Wendy Durrwachter for Duluth City Council District 1

08/10/2026

As a working class citizen in Duluth, it is unsustainable to find time to create a substack. So, for anyone interested in knowing my take on issues, I'll start posting my speeches from council meetings. I write them out now to ensure that I will be clear and concise. My speech from the last council meeting on the topic of ballot measures and Lester Golf, I'll share it here:

🌱 I made a statement last Thursday that became widely circulated and misconstrued in some quarters. I’d like to clarify that statement, in fact, re-read that statement to put the matter to rest, due to the fact that, individuals in this room misconstrued that statement and have made the erroneous claim that I was attacking city staff.

Let me say that I have nothing but the utmost respect for all hired staff, dedicated individuals contributing their considerable talents daily within the walls of city hall. I particularly have respect for the staff that are continuing to do their jobs, fulfilling their strong commitment to this city, in what has been reported as being an increasingly challenging environment in the last two years, significantly marked by the unfortunate and early departure of previous City Administrator Matt Staehling. I fully recognize how much we as a community need these valued employees and their unique capabilities to stay the course.

To be clear, the mayor is the elected who is at the top of the chain of command. The buck stops there. That is what I addressed on Thursday. So, I am going to read my statement again, so that the public may reflect further and come to their own conclusions, rather than being led by the inaccurate statements, of a Councilor who disagrees with me on this and many other matters. In fact, I think you’ll see that my statement is a clarification that actually shifts the ownership - of originating policy from the staff - to where it actually is, to the highest ranking elected.

“I’d like to address the reality of the chain of command. My understanding is that the city administrator takes her direction from the mayor. Every department head and employee then takes direction from the city administration. The City Attorney, however, takes direction from the mayor.

The CAO and City Attorney both report directly to the mayor. The city attorney does not report to the CAO. All other department heads report to the CAO. If either the CAO or the City Attorney refused to follow a directive from the mayor, they could be guilty of insubordination.”

The purpose of the ballot initiative is to provide an additional check and balance on our elected officials. When the public trusts its elected officials, they have no interest in working to create a ballot initiative. The public turns to creating a ballot initiative ONLY when their electeds have eroded their trust.

When the mayor and a city councilor are on public record opposing Ballot Initiatives pertaining to any and all subjects, and the petitioning public experiences a delay, caused by a large and significant error in counting those signatures - thereby interrupting the verification process until the intervention of a judge’s order mandated that completion – it is inconceivable to expect the public to not question whether or not, (and I certainly hope not,) top city leadership with a demonstrated motive was at all actively or passively complicit in negatively influencing the path intended to bring the initiative in question to the ballot - which thus would enable Duluth’s registered voters to decide for themselves a question that 4,000 citizens have asked to be placed on the ballot.

As city councilors we are legally obliged to follow the Duluth City Charter, which states that we should vote to approve to put the ordinances on the ballot. We are not obliged to follow speculation about case law that may or may not pertain to our specific situation, yet to be determined by a judge. That is why I will be voting no on the first resolution (that denies putting the ordinances on the ballot), and I will be voting yes on the second resolution which calls to put the ordinance questions on the ballot.🌱

08/10/2026

This video sums up why I’m supporting Kris Eilers in the primary on Tuesday

08/03/2026

It was an honor and joy to have breakfast with Keith Ellison this morning! He has been a strong champion for Minnesotans and is up for reelection this November 3rd. I appreciated getting a chance to thank him for his statement supporting keeping Duluth’s power company out of the hands of private equity. And I also am thankful for his strong stance continually fighting to enforce that the feds uphold the constitution, especially in fighting the illegal ICE raids this past winter. Please join in my support for him as he campaigns to the finish line!

If you would like a link to donate:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ellisonag

08/01/2026

I appreciate you, Lauren! And I agree 💯%! What we are experiencing in Duluth is greatly amplified in certain wonderful areas of the Twin Cites, Seattle, Vancouver, and all U.S. cities. The answer is a wholistic approach that changes systems and paradigms within our thinking to elevate all to thrive, so that we can all feel comfortable together in our community.

Perhaps the downtown problem in Duluth is a PR problem!

