Good evening. Welcome to visiting 2001. I'm Vicky dollar. I'm the executive editor at the Duluth News Tribune. It's real good to see so many of you out here tonight to talk about an issue that's important to all of us whether you're a relative newcomer like me or a longtime resident creating a vision for a future is very important. But so is the process that brings us out tonight is a process that builds community that says all of us who live in a community have a responsibility to work together to ensure that our community can survive and survive well, A local newspaper has a critical role in that process. It's a facilitator role at a public Watchdog role. The newspaper does not have its own vision of Duluth in the year 2001 for the newspaper can and should help the community get to the point of a shared vision. We can spread the word about what is happening with visioning 2001. We can Cruise people to participate we can strive to make sure that all the people in the community are included in the dialogue. We can help create forms like this. We can also offer critical information on how other communities have gone through a visioning process and how successful. They've been we can also evaluate for you how well the visioning process is working here. Your roles are being fulfilled by being here tonight, and I'm sure many of you have played some other roles as well. Filling out a survey or going to one of the neighborhood Cracker Barrel chats. I hope tonight's presentation helps you and our community take the next step and planning for our future now I would like to introduce two people who will give us a snapshot of current trends in Duluth architect Steve McNeil and psychologist educator. Jean Olson. Both of them were members of the visioning 2001 scenario Builders committee. Thank you Vicki. My old architecture profession used to refer to an old Chinese proverb that used to say that if if you don't know where you're going any road will get you there and tonight we're trying to identify what Road Duluth is on television in process that were undertaking generally talks about two kinds of Futures. There's a probable future and the preferable future the probable future can be described to has that of a sailor caught in a boat a sailboat moving out to tide and he's subject to the whims of the tide. But should he decide to aim for the light on the opposite Shore use the slight breeze use the sailing skill and all the techniques you can bring to the master. He can overcome that probable future and create what's for him is a preferable future. Tonight's visioning process really is composed of three phases. The first phase is what we were talking about tonight for the snapshot of Duluth its defining where we are what we value what the concerns are and what the trends are that we're going to be in car during the next phase is to take this and develop it into three alternative scenarios in the middle phase. It's the preferable future. It's a vision statement of what we want to do at this point in time. We will have three scenarios. We will confine those and finally reduce that to one preferred vision for the city of Duluth the last phase that we're going to embark on his call the action plan. That's where we're going to set projects out and Define how to get there and Implement them. The snapshot tonight represents an overview of 10 different subject areas that have been summarized by the scenario Builders task force that highlight Trends and if they didn't packed our community to be contrasted also with the results of the Cracker Barrel chats 250 people gathered at 14 different chats throughout the community last fall. They were small group organizations. They talked about what was values to them. What were issues and concerns and what new directions we could take in addition to the Cracker Barrel chats 751 newspaper surveys were completed and received and they're also documented in compared. I'm going to talk about that again tonight nor the complete document is available for further study at the main branch of the public library. Now I thought I'd take a moment here and list a handful of. Values that emerged from the Cracker Barrel Chad. They haven't been ranked. They're just listed here. We have a good place to raise a family we have medical facilities is a value. We have sense of community small enough yet with strong neighborhoods. We have Lake Superior. We have the Waterfront and the lakewalk At Last lyrics listing shopping and restaurants now for a moment in your mind's I try to visualize what kind of ranking these assumed when we were able to compare them one by one on a points basis. And I'm moving to the next slide. What we find is that good place to raise a family while considerably important to her to the values that were raised to the Cracker Barrel chat was down always on the ranking medical facilities was pretty highly rated and the single most important value that was Express in the Cracker Barrel chance was the strong sense of community that we're small enough that we have strong neighborhoods intriguing that this is the the top Tres also intriguing that the second biggest choice and a very highly rated else. Where was that Lake Superior the Waterfront and the lake walk are very high values weight on the list by comparison is shopping and restaurants. Now she moving to the concerns. I'm listing the top five concerns from the Cracker Barrel chats and they very very closely correlated to the top five concerns expressed in the survey and the number one and knows considerations on the Cracker Barrel chats for concerns was jobs and economic development schools public education and the need for alternative education was number two number three was the poor condition of the streets the deteriorating infrastructure the famous pothole issue. I number four was the stopping of the malls in the sprawl that's occurring and planning and zoning issues as they relate to that and lastly and that list was need for more youth activities. from this we spring into the overviews of each of the layers. The first one that we're going to