City Leaders Debate Downtown Cedar Rapids' Future

By Mark Geary, Reporter

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By Daren Sukhram

Story Created: Nov 4, 2009 at 9:58 PM CST

Story Updated: Nov 4, 2009 at 10:23 PM CST

CEDAR RAPIDS - New ideas to reshape and rebuild downtown Cedar Rapids after the flood are re-emerging. But some council members aren't happy with those ideas.

The future of the city's iconic Veteran's Memorial Building remains uncertain. Some people want to rebuild here, others want to build a brand new civic center.

Right now, key city buildings are scattered around the city. Many still need major repairs after last year's historic flood.

Now, the city has a new proposal that would relocate some of those buildings into one centralized downtown area -- the space where Pepsi currently sits.

"The solutions are complex and, in some cases, they're expensive," said Sandi Fowler, Assistant to the City Manager.

One option would involve demolishing the TrueNorth site and replacing it with green space. Another would still knock down TrueNorth, but then use half the land for the library.

"Sharing the same kind of space is going to reduce the overall square footage for administrative services," Fowler said.

The city is calling it a "civic campus," but some council members don't like the concept.

"You can wrap it up and tie it with a bow and talk about co-location and you can talk about efficiencies...I don't think the numbers are there," said council woman Monica Vernon. "I'm not interested in building a $50 million building to house city employees."

Instead, Vernon has proposed what she calls a "downtown campus" where the city would instead move into vacant spaces all throughout the downtown area.

Of course any key decisions about all of these ideas are still months or even years away.

The city wants to know what you think about all these ideas and concepts.

Later this month, on November 17th and 18th, you'll have your chance to voice your opinion.

More details about the open houses on those dates will be available soon.

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