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| Washington High School Step Team, January 2020: Can these young people find their futures in Cedar Rapids? |
I did give the 2017 finalists, Brad Hart and Monica Vernon, credit for strategic competence: As a manager of problems with high levels of personal activity and familiarity with the city, either would be fine. Does that seem a bit naive today? All I can say is, after two years of relative quiet, the problems of 2020 and 2021 were of unusual magnitude: a worldwide pandemic that refused to go away, a summer of civil rights protests responding to murders elsewhere but recalling a 2016 police shooting here, and then the incredible force of the August 10 derecho. In 2017 I had been thinking about traffic and the city budget and stuff. The city and school district did as much as they could with the pandemic given heavy-handed oversight by a regressive state government, but the policy response to civil rights protests failed to satisfy advocates and makes progress on inclusion uncertain, and precious time was lost with Mayor Hart's delayed response to the derecho. Then there was Hart's deranged voice mail message for CSPS director Taylor Burgen. Perhaps day-to-day competence is not enough.
On November 2, 2021, city council members Marty Hoeger, Tyler Olson, and Ashley Vanorny were reelected without opposition; in District 3, Dale Todd won reelection by a wide margin (62-37) over Tamara Marcus, the county sustainability manager. Marcus proved to be an exceptionally thoughtful candidate, and I hope she will continue to be present in local politics. The only race, then, to require a runoff was the race for mayor, where former newscaster Tiffany O'Donnell led with 42 percent to 28 percent for both Mayor Hart and Amara Andrews. Andrews had exactly 41 more votes than Hart, who conceded and endorsed O'Donnell. The runoff will occur Tuesday, November 30.
The executive power in Cedar Rapids, like most towns, is mostly in the hands of the city manager since 2010, Jeff Pomeranz, who by all accounts has made good choices on policy (one-way to two-way conversions and protected bike lanes) and city staff. What's left to the mayor, besides one vote on a nine-member City Council, is the public visibility that comes with the position. Ron Corbett (2019-2017) used his position, among other things, to advocate for health and fitness, promoting Blue Zones, commuter as well as recreational cycling, and sidewalks. Who we elect as mayor says much about how we see ourselves as a city.
Meanwhile, a letter writer to the Cedar Rapids Gazette Sunday complained about the lack of amenities for senior citizens, mainly by railing against cyclists. I don't know enough to comment on the senior amenity situation, and can only wonder how a town full of voting senior citizens could possibly be deficient. I can say we need a mayor who can explain to people why inclusion is a good thing, and why policies that seem to benefit people who are not you can actually benefit you by improving the city as a whole.
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| Tiffany O'Donnell (from her campaign site) |
O'Donnell became well-known as a television newscaster for 20 years, including 15 at the local Fox affiliate. She is the CEO of Women Lead Change, which calls itself "the state's premier leadership organization for women, dedicated to the development, advancement and promotion of women," and was active in the founding of and fundraising for the New Bo City Market. Her website highlights the need to "take the city where it needs to go" in order to retain young people and "the workers of the future." There's not much issue detail, and a lot of obvious, but her priorities page includes downtown and river revitalization, and the intent to "incentivize and support growth of existing businesses" and "lean into our entrepreneurial economy," which are worthy goals indeed. Her last-week op-ed (O'Donnell 2021) touted her leadership credentials and the need for change.
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| Amara Andrews and friends (from campaign website) |
Andrews, a newcomer to city politics, is an executive with True North Companies whose beat includes transportation and business development. She was also active in business development in Champaign, Illinois. She is involved in Advocates for Social Justice, which arose out of the 2020 protests, and the Academy for Personal and Social Success. Her website is far more substantive than O'Donnell's. She notes the need to shift business support towards assisting existing small and midsize businesses, while attaching public goods conditions when we use tax incentives; the connection between walking and biking infrastructure and needed improvements to our public transit system; and one-stop "opportunity centers" to help workers with any and all barriers to employment. Her last-week op-ed (Andrews 2021) discussed the coalition-building and persistence that led to the creation of the city's citizens review board, and talked about the need to include the unhoused in policy efforts.
Both candidates are hitting the right notes, even if Andrews's are arranged for a chamber ensemble and O'Donnell's for Casio keyboard. I'm a word guy, so Andrews is the one speaking to me, yet it would be nice to have a Mayor O'Donnell bringing her networking experience to bear on our common life. Both articulate the need for policy change, which is refreshing in a city where the political culture can be maddeningly complacent. Cedar Rapids has done some remarkable things in the last 15 years, but we are far from being the inclusive, environmental, walkable, and opportunity city we need to be. To have someone in the mayor's seat showing why and how we need to do things differently would really be something.
SEE ALSO:
Amara Andrews, "Choice is Between Change and More of the Same in C.R.," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 21 November 2021, 1C, 4C
Tiffany O'Donnell, "Time to Stop Being 'OK' With "OK' in Cedar Rapids," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 21 November 2021, 1C, 4C
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