P.T. Larson shares ideas with Gazette editoral board; police substations in fire stations, hot-spot surveillance cameras and more

There's no other way to put it: P.T. Larson ranks as a long-shot mayoral candidate by virtue of 12 previous unsuccessful runs for city office.

Larson, 52, a “floating project worker” at ACT Inc. in Iowa City, told The Gazette editorial board on Friday that he will work full-time in the city's part-time mayor's post if elected and that he will focus on improving public safety and public infrastructure.

Regarding public safety, he said he would like the city to create more police precinct substations and he'd like to see them in the fire stations now spread out in the community.

Larson said he had pushed the precinct-house idea in 1992 in one of his early runs for the City Council, but he said the city, instead, built a new $16-million police station, what he called the police “palace.” The Police Department, which opened its first substation in recent weeks, now is coming around to his earlier idea, he said.

“I'm really ahead of my time on a lot of issues,” he said.

Larson also suggested the installation of surveillance cameras in certain hot crime spots in the city, and he envisioned police officers sitting at a bank of video screens monitoring the cameras rather than driving around in squad cars.

He also suggested that the Police Department put cell phone numbers of officers on their patrol cars so residents could call them directly when an emergency in the neighborhood is in progress. Larson also wants the city to beef up its work on Internet child pornography.

In terms of the city's infrastructure, he talked about an adopt-a-block program in which volunteers twice a month could assess problems and report them to City Hall. He then imagined a color-code system like the U.S. Department of Homeland Security uses, which he would use to identify street and other infrastructure problems that are in need of emergency attention. He said the city should put an audit process in place so the public can see that the city is responding to problems.

Larson said he would not raise taxes and, in particular, he said he would not institute a wheel tax on those who commute to work in Cedar Rapids because it is not a welcoming gesture.

He said he wants to replace City Manager Jim Prosser because he said Prosser lacks “connectivity” to Cedar Rapids. He said Prosser erred by eliminating the jobs and “valuable” knowledge of former parks and transit directors only to “over-rely” on consultants.

Larson repeated what he has said in recent debates: The city needs a street named after native son and National Football League quarterback Kurt Warner. He'd call it Kurt Warner Pass.

Larson said there are two Cedar Rapids, the one which quickly secured a street name for Masters champion golfer Zach Johnson and the other one that has not succeeded in doing the same for Warner, who Larson said came from a more “humble” background.

At a debate earlier this week, Larson asked the audience, "Which half of Halloran do you want?"

It was a reference to outgoing Mayor Kay Halloran, the fact that she is an attorney and former state legislator, and that mayoral candidate Brian Fagan is an attorney and mayoral candidate Ron Corbett is a former state legislator.

Larson told The Gazette editorial board that he came up with the "Which half of Halloran" wording on the fly during the debate.

Larson said he intended to unveil a game for youngsters in which they amass points by registering people to vote. Asked what the youngers get if they win, he said, "You may bet P.T. Larson as your next mayor."