Ron's Chalk Talk

Restitution Work Crews: “It’s time for juveniles that commit a criminal act against individuals or society to pay the community back through restitution work crews. I would work with the chief of the juvenile court to deploy juvenile work crews in our community cleaning, mowing, painting, and picking up flood zones. This would provide juvenile court officers a new option for sentencing. Not only does this help to repair some of the damage caused, but it also teaches the discipline of hard work.”

Safe Schools - Juvenile crime is on the rise. “We need more intelligence as we fight gangs and the rise in juvenile crime. I would partner with the school district and have officers in each of the high schools and middle schools. This will reduce patrol car calls and provide valuable intelligence from the youth that are being recruited to join gangs. Sioux City, Des Moines, and Davenport have all embraced officers in school with success at reducing their gang crime problems.”

Substations-  “We need to add a West side substation. Law enforcement needs to be de-centralized and have a greater presence in the neighborhoods. It’s important for law enforcement to be visible throughout the community. We also should staff the substations during evenings and weekends.  Currently staffing ends at 5 PM during the week with full closure on weekends.

“Criminals don’t limit their work to banker’s hours and neither should Cedar Rapids,” said Corbett. “We don’t need to put an officer behind a desk, but we do need a place where people can go for assistance without driving across town. Let’s have substations that are open on weekends and much later on weeknights.”

Reserve officer program- Cedar Rapids needs to jump start its reserve officer program. “I would add 10 to 15 new reserve officers. This is a great way to encourage individuals looking at a law enforcement career to get involved early.  Mount mercy and Kirkwood both have strong criminal justice programs. The city can partner with them and create a win-win situation. The reserve officers get valuable experience and the city gets more patrol time at a very nominal cost.”

COP Shop Volunteers- Fighting crime requires more than just police on the streets. “Citizens and neighborhood involvement is critical to the success of fighting crime. We need to use community volunteers to help staff the substations. Volunteers can fill out reports and paperwork so police officers are on the streets fighting crime. Many communities have programs like this. Spokane, Washington is an example of a program that utilizes citizens and volunteers.  I would partner and work with the department of corrections and their innovative programming.”

1-Forgiveness of Property Taxes

The City should take action regardless of what the county does. Using the county as an excuse not to help with property tax abatement is wrong. While I served as Speaker of the House, it was not uncommon for local governments to take an action and seek a legalizing act later. Cedar Rapids can do that. Having said that, they should have used their political capital to make the law change this spring rather than pushing through new ways to raise taxes. Those living on fixed incomes who lost their homes need the city to act boldly, not point fingers at the county.

2- Local Option Sales Tax

The City has not allocated one penny of the local option sales tax thus far. The rush to get the tax implemented shows they don’t always operate in aculture of delay. Many families in Linn County made the sacrifice to pay an extra $300 per year to help out the flood survivors. For the City to sit on the money is unconscionable. They seem to lack a plan or vision. I will implement a plan and each month account for the expenditures online and in the newspaper. We need accountability and transparency. If the city isn’t going to allocate the LOST funds, then they should stop collecting it.

3-Healthy Homes

We need to create a health home check up program. There is a likely scenario that some homes will see mold reoccur. The City needs to provide healthy home check ups upon the request of homeowners. Concern for the health of the elderly and children dictates that this be done soon. I would also establish a remediation fund when a home is found to be dangerous or unhealthy.

4-In-fill

Currently this city is providing incentives for builders to redevelop in flooded areas. I would extend the incentive program to individual homeowners that want to rebuild. Developers look for contiguous parcels of land. Let’s give people the same incentives we provide developers. Doing this sooner, rather than later, will immediately create jobs in our community.

1-Buy Local Resolution

Our City Council should pass a resolution urging private and public organizations to buy local, buy Iowa products and support the workers and their employers trying to get back on their feet after the devastating floods. While it may seem symbolic to some, the city needs to provide leadership in the area of as many dollars to stay in Cedar Rapids at this time as possible.

2-Repeal the Five Point ‘Anti-Development’ Ordinance

In May 2008, the city council put in place a five point economic development plan. Unfortunately, it has become an ‘anti-development’ plan since the flood. This plan, put in place before the flood, ties the hands of city leaders who may want to help small businesses. The plan has a bias toward larger, more established companies, rather than local startup companies who may be the next big company in town. Once this is repealed, use the available funds to evaluate each proposal on its long term merits instead its immediate benefits.

3-New Business Recruitment Tour

As Mayor, I will lead recruitment tours with business and labor leaders to persuade job creators and corporations to locate new jobs in our community. We must do a better job of selling the benefits of our community and that requires local leaders willing to put in the miles traveling for our community.

4-Small Business Council…

No elected official has all the answers. As mayor, I will meet every week with local small businesses in an open forum to learn how the city can help local businesses. Together, we will develop a strategy to help local job creators succeed in our community.

5-Change in Attitude Toward Business

We need to support and celebrate risk takers who start businesses. When we say Cedar Rapids is ‘open for business’ it needs to be more than just a slogan. More than just changes in taxation or laws, a change to an attitude that embraces all job creators, from the very small to the very large, will make a difference. All city employees and elected officials need to actively encourage local employers in their efforts to create jobs and succeed. A positive mayor and city council can create an infectious attitude in favor of job creation.

If ever there was a time that Cedar Rapids needed decisive leadership, that time is now. We’ve lost homes, schools, businesses and churches…but most challenging is the number of good people who have left our community as a result of this crisis.

Instead of clear, unified decision-making, our city government has given us studies, over paid out-of-state consultants and delays. At a time when we desperately needed our local leaders to present a clear plan to the state and federal government, we’ve had indecision and a reliance on outsiders to make decisions for us.

Imagine if Quaker, Penford, Cargill and the other businesses that have reopened after the flood made the decision to wait and delay. Had they, many more people would be out of work.

There may be a time to study issues, but now is not that time. We have enough clear thinking people in our community to make the bold decisions necessary to recover and grow.