Trashy ways

Now that much of the snow has melted, have you noticed all the litter along the roadways?

Instead of shaking your head and complaining, try this:

When you head out for a walk, grab a bag and maybe some work gloves and pick up some of that trash along the way. Toss it in a public trash receptacle or your own receptable when you get home. For extra credit recycle those cans and plastic.

Just image the difference if an army of us did this!

So what’s this got to do with business or consumer issues?

A community that cares enough to keep the streetscape clean and well kempt is more attractive to businesses.

More importantly, it makes for a more desirable place to live, one that’s safer for children, animals and the environment. It builds community pride and leads to more efforts to spiff-up the neighborhood.

And imagine, it can all start with picking up some trash.
 

Posted by: Renalls on 3/17/2010 at 12:25 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Tags: business environment, litter community quality of life

Want to go to Russia?

If you're in business in the Duluth area and always had a hankering to visit Russia, here's your chance.

A few openings remain with the Duluth business delegation headed in June to Petrozavodsk, Russia, Duluth's sister city.

Last year, Petrozavodsk Mayor Nikolay Levin invited a business delegation from Duluth to visit his city so both cities could become aware of economic opportunites that would benefit them both.

The deadline to be added to the delegation is April 1. The four- to five-person delegation will be in Petrozavodsk June 21 to 27. Delegates must pay their own way, about $2,600 for air fare, train tickets in Russia, hotel, some meals, their visas and a delegation fee.

Interested? Then call Melissa Kadlec, executive director of Duluth Sister Cities International at 727-8375 before April 1.

Posted by: Candace Renalls on 3/16/2010 at 12:41 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink

Tags: business, duluth, petrozavodsk, sister cities

Starstruck in Duluth

It wasn’t George Clooney, Harrison Ford or a Dylan sighting that had stopped me in my tracks at the big GeaCom shindig down at the DECC.

Influencial people were gathering to celebrate Phrazer, the Duluth company’s multilingual medical communications device headed for production. It’s gonna be big, really big, it appears.

Anyway, during the press conference, someone announced that the company’s team of advisers were present – scientists, doctors, technical people. Among them was Art Fry, the inventor of the Post-it Note.

Did he say the Post-it Note inventor?

Instantly alert, I searched the crowd but failed to pick him out.

My mind was racing. What would life be without those handy little notes that stick to just about anything without doing damage? It was hard to remember back to life before the Post-it Note. My God, we had to attach notes with tape, paper clips and pins.

I had so many questions. How did it come about? Did he know his invention would become this big. And… I wanted to thank him.

After the official press conference wound up, the unofficial one began. That’s when TV people get individual camera time with key people, and those key people are usually quick to oblige them – first.

During this print-reporter-reduced-to-second-class-media-status period, I was biding my time. The PR guy steered me to various advisers whom I really didn’t need to interview for my story.

“… and this is Art Fry,” the PR guy said, referring to a kindly looking older gent.

“The man who invented the Post-it Note? I asked eagerly.

It was indeed. I zoomed in on my target.

“Thank you SO MUCH for inventing the Post-it Note,” I gushed.

Apparently he had been thanked before, hundreds of times.

“Most newspaper people think I did it for them,” he said, matter-of-factly.

Undaunted, I persisted.

I asked how the former 3M scientist came to create the sticky little notes, what it was like seeing his invention take off and did it make him rich?

Turns out, he’s from Duluth. I was even more thrilled.

He tried to steer the conversation to GeaCom’s revolutionary device which he says has endless applications. But I kept getting back to the Post-it Note until I felt I had enough for a story. Through it all, he patiently answered by questions. Questions he probably had been asked hundreds of times since sales of the Post-it Notes took off in 1980.

Before we parted, I couldn’t resist. I thanked him yet again for creating those handy little notes.

(The story that resulted ran in Monday's Duluth News Tribune).

Posted by: Candace Renalls on 3/15/2010 at 1:15 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink

Tags: 3m, art fry, duluth, geacom, invention, post-it note

The Pickle Bill

Well, now, this one's for a very select audience.

Pickling-for-profit just got easier in Wisconsin.

Thanks to a new state law, People who prepare and can pickles at home and sell them at farmers markets, bazaars and other community events in Wisconsin no longer need to have a license.

The new law applies to those who can pickles, jams, jellies and salsa and take in less than $5,000 a year from the sales.

When selling their goods, these pickle-packing entrepreneurs still must display a sign saying their canned goods are homemade and not subject to state inspection. And they need to label each jar with the name of the preparer, date of canning and the list of ingredients.

The new law even outs the playing field with Minnesota's homegrown picklers. If they take in less than $5,000 a year in gross receipts, they don't have to get a license, either. But the license break in Minnesota applies to more foods that are not considered potentially hazardous: cakes, cookies, fruit pies, breads, maple syrup and lefse.

Posted by: Candace Renalls on 3/14/2010 at 5:08 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Tags: canning, food, pickles, wisconsin

Sounding off about utility rate hikes

Mad about Minnesota Power’s requested rate increase?

