Kinnick Stadium neighbors ask for comprehensive review of football game-day activities

IOWA CITY – The City Council is set to let vendors stay on Melrose Avenue during Iowa home football games, but some residents of the area want a broader discussion of game-day activities.

The City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday night in support of an ordinance establishing a permit system for the couple of dozen vendors who sell food and apparel on Melrose Avenue south of Kinnick Stadium. Two more votes are needed for the measure to pass.

City staff in April had recommended banning the vendors, saying that they had safety concerns, that the residential neighborhood was not zoned for commercial uses and that there have been complaints from some area residents over trash and noise.

Jean Walker, a representative of the Melrose Neighborhood Association, said it's not the vendors residents take issue with, but their location. They want the University of Iowa to allow the vendors on its property, such as the stadium parking lot.

Trash, vomit and public urination are all a problem, she said.

“We have a serious problem here,” she said.

Among Walker's requests were that: the area where vendors are allowed, set at between the railroad bridge and Melrose Circle, be made smaller; the UI supply more portable toilets and trash containers, which the UI has said it would; sticks some food is put on be banned because they harm pets who try to eat them; the vendors be limited to selling items on game days only; and vendors clean up by noon the day after the game instead of Monday morning, as the new ordinance would allow.

She also asked for a comprehensive review of game-day activities, with the neighborhood involved in that process.

Council members Mike Wright and Regenia Bailey supported that, suggesting it occur after the season and involve the UI and other interested parties.

“This is the first step. There's going to have to be some kind of comprehensive review,” Wright said.

Council member Susan Mims said tailgating activities blocks away from the vendors, much of it on property owned by neighborhood residents, contribute to the problems and would need to be considered.

“I think there are other parts of this that are big parts of the problem,” she said.

Shelton Stromquist, who has lived on Myrtle Avenue for 30 years, addressed a question commonly put to people who live near the stadium and complain of the atmosphere: Didn't they know where they were moving when they bought their homes?

Of course they did, he said. But, “We didn't know, or expect, the outrageous or illegal behavior of some Iowa fans.”

Ron Christensen, the owner of Game Day Iowa, which operates a tent on Melrose Avenue, said if there are enough portable toilets and trash containers, there will be improvement.

Under the proposed ordinance, vendors would be required to pay $75 for a permit for the season and have insurance and health permits, keep the area around them clean, stay clear of sidewalks and the street and follow other regulations. Alcohol could not be sold by the vendors.

The regulations would not apply to regular tailgaters.