SULLIVAN'S SALVOS

April 23, 2024

Sullivan’s Salvos 4/25/24

In this edition:

*Earth Day

*Farmer’s Markets

*Johnson County Agricultural Data

*Statewide Agricultural Data

*Farm Roots

*Did You Know?

*Earth Day

As usual, Johnson County passed a proclamation noting Earth Day, and urging the people of Johnson County to act in defense of our planet.

But did you know the history of Earth Day? First, there was a photo. The iconic “Earthwise” image snapped by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders from lunar orbit on Dec. 24, 1968, showed our planet as it really is: a lonely and fragile outpost of life suspended in an endless, inky-black void. That new perspective jolted many people awake and lit a fire under others, helping the nascent environmental movement gain cohesion and momentum, experts say.

That photo led to Earth Day. The rest of the story, from Wikipedia: In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed at the United Nations. A month later, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event "Earth Day".

Denis and his staff grew the event beyond the original idea for a teach-in to include the entire United States. More than 20 million people poured out on the streets, and the first Earth Day remains the largest single-day protest in human history. Key non-environmentally focused partners played major roles. Under the leadership of labor leader Walter Ruether, for example, the United Auto Workers (UAW) was the most instrumental outside financial and operational supporter of the first Earth Day. According to Hayes, "Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!" Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his work.

*Farmer’s Markets

It is almost May, and that means it is time for our local Farmer’s Markets! My mouth is watering!

People who know me know that I am a farmer’s market fanatic. I can be found at the Iowa City Farmer’s Market pretty much every Saturday. I love the food, I love the farmers, I love the customers … I love everything about it! See you at the market!

*Johnson County Agricultural Data

The Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers provided these statistics for both Johnson County and the State of Iowa:

There are 1,257 farms in Johnson County, totaling 304,239 acres. That is an average of 242 acres per farm. If I had to guess, I’d say these folks are defining a “farm” quite liberally.

And beware of averages! There are very few 242-acre farms out there. It is more like 8 twenty-acre farms, one 300-acre farm, and one 2000-acre farm. The average does not tell the story.

Johnson County is one of the only counties in Iowa where the number of farms is going up, but the acres farmed is going down. This reflects our strong local foods culture.

In 2022, the market value of Johnson County crops was $143 million. The value of livestock sold was $76 million.

Agriculture and ag-related industries accounted for 4,044 jobs, about 3% of the county total. Ag and ag-related industries accounted for $171 million in wages, and $867 million in sales.

Johnson County is a bit better than average when it comes to farmland; our average Corn Suitability Rating (CSR) is 69, while statewide it is 68. But of the land in production, the average CSR is closer to 80. We have more woodlands than most counties, which also affect things.

We think of Johnson County as an “urban” county, and rightfully so. All of these ag numbers have dropped over the past 10 years. Yet it is important that we recognize the huge role that agriculture plays in our local economy.

*Statewide Agricultural Data

Statewide, the economic impact of agriculture is truly staggering. Ag accounts for one out of every three dollars in the Iowa economy. One in 5 Iowans works in ag or ag-related industries. Iowa ranks number one in hogs, corn, soybeans, and eggs, and in the top 5 for cattle, chickens, and turkeys.

*Farm Roots

Anyone who has known me long knows that I grew up on the family farm. It is not just any family farm; both my maternal grandmother and maternal grandfather came from families that settled in Iowa prior to statehood. We have two family farms that have been in the family seven and eight generations, respectively. My family has been on the same land since 20 years before the start of the Civil War! So yes, I am proud of my family farm roots.

After growing up out on the farm, on a gravel road, miles from the nearest town, I moved to Iowa City. And while I love the things city life offers, I often miss the farm. One small connection that I maintain is my screensaver.

Both home and at work, my screensaver is a photo of my Grandpa, Ed Jack, winning the 1961 State Corn Picking Championship. I love the photo for a lot of reasons, but primarily the way in which he holds his hat in his hands. Though he had become quite wealthy through farming, he was a very humble man. The photo really captures that. And despite the fact that he had been using a mechanical combine for several years, he obviously had not lost his touch when it came to picking corn.

We used to pick a lot of sweet corn when I was a kid. If you have ever seen anyone pick corn by hand, you know that it is not easy. And my Grandpa was a perfectionist – you had to do it right! I knew intuitively why he won that contest – he had the cleanest row and fewest deductions. Sure enough, that was true.