talk about is the natural air. More than anything the loose city dominated by the natural are now if you were to take off all the roads and airports and all the Rail lines and all that infrastructure that we always see on a map of the Lewis. You would see something like we have up here on the screen. It's a map that shows Developable area sandwiched between the water of the lake and the river and the Bluffs. It's an area that shows sensitive Wetlands up on the flats. It's a map that shows that slice our city into little segments which also helps the slices into neighborhoods. It's a city that also shows a tremendous amount of wild Larry that's still there. In fact by National Standard. We exceed them tenfold in terms of available and in an open space for use now the luthien's in the Cracker Barrel Champs confirmed a number of these items. And also in the survey in the second highest value rated in the survey was Lake Superior the Waterfront and the lakefront V value related to Green Space and open space 7th value natural beauty Parks recreational trails and Outdoors City talking about how very important this is for the people at the Cracker Barrel in the survey from the concerns. They also expressed where does transfer sprawl and Commercial development particularly as they encroach are sensitive wetlands? Some of the trends that we've seen in the natural city is we've been very fortunate. We've had improved air and water quality with the with the Advent of the treatment plan for the sewage and also the interstate highways help Den. Reduced auto emissions. We've also seen while we seen that we've also seen continuing concern for wetland impact that remains up in the Miller Hill Carter. We also have some concerns or what's happening on the Upper, St. Louis River. It was also host to a number of fauna. We're talking Bears wolves everything that moves in and out of our city because of the close proximity of the living area to the wildlife buying us. Now we also concerned for exotic species that seem to be invading one of the trends that we see is to be prepared for the dealing with exotic species in the lake that continue to come as a result of the shipping and why we have a Resurgence of Lake Fisheries. We may be facing the changes in that 2 in terms of population base. We seen also in terms of floor. Are we seeing a great loss over the last years of the Dutch Elm, but for the first time in many years the last few years, we actually replanting the trees faster than we're coming down so encouragement there. Has a neighborly City Duluth is surprisingly interesting. It's comprised of 11 Villages all connected together in a linear pattern. A lot of what blue has is what I referred to as the pre-World War 2 Urban form for those neighborhoods in which one can readily walk to the store the school the shopping center or the workplace from one's home. I really a form of neighborhood configuration not found in many cities of of the United States at this time in addition to that. We've had multiple opportunities to To develop a variety of different neighborhoods here. Some of the problems with the neighborhood that we've seen is that we have separate economies there different economic impacts. We have different qualities of life and each of those and it's going to be a continuing concern. As we look to the strengths. Some of the concerns that evolved from the Cracker Barrel chats the number to give me the number one value here is sense of community very strong and strong neighborhoods near the same time. We have have expressed concerns for this East West mentality that still troubles many people and concerns for Ray City racism and diversity issues that many of us Don't react to in terms of trends that we've seen we've got 17.1% of our population in Duluth to the current time is over the age of 65 this how how significant the number is this what's greater than the entire state of Florida's average rate of age of a 65 in Florida is the number one retirement State again, the built city was Define biogeography. It's a it's a result of Dolores Boombastic on Ami it's and it's also a result of her Legacy of building periods, and then dormant building periods are housing. Is that rank? We we we find out this last month that we have the fourth most affordable housing market in the United States is rated by the National Association of homebuilders. Yahoo terms of trans. We've also seen our housing construction increase since 1985 is indicated on the graph behind me. We seen a multi-family housing which for so long has been very slowly coming around finally starting up in 1991 yet. There's we have new homes constructed there continues to be a shortage of homes in the 50 to $100,000 range. Are commercial built city is Sean also stable Grosso 1985. With a number of adaptive reuse projects throughout our community. We seen schools become new homes. We've seen boarded-up downtown buildings get rejuvenated and put back online and we seen slice go by faster than they should. We seen some of the significant pieces of architecture in our city become victims Taurus and then deteriorate and disappear. We've lost these Legacies. We have a strong downtown that's still a major officentre, but pressure is increasing for growth elsewhere. What are the trends in our area when we see the herding Instinct for retail sales development along the Miller Miller trunk Carter continuing we see West End in West Duluth tracks. However in strong demand for warehousing and distribution uses we should continue with strong to man on the Air Park to be in industrial and warehousing girl spot for tickly with respect to the Airbus coming here. And we're going to continue to see tourism puling the Canal Park development particularly relates to hotel and motel and Inn Light commercial. No infrastructure is a different story. We're blessed with seaports airports interstates bus transit systems rail systems get a residential street and some of the smaller highways are in very tough condition. Not only are they in tough condition, but the water mains beneath tomorrow some of which over 