City Council issues top questions at forum
Reprinted from The Gazette, Tuesday, October 16, 2007, page 1B

By Rick Smith
The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS — Continuing fall leaf pickup, supporting the public library and keeping a lid on property taxes were matters last night that six candidates running for two district council seats could find some agreement on.

Incumbent Sarah Henderson is being challenged by Robin Tucker and Monica Vernon in the east-side District 2; and incumbent Chuck Swore is facing off against Kathy Rickertsen and Chuck Wieneke in the west-side District 4 race.

The questions posed from an audience of about 40 to 50 at the League of Women Voters forum at the Public Library centered on City Council issues that have been in the news: Twin Pines Golf Course; Westdale Mall and the City Hall ‘‘Enhance Our Neighborhoods’’ initiative.

Five of the six candidates, including both incumbents, called on the City Council to set aside a hard-to-understand development moratorium the council has put in place at Westdale Mall.

Only Vernon, 49, 326 23rd St. Dr. SE, stopped short, and called on the city to develop a special zoning ‘‘overlay district’’ for the mall property that would limit to some extent what any new buyer or developer could do to the mall and adjacent property. What is important, Vernon said, is to protect the future value of the commercial property both at the mall site and in the area around it, which she noted has boomed in recent years even as the mall has failed.

Henderson, 33, 118 Teakwood Lane NE, said she opposed the moratorium ‘‘philosophically’’ and said it was an ‘‘overreach’’ by government on private-property rights. Nonetheless, she, too, said the city needed to somehow to protect the tax base at the important commercial site.

Most had no time for the current City Hall exploration of a sale of a piece of the Twin Pines Golf Course to obtain money to renovate the rest of the course.

‘‘Greenspace is very important,’’ said District 4 challenger Rickertsen, 59, of 148 Cherry Hill Rd. NW.

District 4 challenger Wieneke, 63, of 2191 Wes Ct. NW, said the Twin Pines discussion was the perfect example of ‘‘misplaced priorities.’’

Swore, 64, 2609 Iris Ave. NW, said he couldn’t say what the city should do about a piece of Twin Pines until he actually knew some information. ‘‘I’d be open to listen,’’ he said, if a developer offered a lot of money and a way to enhance golf in the city all in one.

To a question about research, District 4 challenger Rickertsen said what is good for Minneapolis might not be good for Cedar Rapids.

Swore acknowledged that he keeps his eyes open as he travels, noticing which towns have downtown parking meters and what kind of health their community arenas are in. At the same time, though, he said, ‘‘I’m not a big researcher on seeing how somebody else did it.’’

Swore’s challenger, Wieneke, said he was ‘‘surprised’’ at Swore’s comments, noting that Swore was among council members who supported bringing in a Chicago area developer to look at the possibility of buying a piece of the Twin Pines course. Wieneke said council members should be able to depend on city staff for research.

District 2 challenger Tucker, 43, of 275 Tomahawk Trail SE, said research was a responsibility of a council member, and he said he thought the current City Council and city manager relied too much on outside consultants.