Duluth mayor pushes downtown living

DULUTH – Duluth must embrace downtown as a residential hub if it’s going to solve some of its biggest problems, Mayor Roger Reinert said in his second state of the city address.

But the promise of downtown’s post-pandemic revitalization can only be realized when it’s cleaned up and people feel safe there, he said.

With housing downtown expected to help meet workforce needs and a 90,000-resident population goal, “we can’t afford for downtown property values to fall off a cliff,” Reinert told a crowd Tuesday night at Ordean East Middle School, where he touched on some of his administration’s controversies, warned of coming property tax increases and called out online bullying.

Reinert didn’t characterize the state of Duluth, but did say that amid federal and state funding uncertainty, the coming year will be a chance for the city to provide stability “in a historic time of disruption.”

“No matter what happens at the national level, what we build together as a community is what truly shapes our daily lives,” he said.

Some speech takeaways:

Reinert said not enough progress has been made downtown, with graffiti, litter, property damage and “behaviors,” some that moved from parking ramps to the skywalk.

To that end, the city has ramped-up police and outreach presence and a skywalk study is underway. A bright spot is two apartment projects under construction expected to add 500 residents to the neighborhood.

Duluthians will probably see a property tax increase next year. The city faces an 18% increase in 2025 and 8% in 2026 if nothing is done, Reinert said. While he doesn’t expect to propose a budget that reflects such spikes, he warned that state and federal aid is uncertain. The city has already lost $1.5 million in federal funds for its water-treatment plant and Aerial Lift Bridge projects and the state has projected a $6 billion future deficit.

Reinert campaigned on giving a second look to reopening the city-owned Lester Park Golf Course, and formed a committee to examine its potential use. The course closed in 2020 and sits fallow now. He said Tuesday night the committee had no consensus, but has offered four paths, all of which needed considerable investment. The group will present its findings to the City Council in April.

Reinert named several things he saw as wins, including the settlement of six union contracts (all with wage increases); the repair of 19 miles of streets; the West Duluth Sofidel plant expansion and job creation; and the demolition of the blighted Pastoret Terrace building downtown.

Some were controversial: He pushed through ordinances that allowed certain petty crimes to be charged as misdemeanors, in an attempt to improve public safety perceptions of the city’s downtown. The most hotly contested proposed ordinance was related to outdoor camping and largely targeted the city’s homeless population. The City Council struck it down.

And a backlash ensued when an Arizona-based marketing firm was chosen to helm the city’s tourism marketing for the next two years, after Reinert said he wanted to keep the work local. Recently, the City Council approved a contract that transfers marketing decisionmaking authority back to Visit Duluth, where it had resided until 2022.

Reinert said Tuesday night that he had learned “plenty of lessons” and endured “sharp critiques” since his last city address. He didn’t point to anything, but the city authorized internal and external investigations of Reinert and his campaign manager and romantic partner, Amber Gurske, following the release of public emails that showed her conducting city business. Both investigations found no wrongdoing.

Along with a new city app and a resident survey coming in 2025, Reinert announced the launch of a citywide book read to better connect residents amid “social media wars” and what he termed online bullying.

Reinert said he’s learned in his first year that residents “make everything political,” and assume the mayor knows everything that happens in City Hall and makes every decision.

“I hear all the time mayor must be a hard job,” he said. “My response? You have no idea.”