Kim Downs has been in Hiawatha post since 2013
116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Kim Downs has been in Hiawatha post since 2013
“That's the best we could do as a council,” Mayor O’Donnell says after the school board declined the city’s offers to negotiate to keep the two additional school resource officers or to meet to discuss the program.
Nicole Andrew and her kids moved back into their home just 2 weeks ago after it was destroyed in the 2020 derecho. She’s among a number of property owners whose efforts to swiftly fix homes for various reasons stalled in the 2 years after the disaster.
About half the roughly $100 million in aid to local governments sought by Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Robins and Linn County in the aftermath of the 2020 derecho has been received so far from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
About $800,000 remains for qualifying residents of single-family homes and mobile homes that sustained damage in the August 2020 derecho. As funds dwindle likely by the end of the year, officials urged anyone who may be in need to apply with urgency.
The Central Plaza at City Square Park in the heart of Uptown Marion has been in the works since the city’s visioning process was done in 2018.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission voted last Thursday to suspend Amel Ali as chair. Ali remains on the commission and the Iowa City Council will discuss her potential removal at its next meeting. Another commissioner resigned for health and personal reasons.
The 20-year-old playground closed Monday. It will be replaced with a new playground that was designed with input from residents after more than 550 comments were submitted about the city’s initial design. The new playground is expected to be complete in six to eight weeks.
The portion of Fifth Street from 12th Avenue through the 20th Avenue intersection will be enhanced with new pavement, sidewalks and landscaping
“I feel good knowing that so many people love me,” said Freda Long, whose historic Black-owned business needs exterior wall repairs. A GoFundMe seeks to raise money to help pay to fix the beloved community space in the Oakhill Jackson neighborhood.
The ordinance allows UTVs on roadways posted at 35 mph or less during specific hours and only driven by adults. It will be reviewed in six months
Council took no action at the meeting and said that will come at a later date.
City, county plan ‘community conversation’ at two-year mark of disaster
After a lengthy discussion Thursday morning, the Iowa City Council voted 6-1 to table the decision until its Aug. 16 meeting. Council members want the TRC to move forward but differ on the best way to accomplish that.
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