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IOWA CITY - A community garden on bought out flood property in Iowa City?   No thanks, residents of the Parkveiw Terrace Neighborhood said this week.   They got wind of that possibility and held an informal meeting with a few city officials Wednesday night. About 50 people attended, and the consensus was that they wanted peace and quiet for now, Mary Sturm, who hosted the meeting at her home on Eastmoor Drive, told me Thursday. "We are really hoping that what we can do is just level ...

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IOWA CITY — The Johnson County Democrats will hold a convention Dec. 3 to nominate a candidate for county supervisor. The convention will start at 7 p.m. in Auditorium W10 of the Pappajohn Business Building on the University of Iowa campus. The candidate will run in a Jan. 19 special election to fill a vacancy on the county’s Board of Supervisors. Democrat Janelle Rettig was appointed to the seat and has been serving on the board, but a successful petition drive has forced ...

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IOWA CITY - Curious what Johnson County officials and members of the public had to say about replacing Supervisor Larry Meyers, who died in September?  So was I, which is why, earlier this month, I filed an open records request with the county. I asked County Attorney Janet Lyness for “access to all correspondence to and from the Johnson County auditor, recorder and treasurer, the county supervisors, and the county attorney in regards to the vacancy on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors ...

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IOWA CITY - The Summit and its owner, Mike Porter, are not going down without a fight. The bar has been put on notice that it's liquor license is in jeopardy, something the City Council is going to decide tonight. (I'm at City Hall right now and will have a story on that in Wednesday's Gazette. ) This afternoon, Porter e-mailed  a copy  of a lawsuit he is bringing against the city. His attorney told me it would be filed in Johnson County District ...

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IOWA CITY - Seven Iowa City businesses failed alcohol compliance checks for allegedly selling alcohol to people under the legal age Thursday night . See the news release, with the names of those who failed and passed, here. One business in particular is worth noting: Etc. bar in downtown. The City Council in July voted to not renew the bar's liquor license because of problems with patrons under 21 being cited for possession of alcohol. Serving an underage person is a different offense, but it's ...

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IOWA CITY — A petition drive seeking to force a special election for a seat on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors has met its goal, organizers said. Lori Cardella of Solon sent an e-mail to The Gazette late Thursday night saying her group planned to submit at least 7,759 signatures to the Auditor’s Office at 3 p.m. today. That would surpass the 7,299 signatures — which is 10 percent of the number of Johnson County voters in last year’s ...

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IOWA CITY - As reported today, the Summit is the latest downtown Iowa City bar facing the loss of its liquor license over underage alcohol possession. Etc. and Fieldhouse had their liquor license applications rejected by the council in July, although they’re appealing those decisions now, something the Summit likely would do if it meets a similar fate next week. A few more bars appear to be on the chopping block. Click here to see the most recent PAULA report from the Police ...

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IOWA CITY - I heard about an interesting Web site while covering a meeting last night on the proposed redevelopment of the area south of downtown Iowa City. It’s walkscore.com. Here’s a description, taken from the site, about what it does: “Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address based on the distance from your house to nearby amenities. Walk Score measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle—not how pretty the area is for walking.” The consultants at the meeting ...

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Coralville Lake watchers may have noticed the man-made lake is a little high at the moment. In fact, it is about 17 feet higher than this time a year ago, according to the Army Corps of Engineers Web site. The lake's current level is about 703 above sea level, and it is forecast to start dropping on Thursday. The emergency spillway is at 712 feet. The lake hit a record 717 feet in June 2008. Iowa City and Coralville officials said there is no flooding. ...

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IOWA CITY - Below are a couple of documents related to the odor problems at the Iowa City landfill. Click here for a story about the matter. First is a notice of violation from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in October. It explains how the city was late in adding a gas collection system to a cell in the landfill. The second is a February letter from the DNR to the city about odor complaints and a subsequent DNR investigation.

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS — A recount Monday resulted in no changes in last week’s close University Heights City Council election. Just two votes separated the person who came in fifth from two candidates who tied for sixth. There were 414 voters. Elected to the council were: Michael Haverkamp, Patricia Yeggy, Stan Laverman, Amy Moore and Brennan McGrath. The Johnson County Board of Supervisors ordered the recount earlier Monday. Anyone who received a vote can still request another recount, Auditor Tom Slockett said. The deadline ...

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IOWA CITY - It’s believed that history was made Tuesday in the Iowa City Council election. Connie Champion was elected to a fourth term, something that’s believed to be unprecedented, City Clerk Marian Karr has said.  Champion showed her trademark sense of humor last night when she said, “That’s why I ran.”  She was kidding. In fact, she joined the race late after initially thinking she wouldn’t run, and she said last night that she didn’t expect to win.  Also, if you’re curious, she ruled ...

