all the communities I’ve lived in, has the strongest anti-growth sentiment. And I think it’s really our culture of people liking Duluth just the way it is.”

The comments, of course, blame the DFL and “environmentalists.” But in light of the recent Honking House fiasco, the Lakewalk townhomes, and the debate over the reorganization of Duluth’s schools, it seems that the conflict in opinions is far more complex than some would like to admit.

So what do you think?

This is a little short notice, but I didn’t hear about it until I received the letter from his office yesterday, so anyway, Russ Feingold will be holding his 2009 Douglas county listening session in Solon Springs at 2pm this sat. If you live on the other side of the bridge and would like to meet the only senator to “Nay” the Patriot Act check out the details below.

What: Russ Feingold’s 2009 Douglas County Listening session.
Time: 2 P.M. Saturday, October 10th
Place:Solon Springs Community Center
11523 South Business 53
Solon Springs, WI

Here are a few excerpts from Duluth’s Skyline Parkway Corridor Management Plan of 2003:

” New buildings should be compatible with surrounding buildings in size and scale and SHOULD NOT BLOCK IMPORTANT VIEWS.”

“Limit residential development where it can damage….IMPORTANT VIEWS…”

“Avoid lakeside (downslope) development whenever possible”.

Skylinepart1.pdf

They could have at least added a couple coils of razor wire for ambience.

Duluth School Board & City Council Candidate Forum
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009
6:00-7:15 PM School Board Forum
7:30-8:45 PM City Council Forum
Lakeside/Lester Park Community Club
106 N. 54th Ave. E.

Co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters & the Lakeside Lester Park Community Club

”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’

At-Large Candidate Forum
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009
6:00-7:30 PM
Damiano Center
206 W. Fourth Street

Co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters, Community Action Duluth, Twin Ports Action Coalition, and the A.H. Zeppa Foundation

The League of Women Voters and all above sponsors are nonpartisan organizations that neither support nor oppose political parties and candidates. The purpose of these forums is to provide voters with objective information on the views held by candidates running for office so that they can make informed choices on election day.