Opening Night in Hiawatha!

The Cedar Rapids City Council's road show opened at Hiawatha City Hall last night after its long run at the AEGON auditorium. Sometimes a change of scenery, a change of city, even, can freshen up an act.

There were some opening night jitters. Early arrivers like myself had to Wait outside the council chambers while police met inside to chat about security measures. Curious. But this only served to build the suspense.

Circle of Life-- The crowd gathered. The gavel dropped. And Mayor Pro Tem Monica Vernon warmed hearts young and old with an  invocation recalling her kindergarten lessons about the "circle of life" in springtime and the value of sharing with neighbors, like Hiawatha. So special.

"I played dodgeball in kindergarten," said Mayor Ron Corbett, scoffing at Vernon's touchy feely moment. "There was no circle of life. We went after each other."

Big Gavel-- Corbett did not arrive in Hiawatha without his very large Cedar Rapids mayoral gavel. During his first council meeting in January, Corbett gave a stirring speech about how his gavel could bring consensus and unity and tenderize steak and make lovely julienne fries, or something like that.

After the meeting Tuesday, Corbett jokingly compared his gavel to a much more diminutive gavel used by the Hiawatha council. This is no way to encourage regional cooperation.

Got Eggs? -- Then the meeting was thrown to the chickens.

Several members of Citizens for the Legalization of Urban Chickens, or CLUC, showed up in Hiawatha, donning bright yellow "Got Eggs?" shirts. They formally requested that the council approve a one-year chicken trial period, with 50-75 permits to raise up to six hens in sturdy enclosures. No roosters allowed. No slaughtering.

"We'd like to teach our children where our food comes from," said Jan Hullaby of Cedar Rapids. They want raise their own country fresh eggs in the city.

All they are saying, is give CLUC a chance.

Vernon supports the idea, and Corbett, though less enthusiastic, isn't against a trial period. But I think three more votes might be hard to come by. It will be a few weeks before the council takes up the request.

I say let's try it and see what happens, break a few eggs.

Yardy Party (Finally) Ends- Inventor Kim Brokaw made one last pitch for his Yardy cart anti-tip plate. The council said thanks, but no thanks and voted to yank $540,000 from the budget that would have purchased 54,000 plates.

(Funny how council members keep insisting that they never, ever gave the OK for buying those plates, and yet, they had to vote to remove it from the budget. How did it get in there?)

Brokaw still argues that many people have been injured by plate-less Yardies. But in a world where every garage contains 1,000 unique ways to be maimed, folks just thought the price of Yardy safety was too high.

"I had a lot of people call me," said Council member Justin Shields. "Not one of them would support this coming form the city budget."

But the next time the city buys a batch of Yardies, the council wants to seek safety changes from the manufacturer.

The Budget - I've never seen the passage of a government budget at any level marked by shouts of praise and triumphant trumpets and a balloon drop. And I still haven't.

The Council voted 5-4 to approve the city budget. Nobody seemed very happy about it.

The most unhappy award goes to Council member Tom Podzimek, who railed against a budget he says is trying to get by "on the cheap," while the city's infrastructure and quality of life suffers.

"If that continues, Cedar Rapids will be a great place to die," Podzimek said. Hey, what happened to the circle of life?

Corbett disagreed, arguing that his effort to freeze property tax rates on commercial property would help struggling businesses that face tough choices. "We're not turning this town into a place people want to die," said Corbett, using his old dodgeball skills.

In the end, this is a budget that reflects what Corbett ran on during last year's campaign, so it's not much of  a surprise. The city's tapping its reserves instead of cutting more or raising taxes more, and it's spending less on capital projects, streets etc, than some might like. Disappointing, maybe, but I don't think citizens will be grabbing torches and pitchforks. These are disappointing times.

But no hard feelings. Council members generally agreed that it would be nice over the next year to attract some businesses and new jobs to help build the city's tax base. Good luck.

What did not happen -- Although many things happened, some did not.

The council was not inspired by its new digs to add an exclamation point to the end of Cedar Rapids, like "Hiawatha!"

Nobody read my mind and put ESPN up on any of the flat screen TVs hanging around the room.

Nobody from CLUCK suggested that the city spend $540,000 on anti-peck beak guards to  protect citizens from chicken injuries.