Bitching
A cautionary tale for Duluth collectives?
Recently in Minneapolis, the Sisters’ Camelot collective faced restrictions in its ability to canvass for donations as the group was no longer listed as a registered nonprofit or charity in Minnesota. It has been told to cease fundraising efforts with a potential $25,000 fine per fund solicitation. The canvass workers unionized and have been calling for collective organizers to step down to restructure in the wake of the mishandling of the collective. (more…)
Segway tours on the Lakewalk?
Is this a new thing, or have I just not noticed it before? I just saw on Craigslist they were hiring tour guides. I do already try to avoid the Canal Park/Downtown portion of the Lakewalk in the summer because it’s so crowded, and those doublewide pedal-mobile things are impossible to get around when I’m on a bike, but if I’m going to have to be dodging Segways now, too, well, one more reason to stay off the Lakewalk.
(I wish the business owners the best of luck and yay for tourism dollars and all that. I’m just selfishly grumping about crowds and am wanting my own private Lakewalk.)
Am I just stupid, or are the Interstate Parking Lot Automatic Systems difficult?
I used an Interstate lot in downtown Duluth today thinking it would be a nice solution to not having quarters or cash and also not knowing how long my meeting was going to run. As is often the case in Duluth, I was unable to read my spot number and was also unable to read the spot number for the neighboring spot due to snow and ice. So I paid for 2 hours of parking using my license plate number. About five minutes before my two hours was up I called the 866 number listed on the receipt to extend time.
Problem number one encountered is that the receipt listed two lot numbers. On the top portion of the ticket, it says Lot 2561. On the very bottom of the ticket it says “to extend time at location 3110.” When I called the 866 number I was unsure which number was supposed to be entered.
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Is the Duluth News Tribune taking potshots at special education?
The DNT has run two recent articles on special education in our public schools. Both articles seem to be to be blaming the current overcrowding and school budget crisis on special education costs. (more…)
Google killing Reader
If you are reading this through your Google Reader, you already know you won’t be after July 1. If you’re not, you probably don’t care. But in case further explanation is necessary, read “RIP Google Reader” on Mashable.
So, just out of curiosity, how many of you care? Will any of you stop reading PDD because of this, or will we never know because you’re reading the RSS feed and are too lazy to log in and complain about it?
Texting youths trying to kill me
I was at the Arrowhead/Woodland intersection yesterday, and I’m not making this up, I witnessed two young college ladies making a turn and texting at the same time, back to back, faces pointed toward their lap when they were turning. I was only at this intersection for 30 seconds — multiply by the thousands of times youths text and drive through this turn. But there is nothing that can be done to stop them, because even though we’re all just primates, they’re prettier than you. So you just have to sit there and wait for one of them to kill you while they’re typing OMG!
I am so sick of people using Skyline Parkway outlooks as dumpsters…
The latest asshole person to do so? Someone with bundles and bundles of Budgeteer papers and ads that decided to toss them off the overlook (for unknown motives; I’ll keep my hypothesis to myself). As I was walking my dog today I stumbled upon this disgusting site.
Snowmobiling Madness
Alright, I like winter as much as anyone else in Duluth and don’t want to spoil people’s fun. That being said, I have a neighbor who is a bit of a snowmobile enthusiest. He likes to ride his snowmobile around his yard ad nauseum at all hours of the night. He also likes to ride up and down the street and all over the schoolyard accross the street, especially when parents and kids are sledding. I have talked to him about this but he isn’t what you would call neighborly. Is this even legal to do? It seems a trail or a lake would be a better spot than a small yard or public space to ride around. Do I have a legitimate complaint or am I being the old guy shaking his fist at everyone?
Duluth Snowmobiler Code of Ethics
So I feel like I am about to go to a Baci-esque Defcon 2 level on the snowmobile riders using my yard for their personal burnout entry way to the state trails. I live in Lakeside and after about the 4th ride through the middle of my yard that included track marks below the grass level I got to ask what gives. I am wondering if there is anyone out there who can fill me in on the snowmobile code of ethics. Before I start binge calling the cops I want to know if this is acceptable behavior on any level. I was a finger pointing old man at the guy I caught riding through the yard tonight that wasn’t interested in stopping to discuss the issue. I have no problems with snowmobiles as I use them plenty for ice fishing and certainly appreciate their utility. Does anybody else out there have any experience with this? Does calling the cops help?
Best Duluth Internet Provider?
Since Charter just jacked up its rates for cable Internet from $35 to nearly $50/mo., I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a good high-speed internet provider that does not require a land-line phone. I need the service at my home for my laptop PC.
Are Duluth schools really this stupid?
The school just called my wife to come and pick up our 5th grade son. Why?
He pretended to shoot someone with his finger! Remember when you were a kid and you would point at a playmate and say bang? If you do this now, in Duluth, you get suspended. Really? Is there a list of gestures published by the school board that will result in getting kicked out of school?
Concerns surrounding the American Indian Community Housing Organization
I am a community member of the Duluth area and I wanted to voice a couple of things that have been concerning me as well as some things that have been brought to my attention surrounding the American Indian Community Housing Organization.
I know that the community was really excited when AICHO’s Gimaajii Building at 202 W. Second St. opened this past spring. I had very high hopes as to what this venue could do for the people, especially the urban Native Americans within Duluth.
As time has passed and the excitement and buzz about what this “could” be has since faded, I have heard from several current and former tenants of the Gimaajii Building that they have felt there is a lack of spiritual understanding from many of the staff members including the current executive director. They have felt that anything “cultural” that has taken place there has been more for show than for the people it serves.