Well, here’s your chance to speak your mind… to an administrative law judge who will actually listen to you.

Public hearings — necessary before a decision is reached on a rate request — have been scheduled for April 13 in Eveleth and April 14 in Duluth, among the areas served by the Duluth-based electric utility.

Minnesota Power filed the request with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission in St. Paul in November. It's seeking an $81 million increase which works out to be a sizable 18.9 increase for customers.

For the average customer using 755 kilowatt hours and a monthly $65 bill, that would be a $13 increase. For a small business using 2,600 kilowatt hours per month, that would be a about $44 more.

But it’s the price we pay for cleaner, greener energy, company officials say. 

They say the increase is needed to pay for the company’s state-mandated switch to more renewable energy sources and to pay for improvements already made. That includes the transmission line the company acquired to bring wind-generated electricity to the region from North Dakota. It includes upgrades made to Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset which nearly eliminated pollutants entirely.

However, if it seems Minnesota Power just raised their rates, you’d be right.

This latest request followed a 4.1 percent rate increase in 2008, the company’s first rate hike in 14 years. And while the latest request is pending, Minnesota Power was allowed to raise rates 11 percent beginning Jan. 1.

A decision on the permanent 18.9 percent rate hike request will come in November and go into effect in 2011.

Here’s the complete public hearings schedule:
Eveleth: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. April 13, Eveleth Range Reecreation and Civic Center, 901 Hat Trick Ave.
Duluth: 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. April 14, The Inn on Lake Superior, 350 Canal Park Drive.
Grand Rapids: 7 p.m. April 21, Itasca Community College, 1851 E. Highway 169
Little Falls: 7 p.m., April 22, Morrison County Government Center, 213 First Ave. S.E.

Posted by: Candace Renalls on 3/12/2010 at 1:09 PM | Comments (10) | Permalink

Tags: consumer, electric, energy, minnesota power

Are you a target for an IRS audit?

Nobody wants an IRS audit.

But the IRS is doing more audits these days to feed the shrinking federal coffers. And your chances are much greater than the average working stiff if you own your own business or you receive 1099 income, says Clark Howard, this biz blogger’s favorite consumer know-it-all.

“You have like a bullseye on your back with the IRS thinking you’re not going to report everything, or you have some side income even though you have a regular job,” Howard said recently on his Headline News network program.

So what can you do to protect yourself?

“Keep meticulous records,” Howard says. “Records are what protect you in the event you get hit with an audit.”

He says keep a separate bank account for your business and label deductions clearly. And stay clear of “miscellaneous” expenses which auditors tend to question.

If you do get audited, he says stick to the facts. If the IRS is after a lot of money from you, hire a professional to deal with them for you.

“You don’t communicate with the IRS in that kind of circumstance,” he says. 
 

Posted by: Candace Renalls on 3/11/2010 at 12:25 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Tags: finance, income tax, irs

Could offices at a converted jail be filled?

When the Twin Cities buyers of the old St. Louis County Jail said they were looking to convert the Duluth jail to office space, I set out to find out if more office space was even needed downtown.

The Wieland Block, which had added 65,000 square feet to the market, was about 40 percent leased. More space had opened up at the Wells Fargo Building. And the recession had probably led to more vacated space, giving the advantage to prospective tenants, I figured.

But the story took a different direction when I found out no solid statistics existed on office vacancy rates in Duluth. It had been estimates all along. But that would change by summer. A collaborative effort was underway to make regular market reports a reality.

That became the story.

But I did find out a few things along the way about the need -- or lack thereof -- for more office space downtown. For that, we'll use some estimates:

In turns out, Duluth hasn't seen the ideal 10 percent office vacancy rate downtown since the mid-1990s. Considered good, 10 percent is a balanced market, giving neither property owner nor tenant the advantage.

The current estimated 15 to 16 percent office vacancy rate is a soft market, which gives the tenant the advantage.

"At 15 percent there's obviously some room to improve, to get space filled up, but it's not horrible," said Kathy Marinac, president of the Building Owners and Managers Association in Duluth.

But can downtown absorb even more?

It really depends," Marinac said. "We have some inventory here to fill. But it may be that the jail would be geared more to government tenants. It really depends on how much they're planning to do. It may serve a certain niche where it's located, because it's not on Superior Street, the main area for office space. 

Steve LaFlamme, president of Oneida Realty, saw possible success with office space at the old jail, located on Second Street behind the St. Louis County Courthouse and federal building.

"That's a unique setting up there," he said. "It all depends on what it looks like. It's very unique. It may have a draw for a specific kind of user. It may very well have a demand, all its own."

The big issue would be parking, he said.

"The first thing they'll (tenants) want is parking," LaFlamme said. "That would be my biggest question. It's a unique enough location and has historical interest and value. It's a unique product, but the parking would be the question."

Posted by: Candace Renalls on 3/10/2010 at 12:45 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Tags: business, duluth, jail, office vacancy