Hermantown is the only small town/city in Saint Louis County to grow not only in population but also commercially.
What’s special about this little town? It does not have the beautiful lake views like it’s bigger neighbor Duluth. Although, those views are only a short drive away. As a matter of fact, if you aren’t familiar with the area, you would not even know when you drive over the border.
Many of the commercial, as well as, residential contractors in the area work in both towns. The housing marketing is similar starter homes up through high price homes.
There is a difference in crime though. Yes, of course, Duluth is the bigger town, so one would expect that there would be more crime. But, per capita there is way more crime in Duluth.
Jobs and employment is much harder to track, as there are people in both towns that cross borders for employment. As well as travel to other near by towns.
Culturally the two neighboring towns are similar. So what’s the difference? Why is Hermantown growing residentially as well as commercially? And Duluth remains stagnant. Part of the answer is politics.
The Duluth City Council and Mayor appear to be controlled by special interest groups. Tourism industry, nonprofits, and (political theology) think CHUM, and a few others.
Back to Hermantown’s success: It’s really simple, their Council and Mayor aren’t run by special interest organizations. They simply think about what’s best for their town and community.
This is not meant to run down Duluth and praise Hermantown. It’s just the way it is. The voters put whom they choose in office, and they get the results of those votes.
Couple of questions that I have is which model of governance is better? And which is sustainable?
Unfortunately with the Covid-19 we are going to know the answers to these questions much sooner than any of us want.