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Holiday Signs: Public Enemy #1
It has been mentioned on this site before how awful that Holiday sign is on I-35 at 27th Avenue West, but it bears repeating since it is pretty much the worst thing about Duluth, coming in just ahead of the Honking House and the fact that liquor stores can’t sell on Sundays (which is statewide, but so are the Holiday signs).
Well, I just noticed that the agenda for the Jan. 14 Duluth City Council meeting mentions that Councilor Jim Stauber will be introducing an ordinance regarding sign regulations that would seem, if I’m reading it right, to ban the Holiday sign.
[UPDATE: A closer reading of the resolution reveals that “legal, non-conforming signs are allowed to continue.” So Holiday couldn’t put up more signs with bright outlines at its stores in Duluth that don’t have them, but the ones that do have them could keep them.]
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“Emeriti” or “’emeritus,'” not “emeritus”
from today’s DNT:
“Other retired UMD faculty members have been identified as emeritus when writing opinion pieces in the pages of the News Tribune. . .”
“emeriti” = referring to the people in question
“’emeritus'” = implying a quote from the opinion pieces in question
“emeritus” = cognitive dissonance
Can’t see it any other way. Sticks in my craw.
I’m as lefty as most …
… but am I correct that the City Council agreed to forgive $305,000 in overpayments to retirees, then agreed to a 2.82 percent tax levy increase?
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From DNT: Bentleyville days may be numbered?
Someone always has to try to ruin a good thing…
922 percent tax increase? Really?
I moved to Duluth 18 months ago to take a great job with a great company and raise my family in a great city. I bought a modest house that sits on three very small lots within the city limits of Duluth. (My three lots would equal one “Hermantown” sized lot).
Well, the city raised the property tax on the two vacant lots by 922.2 percent! I now have to come up with an extra $752.26 per year in taxes.
Now I know why everyone kept telling me not to buy within the city limits of Duluth! Between the insane tax increase and the bizarre school redistricting red plan nonsense, I would have been better off in one of the surrounding suburbs.
Thanks. Rant over.
Upper Chester: Not so fast there people!
Duluth took a beating this past year. But thanks to everyone pulling together we’ve made a remarkable comeback. For proof, you don’t have to look any further than Chester Park. Thanks to the indefatigable Dan Proctor and others the Lower Chester trails are probably in better shape than they were before the floods of June, and that’s saying a lot considering the scope of the mudflows and washouts that ravaged pretty much every inch of the ravine.
Upper Chester, however, is another story. Despite good intentions, there’s been a lot of jumping the gun to clean up or improve things that one could make the argument has ended up doing more harm than good. I’m not going to run down the list, but the latest chapter seems to have taken place largely under the radar, and I think it deserves a public airing.
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Business Ideas for Old Downtown
What type of business do you think would survive in Old Downtown once all of the storefronts are empty by the Last Place on Earth?
East Superior Street Parking
It seems to me that in recent years, with the additions of Zeitgeist Arts, Black Water Lounge, Carmody Irish Pub, Tycoons, etc. (not to mention the fabulous new product additions at the Last Place on Earth) the area surrounding the NorShor Theatre has gone from being a really easy place to find a parking spot to one where you either have to get really lucky or park in a ramp.
I mention this mostly just to stir up the pot so people can bitch about progress, but I also want to throw out two observational questions:
1) Are you like me and fear parking in ramps because so many TV shows and movies when you were growing up had scenes where people get ambushed and shot in parking ramps?
2) Doesn’t it seem like kind of trap that the Sheraton ramp is free at night … until 2 a.m.? So, you know, go get drunk — the parking is free. But make sure you move your car before you get a cab home.
You forgot something the other night …
Perhaps this brief rant is more appropriate for Craig’s List, but I’ll digress anyway … (more…)
Last Place on Earth first-of-the-month sale
Drive by the Last Place on Earth today and watch your tax money going up in smoke!
Someone stole my kids pumpkins again!
I have had it. On and off over the years that I have lived on 43rd Avenue East my childrens’ pumpkins have been stolen. The first year they were smashed against our sidewalk after they had been carved. Another year they were just stolen. Last year we rigged them to spray water if they were moved and put up a sign as such; they were not stolen. This year we thought we could thwart the person by buying 70-pound-plus-size pumpkins from my brother-in-law figuring it would be too much effort to get a car to steal them. Well, this morning I come outside and all five of our extra large pumpkins are gone.
The kids are devastated. They picked out these “Cindrella” pumpkins from their uncle in Wadena and were really excited to carve them. Who does this type of thing? I’m going to drive around Lakeside during lunch today and look for them. If you stole them, please bring them back. You made for some very sad children this morning.
Stolen Yard Signs
My wife and I are disappointed. We have had a “vote no” sign in our yard for the past month or so. One was stolen, like other signs in the neighborhood. I saw one or two homemade signs to replace what were stolen. We told ourselves that paying another $10 for a replacement would just be more money to the cause, so we got another. We also put a bunch of staples in the new sign and connected it to a tree with wire. We figured that they would really need to work to take it. They did. Is this happening elsewhere in town (we are in Lakeside)? How can such behavior be anything but theft? I cringe when I walk by a yard with a “vote yes” sign, but I don’t steal the sign. I think somebody’s values are seriously out of whack. We are disappointed. It’s apparently not enough to limit the freedom to marry, but free speech is also out of bounds.
Roads and Poles
Is there any news about the Vermillion-Tischer road repair? Is there an estimated time of completion?
Also, I’m perplexed by Denfeld High School’s parking lot and traffic pattern with utility poles in the middle of a drive path. What gives? When will that be fixed?