My Grandpa loved to enter contests. He liked to experiment, and he had a competitive spirit. So his house was full of trophies and plaques. Only one, however, was first place. That was the State Corn Picking Championship.

Also on a shelf were about a dozen trophies earned in various statewide competitions. There were 5^th, 4^th, 3^rd, and 2^nd place trophies – in some cases, multiples. Most of the awards were in yield competitions.

He got second in a highest yield contest in the late ‘50s, and once averaged 200 bushels per acre, which was the farming equivalent of breaking the 4-minute mile. The statewide average now is 189 bushels per acre, so technology has certainly caught up.

I remember the importance he placed on watching the markets. The guys who were working on the farm came into the house every day at EXACTLY 11:55. They washed their hands with Lava soap, filled their plates, and started to eat dinner. There was no “lunch” – dinner at noon, supper for the evening meal!

Then they put on the WMT noon news, with the volume cranked, because years on the tractor (no cab) had ruined my Grandpa’s hearing. (KCRG showed a soap opera at noon and had no noon news. That was an unforgiveable heresy in the eyes of my Grandfather!)

They would intently watch the markets, then decide what to do that afternoon. Maybe you got things ready to go to town and sell. Maybe not. The whole plan for the next 24 hours depended upon the market and the weather.

Nowadays, the commodities are presold on contract. There is no need to closely monitor prices and react. It is probably a lot less stressful. But at the time, it certainly seemed exciting to a kid watching it all unfold!

My Granny played a different role, and we kids were her helpers. Each family had HUGE gardens – between the 5 families, the garden space (not counting sweet corn and fruit trees) was probably over 2 acres. We spent all summer picking strawberries, asparagus, beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, apples, pears, lettuce, cabbage, radishes… then Granny showed us how to clean them, cut them, and store them.

Farming has changed a lot since I was a kid. I was recently asking my Mom who was renting the family’s various plots of land. She reported that there are only 3-4 people farming in the whole area, and that these operations have become so large that what used to be considered a sizeable farm (say, 250 acres) is barely worth their time to rent!

I never wanted to go into farming – I realized right away that I was a people person, and agriculture could get lonely. But I miss those days, and remember them fondly.

*DID YOU KNOW? Iowa has 49,065 women active in farm operations, 34% of the total number of farmers.

Anyone interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the County website-

www.johnsoncountyiowa.gov.

"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.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan29@gmail.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!

---Rod

April 16, 2024

A Kosher and happy Passover to all my Jewish friends. I am still brushing up on my Hebrew calendar; please know that I wish you all the best!

Here is one more reason I love Iowa City: I drink Diet Mt. Dew. I often stop in the Casey's next to my office to get my Diet Dew fix.

This morning, the staff at Casey's were discussing theoretical physics. This afternoon, the Manager was explaining that the Allegory of the Cave is the reason that Plato's Republic is his favorite book.

Iowa has approximately 30,600,000 acres of cropland right now. Currently, about 24,000,000 of that is in corn. HALF of that land – 12,000,000 acres – is currently dedicated to the production of ethanol.

Now let’s look at solar energy. Just 180,000 acres could provide enough solar energy to meet ALL of Iowa’s energy needs. That is one seventieth (1/70) of the acres, and much more energy!

Plus you get much improved water quality, much improved soil quality, much improved air quality… and much of the land can be freed up for recreation, conservation, and growing actual food!

This is a no-brainer. But it will not happen with the GOP stranglehold over Iowa and our farmland. I say vote for solar!

Affordable housing is a topic near and dear to my heart. It was something I ran on when I first ran for office, and it remains one of the biggest problems facing Johnson County today. As a matter of fact, I’m running on it again!

I guess that is why I get frustrated with people who criticize the efforts to create more affordable housing in our community. I hope I can add some context to future discussions. Here are a few things to consider:

When I started as a Supervisor, Johnson County put about $10,000 annually into affordable housing (AH). 20 years later, we spend well over $750,000 annually. That is a 75-fold increase over 20 years! I am very proud of this! (That does not even include the $1.5 million in ARPA dollars we set aside.)

Similarly, when I started as a Supervisor, there were zero AH units added that year. There were 7 added the next year. In the last three years, we have added 347 units. Again, I am very proud of this!

