Feedback Responses (81-100)
Message 81: To do nothing is to stagnate and die. I feel for the business's but let's face it, east Marion is a cesspool. The No-tell motel and dump need to go. Plus a lot of the business's have not put a lot of effort to cleaning up their outsides. I have no problem eliminating them and cleaning up Marion and leaving 7th as is. But for those who reject change this is why Marion doesn't have a huge business taxbase, we aren't trying to help find new business and making it attractive to the patrons.Submitted by: B.A.
Message 82: This plan is crazy! Why not put in an airport so you might have a shot at new business? The council and Mayor are smoking something here
Submitted by: T.A.
Message 83: I am on the Commercially zoned side of 5th Ave. I have seen the "proposed Idea" for where my house is. It shows a warehouse on my property so I can only surmise that at some point Eminent Domain will be applied and I will be asked to move. I am not copacetic with that idea. I have spent alot of money making my house a home. I moved to Marion because of its features and although I am not against growth and change, I think there are different options. I have read that they modeled this "plan" after cities in other states which actually had the reverse effect desired. I think one option that seems feasible is making 7th and 6th one way streets and utilizing the railroad grade to that end.
Submitted by: P.H.
Message 84: Opposed.
Submitted by: Anonymous
Message 85: I have many fond memories of growing up in Marion. The community revolved around family friends and sports. I have since moved on and dealt with many aspects of corporate America. I have family and friends that could be affected by this move and it saddens me to see the city treat their citizens in this manner. To hide the fact that they plan to so radically change the city without public knowledge is appalling! Based on my experience it appears that not only is the city in Olsson's pocket they have a hidden agenda. In watching Olsson's practices during this venture it is clear to me that they would do even better investing in the used car market. I have seen projects like this in the Dallas area which literally drove the city into bankruptcy and although touted that taxes would not rise, rise they did. Citizens of Marion PLEASE speak out against such foolish spending so that when I can come home to visit, the city is the same peaceful, friendly and family oriented place I remember it as. Thank you for listening to an ex-Marionite!
Submitted by: T.B.
Message 86: I'm sorry but I don't see 7th Avenue or even the town of Marion as a bottleneck. I've been a resident of Marion for 36 years and I live in the Linnwood Knolls area. I often use 8th or 6th Avenue to avoid the traffic lights on 7th Ave. when crossing Marion. I seldom use 7th Ave unless I have business there. I think 7th Ave. should remain open for local businesses as well as tourists. Local residents have the by-pass as well as 8th Ave. 6th Ave. for cross-town traffic. I would however like to see the completion of 6th Ave from 15th Street to 31st Street so we would have two alternate routs other than 7th Ave between 1st Street and 31st Street. Our cost of living is high enough that we don't need higher taxes. Surely the city of Marion could find other more necessary community projects on which to spend our money.
Submitted by: E.M.
Message 87: I want to know who said there is a problem with traffic in Marion? And who decided to hire a firm from Nebraska to come to Marion and tell us residents what we need to do? They won't be paying for this - we will. The only problem I see when I drive through the downtown is that the lights need to be working together better. And possibly slow everyone down! I love the downtown and the square. As far as the 'Round About' goes. Those are very dangerous traffic-wise and if you add school kids walking to and from school and traffic that doesn't know how to drive in a 'round about' you are asking for trouble. Increasing the traffic on 5th and 6th is also asking for trouble...Vernon Middle School is right there. Already the area is very busy- I can't imagine it with even more 'through' traffic. My last thought is the fact that this is 1st Avenue all the way through Cedar Rapids and Marion and out of them in each direction...it is a highway and I just don't think it would be right to drag traffic through Marion and back out just to quiet down the downtown of Marion. Shame on the City of Marion, the Mayor, the Chamber, the City council- We really need to clean house in the next election. I really am concerned when it appears that the current Marion government leaders just want their name on something in the community and that is just what this smells like to me. Thanks for letting me have a voice. I can't beleive this is happening in Marion.
P.S. One last thought I have is the Marion By-pass. It would work better if it weren't being developed and filled with stop lights. Traffic could actually avoid downtown and drive 55!. Instead, traffic on it has to stop at lights and I bet they don't get around Marion any faster than the traffic that goes through the downtown! I thought it was created to reduce the downtown traffic?!
Submitted by: S.P.
Message 88: I feel that if you take all the traffic, or most of it would be the biggest mistake this town has made in years. You already took a lot of traffic off 7th Ave. with the highway 100 bypass. Come on give the local merchants a break.
