Interview with Don Ness, Mayor of Duluth

Don Ness was elected Mayor of Duluth in 2008, just as the American economy was imploding. The city had a debt of $1.35 million, was being sued by the federal government, had massive sanitary sewer overflows into Lake Superior, and lacked a strong plan for building the infrastructure and retaining young professionals. Ness took a no-nonsense approach to solving these issues, and in 2011, due largely to his strong-willed methodologies, he was the first mayor to run unopposed since Duluth was incorporated in 1887. He has also earned a 90% approval rating and has increased the General Fund Reserve by over $8 million.

In an interview that seems to serve, at times, as a how-to guide on successful economic and infrastructural development, Mayor Ness spells out several strategies that have benefitted his city. Still, he points out that certain problems, such as expanding housing in the downtown area, continue to prove highly problematic no matter what policies community leaders and businesses attempt to broker. We also discussed how some of Mayor Ness’s plans could be adapted to fit Colorado Springs’ needs.

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Yordy: You mentioned the Duluth Economic Development Authority [DEDA]. I’ve read that it plays a vastly important role in fostering the growth of many businesses. Why did you choose to restructure these agencies, and what were some of the difficulties in attaining that goal?

Ness: Our DEDA, the economic development authority, is an independent group. It’s not necessarily the umbrella group. We have different economic development agencies that all play a particular role. Prior to my becoming mayor, they were all operating independently. So what we did was bring together an economic development coalition, called the “Mayor’s Economic Development Coalition,” and we meet at least once a month, and everybody kind of brings their projects to the table.

The expectation is that there’s an open dialogue and everyone shares information freely. We’re going to respect the confidentially of the agreement, or of the news that’s shared there, but it gives us an opportunity to pitch in and to contribute our resources to help another agency move a project forward, instead of what would happen in the past when people would hold projects really close and say, “Well this is my project, and I don’t want anybody else taking credit if this turns out well.” But really, leaving a lot of tools and a lot of resources on the table, projects weren’t as successful as they could have been.

Yordy: Right. And that makes sense, when everybody works together as opposed to fighting against each other.

Ness: Yep.

Yordy: Mayor Bach [of Colorado Springs] proposed moving our local baseball stadium from the east end of town to the more centrally located downtown area to try to generate more business [Since this interview, the proposal to move the Colorado Springs Sky Sox’s stadium to downtown Colorado Springs has been altered to a plan that would “accommodate more Olympic sports and not be as focused on baseball”]. Have you had any big ventures that your organization has benefited from, such as something almost as big as moving a baseball stadium?

Ness: Well, yeah. I guess it’s probably now about six years ago. There was a debate on where the new hockey arena would be built, and the chancellor of the university wanted it to be an on-campus facility. The old arena was in the downtown area and on our waterfront, and people wanted that to remain, so that was an interesting debate. In the end, the community rallied around keeping the stadium in the core city and passed a referendum to build the arena that got big support.