Progress and Preservation Sheldon Aubut DPPA member Point of View - DNT? I have been very disturbed lately by the Duluth News-Tribunes seemingly one-sided articles and editorials supporting new development and the developers in Duluth. These articles appear to attack anyone who has a differing opinion, or might be so presumptuous as to want to preserve our history, shoreline, architecture or anything that impedes new development. I too believe in progress. I too believe that new development can be good for our city. I too believe that our future lies in bringing business to Duluth. Where we differ is that I believe that this development must be done with a plan, that the "tear it down and build new" ideals of the last century are no longer valid in the 21st. As in all things there has to be some middle ground that elicits the best of all worlds. We here in Duluth have one of the most beautiful, "old world" cities in the nation. We have the resources in architecture, the environment, parks, port, and especially in our people, to be a premier city in these United States of America, or even all of North America. In 1869 the vision of the founders of this city saw it as "The Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas" and said it "shall be the abode of commerce and manufacturers, and refinement and civilization, here nearly midway between the two main oceans of the world". They had a vision that balanced development and the finer things in life. Our park system at the turn of that century into the 20th was next to none in the nation. We had more parkland and greenspace than any other city, and acres per capita was measured as the highest in the nation. The people of Duluth were very proud of that distinction, yet in the intervening 100 years we have let our parks deteriorate to shadows of themselves. Witness Seven Bridges Road and the Skyline Parkway. Or Cascade Park, which was decimated to make way for Mesabe Avenue's redevelopment. We have reduced incredible architecture to rubble, and in their place built edifices that are not constructed to stand for another 100 years, are aesthetically without style, and do not meld into the neighborhoods where constructed. At one time I gave tours of Old Downtown, and one thing that often struck me was that the tourists seem to know more about Duluth than the residents. The most common phrase used by residents was, "I didn't know that." I wanted to shout, "where have you been living all your life", but instead I just continued, week after week, year after year, to try to educate people about their wonderful city. I was born and raised here, left for 18 years, and moved back to, what I consider to be, the most incredible city in the nation. With your help in preserving our past, balanced with new development done with a plan that puts it in the right places at the right times, we can once again have a city that fits the vision of its founders. Groups such as the Duluth Public Policy Alliance, the Preservation Alliance, and others should be looked on as allies in choosing a direction for Duluth. Together we can come up with a plan that meets all of our needs as witnessed by the Bayfront Visions Plan, which even though certainly not perfect, resulted from various groups working together, but only after individual attitudes and egos were set aside. Haphazard destruction for the sake of ill-conceived new development is counter productive. We would be much better off to restore our city, our parks, and our neighborhoods than to build buildings which destroy what we already have, and then either stand empty or take businesses from other buildings. It has been proven over and over, in other locations, that restoration pays for itself so many times over and is so very much more productive than new development, on the same site, in cities like Duluth. Simply put; new development should be located in places that do not harm what is already there. A simple concept but one which the Duluth News Tribune and the present city administration seem not to grasp. I would hope that you, and they, could be convinced to take a closer look at the direction we are going, and adjust to bring your vision in tune with the founders of Duluth. These articles are retained on the web for historical interest and do not necessarily reflect the views or goals of DPPA today.