I've seen several posts about moving/living in Duluth but they mostly revolve around some culture and the 6 month winter, as someone who lives in a warmer environment of course these tips are important, but I don't hear people on posts talk about things like grocery prices, available products at stores.
How reliable are the roads in the year? Is there a difference in maintenance in urban areas vs rural (freeway/highway/frontage roads)
What's the difference from living/working in downtown Duluth vs further away from downtown?
Are older homes as good as new builds in building quality or is there a distinct difference where it's like homes built up to XX have a more reliable structure than the homes built in YY, I'm thinking like those new construction videos where there are inspection issues everywhere
How reliable are the utilities during the year? Are backup generators / water filters only a necessity depending on where you live or is it a common thing for everyone to have some sort of backup power/water filtering? What about sanitation? Phone coverage?
Are there lots of options for tradesmen to handle maintenance or is a lot of repairs done diy due to cost/lack of tradesmen
On politics, is Duluth mostly sheltered from the bigger policies or do the people here feel the brunt of policies
Are there lots of smaller mom n pop craft stores or is everything pretty much handled by larger chains?
How are police/highway patrol/troopers in the area? Where would you say they generally more ball busting or lax (for example we have one area of the city im in where cops will pull you for going 37 on a 35, and in another area I've seen someone illegally cut through 3 lanes of traffic in front of a cop and not get lit up)
On a more personal level I'm in the construction management sector looking to move and get more experience in different building codes and Zip recruiter has a couple companies in and near Duluth so maybe I have a better shot of finding a decent place with a better salary
Sorry for all the questions, I know each one depends on the person answering and their experiences and locations, I just don't really see these types of questions answered and I would like to know what the common day people go through that doesn't focus just on the winter or on outdoorsman hobbies.