Duluth Council Passes Massage Therapy Ordinance - WDIO

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Ideas continued to come forward as the council got ready to vote.

"I would like to propose that the City of Duluth make available on their website a list of every massage therapist and business that has a license in the City of Duluth," Cookie Kilian suggested at the meeting. "This would give the community and the police a convenient way to find out if a business or a therapist is legitimate."

Kilian is a massage therapist who practices in Hermantown but is also licensed in Duluth. She asked the City Council to table the vote another couple weeks for more conversation.

"Hours of operation are not going to deter sex trafficking and prostitution in massage," she said. "And I would like to see a real solution."

Councilors declined to table the vote but said the conversation can and should continue.

"That in no way prevents us from continuing to review these procedures, these regulations, and look for other good ideas, especially from the practitioner community who gave us invaluable input in making some really important changes," Councilor Joel Sipress, District 2, said.

Councilor Gary Anderson, District 1, agreed.

"I think tonight is the right time to pass these particular changes in our current ordinance," Anderson said. "These will help the investigators at the Duluth Police Department to do what they can to limit sex trafficking."

There is one last ordinance related to massage therapy left to be voted on. It adjusts which chapter in the city code the regulations fall under. That is set for a vote on June 10.

Related Stories:

Council Adjusts Proposed Massage Therapy Ordinance

Massage Business Owners Charged with Sex Trafficking

Lakewalk Construction

The council also approved the $2.4 million second phase of Lakewalk construction. The 650-foot stretch that will be worked on is from the Vietnam Memorial to the staircase behind the PortLand Malt Shoppe.

The shoreline will be stabilized and the boardwalk and pavement replaced.

A city spokesperson said they hope to reopen it by late July or early August. In the meantime, bicyclists and pedestrians will be detoured onto Superior Street.

Lincoln Park Drive

A portion of Lincoln Park Drive will be permanently closed and absorbed into Lincoln Park.

Councilors gave their blessing tonight for the section of road in the lower part of the park to become an 8-foot-wide pedestrian path instead.

A new entrance will be added off of 25th Ave. W, replacing the one off of Grand Ave.

The road in the upper portion of the park will remain open.

A restoration project is planned for Lincoln Park later this year.

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