Group working for homeowners’ interests

A recent news article on KGAN Channel 2 noted that Justice for Our Neighbors Coalition (JfONC) is not in favor of the extension of the local-option sales tax. It was noted that the Tea Party movement and Conservative Union of Iowa are also opposed. I want to make it clear that JfONC has nothing in common with the Tea Party, as our founding statement is an inclusive statement of support for bottom-up democracy and justice in the flood recovery process.

We are working Iowans of all kinds - employed and unemployed, black, white, Latino, Indian and Asian, small-business owners and the retired, coming together to say that our communities have been victimized enough! We are working to restore our community's vibrancy and secure the well-being of its citizens

We reject the phony “flood recovery” plans that are being sold to us by the Republican and Democratic parties, in which the business districts are restored while workers' homes are demolished or left to rot.

We reject the bureaucratic manner in which government at all levels has conducted itself in the post-flood period, where homeowners have been pushed aside to make room for the playgrounds of the rich and renters have been entirely denied compensation for their lost residencies. The policies of economic cleansing and forced buyouts have led to an exodus of residents from the flood-damaged zones and is leading fast to a deindustrialization and depopulation of the city. See www.justiceforourneighbors.wordpress.com.

David Arthur

Smithers

Wellman