A tour of the nearly completed Duluth Entertain-ment Convention Center arena expansion Monday brought Gov. Tim Pawlenty together for a walk-through of the facility with his political rivals.
The Republican governor and possible presidential contender acknowledged years of delay on the project due to bonding-bill sparring with DFL legislators, but said the final outcome was worth it.
"That's the nature of the democratic process, and you look at the result. It's well worth the effort," he told the News Tribune on the tour. "It [the new arena] has a magnetizing effect to draw people here for events -- tourists of all kinds -- not just for hockey. And that helps the economy. And the economy needs all the help it can get right now."
Told the governor's remarks were reminiscent of her own pitch for the arena, DFL state Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon of Duluth quipped: "He's heard my speech enough."
Dan Russell, the DECC's executive director, led the hard-hat wearing group that included Duluth Mayor Don Ness, Chamber of Commerce President David Ross and other dignitaries, his verbal commentary filling in gaps where walls and floors were yet to be completed.
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As earthmovers removed a dirt base at the floor of the arena to prepare for laying concrete, Russell described the finishing touches on what will be state-of-the-art luxury suites, concession booths and team locker rooms and training areas.
"We don't want it to be so good that you beat the Gophers," Pawlenty said of future hockey matches between the University of Minnesota Duluth and the Twin Cities campus.
Russell picked up that spirit of rivalry, inviting Ness and Pawlenty on the ice at its projected opening at the end of this year, leading the governor to respond: "We'll have a shooting contest for [local government aid]."
In contrast to the cold weather inside and outside the under-construction arena, Pawlenty's jokes were met warmly.
The arena was first included in a bonding bill in 2006, after Pawlenty conditioned his support on Duluth's passage of a restaurant food and beverage tax. It passed, but the DECC expansion failed to make the bonding bill, as it did two more years before finally prevailing in 2008. By then the state's share of the price tag had risen from $33.5 million to $40 million.
In the walk-through, both Pawlenty and local DFL leaders said the expansion would be an economic boon for Duluth, which now has to turn away conventions and events that are too large for its current facilities.
