A new blue measure of progress

About two-thirds of the way through his State of the City speech, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett built our word power.

Just after explaining the city's beautification efforts, and before addressing ”hot button” issues, the mayor introduced us to the civic importance of measuring 'pissivity.”

It's not in the standard dictionary, as the mayor noted, but you can probably make a good guess as to its meaning. My apologies to the easily shocked.

It's 'basically how pissed-off a person is,” the mayor told hundreds of people who had just gobbled grilled chicken at the Convention Complex. 'Now, I know a mayor shouldn't use that word.”

This must be that Blue Zone I've heard so much about.

The good news is the mayor says there's far less 'pissivity” in Cedar Rapids now then there was when he took office in 2010. Back then, according to the Corbett Pissivity Index, if you asked 10 people what they thought of the city, two would be neutral, one would be happy and seven would be, er, uh, displeased.

Nowadays, it's seven happy, two neutral and one unhappy. This is not a scientific sampling. Just ask any urologist.

The mayor said its like his musical inspiration, Johnny Nash, once sang, 'All of the bad feelings have disappeared.”

'Citizens seem to be in alignment with the council,” Corbett said.

Our salty mayor has a point. And his speech helped prove it. It was largely about fixing streets, encouraging new and expanding business, recruiting retail, setting development policy and putting up welcome signs. Blessedly ordinary government stuff compared to recovering from a massive disaster and rebuilding a city. And it's stuff far less likely to shove the Corbett index into code yellow.

Clearly, this was a speech by a mayor who believes he and his colleagues are getting it right. To underscore it, Corbett used instant polling via smartphones to ask his audience of business, development and community leaders whether the council should continue welcoming business, promoting development and improving the community. Surprise! The mayor and council's policy priorities polled very well.

Traffic cameras and Corbett's continued push for a casino license drew a larger chunk of no votes, but still received clear support from folks who bothered to chime in digitally.

But, you know, community alignment is a fickle thing. Confidence is fine attribute in elected leaders. But overconfidence can lead them to stop doing the hard work of explaining, selling and building a compelling case for key decisions. Basking within a bubble of supporters can make it hard to hear alternative voices and other ideas, and yes, even the legitimate concerns of the angry.

Corbett is right to be proud of what the city has accomplished, of the times leaders stood up for the city when bureaucrats from above were indifferent to its needs. The path Cedar Rapids has taken since Corbett spoke for the first time in 2010 is astounding.

But there's a big city and lots of folks outside that banquet room. Among them, polling and 'pissivity” rates may vary. It's their city, too.

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