What Did We Expect?

This is what happens when you let 10 years of gentrification and selling out to big name developers go completely unchecked: The City Council loses it's mind and sets out to destroy the character of downtown itself.

I have to wonder just what happened to Iowa City. I remember growing up with Great Midwestern Ice Cream, Bushnell's Turtle, Barbara's Bakery- all locally owned small business that rubbed shoulders with bars, restaurants and yes, actually honest-to-god retail that people in the community wanted to come and shop at. The ongoing trainwreck downtown began with the opening of the Coral Ridge Mall and hasn't stopped since.

I can understand the calculus: there was no way Iowa City could compete with the largest mall in Iowa- at least it was at the time. There was bound to be a hit on the retail in downtown Iowa City- but swinging upscale, which seems to be the strategy that's been pursued for a decade or more essentially destroyed the character of downtown. We want a mix. We want good restaurants, good locally owned business, good bars and yes, good retail- retail that students AND members of the community as a whole are going to want to shop at. That's the formula for success downtown.

But how do you reverse the damage done over the course of the past ten years? That is the harder question. All the new property downtown has meant that property values and therefore rents have shot through the roof. Attracting retail chains will be difficult or next to impossible, because who wants to invest in an absurdly expensive graveyard of a downtown? As it stands now, even the boutiques are struggling. Bars rule the roost, because they can bring in the cash and afford downtown.

We need a vision and someone advocating for a real vision for downtown. No more bullshit studies or pretty pictures- we need to step up and actually do it. We need tax breaks, incentives, lowering property taxes any combination to get the job done right. If downtown is to prosper, it needs to try and find that balance that made downtown Iowa City such a unique place to shop to begin with.

So now, no more homeless people to offend the rich and powerful. And no more non-profits to offend the rich and powerful. And more restrictions on vendors along Melrose during game days because that offends the rich and powerful who were silly enough to buy a house right next to a 70,000 seat stadium.

I'm neither rich nor particularly powerful- but this craven retreat in the face of the petulent demands of the people responsible for ruining downtown Iowa City needs to stop. We need to stand up to gentrification and start working to revitalize our downtown- because, despite what people think, we're not an exclusively upper-class town and we should stop catering to the tiny minority that think the University should get rid of all the students and that football is for chauvinist pigs and that downtown just needs the right posh, faaaawcny restaurants and bars where only the 'right sort of people' can drink and buy the right sort of extremely expensive clothes and park their fancy cars.

Somebody needs to speak for the community. We need a downtown that's going to serve the entire community and not just be a playground for the rich and powerful.