Iowa City District A: Rick Dobyns

The collaboration between the Downtown Association and City of Iowa City staff has been great. Both groups are excited about the strengths of downtown that no other local municipality can match: proximity to the student university campus, unmatched urban feel, presence of historic buildings mixed with new, and capacity to go vertical in the central district.

For the city council, it is important to encourage a balance of office, retail, dining, entertainment and housing because balance and diversity are important to make downtown great. I support the downtown business owners' plan to use their own agreed-upon increased taxes for projects to focus on downtown enhancements. This kind of innovative financing is particularly timely during this period of commercial transition.

Both the Northside Business District and the emerging Riverfront Crossings will complement the central downtown district. The Riverfront Crossings will complement features of Iowa City that have gone unused. It can have an open look, allowing easy access by car, pedestrians and bicyclists along with eventual riverfront improvements.

The drawing capacity of all three downtown districts will complement each other and create the same excitement and renaissance that our downtown ped mall renewal had in the 1970s.

I favor a strict interpretation of tax increment financing (TIF) districting that encourages its use in areas where it would be unlikely that sufficient commercial development would occur without tax incentives. Overly aggressive use of TIF districts places taxpayer dollars in too much of a high-risk situation.

Intercity cooperation regarding competition is inevitable to a degree but more active and mutually respective communication to minimize potential areas of tension is advisable. We have much to learn from what other nearby communities are doing, both in what we should mimic and what we should avoid. The City of Iowa City has already adopted a more user-friendly approach to recruitment and retention of businesses. If elected, I would work to further this approach.

Iowa City also needs to aggressively expand and promote our regional notoriety in the arts beyond what we already do.

Also, as someone who kayaks our local waterways, I am mindful of the potential of the Iowa River. Opportunities through grant application to expand the current Riverfront Crossings to include more riverbank improvement would be welcome.

Rick Dobyns, an Iowa City resident for more than 25 years with his wife and two daughters, is a faculty physician at the University of Iowa and a volunteer at the leadership level for several local and state entities.

Comments: icdobs@aol.com.