Is this enough? Not even close! We just got an update from Johnson County Social Services Director Lynette Jacoby, who provided us with some data on the shortage of AH in Johnson County. For very low-income households (those at 30% of the median household income or below) we are short 8,205 units. That is correct – we need over 8,000 new AH units right now just to catch up!

But here is the thing – this problem exists all across the US. It exists literally everywhere. Even the most isolated rural communities have this issue. Meanwhile, some large metro areas have needs that almost boggle the mind! Los Angeles County, California is the most populous county in the US. They have a shortage of almost 600,000 units!

When a problem is this widespread, it amounts to a crisis. And when faced with a national crisis, we have to look beyond local governments. Even the most well-intentioned local government (I think Johnson County fits this bill) cannot make much of a dent in the need. Thus, we need to look to State and Federal governments to address the crisis.

I’d like to see a couple of big things happen at the Federal level. First, we need to roughly triple the amount of Housing Choice Vouchers in the system. (Locally, these are administered by the Iowa City Housing Authority.) The current waiting list is approximately 4 years long. We must do better. Secondly, we need the Federal government to invest tens of billions of dollars in the construction of new units. (I’d suggest we tax billionaires to pay for it.) This will also create lots of jobs all across the country!

I came across some interesting data recently that added some perspective for me. Melissa and I spent a week in Arizona with some friends. While there, I saw a brochure that Maricopa County put out on they way in which they were spending American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money. Maricopa County is spending $13.5 million on AH. But they are about 33 times the population of Johnson County. Yet they are only spending 8 times the money. If they supported AH at the same rate we do, they would need to spend over $50 million.

Then I came across some info from Paris. The Paris metro area is getting $2.2 billion from France to address AH. $2.2 billion! Now that is a real investment! Compare that to the State of Iowa, who is sitting on billions (mostly because of Federal gifts) and will not even spend a couple hundred thousand to feed our poorest kids. It is shameful!

There are a few additional things that irk me. Even some of the people in the know say, “Well, we are only helping single men.” First of all, that is not accurate. Secondly, single men make up the biggest group of households under 30% AMI. Thirdly, single men under 30% AMI are a big part of the group that costs local governments a lot of money in calls to law enforcement, jail bed days, ambulance rides, emergency room visits, etc. Fourthly, unhoused single men are the group the “Karens” of the world complain about the most. Finally, they are arguably the most needy! They are the folks who die unhoused! So yeah, we have housed the neediest people. I’m not going to apologize for that!

Do we need more AH for single women? Yes. Do we need. More AH for families with children? Yes. Do we need more AH for people trying to remain sober? Yes. We need it all. If you have a couple million dollars lying around, we’ll gladly spend it on exactly the type of AH you want. Otherwise, the County is likely to continue prioritizing our neediest folks.

There is also a constant chorus of “make developers do it.” That only works when you have something developers want. Iowa City did this about 7 years ago when they voted to require annexations to include 10% affordable housing. That was great, and long overdue! The City has something the developer wants – that being the ability to annex the land into the city. In exchange, the developer must do 10% affordable housing. That amount is not going to catch us up, mind you. But it will help stop us from falling further behind.

Otherwise, folks need to understand that developers only do what they do if they can make money. It just doesn’t make sense to expect them to do something for free. Most of us expect to be paid for our time and talent; developers are no different. I do not see developers as enemies here. We just need to work with them whenever we can find win-win scenarios. There are two ways to get people to do what you want – carrots and sticks. We need to have both available.

I have spent about 35 years of my life now fighting for more AH. It ain’t easy. But we are making strides. We are not going to solve this problem without the Federal government. We are likely going to have to address it in spite of the State of Iowa. I just hope that others who care as much as I do will get informed as to the real facts surrounding this crisis. Before you criticize local AH efforts, learn the facts!

The Johnson County Democratic Party is holding our Annual Hall of Fame Awards on Saturday, May 11 at 7pm at the Radisson in Coralville. 2024 marks the 15^th consecutive year that the Johnson County Democratic Party has held a separate Hall of Fame event.

Please join us for coffee, desserts, and plenty of old war stories! A cash bar will be available.

The Hall of Fame inductees for 2024 are: Former County Attorney Janet Lyness, former County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, longtime Solon activist and retired IBEW President Bill Hanes, and the late Kathy Stahmer. We hope you can join us in recognizing this remarkable group!

