Will Action Follow MedQuarter Forum?

I've seen the comprehensive $375 million plan designed to protect Cedar Rapids' historic core from a surge of floodwaters. But do we have a comprehensive plan to protect the city's history from a sea of asphalt?

Not really. And that's troubling. But maybe we're headed in the right direction after a packed forum Tuesday night on the future of the medical district, or “MedQuarter” (sigh), and its potential impact on historic properties. Perhaps our insatiable need to park our cars on acres of pavement won't, in the end, run over the admirable desire to save some of this community's historic character.

A lot of intelligent questions were asked and a lot of encouraging things were said by the panelists, City Council members Pat Shey and Monica Vernon, historian Mark Stoffer Hunter and preservationist Maura Pilcher. There are some ideas to run with.

Missing were folks from St. Luke's Hospital, Physicians' Clinic of Iowa and Mercy Medical Center, who put the “medical” in the district. They saw the forum as “premature” because the district is still a proposal that has yet to be finalized.

It seems to me that pre-finalization is actually a dandy time for public input. The perfect time. Otherwise you get what we usually get: historic preservationists rushing into the game to play desperate zone defense, 10 points down, the clock running out. Not a good game plan.

It feels like we're always bickering in this town over puzzle pieces, over isolated,narrow close-ups of individual projects. But on Tuesday night, the big crowd, more than 150 showed up, was interested in the big picture.

Many argued that it's a bad idea to bulldoze older homes, apartments and churches, and the mature trees that shade them, to satisfy city requirements for parking spaces. "I'm afraid they'll remember that town with a bunch of parking lots," Pilcher said of visitors who might someday gaze upon all that asphalt.

Maybe, it was suggested, we should consider watershed management practices when we make urban development decisions. Rich Patterson of the Indian Creek Nature Center said the city could be a "model of no-runoff construction."

Not every thing can or should be saved. Sometimes progress has to win. But at the very least, our elected leaders should strive to do more to balance a thirst for new development and the city's proud history. Being open for business doesn't require selling our soul.

Vernon talked about a program in Des Moines requiring people seeking to tear down landmarks to advertise the properties first with hopes of finding a savior. Maybe in Cedar Rapids the city's important local landmarks could receive an official city designation, with some truly special spots placed off-limits to development.

Shey and Vernon each said parking requirements should be revised. Lots and structures could be shared. Parking garages don't have to look like concrete eyesores.

It was the sort of discussion that's needed. It should happen more often. Next, we'll find out if it's more than just talk.