No justification to approve LOST extension

It would be insane to extend the local-option sales tax at this time. Given the facts that there are no matching federal or state moneys, the Army Corps of Engineers has said not to build according to the Cedar Rapids plan.

The City Council has killed the heart of the city by eliminating four-lane Second Avenue (a main artery to the center of town) and bottlenecking Third Avenue by making it two lanes rather than four, all decried by downtown businessmen and merchants. Ninety percent of Cedar Rapids residents do not venture downtown any longer, nor do they want or need to.

All of this considered, why waste any money at all during this time of unemployment, rising transportation costs as gas approaches $5 a gallon, and the chance that it may flood again in 100 years or less.

The businesses that want to take the flood risk, such as Penford (buying land and buildings) and Quaker Oats, aren't worried about a flood, so why should we lower our standard of living and impose a tax onto the backs of our struggling children and the 60 percent of city residents who live below the national standard of living for this flood wall idea?

Vote “no” on the local-option sales tax.

Richard Hrvol

Cedar Rapids