Tickets are available for a $35 suggested donation. People who cannot afford that amount should still feel welcome. Sponsorships are available at the following levels:
$100            includes two tickets
$250            includes 4 tickets
$500            includes a whole reserved table (8 tickets)

*DID YOU KNOW? Iowa has won 24 NCAA championships in wrestling, five in rifle (all between 1911 and 1946), one in field hockey (1986), one in men’s gymnastics (1969), and one in women’s track and field (1924). Iowa claims a part of 5 NCAA football championships, but each of those were determined by sportswriters.

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.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan29@gmail.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!

April 10, 2024

Happy Birthday to local activist, Labor Leader, journalist, Scrabble Club President, and general man-about-town Gary Sanders, who turns 77 on April 14. If you know Gary, please drop him a line and wish him a Happy Birthday!

I have mentioned before in Salvos that despite my love of sports, I try not to write about it much here. But the Iowa Women’s Basketball Team has once again pretty much forced me to write about them!

What a season! Second in the nation for the second year in a row, and captured the hearts of fans everywhere! Congratulations, Iowa, on your best season ever!

My experience with the Iowa Women’s Basketball program is long and deep. I attended my first game in either ’78 or ’79. Iowa was coached by Lark Birdsong, the program’s inaugural coach. They were led by the great Cindy Haugejorde, a Minnesota prep who became a first team All-American and ended her career as Iowa’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder.

The game was played in the North Gym of the Field House. I’m not joking; there were about 5 small sets of portable metal bleachers on the home side, and two on the visitors. Had every seat been taken (and they were not) the place might have held 200 people. It cost exactly zero to get in, and there were no concessions.

Haugejorde had something like 28 points and 13 rebounds, which was a typical game for her, and led Iowa to victory over Mount Mercy. That is correct; Iowa was playing Mount Mercy. But, Mount Mercy was quite good then! And you have to understand, the NCAA did not even recognize women’s sports at this time!

I know it sounds like I’m talking about a game from 1928, but it was 1978. And the NCAA was still 4 years away from overseeing women’s sports. This game was played under the auspices of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). The AIAW was a very forward-thinking organization that simply got overwhelmed by the NCAA and their money. But in ’78, they were in charge.

A few years later, I arrived at the UI the same year as C. Vivian Stringer. Stringer immediately put Iowa Women’s Basketball on the map. And I had a great seat! You see, I did sports, news, and a little DJing at KRUI 89.7 FM, the student radio station. When Stringer and I started, KRUI had the broadcast rights to women’s basketball. So I did color and/or play by play for some of the best teams Iowa ever fielded.

In doing so, we got to know many of the players. Lisa Becker had been a local legend at CR Jefferson. The next year she was joined by Michelle “Ice” Edwards, who until Megan Gustafson and Caitlyn Clark came along, was without a doubt Iowa’s greatest player. Another group of stars were added the next year with Iowan Shanda Berry, Jolette Law, and Franthea Price.

Price was interesting to me. She was an incredible player – two-time First Team All American. Price could do it all, and much like Caitlyn Clark, did not lack confidence. She came to Iowa from Detroit, and was identified by some as having an “attitude.” In reality, Price was a social justice advocate before we used that phrase. She did not suffer fools, and she was the African American player most likely to call out the many aggressions a black female would face in Iowa City at that time. Even now, the UI is about 77% white. When I got here in the early 80s? Try 95% white. There were additional issues of gender and sexuality at play. It had to be difficult.

I got to know Price just a bit – she made it clear that she did not need me as a friend. She was tough, and pretty closed off to an immature white farm boy like me. It was not her job to educate me, and she didn’t try. As announcers, we had sometimes referred to her as “Fran” or “Frannie.” She made it clear that neither was acceptable. We played pick-up games together and against each other – yes, she was much better than me! But she did take note that I knew something about the game. When I graduated from high school, my whole school – kindergarten through 12 – had ZERO minorities. ZERO. I feel as though getting to know Franthea Price just a bit really opened my eyes to a larger world.

I never quit loving Iowa Women’s Basketball, always following closely over the years. Each of my daughters had a teammate at City High who went on to play for the Hawkeyes. Ever since my radio days, I have pretty much either A) been at Carver; B) watched on TV; or C) listened on the radio. I am always quick to go to the box score after every game. I have been hooked for a long, long time. And it has been a fun team to follow.

