SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
January 2, 2020
Sullivan’s Salvos 1/7/20
In this edition:
*RIP Diane Finnerty
*Serving As Chair
*Iowa City Mayoral Vote
*Parking Vote
*Did You Know?
*RIP Diane Finnerty
I lost my friend Diane Finnerty on December 29th. My guess is that she was also a friend to many of you. Please join me in trying to make 2020 a year in which we live as Diane would have lived. RIP, Diane!
*Serving As Chair
I am serving as the Board Chair for 2020. I am looking forward to serving in that capacity, and I am happy to take your suggestions for improving Board meetings.
To me, the biggest job of the Chair is ensuring that meetings run smoothly. The public deserves efficiency and effectiveness. A well-run meeting can also save hours of staff time – and that means money!
Supervisor Pat Heiden was elected Vice Chair, by the way. I look forward to working more closely with Pat in 2020!
*Iowa City Mayoral Vote
Congratulations to new Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague and Mayor Pro Tempore Mazahir Salih! I really like both of these folks, and I look forward to working with them in 2020!
This election was not without some drama. It took six (!) votes to actually get a majority to select the new Mayor. I have been a longtime observer of Iowa City politics, and I do not recall anything quite like this! (A bit of background: In most cities, individuals run for the position of mayor, and are directly elected by the voters. In Iowa City, the elected Council selects its own leadership. So while Coralville knew who the Mayor would be on Election Day, Iowa City requires the newly seated Council to vote.)
It was interesting to simply look around the room. I found myself thinking back to my first visit to Harvat Hall. I noticed that many things had changed:
*While there was some media there, it was nothing like the coverage that existed in the 80s and 90s. This is a bad change.
*The Council consists of 5 women. The Council had 4 female members in the early 2000s (VanderHoef, Champion, Bailey, and Correia) but has never had 5 before. This is a good change!
*The room was about half full. The crowd was about 75% African American. This is a good change!
Although many things had changed, even more remained the same. I sat near Karen Kubby and Bob Welsh, two people who have had a profound influence on Iowa City and a profound influence on my life. When I first showed up at Council meetings in the 1980s, Bob and Karen were already there, already fighting the good fight. To meet them there, some 30-35 years later, restores my faith and hope.
Also right there was my friend Mike Weinard, again providing continuity from one cast of characters to another. Mike is an AFSCME retiree, and has been pushing workers’ issues for decades. The current Council needs to be held to account, and Mike will do just that.
Finally, there was the divisive vote. We have a history of heated politics in Iowa City. Why? Because there a lot of residents who care about social justice. The fight goes on. And those with power rarely give it up voluntarily. Again, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Congrats again to Bruce and Mazahir!
*Parking Vote
The Board took an action in mid-December that really disappointed me. Back in 2010, Johnson County began charging employees $1.20/per day to park at our downtown facilities. The current Board undid that policy, and I think they made a terrible mistake.
If you have ever been anywhere near downtown Iowa City, you know that land is a valuable commodity. That translates into parking being a valuable commodity. Pretty much every business located anywhere near downtown either A) Provides parking to employees for a fee; or B) Says, “You are on your own.” Johnson County was a huge outlier back in 2010, so we changed it.
The policy accomplished many, many goals at once:
1. It brought the county policy closer in line with the Iowa City and the UI.
2. It absolved taxpayers of paying for county employees to park. (Many of these taxpayers pay to park themselves!)
3. It created a dedicated funding stream to pay parking related expenses, like ramp and lot maintenance. (The fees brought in a bit over $70,000 each year, which does not cover parking costs.)
4. The policy served as an incentive for people to use alternative transportation to get to work. We even created a unique method where you only paid on days you parked, adding even greater incentives to bike, bus, or walk.
5. The policy maintained free parking for the public doing county business.
6. Polluters always externalize their costs. Johnson County was taking a meaningful step toward owning our own pollution. You drive, you pay.
The folks who voted to do away with this policy had three primary reasons. I disagree with each one.
First, they said it was difficult to administer. But we have been doing it without trouble for ten years!
Second, they said it never really worked to discourage driving. Our numbers did not reduce much at all. That is true. But at least we did not externalize the costs! And part of the reason it didn’t change many behaviors is that the fee was actually too low! (About a third what you pay at Iowa City, and a sixth what you pay at the UI.)
Third, they said it will help attract and retain employees. Sorry, but that is just absurd. The UI pays about $5000 more than the county for a similar position. In what world is that $250 a year in parking going to lure someone away?
Again, I am just really, really disappointed. Now that the parking fee has been eliminated, it will never come back. So any attempt to cut our greenhouse gas emissions just got set back decades. Just horrible, short-sighted decision making.
I will admit, some of my disappointment is personal. I literally put in YEARS on our Parking Committee. We dealt with every imaginable objection, and every imaginable “what if” scenario. It took hundreds of hours. When all was said and done, we had a product of which I was extremely proud.
I did not even know a committee was meeting on this topic. The committee never asked my opinion, despite my hundreds of hours of work, Then, in 30 minutes one day, it was all undone. Again, I think it is really bad policy. Unfortunately, I. believe it was also a really bad process. I am deeply disappointed.
*DID YOU KNOW? Johnson County is bordered by seven other counties – more than any other county in Iowa.
Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-
"Sullivan’s Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
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As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 1:16 PM
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