Duluth’s Downtown Task Force recommends: safety, activation, investment and vision

Mayor Larson’s Downtown Task Force announced recommendations in a news conference today. This was after examining the needs of the Downtown neighborhood since April of 2022. The task force, is comprised of various business and nonprofit leaders, as well as government staff and officials from both the City and the County. They were tasked with providing recommendations in four key areas: safety, activation, investment and vision.

“We picked those topics specifically because each of them are an important part of a vibrant downtown, and each of them play on the other. A more active downtown is a safer downtown,” says Mayor Emily Larson.

Without a doubt every resident wants a safe place to go and fun things to do. The Task Force is highly focused on public safety for those in the community.

 “14 of our 27 recommendations focus on safety. I won’t go through them all, but here are a few of my the ones that really stuck out to me and ones that I’m really proud of to provide quicker response time in our criminal justice process. We added a city prosecutor. We had an increased focus on chronic offenders to hold them accountable,” says Roz Randorf, City Councilperson.

Some of the safety recommendations that were made:

*Faster turnaround time in the criminal justice process

*Increase the mental health court program

*Pushing an increase in mental health services and beds in Minnesota.

*Afford more housing options for people downtown who are without homes.

To learn more about the Task Force and the full list of recommendations, click here: https://duluthmn.gov/mayor/downtown-task-force/