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Eye on the Island
The Gazette covers City Hall, now a flood-damaged icon on May’s Island in the Cedar River. A blog by Rick Smith.
Mayor-elect Corbett takes to the microphone, City Manager Prosser leaves
Posted on Nov 20, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Mayor-elect Ron Corbett got up to speak and City Manager Jim Prosser got up and left. That was the case on Thursday evening at the Downtown District’s annual meeting where Corbett gave his first speech since winning election Nov. 3 over City Council member Brian Fagan. Prosser on Friday said he left the event for his own ethical reasons and not as a slight to Corbett. “No big deal,” Prosser said, noting that the city still has two City Council runoff elections on ...
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HUD applauds city’s Section 8 housing voucher program
Posted on Nov 20, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Cedar Rapids’ Housing Services Office has received a “high performer” rating from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This award specifically recognizes the city office for its management of HUD’s Section 8 housing voucher program. Currently, about 1,100 households are in the HUD voucher program managed by the city department. “A ‘high-performer’ rating is a real tribute to the dedication and hard work of our staff in light of the (city’s) affordable housing challenges,” says Scott Seibert, the city’s assisted-housing program ...
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Mayor-elect Corbett says a boyhood fight story and a Teddy Roosevelt quote provide clues of who he will be as mayor
Posted on Nov 19, 2009 by Rick Smith.
In his first speech as mayor-elect, Ron Corbett told the annual meeting of the Downtown District last night that lessons he learned in losing a fight as a 13 year old are ones he will carry with him into the mayor’s job. The adolescent fight, the friends who picked him off the ground and the lie he told his parents afterward taught him four things, he said in a 14-minute speech without notes at the event in Gatherings restaurant in the ...
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New federal courthouse will be something; for now, 2 giant cranes at the site double as downtown weather vanes
Posted on Nov 19, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Maybe the two giant cranes that now tower over First Street SE will get the public to finally notice. That’s the thought, anyway, of Brad Thomason, who is heading up the Ryan Companies US Inc. team that is building the $160-million federal courthouse — what will be an eight-story edifice faced with stone and then glass that will stretch as wide as a football field from the Cedar River to Second Street SE between Seventh and Eighth avenues SE and look ...
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Zero is the number that the city starts with in talks with union employees
Posted on Nov 19, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Zip. The city of Cedar Rapids has presented its initial bargaining position to three of the city eight employee bargaining units, a position that calls for a zero increase in wages in the first year of a new contract and also a freeze in “step” wage increases that come with seniority. Conni Huber, the city’s human resources director, on Thursday said the city’s opening salvo in the negotiations for the three-year union contracts now in place was higher than what the city ...
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Some numbers about the Veterans Memorial Building you might not know
Posted on Nov 19, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Here are a few facts about Veterans Memorial Building (City Hall) in Cedar Rapids: 82 years — Age of building 100 and 500 — Now sits in 100-year flood plain, will be in 500-year flood plain with new flood map in April Less than 12 inches — Level of flood water on first floor in June 2008 89 — Number of full-time employees (not counting maintenance shift workers) working in building before flood 7 — Number of employees working below first floor 19 — Number of employees working ...
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City Council — with 2 members who run a ‘green’ insulation company — says it will shoot to build to meet top ‘green’ rating
Posted on Nov 19, 2009 by Rick Smith.
A “green” rating system for construction called LEED uses four standards, certified, silver, gold and platinum, and last night the City Council said its wants to seek the gold standard and strive for the top platinum standard as they rebuild or replace the city’s flood-damaged buildings. In September, the council set its sights lower when it suggested it would reach to at least meet a basic level of certification in a rating system such as LEED — Leadership in Energy and ...
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Congressman Loebsack testifies in D.C. to position Cedar Rapids for flood protection funds
Posted on Nov 18, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Congressman Dave Loebsack took a step Wednesday to position Cedar Rapids for funding in 2010 to build a flood-protection system for the city. Loebsack, D-Mount Vernon, was among a group of representatives who testified to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee Wednesday afternoon to bring attention to projects they want to see funded in a 2010 Water Resources Development Act. The act provides funding for the Corps of Engineers to conduct studies and to construct projects. In his testimony viewed online, Loebsack told ...
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City settles July fire claim for $3.5 million for one building at city-owned Sinclair meatpacking site; demolition there could cost $20 million to $100 million
Posted on Nov 18, 2009 by Rick Smith.
