Funds for studies better used for rebuilding

I don't understand the problem of deciding whether to restore our city and county office buildings or build new ones.

If they decide to spend millions of dollars to build, we will still be stuck with all the useless existing buildings.

If restoring the existing ones is so impractical, why did they do the Linn County Jail, the Cedar Rapids Police Station and the county courthouse?

Why are they building a new federal courthouse where 10 feet of water was? Even if they raise it above the recent river level, when a flood such as the last one happens again, there will be no access and therefore be useless.

All the money spent on architectural studies would have been a good start of rebuilding costs.

There is a pothole in the street by my house; let's spend $500 to fix it. No, wait, let's spend $20,000 for a study to see if it's worth fixing.

Mark Jirouch

Cedar Rapids