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Challenger Roger Reinert and incumbent Mayor Emily Larson.

THE CANDIDATES

Emily Larson was first elected to serve the city of Duluth as a city councilor in 2013 and elected mayor in 2015. During her tenure, she says, she’s increased affordable housing, set a record for private business investment, oversaw an 850% increase in street repairs, and moved the city to be cleaner and greener. Mayor Larson says her commitment has never wavered to make Duluth a healthy, sustainable and inclusive community for all neighbors across all neighborhoods, and that when decisions get tough, she gets to work. Prior to serving the community in elected office, Emily did so as a social worker. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the College of Saint Scholastica and her graduate degree from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Emily and her husband, Doug Zaun, live in the Hillside neighborhood, and they have two grown sons. When she’s not running for office, you may find her running the trails in Duluth.

  Roger Reinhert has been a Duluth city councilor, serving from 2004 to 2009; a state representative from Duluth, elected in 2008; and a state senator. serving from 2011 to 2016. He’s a Naval Reserve officer with the rank of commander and teaches at the College of Saint Scholastica. Since last serving in elected office, he completed a law degree and was deployed in combat in Afghanistan and also to Italy during the pandemic. He served as the interim executive director of the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center. He described himself as low key, not flashy and frugal, and says he loves Duluth with a passion and can’t imagine calling any other place home. Like Mayor Larson, he too, is a runner. So it’s not surprising to see them running against each other.

Q&A

A proposed mayoral candidate debate was declined by challenger Roger Reinert, however both he and incumbent Mayor Emily Larson agreed to answer the same set of questions from Robin Washington of Wisconsin Public Radio's Simply Superior, Ron Brochu of Business North and Bob Boone of The Reader. Due to length, we will present the responses in two parts. Look for part two in next week's Reader, which hits the streets just days before the Nov. 7 election.  

Robin Washington: As the region’s largest city, Duluth affects all of us in the area, and it’s time to choose a mayor.   Mayor Larson: I’ve been mayor for two terms, and I’m seeking reelection because the progress we’ve made together is worth fighting for and expanding.   Sen. Reinert: I’m running for mayor because like many Duluthians, I just think it’s time for something different. It’s time that we expect more. Robin Washington: We’ll hear from incumbent Mayor Emily Larson and challenger Roger Reinert.  

Opening statements And now, in your own words, your opening statement.  

Mayor Larson: Great. Well, hi, everyone. I’m Emily Larson. I am honored to be mayor and I’m really happy to be with you today. I moved to Duluth at the age of 17 to go to school at the College of Saint Scholastica, and I stayed and live with my husband of 24 years in our Hillside home, where we raised our two sons who are now grown. I’ve been mayor for two terms, and I’m seeking reelection because the progress we’ve made together is worth fighting for and expanding.

I’ve taken on major issues one-by-one, and I’m delivering for Duluth in important, transformative ways. I’ve increased street work by 850%,going from two miles a year when I first took office to 17 this year, 20 next year, 50 miles in the next three years. Cut greenhouse gas emissions — city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 32% – added 1,700 new units of housing, more than has been done in that same time period in three decades.

Together, we navigated a global pandemic that peaked at 35% unemployment and decimated our city budget. And we’re back with more progress and success. We’re in our fourth straight year of record private sector development and investment, and citywide crime is down 22%. And my proposed budget for next year decreases your property tax payment.

Since January, I’ve been knocking doors and talking with thousands of Duluth residents in every neighborhood across the city. And these one-on-one conversations on your doorsteps are incredible. Your concerns and honesty, ideas and hope is really important because while we have so much to feel proud of and build on, we still face serious challenges. And I truly share your impatience for wanting more.

Overwhelmingly, the people I’ve talked with want Duluth to succeed. They believe in our future. They know the momentum that’s on the line in this election, and they’re suspicious of politicians who claim that our difficult problems can be magically solved because it just doesn’t work that way. And you know that. As we go through this conversation today, know that I offered to debate my opponent live on this show at any time of his choosing, and he declined. He didn’t want to give you the opportunity to hear the clear distinction between us. What you’ll likely hear from him is a lingering of grievances and the airing of not specifics.

