Guest Post by Bill Dahlsten
Alas, poor Hypatia. Some would be led to believe the voters of Cedar Rapids had again burned down the Great Library of Alexandria. The Downtown District is in tears.
Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria’s Great Female Scholar
Library levy advocates spent approximately $100,000. Much of that funding could be tied to Cedar Rapids' Downtown District. The recipients of so much taxpayers' largess lost. The library levy was not defeated by ignorance. The library levy defeat was not done to advance ignorance.
"Shey and Vernon said the new library
likely will be the most significant city
building built in their lifetimes in Cedar
Rapids, and great thought and care needs
to be taken on its placement so it
captivates people, draws people to the
downtown and, as importantly, serves to
drive private-sector investment around it.
Vernon said what is absent from the library
board’s work is the concept of “city
planning.” She said she wants the experts
who have worked for the city and know it
well to try to measure what interplay a
library location might have with the area
around it." The Cedar Rapids Gazette, 2-
11-2010.
Cedar Rapids' post flood library has little to do with the advancement of knowledge. Cedar Rapids overbuilt library had everything to do with advancing the value of Downtown District real estate on a flood plain. Knowledge defeated the library levy. Voters remembered.
Monica Vernon The Woman who Helped True North get a "sweet deal" with OUR TAX MONEY
Whom will the few who have profited from the taxes of so many blame?
The Downtown District's shenanigans with disaster dollars largely defeated the library increase. Those so enriched will point elsewhere.
The Iowa Conservative Union (ICU) ran a pop can deposit by comparison guerrilla campaign using social media. Cheap Facebook post boosting reached almost 20,000 in the Cedar Rapids area. It is hard to measure the ICU's impact. The ICU influenced perhaps a few of the points on the ten point spread.
If those who squandered disaster dollar millions of local, state and federal taxes wish to blame the ICU, thank you. The folks at the ICU revel in their recognition.
Will Cedar Rapids' Downtown District call it quits?
"Over the years, city voters had been willing to approve a library levy of 4 cents per $1,000 of taxable assessed property valuation to buy books, but the small levy lapsed in 2014.
Corbett said the jump from a small levy to the request for a 27-cent one may have factored in Tuesday’s defeat. He said he could imagine a request of voters down the line for a library levy smaller than 27 cents, but larger than 4 cents." The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Nov. 4, 2015.
Get ready for round two. Vote again. Vote until you impart knowledge and wisdom upon those ruling Cedar Rapids.
Government must learn to live within the taxpayers' means.
Posted by ky/kentuckydan
at 6:19 PM CST
Updated: Wednesday, 4 November 2015 9:42 PM CST
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Updated: Wednesday, 4 November 2015 9:42 PM CST
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