District 2: Monica Vernon (i)

I am confident Cedar Rapids' brightest days are ahead. Even though we experienced a major flood disaster and have felt the impact of a global economic meltdown, I see our city making steady progress forward.

This City Council has taken great pains to use all available resources to help the city come back better than ever. The city secured hundreds of millions of state and federal dollars for home and business buyouts, demolitions of ruined properties, small business recovery, and reworking of civic facilities and infrastructure.

Federal and state dollars are cleaning up our city's core, rebuilding what was ruined and encouraging private investment. We all want to move more quickly but presenting thoughtful plans for federal and state funding decisions takes time.

There are things I might have done differently. But when dealing with a disaster, you make the best decisions with the information you have and keep making decisions.

Economic development and jobs are key to this community's continued success. Flood protection is needed to ensure the future vitality of the Cedar Rapids regional economy. Our city council sat through many meetings and presentations after the flood. My conclusion - and I haven't heard one council member disagree - is that there is a strong risk that we will have another flood. We can't afford one.

In May, voters turned down a 20-year ballot initiative (local-option sales tax extension) to build the flood protection plan. Today, a group of residents is working to put the question back on the ballot, this time for 10 years and only for flood protection. I support this effort.

Next for this community is a prioritized, common-sense, citywide program of street rebuilding and repair. Root causes of disrepair include lack of adequate city funding over many years, fewer dollars from the state Road Use Tax Fund, and - as a regional hub - lots of drivers from other taxing districts using our roads without paying for them. We also may be over-designing some of our roads.

Cedar Rapids must lobby the state for more road dollars to cities. Additionally, our city needs to place a budget priority on road repair.

Monica Vernon, the District 2 incumbent, is founder and president of Vernon Research Group. She has served for more than 25 years on numerous community improvement efforts. Comments: monica vernon mvernon@vernonresearch.com