And I believe Duluth voters deserve more than that. What you’ll hear from me today are tangible plans, specific actions and a vision to move us forward. I am a fully tested mayor of steady progress and lasting impact. We have really important challenges ahead as a community. People are truly struggling and hurting. And what we need is a mayor who sees not just the genuine hurt of the moment, but also has the hope and vision and tenacity and dedication of a vision to pull us all through. And that’s what I bring. I’m grateful to be here to have a chance to talk and listen.  

Roger Reinert: So I just generally share that I'm running for mayor because like many Duluthians, I just think it's time for something different. It's time that we expect more and do better with our core city services. things like streets, utilities, public safety, our neighborhood parks, our community centers, and frankly, engaging our residents. And I'm running because we haven't had a truly meaningful election for mayor since 2007. That was Don Ness and Charlie Bell.  

And four years ago, almost two-thirds of Duluthians didn't even vote. We had 38% voter participation in our last mayoral election. I'm a civics teacher at heart, and that's not healthy for Duluth, nor is it healthy for democracy.

I feel fortunate to come to this role with public sector, private sector and military leadership experience. Robin did a great job on hitting a number of those things. In my day job, I'm a licensed attorney. I do also teach at Saint Scholastica in both political science, a little bit of history and legal studies. And a week ago, I entered my 19th year of service in the Navy Reserve. I've had the opportunity, as Robin mentioned, to serve on the city council, to serve as city council president, and also to serve three terms in the Minnesota legislature, in both the House and Senate. So that opportunity to serve at both the local and the state level and see how those relationships interact.

And again, as Robin mentioned, after leaving the Legislature, I finished my law degree, spent a year overseas in Afghanistan, came home, was not home for very long, and then was asked to go overseas again at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Was in Italy when that was the global hotspot for three and a half months, and in that role was helping provide COVID communications and guidance for sailors in six bases in five countries on three continents. So it was an incredibly fulfilling mission.

The entire first part of our campaign was really focused on listening. And we've done a lot of nontraditional things throughout our campaign, including not seeking political party endorsements. We did a lot of listening. We did a lot of taking notes. And from those came the five big issues that we've spent the last several months talking about, and some of those were mentioned in the intro. Housing across all income levels, developing our commercial tax base, streets, downtown Duluth and affordable property taxes. So I look forward, I'm sure, to chatting about many of them today.  

Developer complaints

Ron Brochu: For decades, many contractors and developers have complained Duluth’s city offices are more difficult to work with than those elsewhere, and the city’s policies are inconsistent. What should be done to improve that reputation?  

Mayor Larson: Okay, great question. Thank you, Ron. I’ve been hearing this since I moved to Duluth 33 years ago. And some of what we’re doing right now, we have engaged an economic development audit that has engaged, you know, hundreds of residents across the city, contractors, builders, inspectors and developers, who gave us really solid input on what they need to see from us.

And then we hired accordingly a new planning and economic development director named Chad Ronchetti, who is tasked in part with implementing that audit. What came back overwhelmingly is that the work we’re doing is important work and people see it and believe it. What they need for us is to be able to communicate in a more fluid way to make sure that they understand all of the ground rules.

And part of what I think is really important for us to talk about isn’t just a narrative that’s old and tired. We need to also be demonstrating the amazing opportunities here in Duluth. We just built a $1 billion hospital. We have got more investment coming in, whether it’s from within the city or outside, than we have ever seen. So I think there’s an important thing for us to challenge about an old and tired narrative that recognizes that investing here is important, that your time, that your commitment has deep value.

And also, we do have some very tangible things we could be, we can do to be a good and steady and strong partner with you. And also we are a good bet on your investment. Some of what I’ve worked really hard to do is to ensure that when we are investing public money, we’re getting good public value. That means project labor agreements, that means community benefit agreements. And that doesn’t mean that we just make people do that. It means we help them do that.

