To Roger, the Mayor

Chester Knob Aug 16, 2024 9 Comments

Hi Roger,

I love Duluth. It’s amazing. I live downtown with a view of the lake and South Shore, a three-minute bike ride from a twice-daily swim in our grandmotherly lake. I talk to my kids about how we shower in her, cook with her, drink her, swim in her, fish in her, water our tomatoes.

I mean, Duluth Coffee Kitchen is right there. What a blessing.

I love Duluth in all it’s menace and beauty. I see it growing. I see it flourishing. And I see it floundering.

My boy and I bike around a lot. The other day we traversed the alley behind Tech Village. A new shipment of fentanyl has apparently arrived and they were lined up fifteen deep while a dude dispensed the goods. This evening, we biked down the same alley and enjoyed the sight of public fellatio.

This is our city. This is your city, Roger. Are you seeing this? Who is seeing this?

Every day there are more desperate addicts. I know them by sight and some by name.

There is a disaster happening. Where are you, Roger? Let’s not pretend that a politician can change such desperate lives. But where is the response? What is your plan? To disperse? Good luck. As long as the needs are met, they will keep arriving.

Regards,

Chester

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9 Comments

Devin Teig

about 4 months ago 

None of that happened. You're clearly lying. And it's not even a little bit believable. You should know that, because it's embarrassing.

PDD, wtf are you doing publishing this asinine nonsense?

Chester Knob

about 4 months ago 

Devin, I made it all up. There is currently nobody sleeping on top of the dumpster behind Lizzards. It's an illusion.

Ramos

about 4 months ago 

I agree that there are more desperate addicts than there used to be. Probably everywhere, not just Duluth -- but there are more here as well.

Dave Sorensen

about 4 months ago 

Whether or not this anecdote is true, and whether it was posted by a community advocate or a provocateur, let’s not forget -- the struggling people we see on the street are a symptom of bigger problems. They are not the problem. There are lots of wounded people out there who may never function as “productive citizens.” 

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan deinstitutionalized hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people. Most of hospitalized mentally ill patients at the time were released into communities, with disastrous effects. As mental illness combines with the opioid epidemic, the housing crisis, and poverty in general, the most vulnerable among us sometimes wind up doing their suffering in public, right in our faces. 

Thank goodness for Chum and the other nonprofits on the front lines of these crises. “Devil take the hindmost” is not the motto of a society worth living in.

Chester Knob

about 4 months ago 

Whether or not this anecdote is true, and whether it was posted by a community advocate or a provocateur ...

First, it seems like maybe you don't get out  much, Dave. I invite you downtown to hang out with my son and I, and walk the alleys. Stay a day, Dave. Let's see what kind of awesome things I can make you believe happen down here every day, all day. 

"Whether or not ..."? Dave, I want to tell you to crawl back in your hole.

Second: Are there any other options besides "community advocate" or "provocateur"?  Super curious. 

Does "concerned parent" work? How about "disgusted citizen"? I don't know ... maybe, "Guy tired of seeing people overdose and give blowjobs outside my window at noon"? Let's try on, "Human being who hates to see so much suffering"? Any of those work, Dave?

Chester Knob

about 4 months ago 

Thank goodness for Chum and the other nonprofits on the front lines of these crises.

Chum is the chief enabler of this crisis. How about we move Chum to Hunter's Park? Lakeside? Upper Chester?

Dave, can we move Chum to your neighborhood? That'll clean up downtown in a hurry!

Paul Lundgren

about 4 months ago 

With regard to Devin questioning why Perfect Duluth Day would publish this post, I'll just note as a moderator of the site that sometimes we do publish so-called "asinine nonsense." It happens. This is a community website that occasionally features opinions that run contrary to yours and mine. 

The longer explanation of what we publish and why is in the blog policies. But the heart of the matter is that sometimes people bicycle around town and see things they don't want to see, and sometimes other people go on websites and read things they don't want to read. It's pretty simple.

Chester Knob

about 4 months ago 

"But the heart of the matter is that sometimes people bicycle around town and see things they don't want to see, and sometimes other people go on websites and read things they don't want to read. It's pretty simple."

This is the heart? Maybe for people with low intelligence. But the reality is extremely complex.

City governments actively "contain" problems. I bought a glorious Victorian duplex in "inner city" Minneapolis with the hope that "the City" would invest, as well. Instead, it became public that my little neighborhood was considered a containment zone: open air dealing, no enforcement, etc.

"Social Services" like Chum, in concert with city governments, create little explosion zones. In Duluth, ground zero is Chum. Chum is largely to blame for the thick concentration of desperate addicts downtown. 

"Pretty simple." "Community website."

Devin was obviously being sarcastic, Paul. Can you tell I'm upset?

Paul Lundgren

about 4 months ago 

It's simple to see these problems; complex to deal with them.

It's complex to even discuss them. I can tell you are upset.

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