Unfinished business: Issues left from 2015 we’d like to see resolved in 2016

It is the time of year to dust off the archives and reflect upon the major issues and top news stories of 2015.

But as the new year approaches, it is equally important to look forward.

When dawn breaks Jan. 1, 2016, Iowans will face some of the same issues we have been struggling with in 2015 - along with some new ones.

Here are a few we'd like to see resolved next year.

TRANSPORTATION

State lawmakers approved a 10-cent gas tax hike in February, which will raise roughly $215 million in new funds each year to pay for Iowa's bridges and roads. Because the rate had been stagnant since 1989, the Iowa Department of Transportation has accumulated a significant backlog of projects. Clearing that backlog will affect drivers in Eastern Iowa, as projects such as the $1.2 million overlay on the decks of bridges along Interstate 380, the $875,000 upgrade to I-80's Dubuque Street bridge near Iowa City and possible construction on Forevergreen Road near North Liberty commence next year.

Cedar Rapidians driving Highway 151 will encounter headaches of their own. The highway will undergo pavement work for five miles from Fairfax to Walford. In town, road work will continue on First Avenue and on Collins Road (Highway 100) as a $4.1 million project to repave from Council Street to First Avenue progresses. Another $33 million will fund construction from Covington Road to Highway 30, including new culverts and bridges. Marion residents will see crews working through $4.9 million of improvements on a five-mile stretch of Highway 13 from Highway 151 to County Home Road.

A six-mile stretch of Highway 30 running from Old River Road, west of Mount Vernon, to Charles Ave., east of Lisbon, will receive $5.5 million for right of way work.

In the midst of all this construction, we hope to see a more serious local consideration of public transit.

SMART Transportation Division has conducted a survey showing significant support for passenger rail service connecting the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City areas with Chicago, Des Moines and west to Omaha. CRANDIC, a division of Alliant Energy, is considering the feasibility of rail service between Iowa City and The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids - an option that hasn't been available since the 1950s.

The Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization, which includes representatives from Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Robins, Ely, Fairfax and Linn County, will study local and regional public transit options to identify strengths and unmet needs. Each of these initiatives have the potential to make more transportation options available to Eastern Iowa residents.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Violence dominated local, national and international headlines this year. From terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad to violence in our own communities.

A number of 'think tanks” and anti-violence groups have formed throughout the Corridor, searching for ways to stop the violence

Existing groups are reconsidering their mission and focus as they work alongside like-minded and similarly interested partners.

The marked urgency and inclusiveness of this initial response to violence gives us hope that the stage is set for real and lasting change. Moving forward, discussion and collaboration must continue to be broad and inclusive of all stakeholders, including neighbors, city government, school and community elected officials faith and community leaders and, perhaps most important, our youth.

Each has a contribution to make: Neighbors and youth are best situated to build relationships and identify root causes of problems. City, school and non-profit leaders have access to and control over resources that can address needs. By working together and listening to each other, they can attack the complex problem of violence and address its many causes.

FUNDING EDUCATION

Last year's lengthy negotiations surrounding money for K-12 schools ended with a surprise veto. State lawmakers and the governor's office are positioned to clash once again over funding K-12 schools when the legislative session begins early in the new year. Unless lawmakers are able to reach an early compromise, funding discussions might gridlock the entire legislative session. As always, the governor's office will have the final word.

The state's regent institutions, especially the University of Iowa, will continue their own funding battles, as will community colleges, which received no increase in state funding last session.

Enough. Our public schools are tasked with work that is vital to our state's economy, its citizens and its future. Legislators, the governor and taxpayers have a responsibility to provide schools the resources they need to do that work, and to commit to doing so on a timetable that allows school districts to plan and which complies with Iowa law.

We sympathize with some lawmakers' deep concern about the rising costs of education, but the solution cannot be to simply and repeatedly underfund the current system. Education funding should be one of the state's top budget priorities for many reasons, including the fact that educational institutions hold the key to another issue that will continue into the new year: the state's troubling and persistent shortage of skilled workers.

ADDRESSING WORKFORCE NEEDS

This past week, Dubuque-area economic leaders announced an updated analysis of local workforce 'skills gaps” showing an increased need for area workers to fill needs that will only expand in the coming years. In the Dubuque area alone, it is estimated that by 2025 there will be 3,182 job openings with no workers qualified to fill them.

The good news is the gap, while still concerning, actually is much lower than earlier projections of a more than 7,000 job skills gap. Local officials largely credit expansion and new certification programs through Northeast Iowa Community College for the much needed decline.

The Dubuque area isn't alone. Regions throughout the state, including the Corridor, are short on skilled workers. Investments, such as the Kirkwood Regional Center at the University of Iowa, directly address those needs by providing opportunities for high school students to train for careers while preparing for a diploma. New facilities and certificate programs require an investment of resources, but they pay even greater dividends to the students, to their employers, their communities and the state.

PLACEMAKING

Even if you don't know the word, chances are you're already doing it. In fact, a number of Eastern Iowa cities and rural communities of every size and description are investing in placemaking, or people-centered planning and design.

At the forefront of the movement is research by the Knight Foundation that discovered that the way people feel about their community and whether or not they feel they belong there directly influences not only quality of life but the community's economic success.

In the Cedar Rapids area, for example, employers have been dealing with the high cost of recruiting skilled workers - an investment that is lost if those workers do not stay. Focus is turning to the idea of 'rooting,” as well as recruiting, with an understanding that when people feel connected to their communities, they don't want to leave.

The concept of placemaking can be as grand as redeveloping neighborhoods to better serve residents or as targeted as increasing sidewalk widths to accommodate baby strollers in order to make family-friendly streets. It's about helping people find their place and making the community welcoming to all.

Placemaking works best when all facets of a community join together ­- elected officials, institutions, community leaders, non-profits, social, arts and cultural organizations and citizens - and focus not only on how we work, but how we work together.

Such collaboration will be the real challenge next year, since so much of our community life has been fragmented and siloed. Moving forward will require doors to be flung open, for more seats to be placed at the table, but here, too, the possibilities make the efforts more than worthwhile.

Many communities in the Corridor are off to a good start, but moving forward will require a level of collaboration we've rarely seen in the past.

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