50 years of age. So hand-in-glove with the street repair needs to deal with the infrastructure beneath it and here is it starting in 1995 were going to begin that street program and get a get a handle on it. In addition to that. We have to expect to incur increasing maintenance cost for water mains and related utility upgrading. I'm terms of citizens concern. The number one survey concern was residential streets and deteriorating infrastructures. And the number 3 concern in the Cracker Barrel chaps was that in addition to that they both expressed concern for over Marling and for wetland protection. Duluth has working city is traditionally been the major industrial base with shipping steel Forest Products in mining as support the last few years. We've seen a significant shift to a more diverse Economy based on Broad service oriented activities such as higher education Healthcare and tourism these of emergence 3 new support mechanisms reduce economy. We seen the new Industries added into the to the picture here particular with respect to Forest Products Lake Superior Paper Industries has emerged as a major major new industry as well as senior Tech the paper recycling plant. In terms of the aviation. We have also seen ourselves emerge in a new Focus there with Northwest are bus maintenance facility the serious Industries and the aircraft firefighting and Rescue Training Facility in Gary. In terms of concerns delusions at the chat list of jobs and economic development at the top of the list. It was number two in the survey. They also focused on that in terms of jobs. Not just small paying jobs with jobs with decent wages with opportunities for young people, especially those people who come from our hair education facilities here in town. the terms of trans we feel that blew his leg behind of Rochester and st. Cloud and attracting high temp companies to do the area yet. We have seen on the other hand. We've seen phenomenal retail sales growth of 433% between June 1993 and June 1994. That's a result of both new stores and new sales. We've also experienced the fact that we have a solid major employment in forest products for this region, which employs a total of over 54,000 people in the area. We seen tourism Health and Social Services marketing themselves regionally so they can expand And we seen efforts such as team Duluth. Create a new entity that can combine agencies and governments together to pull together as an aggressive group to attract new business and industry. I'm going to turn it over to Jean. Duluthians value education Cracker, Barrel participants voiced concerns, however, citing improving our schools second only to the need for economic development survey respondents side of the problems with our schools as well as specially with the school board and that was second on their list as well as with a Cracker Barrel's K-12 education has been in a state of flux with school reorganization and changing leadership. The trend is toward more diversity in schools schools are more diverse both and grade-level organization and its special Focus parents and students have more Choice magnet schools supported with desegregation funds provide special curriculum as well as racial and social economic balance. With technology gaining more importance as an educational tool schools will need to continually upgrade their equipment and provide training for their staff. Will dilute students continue to do well in the classroom. The financial picture is not positive needed building improvements have significantly increase the district's indebtedness. The state is Shifting more of the cost of K-12 education to local property taxes budget cuts fall heaviest on Art and enrichment programs at schools cut programs growing inequities occur. As families are asked to fill the Gap with private lessons tutors and athletic programs. Duluth is fortunate to have several institutions of Higher Learning UMD. And st. Scholastica are well-respected Duluth landmarks providing a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees and example of their responsiveness to the community is their leadership and Healthcare education umd's Medical School leads the nation in preparing family doctors Scholastica, which was recently recognized in u.s. News & World Report offers unique Healthcare programs. The 1995 merger of the Duluth Technical College and the Duluth Community College will result in even greater efforts to bridge the gap between classrooms and Marketplace and example is the aircraft rescue and firefighting Center offering National and international training. The number of high school graduates will increase by the 2001 projecting increased enrollment and the need for more student housing 60% of Duluth graduates go on to post-secondary education Duluth seniors score above the national average on national college entry test, which is particularly important as colleges establish stricter admission requirements for a community are size Duluth enjoys a rich variety of cultural activities summer long-standing the duluth-superior symphony, orchestra, the Minnesota ballet the Duluth Playhouse and others are newer to the Arts Community old and new combined with UMD and Scholastica programs offered to Indians vital cultural experiences. Cracker Barrel in survey respondents value of the Arts ranking them above shopping and restaurants this needs to be translated. However into active support as funding for the Arts becomes increasingly difficult Depot art organizations report declining revenue from ticket sales national funding has declined grants from foundations are becoming more competitive. The decision of Art Space to come to Duluth is a recognition of Duluth commitment to the Arts artspace will provide studio and living space for Duluth artists in a retrofitted Washington school. I think just noting the display of the art projects in the lobby tonight gives us a real feel for the creativity provided for us by our community. The how is Duluth different from Fargo or st. Sioux Falls? Yes, we have trees in the lake and we offer a full array of Four Seasons