Radio show tonight.

Joel Heller and I will take to the air again tonight to talk about politics here in Duluth and the area.  The show will at air live at 10pm central time.  We will talk about a number of things we have a couple things in mind, the closed council meeting will be one.  Also races that involve candidates running for 7A, also the Franken race and maybe even the Governors race and more.  There will be one topic that will prove to be interesting and that is that the republican party fighting with in the party.

Closed meeting.

So the city of Duluth is set have a closed door meeting Thursday.  I hate the idea of closed door meetings, I know some times they are needed but I am not sold that this is one of them.

The reason they say for the closed is to discuss the idea of a city ran casino.  The push comes from council president Linda Krug, saying that she believes talk would need to take place on the legal aspects of the current battle with the current casino operation.

Now my concern is that the council will use closed meeting when ever they want and that may just be my pessimistic side of me.  All you have to do is look at the school board they have closed meeting all the time.

Thoughts on a city ran casino.

Sorry for the lack of post as of late but with my new job hours it is hard to post but I will when I can, it is also hard to go to meeting however I still will keep updated on all the issues as I will watch the meeting on the net on the city's page.  So councilors don't think for one minute you are off the hook LOL.


Now just some general thoughts on a city ran casino.  I love the idea of a city ran casino to compete with found duluth, and as a source for revenue for our roads again remember it would be a for profit casino so first and for most it would need to make money.

With that in mind my first thought is that the city needs to take a go big or go home approach on this.  Meaning it can't what our current casino is, it needs to be bigger and better then that, much like black bear is.  It needs to have a buffet and a concert hall along with all the slots and and black jack tables.  A bingo hall and poker room would be a huge plus as well.  We need to consider competing with black bear because just having another small casino like the one we already have will not draw people to a new one.


Where should it be, right now councilor Hanson has said he would like to use the DECC.  Well I like that idea I do have a couple concerns with it, as of now the city has it set up so any moneys collected in the downtown water front areas needs to stay there, meaning that only roads in that area would benefit from the casino as of now.  Yes the city could change that.  My other concern is what part of the DECC is it going to take?  If he means DECC the big arena part where are all the things that go there now going to do, I would have to lose the boat and home show or see them have to down size the shows.  If it is in the DECC there is a lot of space however.

A talk show host has floated an idea to have it in West Duluth however there is a problem there as well if you have to far out no one will go that far as we know most of this action takes place downtown and perhaps should stay in that area, maybe you look for a big enough building downtown to develop.  I don't know the answer as of yet but lets look at and see the best place to develop a large casino in Duluth.

Now I don't believe the casino would have to have a hotel in it however they could run specials with a hotel in the area.

James Oberstar airport.

Just my two cents on this issue of what airport should be named the James Oberstar airport.  Duluth and Hibbing are both looking for that honor. 

Fact is it should be Hibbing he is from there and lived there, grew up. Yes I know Duluth is the largest city and airport terminal in the district however I just think it would be a more fitting at the Hibbing airport. 

That's it!

The Mayor

Well if you listened to the radio show last we you all know that I was out of town this last at a camp with my daughter. That is why there was no action here or on the radio show last week, if you have not yet checked out the radio please do so at www.blogtalkradio.com/duluthpolitics2

Now on to the post, Mayor Don Ness made an interesting post on his face book about a week and a half go now, basically saying he MAY NOT run for re-election.  That said it is still unclear as to what his plans are he may still run, we are a ways out yet till that final decision needs to made.  Mayor Ness has been a very popular mayor in the city.  Many have said he would be very hard to replace.  Well I may not agree all the time with the Mayor he has done some good things for the city, he also has done some questionable things as well.  As I said before his legacy seems to be a mayor who relies on fees on thinks that should be paid for out of taxes.  He however has been very good with tourism and redeveloping some areas of town many of them are  still in works.

Mayor Ness has said he is getting tired of the lies being told about many issues and other issues he is burned out.  Yet he said he has some projects he would like to see develop.  Now I believe at least at this point that Mayor Ness will not run but again this may change.  If he does not run however it will open the flood gates of people that will run for mayor.  I have heard many names some of which I can't say others I can and will toss out there.  I have real reason to believe that Mayor Ness won't run again because some of the names I have heard are his own cabinet people.

Some names I will toss out there right now are Chris Dalhberg, Jim Stauber, Becky Hall ( if she does not win the 7A seat).  A number of city councilors names have been tossed around as well Jennifer Julsrud, Emily Larson, Linda Krug, Sharla Gardner.Some people have expeced interest also but at this time I can't and won't tell you who.  Plus I am sure the list will grow as time passes. 

