Wood seeks at-large seat on Cedar Rapids council

CEDAR RAPIDS - Bridgett Wood, 27, is running for an at-large seat on the City Council because she said the nine-member council could use a fresh face with some young ideas.

None of the current council members is under the age of 52.

'Honestly, I think the City Council needs someone under the age of 30,” said Wood, an account technician at the Linn County Auditor's Office. 'People my age have a different view on things. It's not the same thing over and over and over again.”

Wood, the mother of four children, two of whom are stepchildren, said her campaign slogan is 'Families for the Future of Cedar Rapids.”

She said Cedar Rapids needs to be less of a 'drive-through” city and more of a destination city to attract visitors and to persuade families and others to move here.

She said she likes the proposed idea for a water park, would look to expand the Bever Park Zoo and wouldn't oppose a casino because it would bring people to the city and raise local revenue, which could mean lower taxes, she said.

Wood and her husband, Clint, live at 1602 Bever Ave. SE in Wellington Heights, and she said the neighborhood is a safe place to raise a family and features a healthy neighborhood association. A news account of a gunshot in another part of the city will mention a street name, but news reports taint all of Wellington Heights if the shot happens on one its streets, she said.

Wood said recent gun violence in the city doesn't mean the city needs more police officers. Instead, she said she favors data analysis so the city's current officers are deployed most effectively, she said.

She wants to look more closely at the city's traffic-safety data to see if traffic cameras on Interstate 380 are making the city safer. She said the cameras are giving the city a bad reputation. Does the city want to be known first and foremost as the city with traffic cameras? she asked.

Generally, she said the city has done a good job in recovering from the Flood of 2008, and she said she supports short-term economic incentives that help development.

She said she favors bike lanes and bike trails, but she said the city might look at a bike fee.

Wood moved to Cedar Rapids in 2006 to attend college. She has worked with Linn County since 2008 and holds a master's degree in business administration from Ashford University.

She serves on the nine-member Cedar Rapids School District Audit Committee, and she is treasurer of the Des Moines chapter of the Association of Government Accountants.

Wood joins four others competing for two at-large council seats on the Nov. 3 ballot. The others are incumbents Ann Poe and Susie Weinacht, former council member Wade Wagner and Carletta Knox-Seymour, a member of the City Planning Commission.