recreational offerings where else can you experience doorstep Recreation within minutes to luthien skin hike bike ski fish sale Gulf kayak rollerblade you name it Duluth, Ian's do it freeway construction money helped develop the downtown lakewalk other funding will be important to develop and maintain needed Recreation facilities in Duluth. Recreation is important in bringing recognition and interest to Duluth Grandma's Marathon. And the John beargrease sled dog race are examples of activities which bring excitement and dollars to our community. Duluth small 222 Parks trails and outdoor recreational opportunities was a popular value with a Cracker Barrel and Survey respondents concerns were expressed about preserving the city's green spaces and wetlands. Healthcare in Duluth is both excellent and cost-effective. The Duluth medical community is recognized nationally for its leadership and responding to changing medical Trends Duluth is the center of a healthcare region serving 430000 people Duluth Physicians provide both primary care and a wide variety of medical Specialty Care Duluth three accredited hospitals provide care ranging from open heart surgery and neurologic Trauma to specialized burn treatment and Rehabilitation St. Mary's Hospital was recently recognized as one of the top 100 hospitals in the United States St. Luke's has received a Superior Credit Nation rating with special accommodation. A goal of a regional system is to improve Healthcare access throughout the region people needing care come to Duluth. But Duluth Specialists also travel to provide care to people within their own communities dilutes medical competition is not with each other, but with other Regional centers many of which are attempting to expand into our region. National and local Healthcare Trends are toward more Primary Care More outpatient procedures more mergers of providers and facilities and more emphasis on Managed Care increasingly. The focus will be on prevention and wellness preventive programs are cost-effective as well as improving the quality of life. Mini Duluth employers offer wellness and employee programs which stress physical fitness and early intervention. Someone once said that a community is ultimately judged by how it cares for its elderly and its young in Duluth both groups pose special challenges. By the year 2020 25% of the people in St. Louis County will be over 65 years old including most of us in this room. as Duluth over 65 population increases so will their medical needs the elderly see visitors positions more often. They have more and longer hospital stays and often require long-term care and help with daily living. Children are another group with special needs 23% of the families with children under 5 in Duluth have incomes below the poverty level. Locally as well as nationally we are seeing a growing number of kids with a host of emotional and behavioral problems out-of-home placements are increasing increasing numbers of children are having children in St. Louis County. One of 10 babies is born to a teenage mother the consequences are great to the mother to the child and to the community. Diluvian see this as a caring City you did not respond party in our community is a great concern even though Duluth has more households 27% with very low incomes band. Does Minnesota as a hole with 23% in 1992 Duluth was cited as one of the best places to live in America. And our low crime rate was one of the primary factors. Overall rates of serious crime in Duluth have decreased approximately 11% over the past few years recent increases and homicides and arson have raised Community concerns. However, the number of child abuse cases and instances of child neglect and domestic violence have increased Duluth has experienced a fivefold increase in juvenile delinquency over the past 14 years homicide has replaced suicide at the second leading cause of death for young people. Our community has responded to the rise in child abuse and violent criminal Behavior with programs such as Community crime watch the McGruff House program and educational programs like operation aware there and violence free Duluth. Our criminal justice system works together with social services to help make Duluth a safe place to live the Duluth domestic abuse intervention project is a national model. Cracker Barrel in survey response shows Duluth Duluth, Ian's field will do live in a safe City, but are not complacent participants site concerns about safety. And then he especially for more activities for youth clearly. There is work to be done. Now if Duluth is to continue to be known as a safe place to work and raise a family Now you've had that snapshots of 10 areas covering the issues which the Cracker Barrel candies and the survey respondents along with the scenario Builders team the alarm important issues for Duluth. We presented a lot of information very quickly. Hopefully, we've raised him questions and now it's your chance to ask those questions. We are exceeded our wildest expectations with a colossal stack of questions where a truly truly amazing amount. What we want to do is we're going to try to answer as many questions as we can and thankfully we ended the first part a little early so we can extend the back half of the program. And all questions that we cannot answer will be forwarded in tabulated and forwarded to the steering steering committee and the scenario Builders committee to be integrated into the database as we proceed into the next phase. So don't feel like your efforts are your reactions have been lost but we're going to try to get through as many representative questions as possible tonight. I like to take a moment and introduce our panel. To my left. I have the honorable Judge Robert Campbell. And Jean Olsen who you've been introduced to before to her left is Mark Mansfield president and CEO of the Duluth area Chamber of Commerce. Next to him is Bob Baldwin assistant planner city of Duluth Community Development and housing division. And actually him Joanne Axtell executive director of United Way of Greater Duluth, and at the end is