Look at the list there are already 7 names plus at least four I know of that may also toss there names in.  All of these people would be well qualified to be mayor regardless of what you think of there politics.  There are two I would personally not want to see but hey so be it.  Others I would like to see are many, but a couple of names to toss and talk about Howie Hanson and Jay Fosle both current councilors, what about Todd Fedora? 

It will be interesting over the next few month to see what develops, and I will follow here for you too.

This next election will have huge impact on what dirction our city goes as a possible new mayor also six council seats will be up along with a couple of school board seats. 

This recall of 3rd district city councilor is about three things.

Okay so I have talked about the recall of councilor Gardner a lot, and I believe it is a joke to be doing this to her.  The group is hiding behind behind public safety. The only two public safety issues they can hand their hats on are the fire hall, the redevelopment of the s curve.  This comes down to three things.

Now lets just take those two issues first.   Councilor Gardner did all she could to save the fire hall on park point in public and private meetings with the Mayor but with no success it was closed by the mayor and a council approved it well Gardner voted no on it.  She still did what she could to try to save it.  The Medlins who are the ones sackifical lambs on this for the park pointers are right actions speak louder then words.  It's clear they our no one on park payed attion to what councilor Gardner did to try to save the fire house. If they did they would know how much work councilor Gardner did to try to save the fire house on park point.

Second is the s curve it don't matter because it is not getting moved it did not pass the council.  Yes well  councilor Gardner supported the development and voted for the council as a whole did not It don't matter because there is not a public safety issue here sense it is not going to take place.  The other thing is councilor Gardner was at many meetings about the small area plan for park point and heard your worries but she voted one way because she thought it was best for the city.  It is a policy vote get over your self's.


Now I said this is about three things, the first being public safety we talk about that above.  The second is an issue you may not hear any where else but here. It has to do with one citizens fight to protect her right to have lights up at Christmas time.  Now as far as I know that council has had not meeting on this nor holds a position on it and maybe not even know that the administration is pushing this.   Sense Bentlyvillie was moved down to Duluth the city (administration and Mayor) have been going after a park point property owner to not do her Christmas light display.  They have put much pressure on her to stop even threatening the idea of a year long fee just to put up such displays on private property.

See the Mayor and administration well they say they love the lights around town don't want "competition" to bentlyvillie.  Now her house on park point has been a destination of Duluthian's and tourist a like to see the lights at Christmas time because she spends the time putting the light up and has apple cider and a warming house and Santa, plus it's a great place to go see lights for Christmas.  This fight however seems more between the Mayor and this owner however this owner may have some feelings about the council wanting to get involved in it.

The third reason is selfish amount the pointers and that is the not in my back yard with development and like projects.

What this recall boils down to is the pointers are upset about the small area plan for the point and don't know how to deal with indifference's so instead of seeking a real solution they run to a recall.  Sick makes no sense lets run a good councilors name threw the mud and we wonder why people don't want to run for city council or anything.

Last episode of duluth politics radio show.

The last episode of the Duluth politics show is a must listen.  Joel Heller and I had a great discussed a number of issues.  We talked about Mayor Don Ness's post on face book about being tired and possible not running for Mayor again. We also talked about this recall of 3rd district city councilor Sharla Gardner and much much more.  You can listen to it www.blogtalkradio.com/duluthpolitics2.

3rd district councilor Gardner to be recalled?

Well well well look at there, another politician could be in trouble and is for sure facing some heat.  This time it is a Duluth City Councilor.  3rd district councilor Sharla Gardner has found her self in hot water with some of her constituents.

Some park point residents have started a petition to recall 3rd district councilor Gardner. They are saying they are using public safety as there grounds for removal.  They have a web site www.recallcouncilorgardner.org.  They have sited a few issues as to why this recall is needed from there point, the lose fire on park point, some issues with the corps of indurnearys and US Army base, along with not listening to the citizens of the 3rd district.


Gardner believes these charges to be uncalled for, saying that she has done everything to protect the point. She said she fought to keep the fire hall on the point but not able to do so.  I must say she did everything she could keep the fire hall open but it came down to what the administration wanted to do.  She did in fact fight to protect the hall but this was the Mayors choice not the councils.

This recall seems silly to me.  The park pointers are made about the way councilor Gardner voted on the park point small area plan and they choice to do this instead of talking to her and seeing why she voted the way she did.

I will have more on this later.  But I ask that if you see this petition please don't sign it, there is no marred these claims.