Small business owner to seek Cedar Rapids City Council seat

Carletta Knox-Seymour grew up in Cedar Rapids before living and working around the Midwest and beyond.

Each time she returned home, “I would still see some things that I think need addressing,” Knox-Seymour said Wednesday.

So Knox-Seymour plans to run for one of two at-large seats on the Cedar Rapids City Council this fall to promote economic development, public safety and support for youth at risk. The election is Nov. 5.

Knox-Seymour has come and gone from Cedar Rapids as opportunities have presented themselves. Since returning again in 2008, she has started two businesses – Carletta's Sweet Things, which supplies banana bread to a Cedar Rapids grocery store, and Imperial Cleaning Service – and is serving a second term on the city Planning Commission.

As a business owner, Knox-Seymour sees a need for a strong support system for small businesses to thrive.

“We want to grow the local economy and keep money in the community,” Knox-Seymour, 59, said. She also wants to see the local manufacturing base expand to create job opportunities and keep money turning over in the community.

“We need to put more people to work, so they can buy more homes and spend more locally,” she said.

Knox-Seymour, who has four adult children and served on the board of a private, parent-run school in Milwaukee for six years, sees a need for a support network for at-risk youth “to help them be better students and successful adults.”

She supports the city's efforts to secure funds for flood protection and backs the extension of the 1-percent local option sales tax.

“That money will specifically go to fixing our streets,” she said. “Instead of patching, patching, patching, we will make real repairs,” Knox-Seymour said.

A union supporter, Knox-Seymour wants the city to use project labor agreements and require prevailing wages on city projects.

Knox-Seymour believes her work on the Planning commission “has been like a launching pad” leading her to run for the council position.

“We had to make some tough decisions,” she said, referring specifically to opposing a Kum and Go convenience story on Mount Vernon Road near McKinley Middle School as well as supporting restricting where payday loan businesses may locate.

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