“I just watched the thoughtful reporting by Northern News Now on the state of downtown Duluth. I feel a need to weigh in as a small business owner and resident of downtown. I’ve also worked and lived in other major downtowns in this country. A few thoughts:

1. Downtown Duluth is an urban center that serves a large portion of MN and WI. All urban centers in the US struggle with homelessness, drug use, cleanliness and crime. All urban centers in the US go through economic and environmental ebbs and flows. What differentiates downtowns that recover from ebbs quickly is a willingness to act, public/private partnerships, and engagement from citizens to hold elected officials and nonprofits accountable to turnaround plans

2. While there are many gaps that need to be closed, housing is the number one priority. As mentioned in the NNN piece, converting the abundant unoccupied office space to residences at all income levels is how Fargo, ND has maintained a vital downtown. Bringing residents to this area increases revenue for public, private and non-profit organizations that help reduce crime, increase cleanliness and create new jobs. This ultimately creates a virtuous cycle of new residents, new jobs and growth. A rising tide lifts all boats

3. Mentioned briefly at the end of the second NNN segment – there is a plan that addresses housing and other gaps called Imagine Downtown. If you’re not familiar, the Downtown Duluth organization worked with a third party consulting firm to assess what could be done to elevate downtown. Quite a bit of money and stakeholder time was invested in this assessment, which was completed over a year ago and created a list of 50+ projects, small and large that involve public, private and nonprofit organizations. While there has been some progress, there has not been enough. The assessment is growing stale.

I believe there needs to be a significant focus on the Imagine Downtown project, and that the Downtown Duluth organization’s highest priority should be leading the work in partnership with other public, private and nonprofit organizations. The city council recently voted on a measure to formalize some related work with DEDA, which falls short of addressing the more comprehensive plan. This is a bureaucratic, analysis paralysis, “planning to plan” effort with very little meaning. The council, and the mayor, need to formalize and fund this work… and the Downtown Duluth organization, who is funded by membership fees, needs to be advocating for its members by pushing for its implementation. The investment has already been made, let’s move forward.

I appreciate Eddie Carmodys Gleeson's comments at the end of his interview… downtown Duluth is special. This area is beautiful and we are the gateway to the North Shore. For those citizens who have written-off downtown, who think it’s someone else’s problem… it’s yours too. Because our downtown is so tied to the region (geographically, through services like hospitals, with tourism, etc.), an economic downturn impacts the whole region. Whether you like it or not, you’re paying for it in some way. Through higher taxes, less police presence in other areas, less money for infrastructure repairs and improvements – you pay. So you can’t just ignore downtown and think it doesn’t impact you.

What can you do? If you’re a member of the Downtown Duluth organization, push leadership and the board to make the Imagine Downtown work the highest priority. If you’re a citizen who may or may not live or work downtown, take a sense of ownership and push your councilperson to prioritize any work that puts housing development first. Please support local businesses, especially those downtown. Come see us, we’d love to tell you more about why we believe downtown Duluth is worth your investment.”
-Lauren Aldinger

“Things have changed.” Frustrations over downtown Duluth crime, drug use and disorder reach a boiling point. Here’s part 2 of my Northern News Now special report. Link to the full story in comments below ⬇️

07/29/2026

In this interview, our mayor is claiming that the chain of command at city hall is not actually the chain of command. Does he not really know or is he trying to obscure this from the public?

Also, he claims that this debate should go in front of the charter commission. This debate has NO BUSINESS being in front of the charter commission. It gets decided by a judge. The charter commission is in charge of CHANGING THE DULUTH CHARTER, full stop. Do not let this mayor fool you!!!

A 7 to 2 decision in Monday's Duluth City Council meeting means residents will no longer be able to vote on the development of the Lester Park Golf Course in November.

07/24/2026

https://www.wdio.com/top-stories/crowd-applauds-question-about-uncounted-lester-park-signatures/

The Duluth City Council meeting tabled the Lester Park Golf Course issue until Monday, following a tense meeting Thursday evening.

07/23/2026

FYI, a special meeting on Lester Golf Course is happening tonight