The city and insurer Selective Insurance Co. have settled a fire claim at the city-owned Sinclair plant site for $3.5 million. The claim resulted from a July 28 fire in one of the buildings at the former meatpacking plant, 1600 Third St. SE, where corn was being stored. The city purchased the buildings and the 30-acre site in 2006 for $4 million with the intention of demolishing the buildings for redevelopment. After the purchase, the city continued to rent space in some ...
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At-large candidate Karr wins backing from Shields, Swore and Duffy in Dec. 1 runoff
Posted on Nov 18, 2009 by Rick Smith.
At-large City Council candidate Don Karr, who is facing a Dec. 1 runoff election, has received the backing of council member Justin Shields and council member-elect Chuck Swore. Nick Duffy, an at-large council candidate who finished third in the Nov. 3 at-large race and out of the Dec. 1 runoff, also is supporting Karr. Karr, 64, long-time owner of Affordable Plumbing and Remodeling who has now sold the business to his daughters, faces Aaron Saylor, 28, a commercial Realtor, in the Dec. ...
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Outdoor riverfront amphitheater and outdoor ice rink on May’s Island are features of emerging parks plan
Posted on Nov 17, 2009 by Rick Smith.
may be a bit lost in the continuing debate over the future of City Hall, but city officials also are rethinking the city’s park system even as they consider the future of the city’s key flood-damaged buildings. At this week’s city open houses, residents also are getting to see the “preferred” option for the city’s park system that city officials say has emerged from two previous public-input sessions with residents. Once approved in some kind of final form by the City Council, ...
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City open houses will talk more of co-location with Linn; Linn residents rate co-location with city fifth of five options
Posted on Nov 16, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Residents who turn out at City Hall’s open houses on Tuesday and Wednesday will be able to look at the options for returning city offices to the flood-damaged Veterans Memorial Building on May’s Island, building a new city hall or a mix of other ideas. One on the other ideas is to “co-locate” a new city hall in a building or on a campus of buildings with Linn County. On Monday, the Linn County Supervisors released the results of their own open ...
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Mayor-elect Corbett wants homeowners dealing with City Hall in buyouts to have access to an advocate
Posted on Nov 14, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Mayor-elect Ron Corbett wants the 1,300 or so victims of the June 2008 flood who are awaiting a property buyout to have access to an advocate as they negotiate in the weeks and months ahead with the city over buyout details. “When I look at the buyout process, this is the final chapter in the flood victims’ saga,” Corbett said Friday. “And how they walk out of that negotiation or that meeting with the city is going to have a big ...
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Open houses next week: Build new City Hall or use existing buildings?
Posted on Nov 13, 2009 by Rick Smith.
City officials on Friday were reminding residents to attend an open house next Tuesday or Wednesday to weigh in on whether the city should use existing buildings for city offices or build a new City Hall. An earlier open house put the cost of a new “one-stop” City Hall at more than $50 million, though advocates for new construction make the argument that a new one-stop building will save money over time. A peek provided by City Hall of what is to ...
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Mayor-elect Corbett and Culver both applaud their talk in the governor’s office
Posted on Nov 13, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Mayor-elect Ron Corbett said he and Gov. Chet Culver had “a real good discussion” and “saw eye to eye” on all issues during Corbett’s meeting with the governor in Des Moines on Thursday morning. For his part, Culver called the meeting with Corbett in the governor’s office “a very productive conversation” when Culver appeared in Cedar Rapids later in the day. After catching up with Corbett on Friday, the mayor-elect said his talk with Culver centered on flood recovery and job creation. Corbett ...
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Some 300 flood victims in replacement homes will get to keep up to $25,000 in earlier down payment assistance after all
Posted on Nov 12, 2009 by Rick Smith.
One upset group of flood victims has been a group of about 300 households who received state Jumpstart down payment assistance on a new home only to learn that the money will be deducted from what they receive once their flood-ruined home is bought out by the city. The rules changed on Thursday afternoon with an announcement in Cedar Rapids by Gov. Chet Culver. The rule change will protect up to $25,000 in down payment assistance from being subtracted from a buyout ...
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Corbett meets Culver in Des Moines on Thursday before Culver comes to Cedar Rapids to talk business, housing
Posted on Nov 11, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Mayor-elect Ron Corbett is meeting with Gov. Chet Culver in Des Moines late Thursday morning. Corbett, who will be in Des Moines to give a speech to a university leadership group, has said he wants to encourage Culver to name someone from the Cedar Rapids area as the state’s new economic development chief. By mid-afternoon Thursday, Culver will head to Cedar Rapids to announce new disaster policies related to business and housing. Specifically related to housing, he will address the issue of ...
