I wonder what kinds of growth things he sees as possibilities that would require deforestation and removal of greenspace in town. We have plenty of superfund sites they can take care of. As for the rest (and aside from the cruddy job situation), why is it bad to want to keep Duluth the way it is? If it does change, where can I move to re-find this?

Absent any compelling evidence of its existence, I'm inclined to suspect that the "Duluth is anti-growth" refrain is primarily a mantra repeated by developers and their allies in an effort to shape the public discourse--they've said it enough that people now assume it's true. I'm curious as to how much of the energy behind this dates back to the 1930s capture of city government by the local left. That had to be rather upsetting for the powers-that-were.

Karasu- I didn't interpret Mr. Barret's statements (in the whole article by Stahl) as suggesting using green spaces for development. It was merely an example of one kind of group and their possible oppositions. I really do believe that Duluth needs to move forward. I love this town for a lot of reasons. Changes are never easy. But as a 30-something that chooses to be self-employed so she can stay here, I don't know if I would be able to live here if my employment situation were different. I have been here 15 years and while there have been some great things that have changed in this city, there are some definite issues with what I feel is anti- business. Business brings jobs and keeps people from leaving via the Brain Drain. Sustainable and smart growth is what strengthens a community and makes it even more amazing to live here. I think we could have "growth" and still maintain the core elements that connect us to the community. As Flex said, we could do a lot with what we already have.

Oh, I thought that's why we had Perfect Duluth Day and The DuSu The city is like the music scene here. Good Ol' Boys stay New People Out!

I think the claim that Duluthians are too risk-averse and don't want change is way too general. I was born and raised here, lots of relatives in local cemmetaries, got my edumacation in our heyday before the steel plant closed, etc. I love change. Just not change for its own sake. Canal Park was an industrial waste land when I was a kid. Now it's a thriving retail and lodging center. Most of that was done with private money and some zoning adjustments. Now, it ain't all perfect- that Hampton Inn thing still burns me up. But overall, it's an improvement. There's also geography to consider. The shape and topography of Duluth has some development limitations. Only a really rich bastard could drill through all that bedrock to put in a well for their McMansion/Skyline Destroyer and I'm sure no one thought anybody would be rich enough AND stupid enough to do it. But now it's done and we have to think of better ways to address these issues. We could certainly do with more light manufacturing- and I agree with Frank, green manufacturing would be awesome. As for the local colleges, I know why those kids leave. They came here for the easy degree and to drink- a lot. They didn't come to hang around and there are damn too few jobs to keep 'em here. UMD needs to stop cranking out the graphic designers with no hope of landing a job that will come anywhere near covering their student loans. And the leadership at our local institutions seems to be the ones who like things the way they are. I love all the transplants who've come here and started small businesses and contributed to our growing culture. I also like the native die-hards who have slogged it out through the economic roller coaster that is capitalism in the US. It isn't all so black and white to me, but the whiners just seem to get more column inches than the actual do-ers.

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell. Unlimited growth with limited resources is also what we're bumping into on a global scale with climate change, peak oil, etc. Like others here have pointed out, growth vs anti-growth and change vs no change are false dichotomies. Developers want it all and anyone who questions that will be labeled with insulting names. It seems conservatives only want to conserve the financial status quo, not the land or our quality of life. The low-wage corporate franchise hell that is Central Entrance is their blueprint for growth. Yuck!

Sean, the unemployment rate is low? Duluth is sitting at 8.8% unemployment while St. Cloud is at 7.3%, Rochester is at 6.1%, the Twin Cities metro area is at 7.7%, Mankato is at 6.7%, La Crosse is at 6.5%, Fargo/Moorhead is at 4.1% and Grand Forks/East Grand Forks is at 5%. There has to be a reason why Duluth has the highest unemployment rate among eight regional metropolitan areas aside from the weather. When you consider our strategic location in terms of transportation as well as our educational resources, there is no apparent reason why we should lag behind all other metropolitan areas of a similar size in this region. I don't mind Mr. Barrett saying we are anti-growth, if in saying that he means that we don't want to become St. Cloud, Fargo/Moorhead, the Twin Cities, etc. The number of people who move here (as well as the people who stay here despite other opportunities) is a testament to the value folks place on Duluth, and if that means that we resist growth for growth's sake, so be it. I'm not convinced that we have to sacrifice our financial interests for the quality of live we enjoy here in the northland but clearly a lot of communities have sacrificed their quality of life for financial opportunism and I'm glad Duluth hasn't followed the same path.

