Bitching
Why can’t this happen at Bayfront?
New St. Paul fest starting out big
Two bands that have packed Xcel Energy Center in the past will stretch out on St. Paul’s Harriet Island this summer as headliners for the River’s Edge Music Festival, an inaugural two-day event whose organizers hope will draw 40,000 people daily.
Arty metal kings Tool and bohemian jazz-rockers the Dave Matthews Band — mainstays of the summer concert circuit — will top out the June 23 and 24 lineups, respectively. Some of the other 30 or so (mostly rock) acts assembled by concert promoter Live Nation include the Flaming Lips, Mutemath, Coheed and Cambria, Brand New, Diplo, Scissor Sisters and local bands Poliça and Motion City Soundtrack.
Reduced Parking Access to Lakewalk?
For the second time in as many weeks, I attempted to park near the Beacon Point Condos only to find parking severely restricted. Why do I feel like I’ve been taken in a give an inch, take a foot situation? It was bad enough the city permitted Beacon Point in the first place, but it was allowed under the premise that we’d all still have the same access to the area and so on. But I’m left feeling like an Apache who was told his reservation needs to be moved, and oh yeah, now it’s smaller too.
I’m not a native of Duluth. I moved here specifically for the availability of public land, parks, trails, etc. A piece of our freedom has been diminished, if anyone else cares. The big property taxes paid by the owners of Beacon Point appear to have swayed the local parking bureaucrats into closing the parking lot gate over the stormwater tank. Am I missing something here? Runners, walkers, and anyone else should have a fair opportunity to park in this area.
Litter on the Lakewalk near East High School
I am a resident on Gilliat Street and live adjacent to the Lakewalk, which runs from 42nd to 40th avenues east. When walking on the Lakewalk recently I was appalled by the amount of litter from fast food restaurants, etc. in the stretch of Lakewalk behind Ordean and also the stretch from 40th going east.
There are garbage cans placed at intervals along the Lakewalk, but it is still obviously too difficult for some people to use them. There have been school lunch milk cartons, cigarette butts, Culver’s wrappers, Taco John’s wrappers, McDonald’s, used condoms, etc.
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Indian giver?
Would someone tell me what Brad Bennett said yesterday on his 710 AM talk show re: “Indian giver?” A friend of mine (who is Caucasian) said it was disrespectful, insulting and racist.
50 Below advice
Moderator’s note: One year after this post was published, and three months after bankruptcy proceedings, 50 Below Sales & Marketing was acquired by ARI Network Services and Emerald Connect. The company continues to develop websites and provide e-commerce services in Duluth. There have been no public complaints by employees since the acquisition.
I’m seeking a little help from the PDD community. I work for 50 Below Sales & Marketing and, like everyone else there, I haven’t been paid in over a week. That’s roughly 300 people who have had to get through Thanksgiving without the money they earned. Some have gone even longer due to bounced checks.
I don’t really want to get into how this came to be, maybe someone else can step up with that info if anyone is curious. What I’m here for is some advice on what (if anything) I can do. I’m sure everyone will see their money at some point but that’s not enough. Who do people recommend I talk to to try and make sure we don’t get screwed again? Lawyers? I hear they cost money. Unions? Some kind of labor group?
Any thoughts are welcome.
Developer has new student housing/retail plan for Woodland Middle School site
The DNT ran a story today detailing a new mixed-use residential/commercial plan for the site of the former Woodland Middle School. The developer bought the site from the school district in September. You may be familiar with the developer’s other projects like Boulder Ridge and Campus Park. (more…)
She Gets Things Done
On Tuesday, November 15, after a long day of working on my unfinished, but indisputably kick-ass, novel, I cracked an adult beverage and logged onto the Internet to make my usual rounds.
On Perfect Duluth Day, I found a post by City Councilor-elect Jennifer Julsrud, titled “Duluth’s Plumbing Needs Big Fix,” regarding Duluth’s aging water infrastructure. Accompanied by a short YouTube video (serious people talking seriously about water, serious music playing in the background), the post listed a series of upcoming community meetings that were to be held on the subject.
Naturally, this irritated me greatly. As far as I was concerned, this was just the latest example of Duluth’s tendency to be serious one minute about issues that actually need attention, and the next minute to stampede giddily off in pursuit of unneeded, but very expensive, luxuries that we want RIGHT NOW-as if the money we spend on the luxuries has no relation at all to the money we need for necessities.
Hey Frank Miller: Batman is the 99 percent
Warning: political, intemperate. (more…)
RIP, Saigon Cafe
The best Vietnamese restaurant in the City of Duluth is gone. (Thank goodness we still have Lan Chi’s in Superior.) (more…)
Stop Being So Selfish
I love this site. I love how inquisitive everyone is. I love the willingness to share.
But I hate the “Advice” and “Recommendations” posts.
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This is what a feminist looks like:
Now that I have your attention, what struck me as odd about the original objections to Marc Gartman’s Ween post was how the comments were so out-of-context and un-community in nature. I did see the “bigger boobed” version, am familiar with Ween, and have a fairly well-honed ability to read and comprehend.
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An Unfortunate Burrito Union Rant
I’m a huge proponent of locally owned businesses. I feel that they generally do what they do better than their franchised competition. Because of this, I’m totally cool with paying a higher price.
