Down to the Wire

We have less than a week to get enough signatures to force a vote about whether to develop and close off a treasured Duluth park or keep it as parkland.

(Listen to the radio version here.)

Little by little, the pace ever accelerating, corporations and the billionaire class of America have been taking over more and more of the national treasures that belong to all of us. They’ve always run roughshod over natural resources, dumping their industrial wastes into the soil, water, and air that belong to every one of us as they evade, until they can dismantle, regulations and laws passed by huge margins of Congress to protect our air, water, and wildlife. Now, as these greedy, genuinely evil forces have taken control over all three branches of government, even as they’re eviscerating what’s left of environmental protection, they’re trying to buy our treasured public lands for their further enrichment. This is happening at the national, state, county, and local levels—so much that it’s impossible for anyone to keep track of it all, much less effectively fight everything everywhere all at once.

Duluth has a housing shortage right now, but not for the wealthy. Russ and I bought our house—what many people called a “starter home”—in 1981, right after Russ got his Ph.D. and was starting his job here when we were expecting our first baby. His parents generously loaned us $5,000 to cover the down payment—15 percent of the house’s price—while we used up our own meager savings to cover moving expenses, re-wiring and fixing up the house, and buying a crib and other essentials. It took us a little more than a decade to pay his parents back.

A great many of our friends bought their houses the same way back then. None of us were saddled with student loans—college costs were much lower. (I am not making this up: a full year’s tuition and fees at the University of Illinois, allowing us to take the maximum number of credits, cost $270 when I was there. A student could cover that and all their dorm costs for the academic year with a summer job paying minimum wage!)

There is no way Russ and I could afford to pay 15 percent of a “starter home’s” price to help our kids today. A modest 80-year-old 2-bedroom, 1-bath house down our block just sold for almost $300,000! Wages have not kept up at all, and a lot of people in their 40s are still struggling to pay off their student loans—how can they possibly afford that?

So who is buying up these “starter homes”? In too many cases now, billionaires and private equity latch onto as much as they can, profiteering off the rent those poor young people are forced to pay. Meanwhile, developers, like one in Duluth, are buying up some of the most beautiful public lands to sell for much larger profits than they’d get by building affordable housing.

Right now, one of those developers is doing his best to latch onto one of the most beautiful parks in Duluth, what was the Lester River Golf Course.

What was protected parkland already has some beautiful natural habitat and trails ideal for biking, dog-walking, and cross-country skiing. Volleyball nets and picnic areas could be added in some places where the ground is already cleared, with other spots allowed to return to a more natural state. It should be up to Duluthians, not developers, to decide how to use our parks!

The developer wants to provide a nine-hole private golf course and build the kind of housing people who belong to private golf clubs want—not the kind underemployed young people need—even as the City Council gives lip service to “affordable housing.”

The land formerly used as the Lester River Golf Course has been protected parkland since 1955 thanks to a city law that requires 8 of 9 council votes before designated parks can be sold. Golf was clearly not the best use of this park—there weren’t enough golfers to justify the city’s expenses, and we still have a municipal golf course at Enger Tower. The Grand View Golf Links in West Duluth is also open to the general public, plus there are three more public golf courses not far from city limits. There are also already two private golf courses in Duluth.

But in a lame-duck session this past December 8, the Duluth City Council voted 8–1 to convey the vast majority—230 acres—of this beautiful park to the Duluth Economic Development Authority (DEDA) for $1. The underhanded way they quietly pushed forward a developer’s dream is disturbing on every level. At public expense, they’d hired the consulting firm Bolton & Menk to survey Duluthians about land use but, almost certainly realizing that people in Duluth treasure our public land, they made their underhanded vote before getting any results. The consultants found that an average of 74 percent of Duluthians surveyed were opposed to either commercial development or housing (including genuinely affordable housing—the city has many other locations where that could be provided) on that site, with twice as many of the remaining votes neutral as favoring development. Those results were quietly posted on the city’s land-use study website but have not been discussed publicly by anyone at the city. Now, if the property remains at DEDA, a mere five city councilors will get to decide the fate of this beautiful piece of parkland, the best place in town for finding bluebirds, land that is supposed to belong to each and every Duluthian.

For years, a local man was allowed to maintain a bluebird trail at the golf course. Bluebirds still nest in some of the cavities already at the park, and it’s in a ideal location to set up a new bluebird trail to provide nesting spots for bluebirds and swallows.

A group of Duluth residents has been trying to change that. Our Park, Our Vote is a citizen-led campaign that has spent the last several months gathering signatures on two petitions which, together, would put to voters the question of whether to restore parkland protection to the entire 267.5-acre former Lester Park Golf Course. Under the city charter, valid signatures from 3,664 registered Duluth voters would force the question onto the ballot. The deadline is June 1. The website shows well over 3,000 signatures, which is almost enough, but each signature and address will be scrutinized to ensure they precisely match the city’s voter rolls; many are expected to be crossed off due to simple mistakes. My treasured birding buddy, lawyer Michael Bernstein, is leading this effort, and all the pertinent information is online at ourparkourvote.org.

Birding with Michael Bernstein

If you’re registered to vote in Duluth, please head to Amity Coffee, Duluth Gear Exchange, Stitchcraft, Studio Café, Tortoise & Hare, or the Zenith Bookstore to sign the two petitions—all those addresses are available on the website. Please go today, and please tell your Duluth friends. We have only until this weekend to get all the signatures we need.

If you’re not a registered Duluth voter, you can’t help with this, but you can and should be paying attention to your own local land-use issues. Too many city and county governments are selling out to developers, Big Data, and other projects in the interest of the Epstein class, not their own constituents. We must put a stop to the wealthiest people taking what rightfully belongs to all of us. Our children’s and grandchildren’s quality of life depends on it.

I want this little guy to enjoy bluebirds, owls, and all the other natural treasures of this splendid park long after I’ve disappeared.