Council, make choice to decide on issues

Pass out the pitchforks. Get ready to storm City Hall, if you can find it.

Jim Prosser, Tom Podzimek, Kris Gulick and colleagues now want a third-party review of OPN's cost estimates of alternatives for renovating or replacing flood-damaged public properties. Puhleeze!

Cedar Rapids City Council members have been blessed with public patience while they scour for legitimate data and public input. It is understandable that time was needed to frame the choices. Gulick, an accountant, now wants to lead us into analysis paralysis.

Accountants are expert at looking in the rearview mirror. They practice quantifying the past so clients can avoid jail and comply with tax codes. They're known for accuracy, not their capacity to predict the future, so they ask for more analysis.

Of course the data can be questioned. Of course there are unknowns. Of course it's always good to have another set of eyes. If that's the case, why didn't council issue two contracts, maybe three or four, for the analysis that OPN performed? Then we could be four times as confused.

If the deciders at City Hall don't want to decide, they could engage a psychic to look into the future for them. Unfortunately, I think all the psychics in downtown were flooded out because they didn't see the water coming.

So here's my humble picture of what the future looks like for the council and city manager: You're toast if you don't get on with deciding instead of deciding not to decide.

Clay Fulknier

Cedar Rapids