Final Progress Advisory Panel Report - Knight Program in ...

Day Two, October 2: The panel began the day with an orientation
lunch with the local group coordinating the event. A comprehensive
tour followed. Through a combination of walking and touring
in a van, the panel experienced east and west downtown, Canal
Park and Bayfront Festival Park, the Armory, the near-downtown
hospitals, and the Hillside neighborhoods and campuses. The tour
was followed by a meeting with representatives of the University
of Minnesota at Duluth and a working dinner with Duluth’s Mayor
Don Ness and members of the Duluth Progress Review Resource
Group. Several panel members also took walking tours after dinner
to observe conditions related to entertainment businesses and
safety.
Day Three, October 3: The panel started off by meeting informally
with members of the Duluth Progress Review Resource Group.
That was followed by three sector meetings to learn more about
progress and issues that still need to be addressed. Two sectors
aligned with top charrette recommendation topics: housing and
connectivity. An additional sector group focused on marketing
and branding (telling the Duluth story). Each sector meeting was
well-attended, and participants were ready with facts and insightful
observations. More than 50 local organizations were represented
(Appendix E). The panel also met with a group involved with the
arts. That evening, panel members attended a public celebration of
charrette progress and listened in on topical roundtable discussions
about future directions and the next implementation steps.
“Duluth is in position to compete with the
Boulders and Ashevilles. It offers the same
proximity to spectacular natural resources
and related recreational opportunities,
in addition to having a highly desirable
and walkable downtown with a variety
of places to live and have a business,
experience the arts, and linger over a
drink or good meal.”
The Progress Advisory Panel
The Progress Advisory Panel members toured the study area
and met with numerous community groups prior to developing
their recommendations.
Day Four, October 4: The panel members spent time digesting what
they had learned and beginning to crystallize their observations
about progress, the next set of strategic issues, and new opportunities. From there, they developed preliminary
ideas for panel recommendations that were presented at a media event. That was followed by a closing debriefing
with the Duluth Progress Review Resource Group and a meeting with representatives of St. Luke’s
Post-October Check-Up Visit: Panel members followed their Duluth visit with extensive exchanges of information
and observations via multiple conference calls and drafted detailed written recommendations for inclusion
in the progress advisory report. Individual draft recommendations were then consolidated by principal author
Jean Scott, and a complete draft report was reviewed by all team members. The draft report was next edited
by Ken Stapleton, Progress Advisory Panel Chair, and Dr. Charles Bohl, Director of the Knight Program in
Community Building at the University of Miami School of Architecture, who led the original Duluth Charrette
team in conjunction with Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. The graphic design and layout of the final report
were then completed at the University of Miami.
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