Defeated mayoral candidate Larson wonders why low-cost, seasonal help can't plow city streets

That perennial City Hall candidate P.T. Larson.

Larson spent the better part of the fall going head-to-head at an assortment of public debates with the two other candidates for mayor, Ron Corbett and then-City Council member Brian Fagan.

Corbett won the race easily, Larson finished a distant third, and Larson vanished from the scene.

On Tuesday, Larson phoned in with a suggestion what with Corbett leading the charge at City Hall to make cuts in the budget to contain the city's property-tax rate.

Larson's idea is to eliminate much of the overtime paid for city snow crews by simply hiring snowplow drivers as part-time seasonal workers much like the city does to staff its parks in season.

Not everybody knows how to drive a snow plow, Larson acknowledges, but he says there are plenty of people with snowplowing experience who could do the job.

It's all about timing. Larson's idea might have gotten a little notice if it had emerged during one of last fall's mayoral forums. But it didn't.

One idea that Larson promoted  from last fall, though, is alive and well: Larson wants a city street named for Cedar Rapids-native and NFL luminary Kurt Warner.