C.R. should wait on entertainment projects

The thought that an outside amphitheater on the west riverbank of the Cedar River or a May's Island skating rink is going to enrich the downtown area is exasperating to some of us who live in this city.

I know that the unreliable Iowa climate aggravates the local farmers, bewilders the concern of the residents and perplexes organizers of outdoor city events. Always has, always will. The notion that residents can come up with the 80 percent to finish the funding of either or both of these projects should require everyone on the City Council to step back and consider what they are asking constituents to do.

The cost of flood rehabilitation has not even begun to set in on taxpayers of this city. The promises of federal government support in many of the projects that we have already undertaken have been slow in coming or may not be coming at all.

We need to complete the issues already started - the buyout of the destroyed properties, the establishment of additional police stations, the construction of a new library, replacing the ESC Center for the administration of our school district, for example, before we look into entertainment venues that may or may not revive the downtown.

With the rise in everyone's cost of living, with this progressive recession, increased taxes and shrinking tax bases (due to unemployment), it's unfortunately time to say “no more.”

Dennis D. Flynn

Cedar Rapids