Then you have 2023 and 2024. What can I say? Caitlyn Clark has had the single greatest year and career of any player in any team sport in University of Iowa history. Better than Nile Kinnick – the best, period. Only 15-20 wrestlers might be able to claim a better season or career.

And the team? Not only the most successful, but the most fun to watch team in UI history! What else is there to say but Congratulations and Thanks! I have loved this team for a long, long time, and this is the cherry on top of a 46+ year fandom for me!

The Board recently had some discussions around Supervisor travel. Each Supervisor has a certain amount they are allocated for continuing education. There is wide latitude in terms of how Supervisors spend this money. Supervisor Green Douglass attended the Iowa Prairie Conference, for example.

I have attended the National Association of Counties (NACo) conference on 7 different occasions. It is typically well done, but it is expensive: rooms are needed for approximately 4 nights, and they are usually around $250 or more per night, depending on the location. The conference registration is usually well over $500. Throw in food and travel expenses, and it is quite easy to spend $2500 on the conference.

I have always been OK with this, because I believe in continuing education. But a recent discussion of Supervisor continuing education budgets was eye opening.

Supervisors Green Douglass, Fixmer Oraiz, and myself had each spent about half our allotted budgets for the fiscal year (through June 30). Supervisor Green had spent zero. Supervisor Porter, meanwhile, was $3500 over budget, and planning on going $9000 over budget. I find this problematic. Any County employee who did this would get disciplined. As it was, the other 3 Supervisors donated their budgeted amounts to cover the shortfall. There was just zero accountability.

In addition, times are changing. Our overall County budgets are getting tighter, and we are going to be forced to make harder and harder decisions. The first place our departments are looking when it comes to savings is continuing education.

1. Many County jobs *require* continuing education to maintain certifications. Medical Examiner staff, planners, building inspectors, Sheriff’s Deputies, accountants, social workers, nurses, engineers, and many other jobs simply have no choice but to maintain their licenses.

Supervisors have no such requirements. Hell, we barely have to show up! So before our employees have to make sacrifices, I think Supervisors should lead on the issue, and personally spend less on continuing education.

2. Similarly, departments are now deciding to skimp on some equipment, software, etc. Those are things that help them to do their jobs better, and serve the public better. How can we justify increased Supervisor continuing education when any of these things get cut?

3. I’m not convinced that these conferences do much to make Johnson County a better place to live. Like I said, I have attended 7 NACo conferences. They were all fun. I learned at least something at every single one. But in all my seven years, I only brought home one idea that got implemented. It WAS a good one! – Our work with VITA and the EITC program has brought literally millions of additional dollars into Johnson County, and put it in the hands of our poorest residents. That was a real home run. But that is the ONLY time that has ever happened to my knowledge.

Supervisor Green Douglass came back from the Iowa Prairie Conference this year with a neat idea; I hope it blooms. (Pun intended.) But it is still safe to say the overall return on investment on these conferences has not been huge.

4. NACo tries to suck participants into several additional conferences. They have a legislative conference in DC every March. I hate to break it to you, but the GOP-led House does not give a damn what a few County Supervisors think. I cannot believe we get any value out of this.

5. Then NACo creates interest groups, such as a rural caucus and a women’s caucus, just to name a couple. There is nothing wrong with these, per se. But should we as taxpayers be paying for them? I find this to be very similar to the old “Who’s Who” books. Anyone can be in them – if you pay. NACo Committees are the same way; pay up, and you are on one. What is the benefit to local residents? Can anyone demonstrate that?

6. We have a history of saying no to these requests. Former Supervisor Terrence Neuzil got himself appointed to a NACo committee. But when he tried to get the rest of the Board to pay for his travel, the Board said no. So this is not a new thing. We’ve simply never had someone go so far over budget before.

Given all this, I think Supervisors need to seriously consider cutting our own budgets for continuing ed. The public is simply not getting the return on investment they deserve. It is called leadership.

*DID YOU KNOW? Iowa City native Tom Cech won the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the catalytic properties of RNA.

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.

These messages come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise mentioned.

If you do NOT want the weekly E-mail, simply reply to this message, and type "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

If you know anyone else who might be interested, just forward this message. They can E-mail me at rodsullivan29@gmail.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

As always, feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan29@gmail.com. I look forward to serving you!

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