Mayor Larson Delivers “State of the City” Address

DULUTH, Minn. — Duluth Mayor Emily Larson gave her state of the City address earlier this evening.

It was held at the West Theater in West Duluth in front of about 150 people.

The speech was also live streamed on the city’s Facebook page.

The mayor covered a broad range of topics which she believes need to be addressed.

Larson has served as Duluth’s mayor for the past seven years.

She’s running for another term, with the election coming up this fall.

She listed some of the topics she says will prioritize this year.

“The issues Duluth cares about are many and huge –housing, childcare, public safety, parks places to play spots and get outside, reliable broadband, good streets, job growth lead free pipes,” Larson said.

Larson says that when she took office in 2016, just two miles of roads a year were being replaced.

In 2022, Larson says 17 miles of road were replaced, crediting the dedicated street repair fund the city created, which now has 10 million dollars a year for the next 25 years.

With the State of the City address taking place in West Duluth, the Mayor mentioned a site that has been an eyesore and a challenge for some time and what the city has been doing to change that situation.

“The old Kmart site desperately needs to be redeveloped in a way that connects rather than divides the business district,” Larson said. “Finding the right partner to develop this site is a top city priority, and the story of the West Theater and West Duluth make me hopeful that our intention and persistence will pay off.”

The mayor also spoke of a project that in its early stages, removing lead water pipes from more than six thousand households in the city.