Blogs about: Jim Prosser
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City and state celebrate funding that will help put people into 177 new residences by year's end
Sometimes a city needs a dog-and-pony show. At least the case could be made for the one — for the news conference — on Thursday in which state and local officials met in a new housing deve… more →
Eye on the Island
City and state celebrate funding that will help put people into 177 new residences by year's end
Rick Smith wrote 4 months ago: Sometimes a city needs a dog-and-pony show. At least the case could be made for the one — for … more →
Flood victims in newly purchased homes may not lose their down-payment assistance after all; city looks at using local-option sales tax revenue to help
Rick Smith wrote 5 months ago: City Hall is investigating the possibility of providing targeted help to flood victims who received … more →
Vernon vents; dresses down City Manager Prosser for not getting police substation in storefront at 1501 First Ave. SE open quickly
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Rick Smith wrote 5 months ago: Council member Monica Vernon, fresh off her decision on Tuesday not to try a run for mayor, took tim … more →
City Hall: Changing organizational tables at PD and Code Enforcement not rearranging deck chairs on the Titantic
Rick Smith wrote 5 months ago: It’s called “flattening” the organization. Police Chief Greg Graham detailed to the City Council thi … more →
If "The Fifth Season Is Progress," it better be a long season
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Steve Buttry wrote 5 months ago: This will be my column for Monday’s Gazette. “The Fifth Season Is Progress” procla … more →
City readies to take down 71 more flood-damaged homes, but not before councilman Wieneke questions costly caution over asbestos
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Rick Smith wrote 6 months ago: Seventy down, the next 71 or so at the ready, 1,150 or so to go. The City Council this week gave the … more →
Mr. $475-an-hour -- who became Mr. $225-an-hour -- still a vital cog in the city’s drive to get all it can from FEMA
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Rick Smith wrote 6 months ago: The City Council approved a contract extension last night for John Levy. The extension takes Levy’s … more →
Vets Commission asks: Why is Linn County back in the May's Island courthouse and jail while the Veterans Memorial Building/City Hall sits empty?
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Rick Smith wrote 6 months ago: Three government buildings damaged in last June’s flood sit on May’s Island in the middle of the Ced … more →
Veterans Commission returns to May's Island icon; frustrated commissioners learn that repairs to flood-damaged building still months away
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Rick Smith wrote 6 months ago: The Veterans Memorial Commission last night held its first meeting in the Veterans Memorial Building … more →
Deadline for news on huge pot of federal buyout money has passed; City Hall upbeat that good news will arrive soon
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Rick Smith wrote 6 months ago: It’s been something of the Great Waiting at City Hall. State officials who have come to Cedar Rapids … more →
Council wrestles over hiring local firm vs. hiring "more responsive" one and sides, 5-4, with the Minneapolis outfit
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Rick Smith wrote 7 months ago: Do you hire a professional firm because it’s a local one with a less expensive proposal even if a Ci … more →
Gov. Culver calls out the TV cameras on Tuesday to sign bill that forgives Jumpstart housing loans in five years, instead of the current 10
Rick Smith wrote 7 months ago: Gov. Chet Culver is making a big deal about it. His office on Monday announced that Culver would hol … more →
At private-sector's push, City Council launches quest for flood-recovery manager with a job description fit for Superman
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Rick Smith wrote 7 months ago: More than five weeks have passed now since council member Tom Podzimek suggested that an unsuccessfu … more →
Council passes new budget, but not without anti-Prosser theatrics by three of nine council members
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Rick Smith wrote 7 months ago: It is easy to be caught by surprise when the City Council finally gets around to voting on the annua … more →
Plenty of questions remain as deep-rooted boat-house community in flood-damaged Ellis Harbor works to return to some version of normalcy
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Rick Smith wrote 8 months ago: The future is still murky for the Ellis Park Boat Harbor and the small, tightly packed little struct … more →
City officials say temporary, multimillion-dollar flood protection systems they purchased did yeoman's duty on the Red River of the North
Rick Smith wrote 8 months ago: Two Cedar Rapids city staffers have trekked to Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., to see how those ci … more →
Raises for some City Hall top dogs are not AIG-like bonuses in tough times; they’re 'reorganizational improvements' to achieve 'internal pay equity'
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Rick Smith wrote 8 months ago: Calls had been made. Comparisons were being drawn both by employees in city government and skeptics … more →
Cautionary letters from Army Corps and state of Iowa suggest a City Hall not in idle, but one pushing to open doors for flood-disaster help
Rick Smith wrote 8 months ago: Two letters with a similar cautionary tone arrived at City Hall in the last few days. One was from t … more →
Council members Vernon, Shields still frustrated: 'I didn't run to walk in St. Patrick's Day parades,' says Vernon. 'Give me a committee. Give me some policy.'
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Rick Smith wrote 8 months ago: Council members Monica Vernon and Justin Shields stopped by The Gazette on Wednesday to talk to the … more →