And I’m proud of the fact that we have seen record growth, fourth year of private investment, record growth and permitting. And that’s in part because this is where people want to be. When we have developments like Costco that literally could have moved one block and been in Hermantown and they didn’t — they wanted to be here. We have an announcement downtown, our first conversion from office space into housing. We’ll have another one of those announcements in probably 2 to 3 weeks.

I think we are mindful of the importance of balancing people’s investments and also showing up in a meaningful way to make sure that they feel seen and heard, that we’re moving permits forward, that we’re doing inspections in a timely way. I’m proud of the work that we’re doing for that, and I think that there is room that Chad will move us forward with the economic development community who was on board with his hiring.  

Roger Reinert: That's a great question and an important one. You know, we hear things and some of them even were shared in your own publication, of Duluth is the hardest city to work with ever. And we would rather just invest in other areas. And those narratives are not helpful.

We have to be a community that welcomes growth in our business sector. And I always talk about it as growing our commercial tax base. And when I talk with folks, I talk about why that is. And it really is about helping us be more financially independent as a community and also afford the services that we all want as Duluthians.

Right now, local government aid, money that comes from the state that is dependent on political whims in St. Paul, is our number one source of revenue, making up almost a third of the revenue side of the equation. So it's not reliable. Our tax base is reliable. And, you know, roughly two-thirds of that tax base comes from commercial property taxes. So when we have folks saying, I would rather not work in Duluth, it's a difficult place to do business, and then sharing that with their peers, it really creates a challenge in us trying to grow that.

You know, the steps to doing better are really pretty straightforward. They're about having a culture of how do we get to yes, of not prejudging projects, of saying if this fits within zoning, it fits within our code, then our job and the job of every city hall employee is how do we move your project forward? And how do we do it in a in a way that is consistent, a way that is reliable, in a way that is timely.

And you too often right now we hear that we can turn a project around in Superior or Hermantown in a couple of weeks in what takes Duluth several months. So, you know, we need to care about that because residential property tax payers are feeling that burden. A 9% levy increase last year that was whittled down to 7.9. It's still substantial. And growing our commercial tax base helps relieve some of that pressure and helps make us financially more independent.  

Why choose you?

Bob Boone: Why do you want to be Duluth’s mayor again? And what distinguishes you from your opponent?  

Mayor Larson: Thank you for the question, Bob. I want to be Duluth’s mayor again, because I truly feel that the work we set out, this vision that I set out with this community seven years ago. is still materializing. And some of that is because of a pandemic, right? Some of it is because we all went on this really challenging experience where we had a record scratch. And I see how the work that we’re doing, whether it’s in streets or lead lines, whether it’s on housing or investing in neighborhood revitalization, it is taking hold again in a way that I want to see that arc all the way through.

You know, the many announcements I’m making this year, whether it is around the parks and sports programing, the downtown housing study, all of these things were things I was going to – I was actually announcing at your theater, Bob, in 2020, and then we canceled that state of the city because of the pandemic. So I see the arc of where we’re going. I have the relationships and the allies to help us be successful.

We have a team at the city of Duluth operating at the absolute top of their professionalism and their game. The support and endorsements of people like Governor Walz, United States Senators Klobuchar and Smith, our state delegation, all of these people. That translates into confidence in this community that I am able to build.

These are people that also know my opponent, and they have made a choice about who they are supporting. I know that part of what my opponent will talk about is that he is someone who can dig us out of different holes. But I am telling you, he is someone who helped us create those holes.

When he’s talking about streets, he is the person who cut by a third our streets and snow plow staff. When he’s talking about progress at the state Legislature, he was in the legislature for eight years and he passed in that whole time eight signatory bills. Eight. This is not someone who has the depth of relationship and partnership to immediately leverage funding progress and goals for this community. And I think that I have an absolute record. There’s no question.

I have made decisions that have been challenging. And to be honest, I would probably make those same decisions again. I’m a tested leader. People know and understand what you’re going to get. And they know and believe that I understand and see their hurt, but that we’re not just going to linger there. We’re not just going to linger in what’s hard. That I am someone who will bring us through it and bring us through in a whole and healthy way so that every single neighborhood can be ones of choice and opportunity.  

