New Yorkers put up billboard in Cedar Rapids to say: Mayor de Blasio! Come home and do your job!

By James Q. Lynch, The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - Hoping to get their mayor's attention, New York City residents have bought billboard space in Iowa at 411 First Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids.

Featuring a picture of de Blasio, the billboard reads: 'Hey, Bill de Blasio! It's New York ... Remember Us?”

In addition to a reminder that he's polling at less than 1 percent, the message continues: 'What are you doing in Iowa? Come back to New York and meet with us.”

What de Blasio has been doing in Iowa is campaigning for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

He's had more than a dozen campaign events in Iowa this year, the last in Cedar Rapids on June 9 for the Iowa Democratic Party Hall of Fame Celebration that featured multiple candidates.

The billboard is the first one the W. 58th Street Coalition has put up in Iowa. The coalition did not specify how many billboards there will be, but said it will spend $100,000 on them.

'We never thought we would have to go to the farms and cornfields of Iowa to get a meeting with the mayor of New York City,” a spokesman said.

'De Blasio should hop on a tractor and come back to home because the residents have some words for him, his presidential bid, and continued neglect for this great city.”

The association wants to meet with de Blasio about its concerns for the city's strategy for dealing with homelessness as well as other issues.

' Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com