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Mayor Ness’ Secretive Plans for a New Library

If it weren’t for The Reader, this story truly would have been swept under the rug. In a nutshell, we uncovered and were the only news team to report on Mayor Ness’ secretive plans to tear down the existing Duluth Public Library and build a new one at great expense to the taxpayers. And we did it by following the email trail. Lots of intrigue, including our discovery that the city’s hired-gun consultant had filled its report with bogus numbers and false claims. The Reader learned that the City had requested Johnson Controls to examine the needs of the library back in 2005, and they had concluded it could be fixed up nicely for less than $11 million. Ness had high-balled the renovation figure, and it turns out that he had also low-balled the figure for constructing a new library. The City tired of the relentless questioning from Reader reporter John Ramos, sent an email that we later got ahold of. Daniel Fanning (Ness’ Director of Communications) the email said, “We should reach out to John Ramos and offer to sit down with him (without giving him any details, of course) just so he’s not tempted to write some piece blasting the city’s lack of transparency.” Well, Fanning’s plans fell flat. Ramos proceeded to blast the City royally.