Howie: Together, let's launch an independent downtown Duluth, daily-updated news and events website

Downtown Duluth, bless its partially boarded-up heart, has been “poised for a comeback” longer than some of you have been alive. We’ve rebuilt Superior Street so many times the road crews probably know each chunk of rebar by name, yet the same basic problems keep chewing away at the core: safety’s a question mark, the storefronts are a bingo card of “For Lease” signs, and the skywalks are competing to see which one can collect the most used needles in a fiscal quarter.

Every so often we pay another consultant—usually from someplace warmer—to fly in, walk two blocks in a rented parka, and hand us a glossy PDF explaining that the answer is “housing, safety, and vibrancy.” You don’t say. I could’ve given you that for a cup of coffee and a piece of pie.

Here’s the thing: other cities in the same mess didn’t hire their way out with consultants. They built their own megaphones. Asheville, N.C., had a small, scrappy downtown blog that covered every street closure, police blotter note, and boutique opening — and before long, the coverage was shaping policy.

Bend, Ore., turned an online downtown bulletin board into a must-read for both locals and tourists. Des Moines, Iowa, had a downtown news site that tracked safety, vacancies, and development so relentlessly that city hall was forced to act.

And Greenville, S.C.? A tiny local site chronicled every inch of its Falls Park overhaul until it was impossible for leaders to ignore the momentum.

Short-term? Shrink the battlefield. Pick a few blocks—Lake to 5th West, say—and flood them with security, lighting, and visible cleanup crews. If your most reliable street-level attraction is the squad car lights bouncing off empty glass, you can't make people feel safe downtown. Pair that with pop-up shops, food trucks, and some live music that isn’t just a guy with an amp on life support.

Moderate-term? Start flipping those dead office buildings into housing, even if the bean counters squeal. Other cities have pulled it off with tax credits, public-private deals, and sheer stubbornness. If the towers sit empty another five years, they’ll just become better playgrounds for pigeons and addicts.

Long-term? Decide what Duluth is and hammer it home. Are we the gritty, weatherproof Lake Superior port with killer views and a real working-class spine? Then every event, every market, every scrap of downtown marketing should scream that. Quit chasing magic beans—arenas, aquariums, and Hail Mary projects that haven’t worked anywhere else—and double down on what’s already ours.

And here’s the part where I put my money where my cranky mouth is: we need a Downtown Duluth daily happenings and news website. Online-only, free, and updated all day—events, business openings and closings, crime and safety updates, real estate shifts, human stories. If something happens at 9:15, you’re reading about it at 9:45. I’ll birth it myself.

What do you think? Would you be willing to donate a Superior Street level office space – with parking – for the first year, to help get us up and running? We might even make it a co-working space exclusively for citizen journalists, including photographers and social networking who are also looking to launch or expand their businesses. email Me

Hyperlocal media isn’t just a side dish in downtown recovery — in other places, it’s been the main course. It keeps the public engaged, the pressure on decision-makers, and the narrative in local hands. That’s how you break the cycle of waiting for the cavalry. We build our own war room and start chronicling the fight in real time.

Downtown Duluth’s story is either going to be told by us — or it’s going to be written by someone else after the lights go out.

Howie is a longtime Duluth columnist. Reach him at howiehanson@gmail.com.