Scenes from the City Council - Listening City

I've never seen a decorative, plant-filled roadway median carpet-bombed so swiftly and surgically.

Credit Cedar Rapids Mayor Pro Tem Monica Vernon for finishing off this feat of full median vaporization. Her target was a city plan for putting a beautified median down the middle of First Avenue between 27th and 40th streets, where the left-turn lane is now. The street cuts through Vernon's district. Where she is seeking re-election in November.

This median was met with maximum public opposition. Business owners along that stretch of road hated the idea, and apparently said so, clearly, at a public meeting earlier this month. Many of them contacted Vernon, many times.

Did I mention she's seeking re-election?

"It appears we've got to look at some other way," said Vernon, a longtime proponent of creating prettied up "signature streets" in the city, but now by any means other than a scourge of hated medians. "Perhaps keep it simple, repairing the surface."

Yes, repairing what people drive on might be a much more popular course of action than planting shrubbery in the middle of the city's busiest street. Vernon urged planners to go back to the "drawing board." Oh, and remember that the council never endorsed this. Never. Not the council's idea. Not your council member's idea. The one seeking re-election, especially.

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz agreed. "The idea of the meeting was to have an open dialogue," he said. "We'll be back with an alternative proposal."

Friends of the Median could not be reached for comment. Probably because I made them up.

See, this city listens to you, sometimes. This is how it's supposed to work.

Maybe if the median won't convince you, the Garbys will.

City utilities director Pat Ball told the council that, after hearing a few complaints about the size of the new Garby garbage containers, his department will be coming to the council with a proposal allowing residents to get a second Garby. Sure, it will cost you extra, but it's the double-Garby of your throwaway dreams.

See? Listening.