The Small Town Project

Monday night: Today I received an anonymous email from someone who disagrees with some of my views on the site. Well, probably all of them. First, I want to mention that I’m not much interested in private debate with anonymous emailers as it does nothing to bring information to the citizens of our communities. I have therefore made additions to the “contact the author” form and the comment policy to minimize this sort of thing.

With that in mind, I invite the emailer to comment under this article. Can you support your position with logic or data? Let’s discuss it. (more…)

This is a bit of a tangent from where this site is generally going to go, but it’s worth a mention. The Gazette today featured a front page story detailing how a large turnout of citizens helped spur the Cedar Rapids City Planning Commission to table a developer’s plan for a large development of mobile homes. The rationale for tabling it was, in large part, that it violated the city’s comprehensive plan. One commissioner noted that people “count on” the comprehensive plan when making decisions about investing in homes. An attorney pointed out that the comprehensive plan is “more than a guideline,” that it’s “legally significant.”
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Note: Comments on this post will remain open until after the election.

Please note the temporary special feature just under the “Take Action!” link in the “Site Basics” section of the sidebar. To the extent that I have anything worth passing along, it will contain discussion of those who file papers to run for City Council.

The filing deadline to run is Thursday, the 22nd, at 5:00 p.m.!