Column - Good News in Small Victory

We've been sweating the big stuff all summer - health care, war, the lousy economy.

So I went sifting through the small stuff, looking for some good news. And I found a little light in the darkness along the 1300 block of Fifth Street NW.

Alliant Energy arrived there Tuesday morning, dug a hole, hoisted a pole and connected a streetlight. And that was big news for Ronnee O'Brien and her family.

“We've been sitting out here watching them. We're so excited,” said Ronnee who returned to the flooded neighborhood earlier this year. “We just keep looking at it.

“Gosh, if it would only get dark,” she joked.

There are roughly 11,200 streetlights in Cedar Rapids. So you wouldn't think adding one more would be a big deal.

But it took nearly five months to shine electric light on a patch of darkness in Time Check.

In April, Ronnee asked for a streetlight to be placed in the middle of her block. Like anyone, she saw the pitch darkness of the flood zone as an invitation for crime.

She also has a no-contact order against her ex-husband, who, she says, hasn't seemed to fully grasp what “no contact” is supposed to mean.

Ronnee was told that she first needed to circulate a petition among her neighbors asking for a light. Then, the cost would be split between them. That's standard procedure.

With only one neighbor at that time, the petition drive was a cinch.

It was the $900-plus cost that was tough to swallow. “Are you kidding me?” Ronnee said.

And that's where it stood until early June, when I interviewed Ronnee ahead of the flood anniversary. I had first written about her family back in December, when they were spending Christmas in a FEMA trailer.

I thought, “How hard can this be?”

I called City Council member Chuck Wieneke, who represents the neighborhood, and he agreed to step in. He called the city and discovered a streetlight fund that could cover the cost.

Perfect. Problem solved. Well, not exactly.

Several more weeks passed, and Ronnee told me that her street remained dark. Wieneke seemed surprised that this particular corner of his district had not been illuminated.

More calls followed. And finally, Leslie Hart, a city traffic engineer, called to say the streetlight would be installed this week.

It's just in time, because more people are moving back to the block. Ronnee's already seen a 100 percent increase in neighbors, with more on the way.

Small victories happen. And that's good news.

 Todd Dorman's column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Contact him at (319) 398-8452 or todd.dorman@gazcomm.com