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Some $44 million in tax credit-financed affordable housing scurries toward construction
Posted on Nov 11, 2009 by Rick Smith.
After more than a year’s worth of City Hall work, the City Council last night cleared the way for three apartment projects that will cost $44 million to build and will create 231 units of affordable housing to replace some of what was lost in the June 2008 flood. The projects are: --- the 96-unit Oakhill Jackson Brickstones to be built by Hatch Development Group, Des Moines, on vacant land along Sixth Street SE. --- the 90-unit Cedar Pond Townhomes to be built ...
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An eye-opener: outstanding debt and liens on perhaps 25 of first 117 buyout properties larger than buyout payment
Posted on Nov 11, 2009 by Rick Smith.
The modest circumstances of some flood victims is being driven home by a new estimate: Perhaps 25 of the first 117 owners who will have their flood-damaged properties bought out by the city in the weeks and months ahead will not receive enough in the buyout to cover their outstanding mortgage and/or liens and judgments on the property. In other words, the buyout at the pre-flood value of the property will bring those owners no money, and, instead, will leave them ...
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CLUC asks City Council to allow up to 6 hens in backyard coops; chickens are pets, not livestock, supporters argue
Posted on Nov 10, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Cedar Rapids Citizens for the Legalization of Urban Chickens — CLUC — last night asked the City Council to allow up to six hens in the backyards of single-family homes. A similar move is afoot in Iowa City, and representatives of the group note that a growing list of cities now allow urban chickens in backyards. Those cities include Spokane, Wash., Madison, Wis., and Des Moines, they said. The group’s Rebecca Mumaw told the council that raising a limited number of egg-laying ...
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Mayor-elect Corbett backs Vernon as mayor pro tem; but he needs to find the votes
Posted on Nov 10, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Mayor-elect Ron Corbett wants to name City Council member Monica Vernon mayor pro tem when he takes office on Jan. 4. Corbett, though, on Tuesday realized he can’t just charge off and make decisions like that. He needs four other voters on the nine-member council. By late Tuesday afternoon, he still hadn’t gotten them. He said Vernon, council member Justin Shields, council member-elect Chuck Swore and he make four votes. But he was still in the hunt for a fifth one. Two council ...
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City Council apt to handle big flood-related building projects so local firms have a shot at managing the work
Posted on Nov 10, 2009 by Rick Smith.
City Hall is readying to gear up for some construction work related to its key flood-damaged buildings – the Public Library, Central Fire Station, Veterans Memorial Building, Paramount Theatre. Greg Eyerly, the city’s flood-recovery director, will talk with the City Council this evening about possible approaches to managing the construction work. In that regard, the council indicated a couple weeks ago that it favored dividing the projects among a few construction managers rather than hiring one large construction management firm to ...
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Flood-hit Sign Productions Inc. prepares to come back home to Cedar Rapids from Marion
Posted on Nov 10, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Sign Productions Inc., which was flooded out of its location at 1010 First St. NW and moved to a new spot in Marion, is apparently coming back to Cedar Rapids. The City Council this evening is expected to approve a routine change of zoning from an agricultural zone to a light-industrial zone to allow for a new building to go up north of Walford Road between Interstate 380 and Sixth Street SW. The proposed building on the 8.7-acre site would be a ...
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City seems to settle on new downtown spot for bus depot; other building decisions linger
Posted on Nov 10, 2009 by Rick Smith.
City Hall apparently has decided to put the proposed new Intermodal Transit Facility on the block bounded by Fifth and Sixth avenues SE and Fifth and Sixth streets SE. The block is one of two — plus a portion of a third block — that the city has said for many months now it wants to purchase from PepsiAmericas. The Pepsi operation has a warehouse, maintenance facility and parking lot on the three adjacent sites. The exact block of the PepsiAmericas property ...
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Some on council still hope for co-location with Linn County; county, meanwhile, gets parking variance to expand at current site
Posted on Nov 09, 2009 by Rick Smith.
Some on the City Council seem to still hope that Linn County will join forces with the city so the council can build a new City Hall on a downtown “civic campus” that would have room for a new county building on the site as well. It was a hope that felt a little shaky on Monday at the Cedar Rapids Board of Adjustment meeting. At the request of Linn County and its engineering consultant, Hall & Hall Engineers, the Board of ...
