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 [...]
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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 [...]
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On a bright and sunny Monday afternoon, Paul Andreasen prepared hot sandwiches and french fries inside his food trailer for a small group of regulars. One of them was Amy Glick of Tipton, who said she always orders the same thing: the walnut cranberry chicken salad sandwich. “It’s delicious,” she said. Glick was getting lunch [...]
continue »By The Gazette Editorial Board —- We think the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General got it right. Earlier this month, the OIG concluded that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should not pay the city of Cedar Rapids $13.8 million for flood damages sustained by the disabled hydroelectric plant at the 5-in-1 [...]
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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 [...]
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Another bit of Depression-era art hidden away for decades will soon go on display again inside the council chambers at Cedar Rapids’ city hall. The Law and Culture mural on display in the old federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids was painted over for the final time nearly 50 years ago. But when the city of [...]
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After years of deterioration, the 5-in-1 bridge is due for repairs. Now, a crew is hard at work in Downtown Cedar Rapids. The bridge runs under Interstate 380 and sits above the 5-in-1 dam. Workers started a couple weeks ago and will be working for another couple of months. Over time, the E and F [...]
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Throughout her diplomatic career and in the years since then, Madeleine Albright’s brooches have been more than just a fashion statement. They were a part of her diplomatic signature. “I feel nude without a pin,” said the former and first female secretary of state by phone from Washington last week. “Somehow the pins work for [...]
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It’s hard to find an upside to terminal cancer. But Lennox Randon used that diagnosis to spur the writing of a slam-bang, take-no-prisoners, life-embracing crime novel. He also pulled together two other guys in a writers’ group, and they, too, have finished books. It’s not a stretch to call that making the best of a [...]
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The mayor poured cold water on congressional rumors. But the mayor pro tem just might be in. Cedar Rapids City Council member Monica Vernon says she’s getting a lot of encouragement to run for the Democratic nomination in the 1st Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley is leaving the seat to run for the [...]
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