The Vikings could not afford Dalvin Cook because the league regards running backs as interchangeable and short-term employees. Plus the indefensible salary paid to immobile Kirk Cousins does not help. They have to figure out how to pay Justin Jefferson and Danielle Hunter will be never report at an annual salary 10 million dollars less than he can get at numerous other places. I am not convinced they are committed to winning, just making money.
Whether residents ultimately agree with every proposal or not, the broader framework behind One Park One Vote deserves to be taken seriously because it attempts to connect housing, sustainability, environmental protection and economic development into one larger civic conversation.
In many ways, Minnesota Power became one of the hidden structural pillars underneath modern Duluth’s entire existence. Because in northern Minnesota, power literally meant power. Industrial power. Political power. Economic leverage. Regional influence. Stability. Survival.
Ness convinced Duluth to stop speaking about itself like a city waiting for the next economic funeral and start speaking about itself like a place with a future worth competing for nationally. Not perfectly. Not without backlash. Not without legitimate criticism. But undeniably.
Few people believed in that larger vision of Duluth more aggressively than Jeno Paulucci. And few people fought harder for it emotionally.