Doesn't it seem a red herring, the entire "expand the tax base" thing? Every community talks about that, from small to humongous cities; you'd think, somewhere, a community would finally have expanded it's tax base, and be happy, right? Problem is, when you expand your tax base, you also expand the cost of services; rather a zero-sum game, and some types of development (lower-density residential in particular) actually costs more in services than a community typically gets back in tax revenue. So, this "expand the tax base" meme is useless, unless you look on the other side of the balance sheet. I appreciate that the city and it's leaders are really working on infill development around the community. This "tax base expansion" comes with little increase in cost of services, because the services are already there, for the most part. I'm also leery of TIF, because you're giving someone a tax break, in exchange for some unknown, but promised, increase in "tax base," without factoring in the extra costs.

I think once we get Duluth skateboarders to GTFO, everything will be right as rain.

Having lived elsewhere, I can honestly say (without feeling bad) that most of the Duluth community is out of modern times; a little bit of puritan blood still boiling in their veins. Kids here don't go to secondary school for a cheep degree. They go to UMD and Scholastica and DBU because they pretty much can't go anywhere else (yes, that is an insult, but with sugar). There are exceptions of course. Higher ed in Duluth? If we had half a brain, we'd know that it is pretty much a joke right now. With my apologies to the hard working profs at the local institutions, I'll ask just this... How many published theses have we seen from you? Duluth can't turn students into local professionals because, very simply, the simple things are not shining in their eyes at that age. Let me give you a small example, my buddy's step dad worked for LHB and had no idea -- as an engineer -- what "head" in a line meant. I didn't say anything, but internally shook my head in disgust.

Huitz, I went for grad school to one of the finest public research universities in the country -- UNC Chapel Hill. I studied under some world-renowned professors who'd published their dissertations and lots of other books besides. But some of them couldn't teach their way out of a paper bag. Just because a professor hasn't published, doesn't mean squat. I know a lot of the faculty at all the universities around here, and they are some amazing people who are aces in the classroom. I don't think you know what you are talking about when you disparage faculty at the local universities.

Huitz, maybe if you got out of the dive bars, and met people elsewhere who are sober instead of drunk off their asses -- at readings, art shows, plays, lectures, concerts, for instance. . . you'd realize there are some absolutely brilliant people who live here. While not all of them have been educated here, I can think off the top of my head many who came here for college, stayed, and do incredible things. And I truly believe these are people who would succeed wherever they lived. I've lived in a lot of places, and I've never encountered elsewhere the inferiority complex about his/her town Huitz displays. While they say no one is a hero in his or her hometown, I think it's sometimes particularly true in Duluth. And it's sad. Because if you believe something like that, it becomes your reality.

I am an instructor in the College of Science and Engineering at UMD and can't begin to describe what a mischaracterization the statement that nobody publishes. I can't keep track of all the publications in my own department (Math/Stat) let alone across the sciences. Throw in the Natural Resources Research Institute, Large Lakes Observatory and the new Transportation Research Programs and you can get the picture. The Chemical Engineering Department is ranked 4th nationwide (2nd for public institutions) and has an amazing record of quality undergraduate research projects.

There needs to be a distinction between the younger undergrad chair sniffers who are in school (13th grade) here to par-tay and get a McEducationâ„¢ (read: a chunk of my high school graduating class who came up from the suburbs for just that), versus NRRI, Transportation, Engineering and similar work.

