Loosely organized “Vote No” group a visible presence Saturday at the river in downtown Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS – The six-figure campaign war chest. Eendorsements from business and labor. Backing from the city's major employers and local state legislators. A professional marketing firm in hand. And Mayor Ron Corbett, front and center, as head pitchman.

It is the other side – led by the Protect Cedar Rapids Committee, which is working to convince voters to pass a 20-year extension of the city's 1-percent local-option sales tax for flood protection, better streets and property-tax relief – that has all of that.

Even so, a loosely organized contingent of citizens opposed to the tax extension spent a third Saturday in a row gathered at the city's Tree of Five Seasons at First Street and First Avenue East to display their campaign signs and wave at passersby beeping horns in support.

“We Can Do Better CR! Vote No May 3

^rd

,” the signs read.

Two well-known City Hall critics and flood survivors, Beverly “Ajai”  Dittmar and Robert Bates, were helping lead the gathering on a beautiful Saturday afternoon along the Cedar River in what Bates called a “family and friends” barbecue in the park.

Both Bates, a former City Council candidate, and Dittmar's partner, Greg Vail, have been recipients of funds from the city's existing local-option sales tax for flood recovery, but both said that doesn't mean the City Council is using all the current funds correctly or would use funds from a tax extension correctly.

Vail said the city could protect homes with flood insurance and a less-ambitious system of floodwalls without spending $375 million for a the city's proposed flood-protection system, while Dittmar said elevating homes out of harm's way would be a much more cost-effective approach.

Bates suggested that the city slow down, come to grips with its current budget challenges and think about what its needs are, not its wants.

Among those passing through Saturday's event were Tim Pugh, founder of the local Tea Party group and a former City Council candidate, and Gregory Hughes, who ran for governor as an independent candidate.

“They're junkies,” Hughes said. “They're (elected officials) always asking for more money.”

Susan Norman, a local Realtor, said she was uncomfortable giving anyone “access to her pocketbook” for 20 years, which is the length of the proposed tax extension.

Norman is leery of the City Council, she said, because it has used $4 million in revenue from the existing local-option sales tax to help for the TrueNorth Companies site for the new library. The city paid far too much for the site, she said.

Jim Burke said the city's flood-protection plan isn't “solid.” He said he can't really visualize what the city has in mind for the revenue from the sales tax he's going to pay. What is the backup plan if Congress doesn't help fund the plan? he asked.

Lonn Whitford agreed with Dittmar and Vail that the city ought to dredge the river as a way to provide a little piece of flood protection. Dittmar said dredging would provide a psychological benefit to the community even if it wouldn't have much long-term value for flood protection.

“Dredging would relieve a lot of tension,” she said.

She laughed when asked about the chances to defeat the ballot measure knowing that those on the other side of the issue are well-funded and better organized.

“It's not always about money,” she said. “It's about principle.”