Cedar Rapids, Marion Voters who show pick status quo

I've heard we're in tumultuous electoral times. Outsiders are incoming. Bums will be thrown out. To the ramparts, with pitchforks.

But in Cedar Rapids and Marion on Tuesday, voters stuck largely with the status quo. The revolution, apparently, has not reached Linn County's two largest cities.

It is tough to hold a revolution when hardly anyone shows up. Voter turnout in Cedar Rapids was 16.2 percent, with 19.2 percent bothering with ballots in Marion, according to unofficial results. So more than 80 percent of voters delivered a collective, silent shrug. Sadly, status quo.

It must have been the weather. Sunny and warm, with a 100 percent chance of considerable apathy and widely scattered disengagement. Although we turn out in much higher numbers, even in a snowstorm, to vote on gambling.

In Cedar Rapids, incumbent at-large Council members Ann Poe and Susie Weinacht kept their seats, as did incumbent Scott Olson. The lone newcomer is Scott Overland, vice president of investments at Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust, who was unopposed in seeking Monica Vernon's seat.

Given the opportunity to put a strong, black voice on the City Council, just as the city faces critical, complex issues in its most diverse neighborhoods, voters left it nine shades of white. Carletta Knox-Seymour was a solid candidate but couldn't climb past better-financed rivals.

Voters shot down a 27-cent property tax levy to help fund Cedar Rapids' public library system. So two libraries will continue to rely on the kindness of donors, the generosity of the city council and bonded debt for books, but likely with curtailed hours and less programming. Maybe the council continues stopgap funding for now. Perhaps backers will return with a smaller levy ask. Persistence is necessary in Cedar Rapids.

Still, it's frustrating. Libraries open to everyone have to beg for nickels while business interests seeking public breaks, backing and incentives hardly ever hear the word 'no.” Again, status quo.

In Marion, the council slate of mayoral hopeful John Nieland and council candidates Kay Lammers and Dwight Hogan threw Fitbits, fire pits, roundabouts and the kitchen sink at the so-called 'shadow government,” but came up short. Nieland, a former mayor, lost to council member Nick AbouAssaly, Hogan was defeated by incumbent Kim Etzel and Lammers lost to Will Brandt by just 35 votes.

AbouAssaly, Brandt and Etzel all had strong backing from economic development groups and interests who want to continue aggressive city efforts to spur growth, the same folks the Nieland slate said have too much say in city decisions. Now, as the Election Day dust settles, the course of city policy is unlikely to change. AbouAssaly moves to the mayor's chair, Etzel stays put and the third-place mayoral candidate, Council member Joe Spinks, keeps his seat. Brandt, whose views largely align with AbouAssaly, is the lone newcomer.

Somewhere, City Manager Lon Pluckhahn is breathing a long, deep sigh of relief.

Unlike Cedar Rapids, the results may be good news for backers of a new Marion library tied to a mixed-use development uptown. The Nieland slate ran flatly against the still evolving plan, which would involve tearing down the current library. The winners largely tiptoed around the issue, but there's little doubt they would be more sympathetic to the library effort.

So a hearty thanks to all who voted. If you didn't, and wonder why government doesn't listen, it could be because Election Day's loudest message, again, was silence.

l Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@thegazette.com