$5.4 million of city street and utility money redirected to Medical District from “neighborhoods with greater needs”

Found you on facebook, good reporting. Keep it up. Regarding your article on city hall and transparency, can people go there for those meetings, record or livestream them to public?

The meetings that I write about are public meetings. Anyone can attend, record, and livestream. The city itself maintains audio recordings of City Council agenda sessions and city commission meetings, which one can request from the city clerk’s office.

Great article. The additional money over the already planned projects was to be for the exclusive benefit of the two hospital systems. While important to the city and region, the expansion projects will not add additional jobs, patient beds or new patients. And hospitals contribute nearly zero in taxes to the city.
So, how was this raid on the public purse really going to benefit the residents of Duluth??

Very informative and excellent articles that people need to read. Thank you for reporting on this. To anyone who has driven on Duluth residential streets in need of repair, or sustained car damage after running over a pothole, remember these articles. Mayor Emily Larson accidentally-on-purpose forgot to mention to Duluthians some very important information and where the money was going to be directed, even though the Medical District WOULD NOT NEED ALL THAT MONEY.

The City often uses poor projects to create the needed dollar match for what could be a good project. Another much smaller example is segment 3 of the Cross City Trail is going to use a large sum of money to change the light system on 59th and Grand Ave. The hope is that people wil use the intersection in stead of crossing at mid block becasue the intersection is an obtuse angle. Most folks cross under the freeway because it is the safest place for humans to cross.
This money would be better used at another intersection or help create a mid-block crossing. I know of no one in the area that wants the light system changed at the proposed cost but we do know that folks like to cross under the freeway.