Jim sherwani Executive Vice President of st. Mary's Medical Center. I'm going to begin my topics. We have a number of categories. I'm going to begin with the first question for judge Campbell. Which is what should we do to keep our crime rate from increasing? Get involved. I think that all of us all of us here and all of us within the community would be better served. If we worked closer together with the resources that we have. We have a fantastic resources to address the area of of crime, but sometimes all of those resources aren't working together. I can go through a Litany of the resources and I don't know if that's necessary at this time, but There are many of us in the system for not even aware of all of the resources that can be brought together to bear on the question. And so all I can do is encourage people to get involved go to meetings like this whenever you see the police chief who happens to be here tonight speaking someplace go and listen and raised concerns when you see a judge speaking someplace go and listen and raise your concerns and get some answers and and give some input. I guess the the best thing I can say is with respect to Crime with focusing on our young people who are the most vulnerable at this time. We as parents we as a community. Have to be there and we as parents and there's a community in that in when I say community. That means all parts of the Community Education Health. We have to not only be there but we have to keep them busy. So we have to provide. The activities that best support a positive culture for them and not a negative culture. next questions for Bob Baldwin with Arch funding facing serious threats on the national level and potentially the state level 2. How can do Lutheran's ensure that there's local support for the cultural activities that they seem to want. Thank you. In light of the projected changes in the Arts scene tickling at the federal level. I think it becomes really important for the community to take a look at itself in to make a determination how much it values those cultural amenities that exist in the community and to support those in whatever way they can it's a good opportunity to get involved in fundraising activities. It's also a good idea to speak with people that you know who are in the corporate Community as well as foundations about the need to maintain the cultural structure of the of the city of Duluth if that's important to people who voices need to be heard. They need to be heard clearly Arts is important in people need to know that but it's if it's only important to you and nobody else knows it you can't be saved. I give up. the the next question I've got is actually for myself and in light of the Planning and Zoning vote to ignore the milly hero corridor plan what expectation can the citizens of Duluth have that the recommendations of the 2001 2001 and Beyond will ever become reality. I'm great expectations. And I base those on what we have done in the past with his process for those of you who participated in the Waterfront planning efforts that we're done a number of years ago, and I've met a number of old friends who are involved in that with a not too dissimilar process of Roundtable discussion and needs identification and group meetings. The Waterfront plan emerge the Waterfront plan became a developed reality and award-winning reality and anchor for our commercial downtown area. And as it turns out one of the highest rated values by people in the Cracker Barrel in the survey Chet's why I would I would argue that if we do this right or concerns will be heard and it will be I would like to think that politically it may be possible impossible to ignore them. If it's done correctly question for Jim sherbiny. Will it be growth and jobs in healthcare? And if so, what kind? Thanks, sis device. I think that we'll see in Duluth a continued slow but gradual growth in jobs in healthcare. And I think that that's going to be in a large part a function of the continuing regionalization of healthcare. I believe that in the last 10 to 15 years much has happened in our region. In fact in our country in terms of how Healthcare the components of healthcare have come together original centers have emerged and definitely Duluth is such a regional center along with becoming a regional center. We've seen the need for various types of healthcare professionals and healthcare workers. I don't believe that we are at the end of that process. I believe it will continue for a while to come. I think there's another interesting phenomena that is happening in. Health care that does affect to reflect on job growth and that is the way in which the the location of healthcare is changing. We're all aware that carries becoming much more of an outpatient oriented phenomena. I think that that's leading to growth in some particular categories of Health Care delivery things like home care, I think will continue to grow and there at that will produce a demand for a different type of healthcare job done has been prevalent in the past. So I do see some growth. I think I am parked. It's a function of our community having a higher-than-average each level. I think that that. At whole regionalization phenomena, however is a is a large driver in terms of the future of healthcare employment in our community and I think it looks like The healthy sector of employment in the future for Joanne or Bob. This is a fielder's choice. Is it true that there has been an increase in the number of blue things living in poverty? And if so, where are they and why has it been increased? What can we do about it? Now they're there has been a tremendous increase and not in the level of poverty. In fact, there's been a three-fold increase in the last 10 years in the number of children living in poverty in Duluth. And I think that should be an alarming certificate to all of us and I think the I'll take one couple stats at it. I think the economic development that we've seen happen people talked about the corridor and the Shopko in the Walmarts in a Cub Foods and so forth and those are by and large minimum wage jobs