Roger Reinert: Sure. Well, the first one is a little bit easier. It's not really something that I had thought or something I ever thought I would be doing. When I left the legislature in 2016 and chose not to run again and did not expect to ever be running again. I really felt like I was beginning a different chapter in life, and it was largely during the work that I was doing at the convention center during the pandemic, when people just started asking.

And it often went something like, “I know you would never do this, but you should think about it. I'm sure you will say no.” But – and frankly, they were right. You know, after two deployments and challenging work during the pandemic at the DECC, I was ready to just be a very private citizen. But, you know, I recognized in what people were saying, concerns that I shared feeling like paying a lot in taxes, but seeing a degradation of our core city services and really just wanting to see the city deliver well on core city services.

And then as I reflect on experiences I've had, I thought there's something there that I think I can offer.

And then frankly, when I realize we just haven't had a meaningful election for almost 20 years and the related community conversation that comes with that and this is a great example. We’ll have done 13 forums since the primary and that is a reflection of the community's interest. So that's kind of the why. You know, and I don't do the compare and contrast. I won't even use words like opponent. I don't think that this has to be an inherently negative or divisive process.

Then frankly, I think the work of the voter is to draw those contrasts. So what I will say is, you know, I have the elected service. I have a great skill set from my military experience of structuring and aligning both human and fiscal resources, developing outcomes and putting those accountabilities into place for both staff and for myself that I think lend themselves to what I'm hearing Duluthians saying that they're looking for in this election.  

Police racism

Robin Washington: So I have the next question, which is a report the city commissioned from independent researchers determined that Duluth police were more likely to stop Indigenous and people of color for motor vehicle equipment violations or suspicious activity, and also were more likely to search them and dole out harsher penalties than they were to white residents. Yet it also said that officers didn’t think there are racial disparities compared to the public’s perception that there were. What are you doing to educate the police force about that? And do you think a senior level BIPOC person on the force would help solve the problem?  

Mayor Larson: I think representation always matters. Period. Right. I know that to be true is being a woman mayor who is leading the city. How they lead a city, who’s leading a department, how they lead a department, all of that matters, no question. And thank you for really, this is the first time I feel like I’ve been asked this question and I’m really grateful for the opportunity.

One of the things I announced in my state of the city, I think it was a year, year and a half ago, is a racial bias audit that has that has actually been led by the community, by the way, that has not been led by me, that has not been led by a police administration. It has been led by a group of community members. And it was in part to be able to get an outside perspective and a community investment and recognition that there is bias that people are feeling and experiencing in very visceral ways. And I feel like this is actually an area I have, I have really supported our police with their equipment needs. I have supported our police with their mental health, and physical health needs. I have hired two police chiefs. And part of that process has always been about how do we continue to expand public safety trust with our community?

And when people are feeling overpoliced, we need to be changing how we’re approaching that. And this police chief, Mike Ceynowa, has a different approach. When there is a hot spot, we don’t just start pulling everybody over in that hot spot and start over-policing. We actually dig in further to the details and try to figure out where’s the spot within that area that we need to be doing the work. Some of what I do is work regularly with the NAACP and a committee of theirs. We meet very regularly. I think it’s every other month right now.

We have worked on a couple of policies together and one of the other things that I’ve chosen to do when we have had issues — not sure if you remember there was a homeless Bill of Rights issue and there was an immigration and deportation concern, an issue with the Trump administration. And in both of those instances, we wrote policies with the community. We didn’t write the policy and then shop it to community. We wrote it with community. We wrote it with community members who were fearful and scared and feeling impacted. That has helped to build our community trust.

And so I think this is one of those things where I actually have a pretty strong standing on listening to the needs of community, paying attention to them, moving policies and people in very specific ways to build trust and engagement. There is no question that any time we broaden the face of representation in any division or any department or any seat of office, it changes how people see themselves in that division. And we want it. We want as many people to feel safe in this community as possible. So big question. Hopefully, I got to some of the answer there.  

