Market share

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Asking Linn County to assist with the NewBo City Market project in Cedar Rapids makes sense. But we agree with county supervisors who think Mayor Ron Corbett's request for the county to pitch in $100,000 a year for three years is too high.

The county's entire economic development budget for the year is $150,000. And supervisors already have committed $16,000 toward the project's planning.

That said, the year-round market, with groundbreaking expected in March, is an example of a project that can benefit both the city and county and warrants cooperation. It will provide another outlet for vendors around the county. Asking for county participation seems reasonable.

We were disappointed last year that the county and city didn't work out an agreement to build a new, expanded Cedar Rapids animal shelter that would replace the flood-damaged facility that would also serve the county.

Instead, the city will build its own facility on land donated by Kirkwood Community College, which in turn gets a classroom in the building and will be able to use the shelter to help train veterinary-tech students.

Some supervisors did say this week that they still will consider some additional support for the market, just not as much as the mayor requested. Good. Work together on this promising project.

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