Penford expansion would create jobs

Talk is cheap. Let's get real and consider what is important to Cedar Rapids. I'm talking about Penford and its request to buy Riverside Park for expansion purposes.

Jobs in our city are provided by governmentals (federal, state, county, city and a school district), non-profit organizations (501(c)(3), e.g., Four Oaks, Tanager Place, Horizons) and for-profit companies (large and small). It seems, however, that employees in the government and non-profit sector have been on the grow here but companies formed to make a profit aren't advancing. Why?

I believe the reason for this is we forgot the past. A good example is how our city grew and prospered over time. Many of us “old-timers” who lived during the '20s through the '50s are gradually slipping away, losing the city's memory of the past, which doesn't help.

During those times, large for-profit companies such as Penick & Ford (now Penford), Quaker Oats, Sinclair Packing, Cherry Burrell, Link Belt Speeder and others supplied job opportunities, paid thousands of dollars in taxes, and provided employee leaders for countless businesses, cultural and church organizations. Many of those workers had Czechoslovakian “roots.”

I love our Czech museum, but their stance on the park purchase is wrong. Also, some of the members of the City Council criticize the idea without thinking all the facts through. Let's not bury our heads in the sand but give our craft unions a new manufacturing addition to build that will provide profit-making jobs.

David H. Burke

Cedar Rapids