City should step up for local vendors

The City of Cedar Rapids gave GO Cedar Rapids $1 million a year to support its efforts, including the debacle called newbo evolve. I'm guessing council members were at some of those events to take a bow for helping pull it off. Now that the event has been exposed for the mess it was, they are no where to be found. Like a Mission Impossible episode, they disavow any knowledge (or responsibility) for it.

They collectively need to grow a backbone and do what is right.

Take one more million (what the heck, it's not their money) from the subjective slush fund they call hotel-motel taxes and use it to pay vendors and others. But it needs to be given with stipulations. Local vendors and support personnel (such as local police who worked the event) need to be paid first. Then entertainers and lecturers who participated in the event. In my opinion, no GO Cedar Rapids personnel should be paid from this fund. If they are, it should be only after all others.

Mark Hazlett

Marion