are often less than full-time. They are without health benefits and people are not taking those as second jobs are often first job and even a family has a full-time minimum-wage job and two children. They're not going to be above the poverty level. So part of that is just what what this economy has to bring we don't have the kind of jobs. We paid $15 an hour and had good benefits. So that's partly a change. I think housing is another aspect of That's true. Housing does have an impact on on on poverty. We have at this point about 2,000 people on a waiting list to our Housing Development Authority for either public housing or for assisted housing. That's a large number of people in the in this is the most recent update as of January 11th, I believe but historically that less is always somewhere between 15 to 1800 people or households that are looking for housing. So where are all these people who are on these waiting list? Well, we suspect that a lot of them are living in shelters. A lot of them probably living in substandard housing and some of them are doubling up with family the economic to do play a key role in the in the whole answer to this thing. If you look at what's happening Duluth in the last 20 years we've gone from the percentage of families with incomes below the poverty level in 1970 at 7.4% 1990 of 10.5% that's a significant increase and it does have to do with the kinds of jobs that were lost the manufacturing industrial jobs had been in here in the 70s that are now gone. They did pay a living wage that don't exist anymore in a lot of those people weren't retrained and little opportunities for a living wage for those folks and their families. What can be done is to provide employment that does have living wages so that people can support themselves support their families in and work themselves out of poverty. And I think it's probably a misconception about people in poverty that they want to be there. I think it will talk to anybody who was living in substandard conditions in trying to survive on a minimum wage. They want to do better. It's just the opportunities have to be there. In terms of healthcare. I've got another question for Jim sherbiny. Is how can we achieve more cooperation and less competition in healthcare in Duluth? I think that we would do that by focusing on common goals and perhaps that's easier to say than to do. We're coming out of an era of relatively intense competition. Healthcare was was encouraged into a competitive mode in that era. I was seen as the way in which we would drive health care costs down and that appears to have happened. There are downsides to competition in that people can get left out of the system. And I think we are entering a new era more enlightened era where collaboration is much more likely to be the Hallmark of healthcare organizations. And I think the change oil will happen will be inspired and some interesting ways. I think that Boards of directors are seeing a new a new and better future in terms of how we use our Healthcare Resource resources, and I believe that boards will inspire more collaborative efforts in the future than inventive occurred in the past. I think that working together on the noble goals things like improved. The health status of people in a community. I think those are the things that that can be rallying points literally for healthcare providers and in great great areas of Cooperative efforts can can be identified there in I think that cost quality and access the three challenges of healthcare can best be met in the remainder of the nineties as we head to the next Century through a greater commitment toward collaborative efforts and in our community from my perspective, I believe I'm seeing the beginning of those efforts and I think they will become more and more evident here in Duluth. We have three great hospitals. We have wonderful wonderful Physicians highly competent Physicians and an abundance of competent Health Care Providers. The unifying factor is the patient the individual that we all exist to serve. And I think that our ability to collaborate toward that goal will become increasingly evident as as the 90s will forward we will have new reasons even to cooperate and collaborate few more dollars will be flowing into Healthcare. We will need to find better ways here in Duluth various early-stage initiatives are underway. St. Mary's and St. Luke's are in dialogue as to whether we can find a way of operating a single helicopter service between our organizations. The the entire region is currently at work in creating a health new approach that that emerged from the Minnesota care legislation where we're going to be finding new ways of Behaving together with mint within the managed-care models of the future. We are guy think just on the beginning edge of many new Endeavors that will have providers recognizing the impact that we can have if we work together it's easier to talk about than to do but I believe the 90s will reveal itself to be a decade within which cooperation and collaboration among the healthcare providers in our own Community changed. The next question is a largely an open question. So I'm going to present it to the entire panel the lothians want more economic development in high paying jobs, which results in more people if they also want to preserve the Greenbelt and the green spaces and restrict Land Development. The most land area isn't that large? How can we have both scenarios cake and eat it, too? I guess while you're thinking I have had a chance to think about this one and I don't think any it is it's a difficult issue. I think what I think the word sprawl sort of sums up what people are reacting to Duluth developed in a very dense pattern particularly in the western edges of the town the the lot sizes the street street to light ratio the number of the acreage taken up by the homes is very small do with this is essentially in the pre-World War to form a very compact City. But as you look at the more recent development is a whole lot more space being taken up by the same number people one way we can do this is