Government
Public opinion on Linn County office open houses not clear
Posted on Oct 27, 2009 by Adam Belz.
The second day of open houses on the future of Linn County offices brought about 75 people to Cleveland Elementary School, but didn’t bring the county much closer to understanding the public’s will in the matter.
“Results are all over the map,” Supervisor Linda Langston said.
In order to sample public opinion on county offices, the county is holding five open houses this week. Supervisors expect tomorrow’s session to be well-attended, at the Carl & Mary Koehler History Center, 615 First Ave. SE, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Consultants will run focus groups next week, compile results of an online county survey and present their findings Nov. 16, before the supervisors decide what to do next.
About 35 people showed up for the open house in Mount Vernon on Monday night. The crowd last night was mostly gray-haired.
“They’ve got to go back to the original building,” said Lowell Rutz of southwest Cedar Rapids. “I like Westdale, but you’re talking millions of dollars.”
Steve & Barry’s, the current home of key county offices, would cost roughly $16.8 million to buy and renovate to acceptable standards, according to an architectural study commissioned by the supervisors.
Another option, renovating and expanding the Administrative Office Building at 930 First St. SW, would cost $11.7 million, supervisors say.
Co-location of county, city and school district offices seemed to appeal to some people, but Elaine Olson said the cost is prohibitive.
“My pipe dream would have everything together,” said Olson, of southwest Cedar Rapids. “But that’s not going to happen.”
Other options include going back to the Administrative Office Building as it was before the flood, and buying and renovating the former Econofoods store on 51st Street NE.
okay, so you are going to make a decision based upon, what, 110 individuals who aren't really sure what they want, for a county of how many citizens, which includes the City of Cedar Rapids?
That is true 'gardbr'. The question is, where you one of the 1i0? If not, show up at the next meeting and speak your piece. None of us can complain if don't want to get involved.
Why not come up with some ideas and put it to a vote?
That would cost tax payers more money just to tell the supervisors not to spend so much money.
Why doesn't the article also mention that going back to the old Admin Building would not cost the county a dime as FEMA would pay for all of it?
Going back to the old Admin Building would not cost any additional money. The FEMA funds were already paid for by tax payers.
okay, if you want the county to have admin 'downtown' then they could move into the Great America building, since it is soon to be vacated by the lease holder, and is for sale. that would place it near the County Court House and the Sheriff's Dep't. or they could take over the old Federal Court House, since the City has shown it has no desire to use the completely remodeled building
They don't care what we say as they will do what they want. Just look at the track record.
You're right. They don't care. They want the appearance of concern about the public though. They should be ashamed – asking tax payers in this state to spend funds unnecessarily on upgrades. Of course, they aren't affected by the same economic hardtimes. They just vote a raise in for themselves. Their life goes on unaltered.
1. I was at the open house last night at Cleveland School. You were kind of directed down a long hall with signs, but at the end of the hall no direction was given. If there weren't people coming up the stairs off to the left to let us know to go down the stairs, we would not have known where to go.
2. Why was this held in the most obscure corner of the basement? Were they hoping the public could not find the place? On my way out an elderly man was wandering the hall and ready to give up and leave.
3. Their offices are at Westdale Mall, and they have a lot of open hallway space, more space than provided at Cleveland school. Why wasn't the open house held at Westdale?
4. This was a public open house. I'm pretty sure we have a disabilities act that should prevent them from holding a pulbic event that was not handicapped accessible. Westdale Mall is handicap accessible.
5. If they had held the open house at Westdate they would have gotten a lot more public opinions just from the public being in the mall for other reasons.
Does it seem to you, like it seems to me, the Board of Supervisors would like it to appear as though there is little public interest in order to justify spending tax payer dollars at a time when we need to be reducing public spending not increasing public spending?
okay, some ideas. well, the old Federal Court House is completely remodeled and vacant, since the City doesn't want it, so there would be a start, since it is near the Linn County Court House and the Sheriff's Dept.
There are no shortage of options that cost millions of dollars. What you are suggesting would also cost millions of dollars. Then what do you do with the old Admin Builiding? Spend millions tearing it down. Returning to the old admin will not cost additional money, FEMA has provided the funds to fix it back up. The supervisors need to spend the least amount of money they can, and that is to pick option one – return to the old Admin Building and use the FEMA funds to restore it to pre-flood condition.
The crowd last night was mostly grey-haired? Huh – is that a judgment statement? Was it supposed to inform the reader of something? Should we draw some conclusion from that fact? The conlcusion that I draw is apathy. Sad but true, and past apathy is what got us a board of supervisors that are self centered and self serving.
I wouldn’t call it so much a judgment as it is an indictment against the young and middle aged citizens of Linn County not being active and involved in the legislation of this city. Outside of stating fact, perhaps it’s a subtle way of telling us that the older generation, with their antiquated ways aren’t getting the job done and it’s time for accelerated thinking.
I wouldn't call it so much a judgment as it is an indictment against the young and middle aged citizens of Linn County not being active and involved in the legislation of this city. Outside of stating fact, perhaps it's a subtle way of telling us that the older generation, with their antiquated ways aren't getting the job done and it's time for accelerated thinking
I believe it was intended to make the statement there is insufficient public opinion and the supervisors will now make their own decision as to how much of tax payer money they want to spend.
I agree but a lot of the young and even middle aged people don't pay taxes or are so wrapped up in themselves they could care less until they have to find a parking place near the old Admin bldg.
I think its pretty evident that the Supervisors have their own agenda. I imagine this is a common issue amongst county/city legislation. The majority of the community have so much more consuming their day-to-day priorities that leadership like this goes under the radar until it, or something related to it smacks them in the face. People tend to rally around or become involved in things that they are directly affected by, or have relevance to them. i.e. a flood affected person is concerned about flood recovery, cancer affected person creates a foundation for cancer research. I bet if they were giving away free Vizios there’d be a line past Westdale Mall, handicap parking or not. For the most part, people get what they want, it’s all about priority.
I guess this means I should be going to these meetings