Fagan kicks off mayoral campaign in Czech Village

City Council member Brian Fagan kicked off his mayoral campaign early last evening in Czech Village telling a group of 60 or so family, friends and supporters that his four years in the “trenches” of city government have convinced him that the future of the city looks bright.

Speaking without notes, Fagan, 37, sprinkled his eight minutes of remarks with comments about his love for his hometown and about his vision for the city, a vision that he said features strong, safe  neighborhoods, good housing, growing businesses, vibrant arts and cultural institutions and a commitment to environmental stewardship and historic preservation.

He said the city is on the right course in its recovery from the June 2008 flood, and though, he saw challenges ahead, he said he was sure there would be triumphs ahead, too.

“What I've learned in the past four years is that being on the City Council is about dealing with the ordinary circumstances of our lives and, obviously, the extraordinary circumstances of our lives. And I have found that very rewarding,” he said in explaining why he now wants to be mayor.

Fagan, an attorney with Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergman, said he looked forward to a campaign of ideas and he said he expected the campaign to be a “tough” one. Ron Corbett, 48, a vice president at trucking firm CRST International Inc. and a former state lawmaker, has been in the race since March.

In answer to questions from reporters after his remarks, Fagan dismissed Corbett's contention that the current City Council has adopted a “culture of delay.” Fagan said, “Anything that's worth doing right is worth doing right.”

Fagan vowed that certain flood-damaged, “incredible historic icons” -- his references to the Paramount Theatre and the Veterans Memorial Building -- will be rebuilt, and “they will be rebuild better than ever.”

Fagan said one of his biggest accomplishments on the City Council has been the creation of the city's Enhance Our Neighborhoods initiative, which, though pushed aside for a time by flood recovery, is designed to revitalize some of the city's older neighborhoods. He pointed to a summer night three years ago when he walked his old neighborhood on “National Night Out” and found decline that he called “unacceptable.”

Fagan also said he also has successfully advocated for the city at both the state and federal levels to help get Cedar Rapids some of the financial support it needs.

The city, he said, is facing “some real challenges” ahead as it works to make its case with the Army Corps of Engineers about the kind of future flood protection the city needs. Such a system could cost $1 billion.

Fagan said he is a supporter of the city's council/city manager form of government, which is in its fourth year of existence in Cedar Rapids.

“This government is about professional management that is something that Cedar Rapids has been unaccustomed to,” he said. The part-time council, he said, sets policy, allocates resources and directs the city manager and city staff.

“Yes, I think this is the form of government that we need for Cedar Rapids to continue the progress we've made, to continue with that momentum and to continue with that course of professional management," he said.

When asked, Fagan didn't know if he would be the city's youngest mayor ever if elected. But he might be. Cedar Rapids legendary mayor, Don Canney, who served as mayor from 1969 to 1992, was 39 when he was elected in 1969.

Fagan said he came to Czech Village to kickoff his mayoral campaign because of what he said the early Czech immigrant commercial center means to the city's history and what its preservation and recovery from the flood means to the city's future. He said a similar thing can be said about the New Bohemia area just across the Cedar River, where Czech immigrants first came to the city.

In a city that sometimes has been seen as having a west side and an east side, Czech Village is the spot that “brings east and west together,” Fagan said.