C.R. council shouldn’t worry about downtown

Now we get to replace the windows on our “new” hotel and our mayor expects that the room rates will cover the extra costs. Isn't that what a previous council told us about the costs of our baseball park and the ice arena? Are we not still paying for those? We also get to pay more than $3 million for the new location of our central fire station - a piece of property that is valued less at than $1 million. I guess our mayor and City Council really know how to negotiate! It must be true that dealing with the Cedar Rapids checkbook can make you rich. Sinclair comes to mind.

I also read recently that the new amphitheater has been on the city's wish list for the past decade. If by the city, they mean the people, then how many of you are thrilled to know that “we're getting it.”

I wish this council would spend less time buying, selling and remodeling real estate; less time spending hundreds of millions of dollars on projects we don't need or that should be scaled down; and more time on running the city and upgrading the streets, police and fire departments.

Let the private sector worry about downtown.

Tom Buresh

Cedar Rapids