Roger Reinert: Well, thanks for that question. I think it's for our listeners, we're talking about pretextual stops. So the opportunity to look for things  that maybe a stopping officer thinks or suspects might lead to something else. And I think those of us who don't represent those things that you just mentioned — I'm white, I’m male, I’m middle aged — past middle age (chuckles). We don't travel around with that feeling.

And yet — I just shared this with someone the other day — when I get stopped or think that I might be getting stopped, I feel that anxiety level rise up in myself. And I know that I have all the all the advantages that society has to offer. So this is a real thing. And I think one of the things that I'm grateful for is the support of both the fire and Duluth police.

And why would I say that? Because right now there is a needed conversation with our public safety team, and that's both fire and police. Many times they are both arriving to the same scenes. Morale is low, recruitment is difficult, retention is very difficult. And in fourth floor in City Hall, we need somebody who is going to be their partner. And one of the reasons we need somebody who is going to be their partner is not to say that you're doing everything perfectly. And our public safety team actually does a great job and is one of the more progressive ones and has been acknowledged for that. But we all have to be willing to hold each other accountable.

And when I screened for Duluth police, I said exactly that. I said, I will hold each one of you and myself accountable to the oaths we have taken. But I also will be a partner with you in that work. And so in that relationship, you have the opportunity to talk about these places where we might have blind spots and in those folks are putting on a uniform and going out every day saying we're going to serve and protect. We also ask them to do what's increasingly feeling like a little bit more of a military operation. And that's that's not where we want our police officers to be. We want them to be in protecting and serving and foot patrols and outreach and community engagement.

So to get there, it's going to be a conversation. It's going to be being completely honest with each other about Continued on next page   where we can do better and frankly, where we have blind spots. They're them. And I think that was kind of in your question, Robin. And then I also think it's about how do we do continue to be creative and innovative about how we do this work, bringing back our police reserve, bringing back our citizen patrols, bringing back the police academy so cops can really do cop things.    

Poverty & tourism

Ron Brochu: Duluth has a high percent of poverty compared with similar-sized cities. Yet its economic development emphasis leans heavily toward tourism, which pays less than most industries. Should the tourism emphasis continue or should more effort be put on attracting other industries?  

Mayor Larson: So tourism to start with. Oh, that’s a really good question to unpack in a whole bunch of different ways. What I love about some of our emphasis in tourism is that we are supporting locals, we’re supporting local workers. And the work that I have done to shift how we’ve invested in the promotion and marketing and how we talk about tourism has been to specifically advance the story of locals in there.

So we don’t just like highlight the story of locals. We have seen economic impact in nine of our 15 neighborhoods increase with the change of marketing that I did. And we have also seen Canal Park continue to stay steady. So for me, part of that economic influence is less about how do we shift what we’re doing with tourism, more about how do we broaden it so that the tourism story, we know that visitors actually want to feel like locals. So how do we help more of our local economic base participate in that economy and feel some benefit from it?

So that’s some of that. You know, the work I did before I was mayor was really heavy in the workforce development field. And so we have just received an award from the National League of Cities. We’re one of 15 cities across the country, over 250 applied. And the focus, it’s called Good Jobs, Great Cities. Our focus is manufacturing.

As a regional center, we provide a huge amount of economic drive, job creation, manufacturing, health care, retail, tourism, all those things. And part of our opportunity is to lean into those areas and to expand opportunities. So we have done very specific job creation elements with commercial driver’s licenses, with nursing, and now we’re moving into manufacturing. So how we drive that is we have to create skilled workers for these local businesses to be able to expand.

I am a strong and firm believer in helping our first and second base businesses get to third base and home runs. I believe that is one of the best and biggest ways that we grow our economy. We can talk about, you know, bringing in business from outside, but the best and strongest way is to work with people who are already loyal to the community here to help make sure they have the workers.

