At large: Raj Patel

Iowa City is heading in the right direction with its downtown development policies. The implementation of the 21-only bar ordinance has provided downtown with a unique opportunity to develop spaces into venues the entire city can enjoy.

We need to work together with the University of Iowa to help bring a new Hancher Auditorium to the downtown area to promote artistic and cultural activities. We also need to work with community organizations, including the Iowa City Area Development Group, to attract new businesses, including the planned cooperative entrepreneur center, and other employers downtown. This will help create jobs here in Iowa City and help cultivate our greatest resource: our minds.

Young people in Iowa want jobs to keep them in the area, and working to support our entrepreneurs and bringing more employers in to an already vibrant area is one way to promote this.

I think the SSMID (self-supported municipal improvement district) plan would serve to increase the attractiveness of our downtown and would benefit the city greatly. It's creative ideas like these that are being cultivated already by our community leaders that need to be embraced and given support by the city council.

I would like to see some regulations eliminated to allow more street vendors access to the downtown area. In tough times, this is an easy way to promote our culture and bring more jobs to downtown. Promoting mixed-income housing in the downtown's development is another important step to ensuring that we can maintain Iowa City's uniqueness and its opportunities for all.

Keeping all this in mind, we must remember that Iowa City is not only about the downtown area; the entire town deserves the attention of the council, and I will work to ensure this is the case.

The projects in which Iowa City has used TIFs (tax increment financing) have been done wisely and greatly benefited the city. If TIF is used in the right way, it is a mechanism that can increase opportunities, jobs, tax base and overall value to the city.

A great example is the Plaza Towers development. I want to work to continue using similar types of incentives to attract more businesses.

However, we must eliminate some of the regulatory measures that are clogging the development process in Iowa City. The process from planning to construction must be expedited if our goal is to attract more business. The current regulations were implemented with purpose, but in many instances have hindered progress.

When a project is approved in Coralville in a matter of weeks, and that same project takes significantly longer in Iowa City, we must acknowledge this and re-evaluate our current regulatory measures.

As I came to learn during my time as UI liaison on the City Council and often mentioned by Mayor Matt Hayek, the budget will be the single biggest issue moving forward. Work must be done to expand our tax base. We will have tough decisions to make regarding the city services that deserve precedence over others.

I am prepared to listen to our community members and keep in mind our least fortunate residents when making any decisions regarding the budget. Working to increase our tax base and bringing in good jobs go hand in hand.

Iowa City must work to make itself more business-friendly to allow residents to maintain their quality of life. It is important to our seniors, our youth and everyone else that we work diligently to make sure Iowa City continues to be the place we love to call “home.”

Comments: www.patelcitycouncil.com