Howie: Downtown Duluth won’t revive until it faces its hardest truth
Downtown won’t be saved by consultants, binders or cheerleaders. It will be saved when Duluth faces its most challenging problem — the needles, the psychotic breaks, the encampments in doorways — and chooses to act rather than avert its eyes.
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Howie: Can Duluth finally execute?
The Imagine Downtown Duluth plan admits that downtowns are not guaranteed. Across the Midwest, cities are racing to reinvent themselves, and Duluth risks falling behind.
Howie: Nearly 9,000 new Duluth housing units needed by 2035
“The senior population is expected to increase by nearly 24 percent by 2035. Duluth will need 1,437 new senior units by 2030 and nearly 2,500 by 2035.” – 2025 Comprehensive Housing Needs Analysis
Howie: Vision for live-work housing targets wide range of residents
Advocates describe the proposal as part of a broader trend in U.S. cities adapting to hybrid work and shifting housing needs. For Duluth, they say, it may offer both a solution to a tight housing market and a strategy for long-term downtown revitalization.
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Howie: Downtown Duluth plan isn’t the problem, the roadblocks are
Duluth has a plan. The question now is whether it has the guts — and the will — to knock down the roadblocks standing in the way.
Howie: Can Duluth finally execute?
The Imagine Downtown Duluth plan admits that downtowns are not guaranteed. Across the Midwest, cities are racing to reinvent themselves, and Duluth risks falling behind.
Howie: Duluth’s airport is flunking its own report card
Airports are economic mirrors. Strong, growing cities attract more flights, more routes, more airlines willing to gamble. Weak, stagnant economies don’t. Carriers aren’t sentimental; they’re accountants with wings. If you can’t fill the seats, they won’t stick around.