And then the other thing, Ron, that is kind of workforce adjacent is making sure that people have a place to live and that they’ve got child care. And these are two big areas that are really challenging right now. So I’ve invested heavily in housing. Hopefully we’ll be able to talk about that more. And then I’m going on to my child care task force. It’s dates. I think it starts this week with the idea that we need employers to feel like they can get workers. We need workers to feel like they have what they need. We need moms and women to be competitive in a market economy, and all of that will help us drive economic growth outside and inclusive of tourism.  

Roger Reinert: Thanks, Ron. That's a great question. I would say both, and I'll give you the pitch on why I am supportive of our tourism industry, even given all the information in the preface. It gives us a brand that is so far beyond what any community like us otherwise would have.

And the great example I would give you is when I was at the Capitol, I always had a card rack outside my office. We called it the southern office of Visit Duluth because I just knew that if people remembered that they had been here and had an experience that made everything else I was going to do easier. When I was talking about building sanitary sewer overflow tanks, so we didn't halt the economic development, I just had a much easier time working with my colleagues than somebody who was from a community in Minnesota that they had never visited and probably never would. So I think the brand of Duluth is really lifted up by our tourism industry and folks visiting.

However, my primary economic development emphasis is going to be on those things that we are already doing and doing well: engineering, aviation, transportation, medical, higher ed and really leaning heavily into where are the secondary and tertiary opportunities that go along with those things. We have two major medical systems in Essentia and St Luke's that cover multiple states between the two systems, and yet we've really not developed much in terms of that secondary industry, things like drug development, R&D, prosthetics, all of those related types of things.

And the same thing with our aviation sector between Cirrus and the 148th. Where those opportunities for us to have to keep building out on those hubs. We've seen in the past economic development activities in Duluth that were kind of targeted at landing the next big thing. I really never seen that be successful. And, in fact, it usually involves tax incentives or giveaways that we we can't afford.

But the economic strategy that has proven in community after community to be successful is to increase those hubs that you already have in existence. And again, transportation, higher ed, medical aviation and engineering. I think those are great, great spots for us to build value added concentric circles that are good paying jobs. And really many of them lean in on the manufacturing history Duluth has that, especially residents in the western part of our community, are rightly proud of.  

Housing & homelessness crisis

Bob Boone: Duluth has an obvious housing and homelessness crisis, with tent encampments springing up here and in Superior. Would you be in favor of letting them stand or would you consider such projects as tiny house communities such as have been developed in Minneapolis?  

Mayor Larson: Yes, I would support that concept. I’ve seen that concept. A group of us went down. It’s called Avivo, I think, the model that you may be referencing. And I think there were maybe 30 of us. The Chamber of Commerce was there; Downtown Duluth. Yes. 100% would support a program that keeps people safely housed.

I have been — while I you know, I’m a social worker by trade — I worked at CHUM for 12 years. And many people might be surprised to learn that I do not support encampments. I do not think that is a safe way for people to be housed. I don’t. I think it’s a risk for people’s physical, mental, chemical health. I think it’s a risk for women. I have been fairly adamant, actually very adamant on that point.

What we’re doing now, just so people know, I have a cross-department team of 18 staff people who meet three times a week. They meet with CHUM. They meet with the state. They meet with the county. And it is all about how do we get people housed? It is not fun for anybody to just be moved around. And so how are we actually going to the core of the problem? How are we actually investing in long-term housing needs at the city under my leadership and in partnership with the council?

We have expanded warming center hours. We have invested in the shelter, we invested in hygiene up at the Damiano Center and our police are working to save bay. We are the first police department in the United States that has a nurse on staff to help respond. We have invested $600,000 annually into coordinated crisis response, which is making sure that if you call 911 and it’s not a public safety threat, we are sending a social worker, a nurse or an HDC mental health trained professional out.

And so part of how I like to think about this is every single one of these folks. It is it is awkward. It is uncomfortable. I don’t like seeing it. It makes me sad. It’s all the same thing everyone else feels. And every single one of those people is someone’s kid. They are someone’s mom or dad or sister or brother. And we have to have some humanity as we look at that and some recognition that we want better for everybody. So I was a board member when we created the idea of the San Marco supportive housing for chronic inebriants. I support investing in two more of those structures one for mental health, one for chemical health, and then we use $19 million of our ARP, American Rescue Plan funds to go directly into affordability and to expand affordable housing.

