Oh Good Lord.
I suppose it was inevitable, given that you know, it's Iowa City- but why? Why? Why? It's like the silly Peace Camp all over again- and after enough drunk students had pissed on their tents (I actually know someone who copped to that, btw) and enough people had egged their tents, they pulled up stakes quick enough.
It's just amazing to me how many of these protestors seem to be wearing brand name clothes. And probably are going to college because of the jobs that Mommy and Daddy have and you know, in the few videos I've seen, a lot of them seem to be equipped with iPhones, iPods and all the sexy trappings of technology that they purchased with their evil, capitalist dollars. And when commentators on the P-C website go on about the evils of globalisation and how workers are devalued, I gotta ask: where do you work? Wal-Mart? McDonald's? Another shitty minimum wage job? I'm betting not. (Oh and the majority of these protestors look pretty white to me. Privileged and white. Hardly the downtrodden masses here.)
So I guess I am the 1%. I'm not s self-righteously, hypocritical progressive whining about how unfair life is and how we shouldn't have to pay for anything.
Oh and I don't own an iPhone.
UPDATED: Another good question- why aren't they occupying K-Street? Or Congress for that matter...
Showing posts with label iowa city. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iowa city. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Northside Fire? Not A Problem...
Station 4 is set to go online Monday. It looks like a really nice building- and I know the Fire Department people really like the drive through for the trucks- no backing up and tying up traffic anymore.
Pretty much, once they get that First Avenue Rail Overpass done, then Station 3 won't get tied up by trains anymore and it should all be shiny...
Pretty much, once they get that First Avenue Rail Overpass done, then Station 3 won't get tied up by trains anymore and it should all be shiny...
Saturday, October 1, 2011
A Tiff over TIFs
In the wake of Coralville's brazen attempt at bribery to peel Von Maur away from Sycamore Mall and out to the Iowa River Landing, there's been a flurry of coverage on the issue of TIF (tax incremented financing) districts and their drawbacks and potential- with some lawmakers calling for a review of Iowa's TIF statute over concerns that Coralville might be stretching it a little too far.
All of this raises a potentially interesting question: does Coralville have an edge or is it just selling its soul to a ginormous TIF district that'll come back to bite it in the ass someday? A couple of nice articles in the Press-Citizen explore this a little bit, ranging from the overall use of TIF in the county to the impact it has on other services- especially given the loss of tax revenue involved in promoting a TIF district.
Over at FromDC2Iowa, Nick Johnson weighs in as well with some more reasons why TIF's should be used a lot more judiciously than they are now- all 3 are well worth a read.
As a local development group eyes a Hampton Inn for Iowa City and the controversy still rages in University Heights about a proposed development (where the developer was asking for a TIF, of course, the questions will probably continue. I think there are a couple of things worth touching on here: first, Iowa City is not Coralville- we shouldn't get tagged with their brush, especially given that I don't think financing for the proposed Riverfront Crossing District has been locked in stone yet.
I'm not against TIF's where they're appropriate- turning your whole town into a giant TIF, like Coralville seems to secretly want to do, is a little bit of overkill for me though.
Will this Riverfront Crossing thing work without TIF financing? I don't know- I don't even know if it's that good of an idea, given all the flooding we've had- even with the gigantic greenspace the plans call for. That area of town could do with a facelift though- a Hampton Inn also wouldn't be that out of place, but beyond that, we've gotta have a sensible conversation about what Iowa City should look like in the future. All this insistence on a local identity and blah blah blah doesn't really impress me much. We've haven't had that since elementary school- and we need to do something. I'm just not sure what. I do know that I'm getting sick and tired of spending my money in Coralville. Or at Wal-Mart... and we can do something about that- but only if we want too.
All of this raises a potentially interesting question: does Coralville have an edge or is it just selling its soul to a ginormous TIF district that'll come back to bite it in the ass someday? A couple of nice articles in the Press-Citizen explore this a little bit, ranging from the overall use of TIF in the county to the impact it has on other services- especially given the loss of tax revenue involved in promoting a TIF district.
Over at FromDC2Iowa, Nick Johnson weighs in as well with some more reasons why TIF's should be used a lot more judiciously than they are now- all 3 are well worth a read.
As a local development group eyes a Hampton Inn for Iowa City and the controversy still rages in University Heights about a proposed development (where the developer was asking for a TIF, of course, the questions will probably continue. I think there are a couple of things worth touching on here: first, Iowa City is not Coralville- we shouldn't get tagged with their brush, especially given that I don't think financing for the proposed Riverfront Crossing District has been locked in stone yet.
I'm not against TIF's where they're appropriate- turning your whole town into a giant TIF, like Coralville seems to secretly want to do, is a little bit of overkill for me though.
Will this Riverfront Crossing thing work without TIF financing? I don't know- I don't even know if it's that good of an idea, given all the flooding we've had- even with the gigantic greenspace the plans call for. That area of town could do with a facelift though- a Hampton Inn also wouldn't be that out of place, but beyond that, we've gotta have a sensible conversation about what Iowa City should look like in the future. All this insistence on a local identity and blah blah blah doesn't really impress me much. We've haven't had that since elementary school- and we need to do something. I'm just not sure what. I do know that I'm getting sick and tired of spending my money in Coralville. Or at Wal-Mart... and we can do something about that- but only if we want too.
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