to treat our new developments as we have with their old with a more compact development and as compact as we can reasonably Justified to minimize our infrastructure. And also to take a responsible attitude toward to devouring up what land available we have. Maybe we got to develop just as we have the instead of 11 different Villages all strung together. Maybe it's 13 or 14, but we work in a village module rather than large masses of commercial. That's my two cents Jean either or kind of mentality and either we have development or we preserve some of the traditional things and some of the Green Space environmental things about to look and I think that it's time we changed what different model and we recognize that it's important to have both and then it's possible to have both and to me the key to that is to find that balance and to find a way to have that important and very needed Economic Development and to do it within a context in which planning is an important part of that process and and where it where we have planned development that helps us pray. Deserve the things which we value and also find those jobs that will keep people in Duluth and keep our young people here. I think that's probably the most important in central question that this community needs to resolve. 4B on 2001 because you it does come down to a point where there may need to be a decision made about growth vs. Non growth. There is somewhat about dichotomy there because there is a huge demand if if you noticed in the Cracker Barrel chats probably the number one concern is his jobs and economic development. and I think perhaps the best definition I've ever heard of for economic development is simply put that is an opportunity for our children to go to work in their own Hometown if you so desire Makes sense to me. I would agree. I think the best way for a community to meet this issue. Is to have a plan to understand that sometimes plans by virtue of time and circumstances may need to be modified. how to come up with a plan that is the consensus of a community and you will have an opportunity to do that through this type of process. I'm going to be very excited to see some of the alternate Visions it will be coming out of this process. Those of us that are involved in Economic Development to know that one of the key issues that we are facing in this community is a lack of developing space the lack of buildings. And as I mentioned the lack of industrial sites, and it's becoming an issue. And so there is that balance we certainly want environmentally friendly Industries. We certainly want high paying jobs where we going to put them. I think that the plan component is essential and I believe this process is is building toward an element of that. I do think that along the way we have to we have to reflect newly on the term dialogue. I'm not convinced. We're capturing the creative best that's already in our community. I think we need ever new ways of bringing forth the thoughts of the people who live in and loved dearly this community. I believe what's going on here tonight is one example of that, but the notion of dialogue truly listening to each other for understanding not to convince. The other party of One's Own point of view. I think those are the processes. We need to construct more of in our community in in dealing with these kinds of critical questions. I have a related question about us out the mark can anything be done to then to entice developers to build another areas at Duluth not just in the Midland Mall. certainly It's it's a difficult process given the fact that most developers want to go to a location such as Miller Hill because they understand that that's where they're going to make the most money. People bought off an ass asked a question. Why would we want more retail development in Duluth? Why do these people want to seem to come to Duluth? And my answer is and talking to some of the supposed experts in this area. The folks that decide to make an investment of 20 or 30 or 40 million dollars into a development are much more intelligent smarter than I am and they understand that in order for them to make a profit. They have to be fairly certain that they're going to have a viable business. The way of community however direct development is to do exactly that you have a a dialogue with the community you build a consensus with those that live in a community and you simply say upfront. This is where the development going to occur and then you make it very easy. projects to go into that area it's a fairly simple process if it's complex along the way you have to work out the details, but I would agree with Jim dialogue and consensus is critically important so that we already know the answer to those questions at the front end rather than at the middle. question for Mark it was a long one. The state of Minnesota is presenting a very dismal outlook for the economy of Duluth with low paying jobs in the service industry and a continuing aging population. Is there any way to reverse that Trend and I would also add that they also predicted continuing population loss. What can we do about it? first it might help if we get a little bit more positive people that are giving and I don't want to stop the Aging product. I like in this to the tide taking us out. This is what they think. We're happening. Go ahead. Well that that is a true statement. They are this area of the northeastern Minnesota. I think the question is the fact that I think we have some tremendous advantages that can help us overcome. Suppose a trans that to most people are forecasting for Duluth. We have a very strong business Foundation already here. One of the things that no one has mentioned tonight. Perhaps. We should have earlier that we have a tremendous quality Workforce. And if you talk to people on either sides of the United States on both coasts, you'll find that work. Ethic is not necessarily a given. That being the type of people that we are here in the Midwest we go to work we work hard. We have very low levels of absenteeism. And we're generally pretty loyal to the companies