I’m also on the board of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund, which funds affordable housing through Greater Minnesota. So those are some of the tools we’re bringing to bear. And yes, I would support, I’m fully supportive of the stepping up three-phase model that CHUM and others are leading.  

Roger Reiniert: Thanks, Bob. I am not a proponent of having encampments stand and I'll share for a couple of reasons. One, when we have seen intentional or even unintentional larger encampments develop, whether that was under the I-35 overpass by downtown, where we twice had the freeway on fire, or in Superior under Belknap, where it was kind of a don't ask, don't tell policy by the city there, folks in the encampments end up being revictimized.

So, you know, the basic premise is that's not good for the individual. It's not good for our neighborhoods or for the communities. So then it does press us to say what are the alternatives? And I think you mentioned some, whether it's tiny houses and I am more of a proponent of the ones that are two stories, fit more into our residential neighborhoods so that people don't continue to be singled out, but instead are welcomed into the fabric of neighborhoods as they transition stages and phases of life.

But I think we also have to be really honest that the thing we most need is something akin to the San Marco. You know, I was on council when we brought the San Marco in as a way of dealing with folks who have chronic alcoholism and were just repeatedly-street-to-detox back and kind of a revolving door. Not healthy for the individual or for our community and it's proven to be incredibly effective.

The biggest opponents at the time were our police and they're now the biggest proponents. And given the underlying issue of the fentanyl opioid epidemic, that to me is the top priority and then in a relatively short term strategy.  

Robin Washington: All right. And Bob has a follow up.  

Bob Boone. Thank you. Essentia has built a brand new hospital and the old St. Mary’s Hospital seems to be available for use. Have we explored or are you considering exploring converting that for homeless housing?  

Mayor Larson: You know, that is — I don’t have control over that, to be honest. That particular parcel is something that the — the development of Essentia properties is kind of complicated because it does involve the sisters, it involves the Vatican. That particular parcel is very complicated. I don’t have site control, I do have influence and we are working very closely with Essentia on their 29 kind of vacated parcels of land around the hospital.

Some of those are, you know, are surface-level parking, some of them are the hospital building you’re referencing. They are coming up with a land use plan. And we have been pushing them to be thoughtful and mindful about housing and affordability. I don’t see that site turning and just being kind of flipped over into affordable housing.

That doesn’t mean that’s what I agree with. It doesn’t mean that’s you know, but I think that is not their current plan right now. And I don’t have site control to be able to use a lot of levers. However, the places that we do where we can use zoning, where we can use, you know, TIF or other kinds of investments to incentivize housing, where we can work with One Roof or we can work with other developers, we’ll be doing that hands down.

That particular site, I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen there. And I understand why the community sees that as a good fit for that. I totally get that. I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen there.  

Roger Reinert: Yeah, I know. Thanks, Bob. I know that has been talked about. My understanding is the sisters are a proponent of really exploring that from sitting at the table around several meetings. It sounds like there could be some existing infrastructure issues in terms of how the hospital’s built, much like when we weren't able to reuse the Morgan Park High School. Just really solidly built buildings are sometimes hard to shift and move around. If that ends up being the case and the old St. Mary's Hospital comes down.

What I am really interested in seeing happen is could that be the place that we end up having a med school, pharmacy school in combination with the resident’s practice clinic that's currently located on Superior Street. That then gives folks who don't have great access to health care, who often don't have the economic ability to pay for health care in our cash payer system, access to really great care. And it gives our medical students and pharmacy students the opportunity to interact with patients that they may or may not see as they move into practice.

So I think we should continue exploring that idea. I want to honor the sisters wishes who actually own title to that property. But if that building is not suitable for that kind of reuse, then I am very interested in seeing how can we build new that in a way that incorporates folks in our community who need and deserve access to health care.  

Tune in next week to read more from Duluth's mayoral candidates.