Grateful This Thanksgiving

 

This Thanksgiving 2021 I am grateful for:

1)      Brothers who build me new decks, septic systems and fix my lawn mowers for 30 years—it’s their fault I have zero tech skill because they can do everything!

    2) A sister who gave me a down coat that keeps me warm flying down the town hill on the fine new bike gifted me by my sister-in-law, though I look lumpy as Mrs. Michelin.

      3) A Florida sister who invites me to Ft. Myers in the dead of the frigid Iowa winter, and I go, fretting about my carbon footprint all the way.

   4) Pickleball and friends to play with even though it makes me swear to high heavens and forget the score when I miss the ball. Even if I am winning.

5)      5) Iowa sunrises and sunsets that turn the whole world rose, if only for a few brilliant, precious, transitory moments.

   6  6)  Food I’ve grown—here’s hoping I/we, none of us eat too much!

a  Happy Turkey Day to Everyone. 

H

Sidewalk Response from ILC

 Well, Well! I know that all of Cascade is interested in my exchanges with the National League of Cities and the Iowa NLC, pursuant to the question of: Is Cascade’s Sidewalk Ordinance a) legal or b) fair? The way the councilmen carry on, you’d think it was chiseled in stone. On tablets given to Moses! Here is the response from NLC, and must say I am not too surprised.

Hi Keyron:

Thank you for the inquiry. 

We do not have a model sidewalk ordinance. Iowa is a Home Rule state and ordinances like these are determined at the local level by the city council. Any time a city enacts an ordinance--even when we may have a sample ordinance to share--we always recommend they work with their city attorney to ensure it works well for their community and that the ordinance is lawful. With that said, we do have general guidance about right of way responsibilities which includes sidewalk maintenance/installation on the League's website which can be found here: https://www.iowaleague.org/resource/right-of-way-responsibilities/  Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Bill Goldy, Iowa League of Cities Consultant goldyconsultingllc@gmail.com

Of course, even if NLC or ILC did have a generic sidewalk ordinance, it would never have taken into consideration the particular historical development of situation here. The city and its voters have to come to a fair resolution of that ourselves in terms of the reality on the ground. It appears we have put several people back on council who appear to be less than honest.

Still, I really don’t think you need a model ordinance or anything of the sort, to tell you it is unfair that the least well-off citizens are forced to install and maintain sidewalk. If they have to do it, they should get a tax rebate for providing the city a service. This summer, nearly every M, W & F, I passed a knot of women whome i believe live in the Conrad Addition walking in the old part of the city. This is hardly fair.

Grim Reflections for Vet's Day

Yes, I spent Veteran's Day lamenting my late 70s stupidity. I firmly supported an all-volunteer draft because it never occurred to me that the Kennedys, Kerrys and Bushes would not serve, but that has become one of the perogatives of wealth in the U.S. George Bush used his family influence to skirt active duty. Then, the military was honorable endeavor.

    Since Vietnam, what with Iraq and Saddam, also Bush's doing, we have instigated had a number of failed or marginal military encounters. The most recent being Afghanistan, which ended shamefully and was caused by the generals misleading the politicians and public about how successful various actions were. 

    So here we are with an all-volunteer military that dumped $8 trillion and can't afford to fix our own infrastructure, while Asraf Ghani, made off to Egypt with several million American dollars.

State of Democracy in Cascade

This week, I filled out the city council agenda request and submitted it by Wed. a.m., as is required, along with documentation--emails with Brittney Kohler from the Nat'l League of Cities. At the candidate forum I had asked if the Sidewalk Ordinance they passed in 2017 was a) legal and b) fair. Nobody addressed the fair part. I, too, erroneously assumed that because they said it had come from the National League Cities, it was a model ordinance written by a lawyer and tested in a court of Law. Nix. Neither. 

Friday a.m. Deanna wrote that Mayor Greg Staner would not allow it on the agenda because it is a "new" issue.  This is the McConnell-Merrick-Garland move--stall when you are wrong. Britt at NLC had admitted:  "You’re correct – NLC’s recommendations do not equate to a legal standard, and to my knowledge, we have not provided any materials on this in the five years that I’ve been at NLC."

What sets me back on my heels is the 5-0 vote--the ordinance is transparently unfair--I saw just how when I was canvasing before the recent election. Less than 35-40% of Cascade has sidewalk. Oak Hill, Conrad Addition and Claddagh Court don't, only the old parts of the city. Maybe the new council will have a better sense of fairness and law. Here's hoping!

Another person also requested to be on the agenda, but Mayor Staner's refusal to let her on was far more pathetically  Merrick-Garland than mine--the stormwater ordinance is hardly "new." It has been  on nearly every agenda since November 2020 when we met with Eric Schmechel.  

If Mayor Staner does not want to deal with any of the controversial issues he leaves in has wake--may have even precipitated by his actions, I think he has an obligation, to resign and let the new mayor take over. 

Well,  I'm doing my annual pre-X-mas gig, so here's hoping I have the time to write a reflection on some of the people I met knocking doors before the election. It was great fun, people were kind and I loved meeting ordinary folks, seeing their values reflected in their homes. 

Election Reactions

 ...It isn’t enough that the voter writes your name in, if he/she/it/they do/does not fill in the oval, the vote doesn’t count because the computer only reads ovals! Tech has undermined democracy six ways from Sunday, yet its use only increases. Go fig.

            Tues, ironically Voting Day, I happened to tune into an NPR program describing the damage the Fed has done to American democracy by tipping the scales in favor of the banks and other inequities. One of the speakers seemed to think the whole financial industry is culpable for the disastrous inequity in the U.S.--moving money and resources from the middle and lower classes into the pockets of the wealthiest companies and people. Not totally, of course, the tax code does its bit. Muchas gracias, Senor Trump.

            Ironically enough, meanwhile the citizens of Cascade were putting not one, but two financial types on council—Riley Rausch who is routinely lead by the nose—and Megan Oliphant, who we’ll see how she votes. Cascade reelected Mike Delaney, the least independent of the council people, also on Andy Kelchen’s leash.

            The person with the most understanding of city ordinances, Bill Hosch, was not elected.

Steve Knepper was voted in as Mayor, so thank God, we haven’t lost his fund of understanding of infrastructure, or we’d really be up the creek.

            I don’t know if it was out-and-out lying, but Knepper, Rausch and Delaney all insisted in the candidate forum that the Sidewalk Ordinance was legal because the  National League of Cities gave them it (as a model ordinance). They didn’t bother speculating on if it was fair; they don’t care about that. I went home and emailed NLC, they say “No Way!”

            Tune into Monday night’s council meeting to hear the exchange and their reactions