Susie Weinacht is fifth in Cedar Rapids race for two at-large council seats

Susie Weinacht is running for an at-large seat on the City Council.

Weinacht, 50, works as part-time manager for RWDSU-UFCW Local 110 and part-time executive director of the Iowa PTA. She also is a member of the city's Parks and Recreation Commission.

"I don't come with an ax to grind. I don't come with any negativity. I come with (the idea of) moving us forward," says Weinacht, 1211 A'Hearn Dr. NE.

If elected, Weinacht says her priorities will include bringing more jobs and more good-paying jobs to the city, fixing city streets, supporting citywide community development, revitalizing neighborhoods and improving public safety.

"I think we live in an incredible community, and there's a lot to be proud of, especially in the last five years," she says. "And I think we're doing a good job. I would also say it isn't time to rest or take our eye off the ball. And someone with a fresh perspective might be better at understanding that right now."

Weinacht supports the City Council's decision to ask voters on Nov. 5 to extend the city's 1-percent local-option sales tax for 10 years. Using revenue raised each year via a sales-tax will allow the city to fix more streets without having to take on debt and paying it off with revenue from property taxes, she says. People who live outside of Cedar Rapids but work and shop here and use the city's streets also pay the sales tax, she notes.

Weinacht says she supported and campaigned to pass two previous tax-extension votes, both of which failed by close margins in May 2011 and March 2012. She also worked on the campaign to put the current 63-month sales in place in March 2009 for flood recovery.

As for the local casino vote in March 2013, Weinacht says she respects the opinions of people on both sides of the issue. But now that the voters have approved casino gaming here, she says it's prudent for an elected official to work to make sure the development is the best it can be for the city.

"Done right, I think it can bring a lot of meaningful jobs," she says. "It can mean we have another piece of flood protection. It can mean additional economic and community development can happen in a core west-side neighborhood. So I think we need to work hard to get this done."

The union hall where she works, 526 F Ave. NW, was flooded in 2008 and then renovated, and she says she helped in a union-led "Gut and Mucks" effort that helped clean out some 200 homes in the weeks after the city's 2008 flood disaster.

"What I hear overwhelmingly is that we need flood protection," she says. "We just can't forget what happened and let it happen again."

Weinacht is married and she and husband Terry have three grown children.

She is the fifth candidate to enter the race for two at-large council seats on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Also running are incumbent Chuck Swore; former council member Jerry McGrane; Ralph Russell, retired former president/CEO of engineering firm HR Green Inc.; and Anthony Brown, a staff member with Diversity Focus. At-large incumbent Don Karr has not decided if he will seek re-election.