 Rick SmithRick Smith has been covering Eastern Iowa for 28 years. In the last decade, he has reported on City Hall issues for the newspaper and its digital products. He has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Iowa and a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania. |
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Quaker Oats: ‘We were going to be back’
CEDAR RAPIDS — No magic or managerial genius can hold back unrelenting floodwaters, even at the world’s largest cereal plant. Jay Hardeman, manufacturing director at the Quaker Co. plant next to downtown Cedar Rapids, came to know limits during an emergency nighttime run for gasoline to keep temporary pumps working alongside the plant’s huge flood [...]
Inside flood command: Little time for disagreements as the water rose
CEDAR RAPIDS — At the busiest point, some 150 officials filled the countywide Emergency Operations Center and adjacent rooms at Kirkwood Community College back in June 2008. They directed the impossible effort to hold back the Cedar River and then to begin rescue and recovery as the river backed off from its historical, disastrous climb [...]
Cedar Rapids, Iowa City officials not happy about property-tax relief
City officials in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City aren’t happy that years of talk in the Iowa Legislature about property-tax relief for commercial and industrial property owners ended Thursday with a new law that they say will cost their cities dearly. The part of the new law that is particularly unnerving, city officials said on [...]
Cedar Rapids turns attention to restrictions on alcohol, tobacco shops
The City Council is going to study if it wants to place tighter regulations on alcohol and tobacco stores that might require them to locate farther from places like day care centers and from other shops that sell alcohol and tobacco. Thomas Smith, a planner in the city’s Community Development Department, told the council’s Development [...]
Less asphalt expected in Cedar Rapids’ Westdale Mall transformation
The transformation of the 72-acre Westdale Mall site into a mixed-use neighborhood of stores, offices, residential units and a hotel will mean less asphalt, John Frew, the Westdale developer, told a City Council committee on Wednesday. Frew said the new Westdale development will reduce the number of surface parking spots from the existing 4,309 to [...]
Cedar Rapids council member seeks re-election to at-large seat
Chuck Swore is seeking re-election to an at-large seat on the City Council. Swore, 70, retired vice president and general manager at Acme Electric Co. who now runs his own one-man business consulting service, has been in the mix at City Hall for much of his adult life. He was chairman of the city’s Five [...]
New Bret Sunner Memorial Park to remain near Police Department
The city has a new Sunner Memorial Park to honor Bret Sunner, the 25-year-old Cedar Rapids police officer slain in the line of duty on June 8, 1984. The new memorial park is still close to where it had been and should be — close to the police station on First Street SW. The former [...]
Linn County casino campaign cost $3.43 million, final figures reveal
New, final figures from campaigns for and against casino gaming in Linn County show the sides did not raise and spend $2.25 million, but rather $3.43 million in the weeks leading up to the hotly contested March 5 referendum. The new dollar amounts are revealed in final campaign financial disclosure forms filed by Vote Yes [...]
Wellington Heights housing initiative scoring victories
CEDAR RAPIDS — To get the concept, think Cameron Proctor. Without seeking it, Proctor — a 21-year-old master welder and brand-new homeowner with a good credit history and a 30-year mortgage — has become something of a poster boy for a multimillion-dollar neighborhood transformation. It is a change fueled by Four Oaks’ Affordable Housing Network [...]
Bruce Vander Sanden takes top post at Sixth District correctional department
Bruce Vander Sanden has been named the new director of the Sixth Judicial District Department of Correctional Services, Allan Thoms, chairman of the agency’s board of directors, reports. Vander Sanden replaces Gary Hinzman, who retired this week. Vander Sanden has been with the agency 24 years, the same length of time as Hinzman, who had [...]
