Renting out the NorShor as a strip club is like...tarting up your own grandmother and sending her out on the street to earn money. 

In the article, the strip club owner says they're spending thousands of dollars to bring the NorShor up to code (and HOW many years have they been saying this??). Yeah, sure... and yet somehow they missed the fact that there were people living in the building.

Once their liquor license is yanked they'll have all sorts of extra room.

Once found a homeless dude living in my friend's dank old basement. No idea how he got in, but he had made a cozy "nest" out of their laundry.  Missing your favorite shirt awhile? Or your dog won't stop barking at empty boxes in the corner? You might be a landlord too.

I'd like to live in the basement of Teattro Zuccone!

...Finally, there is hope that this once grand theater will emerge from the cesspool and be what it could be ... and once was ... Please ... someone ... save this place.

My giant heart is broken over this ... all of it.  All over and all around.  The sensationalism, the uneven hand of justice, the mockery of human decency, the damaged reputations, the seediness, the poverty, the brokenness and ... just all of it. I can't even see the humor of Scotty's Monkey comment today (although I will verify it's true).  

I thought I might stop caring about that place some time, but apparently it still hasn't happened yet.  Somebody throw me a bone here, or a life preserver, or something, I'm sinking.  Don't even know if I want to open the paper anymore.

I wonder how much Dr Ringsred wants for the place. Has that been the sticking point with potential investors, that his price is so high?? When the conversation comes up of what you would do if you won the lottery, I always say that I would buy and renovate the NorShor. And I would have the Brian Jonestown Massacre play opening night. And I would open up the balcony again. And people would love me and I would have a really good looking, smart, red haired girlfriend that wanted to drink beer with me all day.

OH...I would also put back up that big metal tower that used to be on top. You can see the pictures on News Tribune Attic.

This post should be renamed this:

"HOLY SHIT THERE ARE POOR PEOPLE IN DULUTH"

Why are you attacking me? The title of this post is called "mole people in duluth". So people who seek warmth and shelter underground should be named "moles"? Why couldn't the post say "homeless people seeking shelter at the norshor"? 

Craig,
For not being and "elitist cliff dweller", you sure spend enough time on our blog....btw, is there a good superior blog? Awww... guess not...Too bad cause I'd love to see what's @ the Belgian Club tonight? I know, maybe we could go to the Palace for a show.(apologies to Ted Pellman and others efforts to save that great old building). FYI I don't know a PDD'er who doesn't love Superior despite your repeated attempts to defile it. Except for the the 25 mph speed limit part...call us when your not driving with a permit and get your real license.

lol

Or a cliff dweller, or whatever it is.

Craig, if you're serious...which I doubt ... then DO something about it...The "big picture" is that we're all in this together ... duluth superior folk rock metal disco glam slam dixie polka softcore hardcore emo mathrock if we ALL support each other then we ALL get supported. I for one am really glad you focus on metal...I think it's been underserved by "the scene" and not-so-secretly sometimes wish I was in a metal power trio. Just do what you do and people (from both sides of the bay) will support you. Now, I'm done threadjacking...sorry c-freak.

Craig's offensively provincial attitude aside (what's with the bit about "the influx from Chicago" anyway? Let's not get into that old racist tripe), he has some good points. First of all, why are people faulting a) homeless people who have nowhere else to go in Duluth to avoid freezing, and b) Eric Ringsred, who has enough of a heart to turn a blind eye to squatters desperate enough to ignore his numerous admonitions to them not to sleep there? I don't know if anyone on this board has noticed, but we have a full-blown economic crisis going on here, with people losing jobs and losing their homes right and left. Such radicals as the Sheriff of Cook County (Chicago), Illinois have encouraged people evicted from their homes to squat "illegally." 

Today's News Trib carries an article interviewing Dave Anderson, former owner of Browser's internet cafe, who was one of the squatters. These are not just hopeless bums. They are down-on-their-luck folks like the rest of us. The real criminal in this situation is the economic system that allows homelessness to exist where there is so much vacant housing, that puts private property over the needs of human beings and uses minor "safety" statutes to deny the immediate needs of squatters and force them into danger from exposure.

Want a solution? Luxury property owners could offer to put up all the "mole people" and the rest of Duluth's homeless population in the unoccupied condos atop the new Sheraton or in The Ledges free of charge or on a sliding scale tied to their level of employment and wages. I doubt you would have too many of them refuse the offer.

@ RedIguana: "First of all, why are people faulting a) homeless people who have nowhere else to go in Duluth to avoid freezing, and b) Eric Ringsred, who has enough of a heart to turn a blind eye to squatters desperate enough to ignore his numerous admonitions to them not to sleep there?"

RedIguana, you must be reading something in the above comments I'm not seeing. I don't read that people are faulting the homeless for finding shelter where they can, or even Eric Ringsred for turning a blind eye to people living in Temple Opera's basement. I think people are faulting Eric more for letting the Norshor go to seed like he has, and are expressing that frustration on this thread. As someone who actually rents an office in the Temple Opera, I'd like the 2 guys to stay in that bldg as perhaps caretakers, but Eric does have to work with the city to make sure they are safe. It would suck if there was a fire and these two guys burned to a crisp b/c they couldn't get out and no one knew they  were there. BTW, I've known David Anderson for the past 10 years, a nice, nice guy, it was sad to hear he's fallen on hard times and to read about it on the front page of today's paper. His experience should be a lesson to all of us -- there but for the grace of god. . .

The "lol" was for you, toolbox.

okay, first of all "mole people" refers to a book by that name that was all about homeless people in NYC. it is not a joke, and is not derogatory. it's what the people who *lived* in the tunnels in NYC called *themselves.* so. no one is making fun of anyone. 

also, Dave Anderson has been suffering with his alcoholism for years now, as anyone who's been a downtown dweller knows, and i think we knew that one way or another we would know at least one of the people ER's allowed to live down there. there have been people on this board who have lived illegally in the Temple Building in the past, and i considered it myself back when i had an office there and even less $ than i have now. 

i actually thought it might be a different alcoholic that many of us know. 

in any case, Craig, i don't know if you're for real or what, but you seem to have a real difficulty in reading things without skewing them through a really negative filter. 

in fact, i don't know why i'm even bothering to speak up to you at all. it's obvious you are far from interested in real conversation or a real dialogue. 

what's frustrating is that the homeless thing is probably entrenching ER even more in his me-against-the-world attitude. which does the building no favors. the saddest thing in the world is the number of people in the poll on the DNT site that call for the place to be torn down, even *now*. WTF, people? 

because of the publicity, hopefully these guys will find a place. 

cool about the Cook Co Sheriff, rediguana. i hope we see more people simply refusing to leave their homes when they've been booted. it's unfortunate that the paper decided to focus on the "get them out of there" side of things, instead of doing something to get them housing.