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Looking at 2023 while moving forward to the next four years, I want to honor my elders as an African American woman serving in a leadership role as president of the Duluth City Council. I cherish the legacy of being my ancestors’ wildest dreams. I am honored to have received overwhelming support for reelection in November from my community in District Five and from valued supporters who live and work in Duluth. They continue to motivate and challenge me to do the work that makes a difference for everyone.
Thank you to my council colleagues and city staff for giving me the grace, respect, and patience to lead authentically. As a council body, we have been focused on getting the work done and allowing the community to help shape policies, practices, and programming that have made a real difference in neighborhoods for today and into the future.
Of course, there is always more work to do and often not enough time or resources to do it all. We do our best to make positive impacts and outcomes as individuals and as a body for our Duluth community. I believe a community will prosper as a whole when we are all walking on even ground.
Looking ahead to the next four years, I will continue to shape policies that support the day-to-day work that impacts people’s lives, and I will fight for initiatives specific to the 5th District. I will foster change that builds strong neighborhoods to enrich children, families, and individuals in western Duluth, building healthy neighborhoods with good safety nets for everyone, including spaces for community connections, with indoor exercise and child care. The Spirit Valley Center for Youth and Community Wellness project is an example.
Community-impact development begins with community. We need transformative solutions to raise up the 5th District business corridor to become a thriving economic tax base that will support our city as a whole.
The western Duluth business corridor is vitally important to the economic well-being of the city and has, in the past, yielded the fourth-highest tax base revenue in Duluth. In the past few years, the corridor has become less desirable and unsafe due to decreased economic investments, aging infrastructure, and the 2012 flood. With support from the city and with the collaboration of the community, nonprofits, businesses, and stakeholders, the western Duluth business corridor can be transformed to be thriving and an influence on the community again.
At our last council meeting in December, I authored Resolution 23-1011 in support of planning for the reimagined Western Duluth Business Corridor and Spirit Valley Center for Youth and Community Wellness project — that unanimously passed the City Council — to reinvest, plan and implement transformative change in District 5.
The next four years will bring challenges and successes. I am prepared to continue putting western Duluth first, listening to community needs, leading and supporting efforts that positively impact the lives of people I serve in District 5, and ensuring that we as a whole city move collectively into the future, making a difference together for everyone by putting my experience to work.
Janet Kennedy represents District 5 in western Duluth and served this year as Duluth City Council president. She wrote this at the invitation of the News Tribune Opinion page.
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