300 foot rule or no that seems to be the question?

Sense the ordinance passed a few years ago it has been on the hot seat. The ordiance has been under attack for a long time. Well two councilors defeand it to no end others see it harmful. Yet the council has not been able to rid of the 300 foot rule. Is this a good thing or a bad? It depends on who you talk to.

Here is one that likes the 300 foot rule:


Dear City Counselors,
I am begging you to keep the 300 foot rule. My husband and I have lived and raised our family, for the past 33 years, on Garden Street.

It was always a good place to live, until rental housing began.
On Friday and Saturday evening, of this past weekend, we were awaken at 2 am with kids walking by, drunk and shouting. On Saturday they also were pulling up the parking signs up and down our street. I caught two of them in front of our home. I was not able to fall back to sleep until 5 am and had to get up at 6:30. I will tell you that this is not a isolated incident. We spend every Sunday picking up garbage from the weekend.

If you allow rentals to increase all you have to do is look at what has happened to 21st Avenue and Woodland Avenue. It's is embarrassing when you drive by. Houses are not maintained, garbage is laying around. It is beginning to look like the slums. Is this what you want people coming to our city to see? Please don't allow this to happen to our neighborhood.
Why should you repeal a rule so people can make money and the expense of those that are trying to continue to make this our home. Why should we have to sell our home to live in peace. It's absolutely not fair!!!

We have a home at 135 Garden Street and we would like to stay here.
Thank you for your effort in keeping our neighborhood a civilized family neighborhood.
Sincerely,Mike and Shirleen Hieb

source: Duluth News Tribune

Yet there have been many other thoughts in the paper against the 300 foot rule.

Here is an example from the Duluth News Tribune today:


For the past half-year, Pat Shelton lost $800 a month as one of his homes in the Chester Park neighborhood sat empty. The owner of Viking Properties said the economy has been so poor that until recently he had been unable to sell it. And, because of Duluth’s 300-foot-rule, which forbids new rental licenses within 300 feet of an existing one, he had been unable to rent it.
“That the city won’t let me generate income off of it is ludicrous,” he said. “I don’t understand the philosophy. I just don’t get it.”
Shelton and others have been lobbying the Duluth City Council to get rid of the controversial 300-foot-rule.

As a person who has lived in the East and Central Hillsides all my life this issue is of interest to me and many others. I will have more later but for now chew on this and get your thoughts flowing on what you think of the issue.

Why the attack on rental property?

There has always been a discussion about rental property's in Duluth. The discussion over the last few years however has been more an attack instead of a discussion of ideas. The attack many times has come about in the wrong way I feel as well.

By the way I have lived in the district mostly affected most of my live. I have seen areas of town go from family's to rentals and I have seen many positives and negatives with the changes. As some one who grew up living in the East Hillside and then moving to the Central Hillside and back to the area I grew up I understand the events that have happened.

The discussion many years ago was how to integrate the students in to the city, now the discussion seems to be how do we get the students out of here. You hear every politician that runs for Mayor or council say we need to keep the students here, yet they don't practice what they say. When it comes to rentals and students that rent the property's.

Now the discussion has changed to an attack on both rental property and students. Today the talk revolves around what can we do to make our areas less friendly to those tiring to make a living and those going to school. Not only that but those that are on fixed incomes and those looking to start a family.

Duluth has put a limit on how many rentals can be in an area one per every 300 feet. That is about one every block or so. The thing is it does not affect the exciting rentals. There for it is a worth-less ordinance and needs to be repealed. The council also wanted to a moratorium on rentals for one year in an area of town so they could discuss what to do about the problem.

The discussion is all negative about students, party's, noise ect.... the fact is with out collage students Duluth would be in worse shape then we are. I will give you there are bad students however there are bad adults, kids and family's. I have seen more issues with families then I have students. We have focused on the student accept way to long, we need to move passed it. We need to look for real ways to solve this issue. Passing the buck is not the way to do it.

Fact is we all use rentals, Students, single mom's or dad's, seniors, middle-aged. It does not matter.

I will post some ideas I have on how to work on this issue soon. In the mean time if you want to offer your thoughts on the rental property issue go for it.