I’ve been to Burrito Union probably close to a dozen times, so in no way am I staking any sort of claim, but I can count on more than one hand how many times I’ve placed an order, only to have it incorrectly made. Never anything to the point where I won’t eat it, but when I pay something like $2.25 extra for something like adobo sauce and I don’t get it, I have to ask why? Why would you forget to add a topping that costs between 20-25% of the cost of a customers burrito? Especially when its a delivery order.
Again, this wouldn’t be such so bad if it were a one-time occurrence, but when the majority of experiences is like this, it really puts me off. I’m a real big fan of Tim and Rod’s other ventures and look forward to Tycoons, but I really hope service comes before ambiance.
I-35 Mega Project — Final Complaints
Since the I-35 reconstruction is wrapping up and the freeway will be getting back to normal soon, it’s probably a good time to get rid of any lingering road rage.
So … wow … did the past two years suck or what?
Pop Star Academy
This was spotted on First Street next door to Ace’s on Monday afternoon. Let’s hope they teach kids to sing and dance better than they spell. Which begs the question, do pop stars even need to know how to spell?
Fenced-in dog parks in Duluth
Are there any fenced-in parks around that are dog friendly? I just got tossed out of one that I found. We were playing, and the pooch was getting a good run, when someone came out of the church and told us that we were on private property. She was pretty nasty about it, as well. So I’m looking for a place to take our pup for off-leash running.
Side note: Church folk apparently don’t have to post private property signs. Also, they don’t like it when you point out that private church property could be considered an oxymoron.
Quiet Cravaack
A couple of weeks ago I emailed Chip’s office stating my views on Obama’s jobs bill and I asked for Chip’s view on the bill and if he would be supporting it.
To date, I’ve heard nothing from him.
In the past I’ve email Franken on an unrelated matter and at least his people bothered to send me a standard response in a timely fashion.
Are elected officials obligated to reply to the questions those they represent have for them?
If not, I’ve not sure how appropriate the term ‘representative’ really is.
Sidewalks: Who Gets to Decide?
Did you see this front-page article in today’s paper? Should neighborhood residents be the ones to decide whether or not sidewalks are included as their street is reconstructed? Is it about building a transportation network that serves current and future residents, those who drive and those who don’t?
What’s with all the Skeeters?!
Has anybody else being driven crazy by all the mosquitoes in Duluth the past week?! Seriously, it’s like Alaska out there. I can’t work in the yard without getting drained. I can’t ever remember it being this bad. Theories? (Sustained west winds? Moth spraying killed all the dragonflies? Hurricane Irene sucking them all down from northern Canada?)
Duluth Garbage Bins
OK, so what’s the deal? There are no garbage bins anywhere! I want to pick up after my dog, but I end up walking blocks and blocks carrying a bag of … you know.
I’ve just come from Chicago, where garbage is a city service (never mind the pay for play aspect of this city service). And garbage bins are everywhere. One every block on the major streets. And no one worries about throwing garbage into someone else’s bin, because it’s all covered.
As an aside, I used to live two doors down from Blagojevich. I took extra happy pride in throwing those nasty little bags into his bins.
Are there no curbing laws in Duluth?
Controversy!
With the notable exceptions of the PDD Grammar Post and the PDD Troll Zone, what has been the most controversial post on PDD?
Support the Duluth Public Library
Support the public library at the Duluth City Council Meeting.
Please join us on Monday, Aug. 15, when we again attend the council meeting. We’ll gather at 6:30 p.m. outside the Council Chambers at City Hall. Please come and help to support our coordinated campaign to keep the Duluth Public Library a top priority for city funding. The message is, “Our libraries are essential!”
Perfect Duluth Day Spelling, Punctuation and Proper Usage Police
From time to time the geeks who comment on this website will get into arguments about grammar, spelling and so on. It doesn’t happen too often, but when it does it kind of excites certain people while it embarrasses and annoys others. Some people just love to show off their mad English skills, while others don’t care if their capable of getting there sentences from here to they’re properly.
With that in mind, this post has been created as a bitching ground for uptight word nerds.
Don’t let this post stop you from creating your own post to showcase public blunders in the future, it just seemed like this type of stuff needs a home base.
Here are some related posts from the past:
Really? And I had my hopes up …
Need Fun!
Great food. Bad punctuation.
Unnecessary quotation marks are sometimes disturbing
A Small Request
To help this discussion along, we’ve started the “Perfect Duluth Day Writer’s Guide,” as a handy reference to Duluth-related nouns that are frequently botched.
Let your ranting begin.
Stolen Bass Guitar
Folks, please be on the lookout for a bass guitar that was taken during a burglary at my home recently. This bass is a viola-type, hollow body (think Paul McCartney, Hofner-type bass) painted green with a small spot on the back that was sanded down to the original wood. It was in a soft gig bag. I don’t have a picture, unfortunately, but really you can’t miss this if you see it. Very high sentimental value. If you happen to see it around please call the Duluth Police Department, or call me at 341-8175.
Anybody else notice a high amount of burglaries in Duluth lately? It seems that a lot of people I tell about this has a similar story of being burglarized recently.
Thanks,
Tony Derrick