in the business. Is that employees? And so we're taking those type of the damages along with the quality-of-life issues that we all are so well aware of many people know that this could very well be one of the places that they may want to have an expansion or to relocate their companies. There are other issues that we must deal with that. There are other competitors. It is a fiercely competitive business. I would Direct. Notice to the recent incentive package. It was put together by the state of Alabama for the Mercedes-Benz plant that is going to employ 1500 workers. And the total package is somewhere around three hundred million dollars. That comes out to about $200,000 per job. So I think those type of issues also have to be addressed but I don't think we're down for the 10-count. I think we're going to surprise a lot of people because we do have a lot of advantages for businesses to locate here. And I don't think we can underestimate. The green space and environmental air quality in The Lakes because those are increasingly just as important to corporations and companies that are looking for places to locate then incentive packages because they want their employees to be happy people happy people are much more productive. And I'm much more likely to stay with her present job. Above & Beyond at the fact that we're targeting a specific interest as I mentioned earlier the aviation business businesses, the spin-offs are going to occur as a result of the Northwest Air Base, which is going to happen are going to be some challenges, but they're going to also be some wonderful opportunities there. The computer hardware and software Industries are taking a look at Duluth because as I mentioned before they no longer have to be in New York City or Baltimore Washington DC because they can be in in a candy like to lose and have instant access and communication to those other cities. So I'm positive and that's that's not a chamber of commerce speech but it's a speech given the fact that I'm talking to people around this community. They tend to stick together and when times get tough they work together in him and do a good job at hand. I think we're going to surprise as I mentioned. A lot of people in there are great Capital about those forecast. There are already more people today working in this community there ever has been in the past. That doesn't mean that we can't do a better job of creating better jobs. There a lot of people working here. I think we have to be careful to not see the growing life expectancy that we enjoy to be a negative and that we don't see. People over 65 as becoming some kind of a burden on us as a society and I think that the reality that the demographics are changing gives us an important information for planning. It means we have to plan differently for healthcare for housing needs for a continuing education. But I think we also need to recognize all of the very important contributions that older citizens make tar community in terms of passing on wisdom and terms of making up a large majority of our volunteer Force which brings very important contributions to the community and again be careful not to list that as a negative. I think the other thing we also need to recognize is that as a group seniors are generally looked upon as for the most part on the average and of course, we all know what average is mean but generally on the average have a little bit more disposable income and many other groups a great deal to someplace like for the popularity of lakewalk. It's getting almost over you stand there some safety issues developing. It sure would be nice to see more of these facilities develop perhaps upgrading Skyline Parkway any comments. I think when we look again at the the Cracker Barrel syrup and Survey data when they list the number two ranked lakewalk Waterfront and lake Lake Superior has the highly valued. It's pretty straightforward to me that this we have to do more of this extraordinary exciting to get to go down there and see that nine out of the ten people on a day or even from Duluth. Hey, I went down there and two occasions and ran into superintendent Mark miles who lives up on Island Lake could come down there for a Friday night to rollerblade that lives on a lake but he has to come down to the for the roller blading on our Waterfront in it is it is absolutely magnetic in it. And I think that's it. This is the sort of positive value that was created as we want to see more of and the last question is And I'm going to close with this one. I think is that the 2001 and Beyond has been a great communication experience. But how can we convert this discussion into a workable plan for the future? That leads me to the comments on the next events. What is Nexus work when they're developing three alternative visions and that this spring they'll be in electronic town hall meeting held where we can debate and, MN. React to the plans and resolve those into another further plan singular plan to go forward for the city of Duluth. I think we've seen an excellent representation by the city's press on the effort here, very fair handed and we really enjoyed that temp panel any further comments that you'd like to make. I just make one comment and that it is certainly my Wishin and the wish have everyone working on 2001 that what we have done so far and what is develop does not become just another piece of paper that it doesn't become just some more rhetoric that sits on a shelf somewhere Gathering dust and the only way that this process is really meaningful is if all of the planning and all of the discussion actually results in something that sees action and really results and something like the lakewalk and really become something that people take hold of and take responsibility for and I think some of those organizations are going to be an important part of that. So I would hope that everyone does keep involved with the process and helps personally take responsibility to see that the planning efforts that are done do end up becoming part of reality in Duluth. I thank the panel very much for their participation.