The political history of gambling in Iowa is always interesting; from the first steps at the state level, to how this vote is playing out this time in Linn County. The recent article linked below at the end of my comment is informative. Governor Branstad was against Iowa’s Casino Economy before he was for it; [...]

it is a challenge for the Cedar Rapids Gazette to be completely objective on the Casino issue since the Gazette Companies are in a business/investment relationship with Steve Gray in his ImOn Co. venture I know the Gazette has provided some mention of this fact as a brief reference, but this has not been thoroughly [...]

The local coalition devoted thousands of hours of their time as concerned and active citizens. It is a sad state of affairs that elections are now bought by the highest cash bidder. Our coalition are dedicated local volunteers that do not accept a dime for such grassroots effort.

The broad based coalition of religious leaders, local businesses and citizens met many times in a very open and public manner. Todd Dorman did not come to those meetings even once. How can Dorman or anyone form a decision without even taking the time to come and observe what they are talking about? I suppose [...]

However a Water Park and family friendly entertainment complex comes into Cedar Rapids, one thing is very clear to me; A water park and related amentities is consistent with Cedar Rapids’ status as a Blue Zone. A Casino operation could not be further from that Zone. Let’s keep Cedar Rapids True Blue. A Blue Zone [...]

It is important to realize the co-dependency in a Casino Economy. State and local governments are now extremely addicted to the tax funding that they scim off of the Casino scam. A little historical perspective is in order; as we look at the words of Governor Branstad from 1984; “Once you get into the gambling [...]

Direct from the mouth of Governor Branstad: “Once you get into the gambling business and you are dependent on that revenue to fund the operations of state government you are hooked. And I don’t think the state of Iowa wants that addiction.” A large group of Cedar Rapids’ Casino Investors now fill Governor Branstad’s campaign [...]

Todd; This article has info on economic research about the effects of a Casino in an economy;

WALL STREET JOURNAL THE JOURNAL REPORT: ECONOMIC ROUNDUP By MARK WHITEHOUSE June 11, 2007; Page R5

This Casino will in fact take business away from other Casinos. A more important issue for Cedar Rapids voters is that a Casino will take business away from small locally owned restaurants and other local venues. A Casino is designed to keep the gamblers inside the walls, losing more money. The YES vote claim that [...]

Larry Melvin notes in his post above the histrory of all of the losses that Linn County residents suffered during Steven Grays time in management at the failed Mc Cleod enterprise. Most local residents that took a gamble by putting their money forward on that one lost big time. It is important for voters to [...]

Response to Rich Geer; Iowa grew into an extremely strong econonic force with innovation and an exceptional work ethic. Our politians now have an addiction for more and more public funds, so extracting funds from the public is allowed by any means necessary. I am 62. When I was in my formative years, the only [...]

Response to Todd Dormans direct question , The Vote No Coalition is in fact a coalition of several segments of our community that are organizing the thousands of local voters that voted NO during the last 2 Casino option elections to all work together and vote NO once again. A coaltion works by having diverse [...]

A Casino cannot be sold to the public as economic development. Cedar Rapids has a long and respected history as a community that understands real economic development. For decades, Cedar Rapids has shipped out more goods in the international market than any other city per capita in the USA. We have intelligent, well informed voters [...]

Gambling undermines the work ethic and leads people to seek to profit by causing loss to others. There is absolutely no way to win in a casino without the majority of other people losing their money. The big time winners are the casino owners that rake in millions from the losses of their fellow human [...]

As John Abernathy notes above that our present “leaders” lead us nowhere; close a major traffic artery, create 0 jobs from the project and give away a bundle in tax incentives to the developers. Now Corbett and crew are on board with a Casino that will siphon off capital from tens of thousands of starry [...]

Regulate Pay Day Loans and Promote Casinos?…. Iowa paolicy makers are extremely inconsistent. Economic Development is generated by entrepreneurship, and an economy is damaged by all exploitive business operations such as pay day loans and casinos. Casinos extract capital from the community, and do not create wealth. They transfer wealth to the casino operators. The [...]

Former State Legislator David Osterberg stated the facts very succinctly the last time private business interests lobbied for a casino cash ripoff to be located in Cedar Rapids; Osterberg stated; “Gambling is a tax on the stupid”. It does not take a genius to figure out the the casino operators win big time, and the [...]

It is important to get vacant property back on the tax rolls. The key question is method; a. private entrepreneurship, where informed citizens weigh the risks of flood, mitigate those risks with flood resistant design and flood insurance; b. the present practice of political insiders and cronies mitigate their risk with public money doled out [...]

Air Cover, Inc. a California based company, received $250,000 from the Iowa Department of Economic Development. -Another example of Iowa taxpayers” dollars at work. Air Cover promised 20 new jobs to get Iowa public funds. Have they delivered the new jobs? If you study the history of the Iowa Department of Economic Development there is [...]

The proliferation of the use of drones in international action and for surveillance within our own borders in no way increases our security and safety as citizens. The opposite is true. There have been times in U.S. History when intelligence and wisdom have guided our actions; If we restrict liberty to attain security we will [...]