Submitted by: Anonymous
Message 89: It's hard to believe that we could see such disregard for the citizens of this city by elected officials. By reading the posts from our good friend and neighbor, Craig Adamson, it appears he feels most of us are morons that don't know how to drive. Like Craig, neither my home nor business will be affected, but based on his comments it may be more prudent to use any money the city may have for driving lessons for us. As it appears he must be an excellent driver, maybe he could get on 7th avenue going west and never stop. How could anyone so disrespectful hold an office of any kind?
As for the project the city has been pushing, it appears to me to be a complete waste of our money. Why can’t they just take care of the city as they were elected to do and stop throwing our money at an outfit from Nebraska that sells grand schemes? Next time you drive through our city, count the pot holes. If they can’t take care of what we have now what makes us think they can pull off this ridiculous project? P.S. Craig, have a nice trip!
Submitted by: J.W.
Message 90: Why not beautify 7th Avenue, and continue to promote the "main drag" as the retail and restaurant strip and then develop 6th Avenue as a non-retail, office building and city government corridor, so that existing businesses on 7th Avenue don't face unfair competition from the city "changing horses in midstream" and moving the main drag to 6th Avenue? You could still develop 6th Avenue as an alternative route that is accessible to non-retail businesses, without losing the dominance of 7th Avenue in this role. Don't "fix it if it ain't broke". Take what is already there and make it look better. Don't fundamentally transform Marion's main drag and don't keep experimenting with changes like you did when you closed 11th Street to thru traffic, or tried one-way streets in Marion. Also, if you must develop 6th Avenue, can you allow businesses along 7th Avenue to put up signage on the back of their buildings or elsewhere on their property so prospective customers will know they are still there even if they drive along 6th Avenue?
Submitted by: E.W.
Message 91: Thank you for this website. As a person that has grown up in Marion, raised a family, and works in Marion I have much concern for the proposed plan. Many people would lose their jobs and business that they have worked for many years to build, I do not have a problem with making a few changes, but in this tough economic time, I don't think now is the time for major changes. They say it won't happen for another 10,15, or 20 years, so why the rush. Let us spend a little more time doing research and put it to a vote to the community with all the facts. They say it probably won't raise property taxes, but we all know what probably means! One of my biggest concerns is for the safety of Marion's children. Why on earth would you run a major road so close to the Marion Library and the Middle School. Has anyone thought of that aspect? Why not leave 7th Avenue alone- make a few cosmetic changes and extend bike trails, parks, a historic shopping district along 6th Avenue which would be better suited for an area where there will be children.
Submitted by: D.B.
Message 92: This is a way to really kill off your local business? Businesses need that traffic exposure to bring in new business. Why put some much traffic thru a residual area? What is the purpose of diverting the traffic from you business district, do you want Marion to become a ghost town?
Submitted by: Anonymous
Message 93: Replace the traffic circle with a 'Y' in plan D. Having lived in a town that embraced traffic circles, Lawrence, KS, I have learned that they are stuffed into locations that are too small for them, and the designer doesn't tell you up front that only one car at a time has the right-of-way in the traffic circle! Also as trucks grow longer in the future, the traffic circle becomes obsolete. Install the 'Y' and save taxpayer dollars right away. Watch traffic on 8th Ave grow because people do not want to use the traffic circle!
Submitted by: Anonymous
Message 94: This site is so obviously biased that it makes no sense to debate the pros and cons of this project here. You have clearly focused on the negative aspects of plans C & D while ignoring the positives, and while you are not negative about plans A & B, you are clearly in favor of maintaining the status quo. This is a common shortsighted reaction to change from business owners that are only in favor of change that financially benefits themselves regardless of how it benefits others. I have no doubt that this will not be published by your group, as it is opposed to your viewpoint.
Submitted by: Anonymous
Message 95: I grew up in marion, and frankly the traffic problems are bad enough, to where most people, if they can, will utilize the bypass to avoid marion. i dont see how closing marions last real through-fair will bring more business to the downtown area. perhaps if the city were to spend the proposed money into improvements, and attracting the kind of business that people want to go to the downtown area t would attract more businesses.
Submitted by: Anonymous
Message 96: Why do you not have a copy of the plan on this website? All I can find is a nice summary based on the way this organization feels. You are doing nothing to educate people, which seem to be the reason this is becoming so controversial. It might help your group maintain some credibility.
Submitted by: B.W.
