SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
April 16, 2024
Sullivan’s Salvos 4/18/24
In this edition:
*Passover
*Another Reason to Love Iowa City!
*Solar Energy Tidbit
*Affordable Housing
*Dems Hall of Fame Event
*Did You Know?
*Passover
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!
*Another Reason to Love Iowa City!
I put this on Facebook a while ago, but I think it is worth sharing again:
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.
It is a great city for conversation!
*Solar Energy Tidbit
I got this interesting tidbit on solar energy from my friend Jim Dane:
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
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!
*Dems Hall of Fame Event
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 15th 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)
$1000 includes a whole reserved table plus special mention.
*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-
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---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 9:05 PM
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