Is Duluth Anti-Growth? I have enjoyed other's thought-provoking responses to that great question. I'd like to weigh in, but please allow me to apologize for length. On the stretch of I-35 from Hinckley to Minneapolis the freeway exits all have some mix of corporate stores and franchises. Hinckley has a Burger King, Taco Bell, Hardees, and Subway. By the time you get to Forest Lake there's hundreds of franchises and corporate stores. In addition to the fast food regulars, you have rarer fast food, chain restaurants, and Big Box stores. All of the other towns have some pared down mix of the offerings found in Forest Lake. If soulless Forest Lake is an example of pro-growth development, then I'm not interested in that type of success. One thing that bothers me about this type of central entrance-style development is its generic version of place. A strip mall is a strip mall is a strip mall. When I travel, as some of you who have traveled with me know, I make a concerted effort to frequent locally owned businesses rather than corporate or franchise locations. This has enhanced my traveling experiences by forcing me out of the freeway-exit-developments and into the real towns, off the freeways and onto the highways, out of the generic and to the real places that gives a town or city its character. Duluth has managed to keep its unique identity intact more than most places. I suspect this can be attributed to: 1) Duluth citizens: who are protective and proud of their unique city, 2) Duluth's tourist economy: people come to Duluth because our city and our history is different from their own town and other places they've been, 3) Duluth's geography: as Duluth is defined just as much by what it hasn't developed as it has. I'd point to the wild western hillside, numerous creeks, and the shores of Lake Superior. And the natural shape of our city we have developed, with the steep avenues and steaming sewers, 4) Duluth's history: Duluth's early designers, living in a wealthy up-and-coming place more than a century ago, built a grand, one-of a-kind, and historic city that begs to be considered as we redevelop. There's little doubt Duluth has benefited by containing the most egregious development up on top of the hill which has granted some rare reprieve to the more majestic and historic parts of our city. If developer's (who are trying to bring more cookie-cutter McMansions and condos, new chain restaurants, and ever bigger big box stores with their parking lots feeding Miller Creek) run into citizen resistance and call Duluth anti-development, that is a low price to pay to maintain the uniqueness of our city . These pop-up businesses don't pay well, they generally only have a superficial interest in the community, the money spent at them doesn't stay here, and they mitigate our advantage of being a place that is one of a kind. People don't travel here, move here, or stay living here because of Miller Hill Mall or the many surrounding strip malls, they don't move here because we have an Applebees. No, the draw is Lake Superior, our parks, the one-of-a-kind buildings downtown, and the mansions of Congden and the history they tell. So redevelop Clyde Iron, give the LaFarge cement terminal a new life for a new century. A developer could build a condo tower in tried and true design that would work anywhere in the world and add little value. Or they could build one in the hundred year old ruins of a burnt down flour mill, and then include a museum so we can learn why Minnesotans built there camp at the St. Anthony Falls so long ago. This is the type of development that will sustain us and build prosperity. Perhaps we could be known to support development that seeks to enhance our sense of place and oppose those projects that erodes it.

Huitz, you and I definitely move in different circles. I know all the artists, writers, and actors in town, I can't think of a single engineer I've met here. So you may be right, but then so might I.

My 2 cents. I started a small company with a friend in January of this year. We're getting close to enough revenue to cover both of our salaries, and so we, and the company, are moving to Austin, TX. There's zero incentive to run a tech company here, but it would be an easy sell if the city wanted to. Look at some great places to run a tech company -- Austin, Portland, Boulder. All very Duluth-ey if you ask me.

Well, the reasoning is rather circular, but it has a lot to do with the fact that Austin is a great place to start a tech company :-). When it gets out that your town is good for some tech industry that is experiencing heavy growth, professionals and investors in that industry congregate there looking for opportunities. In our case, we use a development platform called Ruby on Rails, and Austin has a nice convergence of low cost of living and a hefty supply of RoR developers. Unfortunately, Duluth just doesn't have a big market for RoR, and as such that provides a pretty small hiring pool for us. Usually the only places that can really achieve this are places that have a very high per capita culture. Anyone who has lived in Duluth long enough knows that this place has an extraordinary amount of culture. Furthermore, every year we graduate quite a few ambitious, young software developers from UMD every year. I've said for several years that Duluth is ripe to be the next Boulder, if we could just get organized enough to build the right brand for this city.

"A few problems bother me, and, believe it or not, one of them is the weather." I actually think Duluth could be a "beter" Boulder. But that's just me. I know swathes of geeks who would love the winter sports in the area. "I don't think that's the future of Ruby as a tool in web dev, with all due respect." Really? You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but Ruby is a beautiful language. It was the language that made lambda-calculus practical for me. You can't match Rails or Merb for development speed and agility (except perhaps with Python and Django), RSpec is a dream for test coverage... If you've never done a project in Rails, it's worth it.

I forgot to preface that with Ruby is my favorite language.

If you move to The Next Biggest City because it's supposedly a great place to run a tech biz, then you're in competition with everyone else who's moved there to do the same thing. Why leave an area when you have already established yourself as being one of a handful and started making money to throw yourself into a situation where you're just another face in the crowd?

I thought Duluth was the "Digital Harbor" or "Internet Port" or "Electronic Gateway" or — jesus those Technology Village cheerleaders were so boundlessly fucking stupid. Or maybe it was the citizenry? I think it's less anti-growth, and maybe more that people in this town need to stop acting like rubes: Aquarium, really? "Technology Village," really? Close schools and plan for a future that won't happen, really? Spirit Mountain slide?? Boondoggle. Boondoggle. Boondoggle. I know where to sell snake oil in this state. So what does Duluth have? Poop lake and a penchant for buying into outdated, useless gimmicks that in one way or another are supposed to "save" us. Instead of, say, STFU and get to work.

gee, adam...when you put it *that* way, Duluth is poised to be the Dells of the north. all's we needs is us some of them Tommy Bartlett shows.