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IOWA CITY - Whoops. In today’s story about Iowa City looking to impose franchise fees on gas and electric customers, I forgot to say what those fees will be set at. It’s 2 percent, as previously reported. Writing on deadline isn’t always smooth. The council’s vote Monday night in favor of the fees was no shocker. In fact, that there was one vote against, by Connie Champion, was a surprise. Champion had spoken frequently in favor of the fees since they were first proposed several ...

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IOWA CITY - The backyard chicken debate has come to Davenport. A Seattle transplant built a coop and began raising chickens in his Davenport home last year before learning that was against city law, the Quad-City Times reported Sunday. He's now trying to get that law changed. The story quotes Stacey Driscoll on her efforts to get backyard chickens allowed in Iowa City and mentions a similar effort in Cedar Rapids.

  CORALVILLE — Longtime Coralville Mayor Jim Fausett had a heart attack Wednesday afternoon but expects to make a full recovery. Fausett was at Mercy Iowa City Thursday and is scheduled to have a procedure Friday morning to have a stent put in an artery that was discovered to be 80 percent blocked. Fausett, who turns 78 next month, said he plans to be home on Sunday and will have some restrictions and be on medication and a special diet for a while. “But ...

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IOWA CITY — Rick Fosse, Iowa City’s public works director, is now also the city’s acting assistant city manager. Interim City Manager Dale Helling made the announcement in a memo to the City Council Thursday. Fosse will retain his public works duties, Helling said. He will serve as acting city manager in Helling’s absence. "I believe this designation will serve our organization well and will provide a clear succession of administrative responsibility and authority in my absence," Helling wrote. Fosse’s salary will not change ...

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IOWA CITY - As I reported in today's Gazette, the Iowa City school board last night kicked off its redistricting work. It was a long meeting at nearly four hours and ran way past my deadline. Board members discussed what their priorities are for redistricting.  They were using clickers provided by their consultant to vote on a list of them. To see the criteria, click here. They are listed on pages 6-15. Superintendent Lane Plugge tells me that, after my deadline, the board picked the following as its ...

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CORALVILLE - We had a story out of Coralville in today's paper that should be of interest to that town's residents and city hall watchers in general. The council voted 3-2 to draw up documents to limit public comments. If approved, the public would be allowed to address the council only two times on the same issue. The council's relationship with the public is not a new issue. In fact, it's come up during the current council election. John Lundell and Mitch Gross cast the ...

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IOWA CITY - The city of Iowa City is rolling out plans for a major redevelopment of the area south of downtown. The goal is to have a walkable and transit-friendly neighborhood that offers a mix of housing, commercial and recreational opportunities. The city has come up with a new name for the area, the Riverfront Crossings District. It’s roughly bordered by Burlington Street on the north, Highway 6 on the south, Gilbert Street on the east and the Iowa River ...

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IOWA CITY - Lan Samantha Chang is an author and the director of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She's also an occasional contributor to the New Times op-ed page. Over the weekend she had a piece on Iowa City farmers Leo and Deanna Fuhrmeister and our connection to farming. It also tied in the recession and recent state budget cuts. Check it out here.

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City school board will kick off its comprehensive boundary review with a work session Tuesday. The district has hired a consultant and plans to convene a committee to come up with a redistricting recommendation for the board’s consideration early next year. Tuesday’s work session will look at that committee’s charge and set criteria for it to consider. The work session will follow the board’s regular meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. at the Central Administration Office, 509 ...

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Should Johnson County repair flood-damaged Sutliff Bridge or take the money and use it on something else? The Board of Supervisors will make that decision, but the county wants to hear from you first. The county is conducting an online survey to see what the public wants. The survey asks participants to choose a preference among three options: rebuild the structure to near its pre-flood condition, replace the damaged section with a cable stay span or demolish the bridge and use the ...

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IOWA CITY - Eight people will be interviewed for an open seat on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, an appointment committee decided Tuesday. Sixteen people had applied for the position, which became vacant when Larry Meyers died last month. The new supervisor will sit on the board until the November 2010 election. In accordance with state law, county Auditor Tom Slockett, Recorder Kim Painter and Treasurer Tom Kriz will make the decision. A special election will be held if a petition with ...

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IOWA CITY - An important point was left out of the newspaper and online versions of Sunday’s story on domestic partner health benefits. The story, which you can read here, covered how, in light of Iowa now allowing same-sex marriage, the city of Iowa City and Johnson County are addressing their policies of extending health coverage to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees. The reason being that those couples can now marry. But employees who don’t want to get married still have another ...

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IOWA CITY - As mentioned in a previous post, Mike O’Donnell and Janelle Rettig are among those who have applied for the vacant seat on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. O’Donnell is a member of the Iowa City Council. His term ends Dec. 31, and he is not running for re-election. The county appointment committee hopes to select the next supervisor on Oct. 28. Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said she’s not aware of anythinig preventing someone from simultaneously holding two elected ...

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