Message 97: I sincerely hope that the residents of Marion will have a final say on this project. Where are the funds coming from? I currently own a townhome in Marion (which means I own a tiny plot of land and the insides of the townhouse sitting on this land) and my property taxes are 0ver $2,200 per year, an amount that is astounding to me considering the level of services in this bedroom community. Who is benefitting financially from any of these projects? Are the architects, lending institutions, builders and designers, lawyers, etc. all residents of Marion? I cannot say too many times- where is this money coming from? What is the real need here? How can an economy like this one support these little decorating projects? I will absolutely sell my condo and move out of Marion before I will finance a window dressing project.
Submitted by: T.J.D.
Message 98: I agree with message 94...this site is so unbelievably biased that the individuals associated with are blind to anything besides their own selfish motivations (I realize you will probably not post that comment - even though it's very true). I also saw the recent editorial by Snooks Bousa and I find it amazing that he is so ignorant of the details of this plan that he still truely believes 7th Avenue will be closed. Has he even read the plan? Obviously his organization has no interest in educating individuals about what's in it since this website has no links to the actual document. It also seems that your quesitons above are worded very specifically toward your bias. I answered "no" to the questions regarding closing 7th Avenue, but in reality it's not closing, so there's not really a good way to answer that question based on the choices you provide. Thank-you.
Submitted by: J.W.
Message 99: Items that hardly get attention are the reasons to even have a plan. The reason to have this plan is to relocate a few industrial businesses out of the corridor to a more appropriate location. The other reason is that 7th avenue from 13th to 31st street is a black eye on this community. To fix it in place would cause more trouble for business owners than any other plan. It's already been proven that people try to get around 7th avenue as it is (taking 5th, 8th or the bypass). Instead of having everybody try to get through it, let's make it so people actually want to go there. A big part of this is to encourage business owners in this area to landswap and rebuild something better, upgrade existing , or sell out to new businesses that think a little bigger than trying to snag a little bypassing traffic.
Submitted by: J.B.
Message 100: I live in Marion for almost my entire life besides a few years I was away in the army and have posted a comment on here previously in support of the plan. I apoligize now for the long post but I want to address a few comments made previously In regards to the person with the townhome paying ~$2,200 in taxes and questioning the quality or level of services he receives... you should know that you your only being taxed on about 54% of the assessed value of your home its called the "rollback" if it wasn't for the rollback you would be paying about 5400 dollars a year in taxes. So let's break your taxes down a little then, the City is getting about 25% of that 2,200 the county is getting 25% and if your in a condo in marion I'm guessing your in the Linn Mar School District so there getting about 50% of your dollars. So for 25% of your taxes I bet the city is providing some pretty good services. Heck having someone come and pick up my garbage every week and taking it away is worth a couple hundred bucks a year to me... flushing my toilet and getting that stuff out of my house is worth a couple hundred bucks a year to me... getting all the streets plowed to and from work would be worth a couple hundred bucks a year to me. I can go on but I think you get my point. Now lets look at how much commercial pays on taxes. They pay 100% of the assessed value of their property. When the corridor successly redevelops there could be a HUGE windfall to the City. I'm not saying it will lower our residential taxes but it might flatten the increases. The taxes in marion are where they are because residential has to support all the city services and residential can't pay that cost alone. That is why I'm in favor of the corridor plan and the opportunties it will create. I don't want to see any business close, those that are effected directly by the road I hope the City has a relocation plan in place to keep those that want to stay in the community, those on the north side of 7th Avenue, I think you'll be fine, everybody knows your there and will keep coming back if you continue to offer a good product / service at a fair price no matter where you are located in the community. I also wanted to comment on the numerous people commenting on Highway 100 "the bypass" I've lived in Marion my whole life and I remember when the highway 100 extension was being discussed. It was planned as a route around Marion, but everyone one of those intersections was designed with a light in the future. The Iowa DOT knew that as people built they would be needed, we just got use to it being a non-stop short cut around Marion all these years even though that is NOT how it was designed. It was built to be what it is becoming today a major arterial with stop lights with commercial, office and apartments along it. I can't make it to the October 6th meeting due to family, but hope to make it to council and share my support for the plan. I hope everyone else can make it and share there views on it one way or another, but I do believe in my heart that this new plan will help Marion grow and become an even greater community than it is now. Webmaster: Please provide a link somewhere to the plan on your front page it would be nice to ensure that people are reading it before they post. Thank-You!!!
Submitted by: E.W.
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