A blow to regional priorities

The Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization is supposed to represent the interests of Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Fairfax, Robins and Ely. It's charged with deciding how to invest an annual federal allotment of about $4 million in transportation improvements for the area served.

Typically, that has involved spending for roads and trails. A decision last week to redirect money and use it to build a section of skywalk in downtown Cedar Rapids doesn't strike us as fitting the MPO's mission.

The MPO board has 23 seats, with representation based on population and with at least one elected official from each city along with appointees. Cedar Rapids gets 13 votes under that formula. Fair enough unless the advantage is abused.

Last week, members voted 14-7 to repurpose $1.4 million that the board previously had approved for a street improvement project on Cedar Rapids' 33rd Avenue SW. Instead, it's going for a skywalk to connect the downtown convention center/hotel complex to the skywalk network at US Bank across Third Street SE. All 13 Cedar Rapids board members, who are city employees or City Council members, voted for the switch, along with Linn County Supervisor Lu Barron, a Cedar Rapids resident.

We see value in the skywalk connection. It enhances an important downtown development. But we don't see how it serves the MPO region as well as sorely needed street improvements and connecting trails that serve both a growing recreation and commuter purpose. The skywalk scored poorly on the MPO's ranking system, which includes several street projects in the metro area jurisdictions ranked well above it.

We applauded the Cedar Rapids majority two years ago when it voted to use 80 percent of the funding toward completing the trail system that serves so much of the metro area. But this latest spending decision looks like a big bully pushing his size advantage to get what he wants regardless of whether he's deserving. It doesn't serve the region or regional cooperation.

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