The City of Duluth’s Parks Maintenance Division will place clean, discarded wood chips for public use and pick up in bulk at the U-shaped driveway by Tony Emanuel Field at Woodland Park beginning Saturday.
The wood chips, which are an urban forestry byproduct and are untreated, are available on a first-come, first-served basis to anyone wishing to use them. If the pile depletes, parks maintenance staff will continue to refill them until the spring.
What was intended as connection begins to blur into something else — something that, in its saturation, can feel closer to a pitch than a public service. An overextended one. Almost like a showroom floor that never quite closes.
The question is no longer simply whether Roger Reinert deserves another term. The question is whether Duluth believes it is on the path it wants — and if not, who has the discipline, clarity and courage to alter it. November 2027 will deliver the verdict. The work of deciding it begins now.
This time, the leverage isn’t casino revenue. It’s downtown frustration — visible poverty, safety complaints, business dissatisfaction and the persistent sense that downtown Duluth has not lived up to decades of promises.
“I was raised in Duluth. This community made me who I am. Now I get to give back — not just as a police officer, but here with these kids.” -- St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office Police Athletic League (PAL) Boxing Club Coach Amy Lemenager, a Duluth police officer and professional boxer.
"Brad has tremendous enthusiasm and passion for economic and community development, and I am excited to see all that he will accomplish in this new role." -- St. Louis County Administrator Kevin Gray
How do you replace lost industrial base? How do you stabilize tax revenue? How do you bring consistent, year-round activity back into a hollowing downtown? Rochester, Cleveland and Pittsburgh leaned into medicine and were successful.
The lesson is not that every project will succeed. It is that progress requires participation — from developers, from institutions and from city leadership willing to remove obstacles rather than manage decline.