‘Way’ named for Tom Aller

CEDAR RAPIDS - Former Alliant Energy executive Tom Aller joins locally shaped athletic giants Zach Johnson and Kurt Warner in having a Cedar Rapids street named for him while he is still alive.

Actually, Aller, who recently retired as president of Alliant Energy's Iowa and Minnesota utilities operation, is having a 'way” named for him, not a street.

The same was the case with Warner, a retired, Super Bowl-winning NFL quarterback. Warner had a driveway next to Kingston Stadium, not a street, named Kurt Warner Way SW in 2010.

City policy requires that the city name a 'street” in honor of someone only if the deserving person is dead or, if still living, the City Council determine the person has achieved international acclaim.

In 2007, the City Council concluded that Johnson had achieved international recognition after he won the 2007 Masters Golf Tournament. In response, the council changed the name of a short street that leads into Elmcrest Country Club, where Johnson had golfed growing up, to Zach Johnson Drive NE.

This week, the City Council agreed to change the name of the one-block-long diagonal drive next to the Ground Transportation Center bus depot from Transit Way SE to Tom Aller Way SE.

Mayor Ron Corbett said Aller has had a 'big impact” on Cedar Rapids for the last 40 years and so deserves to have a way named for him. It's a way, not a street, the mayor said, acknowledging the demands of the city's street-naming policy.

Aller was executive assistant to longtime Mayor Don Canney and the City Council from 1972 to 1988 before his executive career at Alliant Energy. At the same time, he was executive vice president of 2001 Development Corp., which largely was made up of key downtown property owners committed to keeping and attracting investment to maintain a strong downtown.

Corbett said Aller played a 'critical role” in many building projects in the city, including Interstate 380, the airport and the Ground Transportation Center.

'Obviously, Tom was very forward-thinking within city hall,” the mayor said. 'But when he left city government, he was part of 2001 Development and the groundwork was laid not just for the projects off the day, but for projects of the future.”

Aller and 2001 Development pushed for years to help bring up the construction of the new federal courthouse in downtown, Corbett said.

Dave Elgin, the city's public works director, said this week that the city sign shop likely will make the two new Tom Aller Way SE signs early next week. They should be in place at both ends of the way, at Fourth Avenue SE and Fifth Avenue SE, shortly after, Elgin said.