I'd Like to Say…

I was  astounded at the city council meeting last Monday when they talked about whether to keep the rental licensing ordinance on the books. It’s too expensive to enforce, they said.

Well good grief, they couldn’t have figured that out back when the whole town was arguing about the ordinance? In fact, the landlords offered that very point to ponder. Their motive was purely selfish, of course; none of the landlords want more restrictions that will force them to keep their properties in good shape.

But the council of that time was determined to put something in place to protect renters, and to protect the city’s housing stock. It was a good plan. It went through hearings and debate and despite landlords’ objections, it was passed.

And there it sat.

Nothing’s been done, evidently, to see that it’s enforced. Now, that’s just plain stupid. If something is important enough to weather the storms of debate and still get approved, then it’s important enough to budget for. We have a building inspector who’s here only one day a week. Budget for two. A city that has a general fund balance equal to six or eight months of operating expenses, shouldn’t have to worry about that extra day. It’s all well and good to be conservative and careful about how the money is spent, but what good is a wad of money in the bank when there are needs not being addressed?

This isn’t to say that there aren’t good landlords who provide good units. But there ARE those who aren’t. Just ask Jim Rich, the building inspector. Just look at some of the photos he’s taken. Some of them are enough to curdle your coffee.

If this council decides to eliminate the rental ordinance, they’ll make the city look absolutely foolish, and they’ll do a disservice to the many people who have to live in rented spaces. Accountability is always a good thing, and that’s what this ordinance has created for landlords. The question shouldn’t be whether to keep the ordinance; it should be how much needs to be budgeted to make it work.

I have to wonder what the crowds would have been like if they announced ahead of time that a steam train was arriving in Two Harbors on Aug. 24. As it was, the only warning people had was a plume of smoke on the horizon, and a breathy steam whistle as it entered town–but there was a waiting party when it arrived at the depot.

I’d never "chased" a steam train before. I guess I really didn’t chase this one. My friend Todd Lindahl did. He drove to Duluth, watched it take off, stopped along the way to watch it pass, and eventually beat it to town in order to watch as it climbed the back route to turn around on the wye-track.

He’s the one who told me the train was arriving, and the first thing I thought was "photos for the paper!" So, acting on his advice, I headed for a "secret site" and waited. I have to say, it was a thrill to first hear it, then see the smoke, and then catch that first glimpse as it rounded the curve of track.

I know steam trains are dirty and smelly and noisy–but they’re so romantic! All that steam and smoke and hissing makes it seem more alive, somehow, than a diesel.

I listened to some of the guys talking, and one who had been in a steam locomotive cab said there’s nothing that can compare with grabbing the throttle, pulling back, and feeling the resonse, as from a living creature. I can only imagine.

The best part is that the locomotive will be making a trip to Two Harbors from Duluth the last three weekends in September and first weekend in October. Anyone with a camera can enjoy the view. Hopefully, enough people will also enjoy the ride so that it makes it worthwhile for the Lake Superior Railroad Museum to schedule the runs.

I never get tired watching ore boats arrive in port. I have a feeling I’d never tire of steam trains, either.

Aug. 25, 2007

The DNR archaeologists finished their second week of digging down at Whiskey Row, Two Harbors’ original townsite. Their first week was last month. The third week will be next month. I wish they’d just come and stay, but they have other projects, they say, and their superiors want them to cover all of them.

What’s disappointing is that they haven’t found very much. Oh, at first it was exciting: pieces of old shoes, the birch bark inner soles of those shoes, pieces of porcelain and the bowls, stems and bases of cordial glasses. But that’s all it’s been, and it’s been in fits and starts. What they need is a privy, or a trash site of some sort, where they can examine all kinds of artifacts that could help interpret those years of 1883-85.

What makes this site so unique is that it was covered over, first by wood and then be concrete, for over 100 years. Almost as soon as the property was sold and the townsite abandoned (everyone moved up to where the town is now) the cover was laid down for coal storage. Nothing has been disturbed. No greedy developer (yes, Sam Cave, that means you and others like you) to dig things up and destroy the historic evidence forever.

Everyone figures this should mean that somewhere on that site will be a treasure trove of artifacts. Like all buried treasure, however, it’s proving elusive.

For photos of Whiskey Row, check the photo galleries at the newspaper site (www.twoharborsmn.com) or my own site here at areaphotos, or at www.flickr.com, where I have an account under the name lablover47.

If I could figure out what the word "blog" means, I might know better what to do with it. I do already have one over on wunderground, and I still look at it with some suspicion, like a visitor who surely must have a hidden agenda. What are these things FOR, except for people to talk to themselves?

I can do that, though. I’m never at a loss for words–which is a good thing, since I write for a newspaper, and have to produce, among other things, a weekly column. Do you have any idea how hard it can be to come up with something interesting week after week, without repeating yourself? (I have a guideline, though. If I can’t remember whether I wrote about something, I figure no one else can, either.)

What I’ll enjoy most, I think, is posting some of the photos I take around town, and then maybe telling more of the story about them here. Unless they speak for themselves, of course, and since they’re my photos, they probably do. Speak. Haha.

What I’m taking forever to say is: this is my first blog entry here, but I’ll be back. Maybe someone will actually read it, and if they don’t wonder why I ever bothered, they might even answer. You suppose?