The Small Town Project

Next week Mount Vernon will hold a special election to fill a vacant seat on the city council. The two candidates are Neil Rud and Karla Steffens-Moran. This week’s Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun features the candidates’ answers to several questions about local issues. Let’s look only at the gist of their answers to the question: “What is your stance on community growth? Explain.”

Neil Rud:

Overall, I do support the type and scale of growth as outlined in the [Comprehensive] Plan, but I do not necessarily agree with the timeline/pace of growing to a city of 5,000 by 2015.

I would like to see city council champion a periodic review against the Comprehensive Plan to assess such things as: city projects completed, new priorities and investments required, impacts of legislative changes, etc…

What can we make of this answer? (more…)

Having attended the recent League of Women Voters (LOWV) sponsored debate on growth in Mount Vernon, I thought I’d simply list a few key points concerning what I heard there.

1) Though Don Cell’s piece in the Sun leading into the debate may have given some the impression the event would feature pro-growth and anti-growth panelists, it really featured proponents of two different kinds of growth: conventional suburban growth (Rick Elliot and Richard Snavely) and thoughtful growth informed by principles of New Urbanism (Dick Peterson). The remaining panelist (Gretchen Sutherland) voiced support mainly for a new road between the Stonebrook development and the North side of town.
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The following is a response to Don Cell’s letter in the current issue of the Sun

Hi Don — Thanks for your letter in the current Sun encouraging more discussion and evaluation of growth issues. It was constructive, and I was glad to see it. It seemed, though, to dance around a certain “elephant in the room.” You provided a thorough letter encouraging more discussion and facts, mentioning that it’s good to see letters discussing the issues, pointing as moderator to the upcoming League of Women Voters debate on the Comprehensive Plan, referring to Stan Crocker’s recent letter on the topic, and itemizing three issues you feel need more attention — all, somehow, without mentioning that we have a local website devoted to discussion of just such issues, and encouraging constructive debate.
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Just a quick tip of the hat to Stan Crocker and Kevin Woods for their letters to the editor in the current Sun. Stan addresses issues of growth and development in MV, making the point that we citizens do not have to be helpless victims of unchecked, purely market-driven growth which would turn the whole area from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City into one large tract of sprawl. Through our elected representatives we have the power to determine our towns’ futures. That point often goes underappreciated as people resign themselves to the supposed “inevitability” of growth. It’s not inevitable; it’s up to us.

Kevin, justifiably famous for his valued participation on the Small Town Project ;), writes about the connection between peak oil and our military action in the Middle East. Our lifestyle, our whole society, depends on oil, and the depletion of cheap oil heightens our efforts to preserve the flow from the Middle East. It’s hardly surprising, Kevin points out, that one result is war. Of particular interest for our purposes here is Kevin’s observation that we tend to fail to make the connection between oil and war as we continue our massively oil dependent pursuits, including our ongoing suburban expansion.

Hats off to to Stan and Kevin for bringing these key points to the public dialogue!

In this week’s issue of the Sun, Jerry Niederhauser, a local realtor, takes issue with my letter to the editor from last week as well as some comments he found here. I’ll address Jerry directly.

First Jerry, I can hardly blame you for being pro-residential-growth. You make your living selling real estate, so you probably assume you’ll profit most from as much growth as possible. You may even see me as trying to undermine your livelihood. I can understand how it might look that way. Yet I believe if you investigate the issues in depth you’ll see that my suggestions, if implemented, might actually serve to protect and enhance your livelihood. Consider, for instance, that population growth will mean more realtors moving here, so while the number of properties to sell goes up, so does the competition. It could become harder to do well.
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For those looking in from other areas, the local League of Women Voters hosted a panel discussion this evening on Mt. Vernon’s comprehensive plan. It was the first of two discussions, this one intended to be factual and informational, while one coming in February is planned as a debate. In both, audience members submit questions in writing. The context is that there has been much controversy in recent months concerning apparent violations of the comprehensive plan on the part of recent residential development.
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Ivan has won a seat on the Mt. Vernon City Council, bringing the city one step closer to more sensible, reasoned decision making.

The other seat was won by incumbent Jim Moore. Though I endorsed Carine Klein, I do think Jim is capable of thinking and voting in a way that separates him from the “ol’ boy network’s” push to conform with their agenda. Therefore I’m optimistic.

It remains to be seen how the seat vacated by Paul Tuerler will be filled. Last I heard, there will either be a special election or the council will appoint someone. If it’s an appointment, I’d think the most logical choice would be the candidate who came in third. That would be Carine Klein.

This week’s issue of the Sun features the first recent editorial I’ve seen in which the paper (Jake Krob, I presume?) takes a stance on growth with any attempt to support it. Previous editorials have included a pro-residential-development comment or two, but with not justification other than the often heard but irrelevant comment that other towns are losing population.

I’m glad the Sun is getting into the conversation, but am disappointed the editorial ignores the most obvious and troubling problems residential growth will cause for us. It ignores, as well, the data we’ve provided here to highlight the fiscal problems of residential development. Still, it’s a start, and one from which I hope the Sun will proceed to develop an informed, thoughtful take on this, the most serious issue with which our communities are confronted. Maintaining a pro-residential-growth stance would be to support an unsustainable process which would only damage the community. (more…)

Nearly two weeks ago I sent the mayors of Mt. Vernon and Lisbon, and all members of the city councils whose email addresses I could find, invitations to share their views on this site. I asked as well that they forward the invitation to members of the two planning and zoning commissions, as their email addresses are not readily available. No official has yet commented on the site.
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This week I attended the League of Women Voters candidates’ nights in both MV and Lisbon. In MV, residential growth quickly emerged (with no prompting from me!) as the central issue of discussion. Our city government has a good deal of progress to make in recognizing the difference between improvement and mere physical expansion. But I see hints of progress. There are a few officials and candidates who are at least thinking about some of the right questions. Ivan Vonk and Carine Klein, for instance, are capable of a degree of independent thought which has been scarce in recent city government decisions. (more…)