What if the main premise for economic development in Northeastern Minnesota is wrong? What if people do not want to live in God's country?

On several occasions during the past few years I have winter vacationed in Florida. Twice I found myself in the center of a flock of Snow Birds where the conversation quickly turned to weather. For a Duluthian this is an opportunity to dominate the conversation — something Norwegians rarely do. Maybe it made me appear non-Norwegian, but I jumped right in and one-upped everyone.

"Yuh gotta be tough to live in Northern Minnesota," I said. "Cold — it is so cold … and mosquitoes — in Duluth mosquitoes are bigger than chickens. They're our state birds."

Maybe now, however, now that I'm in this public position after more than 30 years in the private sector, I'll need to tone down my rhetoric about Duluth's winters. This agency's mission is to promote and develop our port and our community, not to feed the fantasies of those who think we exist on the fringe of the Arctic Circle.

Nonetheless, native Duluthians are not alone in accentuating the negative. After living with average temperatures in January and February earlier this year, the region experienced the coldest temperatures of the season in March. Ice began spreading from Lake Superior's shorelines, and by March 20 there was almost complete ice cover — something that happens only once about every 25 years.

The start of the Great Lakes shipping season became national news. Claims resonated in the press of complete ice cover and an almost impossible mission for the laker fleet to move badly needed iron ore and coal to the lower lakes.

The weather conditions and statements by reporters were backed up with satellite images of an ice-covered Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system and reports of extreme cold weather in the entire Northeast. The New York Times called for quotes and background information. The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a Page One story.

So we cannot deny that we do indeed get some heavy duty cold weather from time to time. But it's not as though Minneapolis-St. Paul, only 150 miles and a few degrees Fahrenheit away, are growing palm trees and coconuts along with all the businesses they seem to attract.

What is the attraction of the Twin Cities compared with Duluth? If the Twin Cities are such great places in which to work and live, why does it seem that half the metro population streams north on I-35 every weekend to get away from there?

Like most port authorities today, the Duluth Seaway Port Authority operates its properties as a landlord. The Authority is not directly responsible for the operating labor that loads and unloads ships, trucks and railcars; rather, it contracts with other companies (tenants) to operate its waterfront facilities and leases its buildings and land for use by others.

For the Duluth Seaway Port Authority these areas of responsibility are at the Arthur M. Clure Public Marine Terminal, Garfield Docks C&D and the Airpark industrial complex adjacent to the Duluth International Airport. These properties encompass more than 350 acres of developed land, including two Foreign Trade Zones.

As this suggests, economic development and property management are two of our major responsibilities and a major source of income. Our development efforts over the years have assisted more than 50 businesses and have created or employed about 1,075 present jobs. The Port Authority is the largest landlord of industrial property in Duluth, with more than 17 acres under roof. We pride ourselves in the wide range of financial instruments and creative financing packages we make available to developers.

What is most striking, however, when you review past performance, is how very few companies have actually relocated to our region; rather, most of the Port Authority development has been homegrown, and nearly all of these home-based businesses have been classic entrepreneurs in start-up situations.

Although visitors often describe hilly, picturesque Duluth as the "Little San Francisco," I've never heard San Francisco called "Big Duluth." So we may have a ways to go in promoting our region.

As I start in this new career, I promise I will not exaggerate and will tell the truth. Duluth is a great place to live. It has four beautiful seasons and a cultural community that is the envy of many much larger cities. And year-round outdoor activities for all. But most importantly the region has great people willing and able to make any new company a success.

Or am I wrong? Are we all wrong? Are we missing something, some inherent negative that others see but don't want to tell us about?

I don't think so. Maybe, however, we should stop comparing ourselves with Minneapolis-St. Paul and find other models. How about striving instead to become the Montreal of Minnesota? Or the Edmonton of the Great Lakes? Or, hey, the Oslo of North America?