Cedar Rapids flood victims to demonstrate against city

Upset with the way a wide variety of issues have been handled in the wake of the 2008 floods, a group of residents from Cedar Rapids’ northwest side have planned a demonstration for Monday afternoon.

This garage in the Time Check neighborhood now stands alone, the house that once sat on the property demolished as a part of the buyout process (photo by Lynda Waddington/The Iowa Independent).

The message announcing the “peaceful demonstration” has been circulating on the social networking site Facebook, and contains a host of questions related to flood victim demographics, use of Local Option Sales Tax monies, recent demolitions in the neighborhood and nearly every other facet of life following the flood.

The victims have asked that anyone impacted by the 2008 floods, anyone who knows someone impacted by the flood or individuals who just think the way recovery is being handled is wrong meet on 1st Avenue at 1st Street (near the Tree of the Five Seasons) Monday at 4:45 p.m. They will walk the bridge in protest from 5 to 6 p.m.

In particular, the invitation to demonstrate serves much like a push-poll in that it asks questions that place certain aspects of the recovery process and government officials in a negative light. A portion of the invitation has been reproduced below:

• Did you know that Cedar Rapids had a “River front project” in place before the flood of 2008?
• Did you know that prior to the flood the city could not get citizen support for the “River front project’?
• Did you know that the city has bullied flood victims into relinquishing their homes for pennies on the $ but calls it a voluntary buyout?
• Did you know that a vast majority of home owners in the Time Check & Taylor School district were elderly and disabled?
• Did you know that the 1% Local Option Sales Tax revenue taxes have been withheld from flood victims in certain neighborhoods?
• Did you know that the L.O.S.T. tax is only being given to programs that help flood victims, not to actual flood victims?
• Did you know the reason that the Time Check & Taylor Neighborhoods have been exclude from the Lost tax $ is because they are in the way of the “River Front Project”? The River Front project is also known as the cities “Preferred Plan”
• Did you know that citizens in the Time Check & Taylor Neighborhood were not allowed to go back in and repair their homes?
• Did you know that Zinser Demolition Company is needlessly tearing down mature trees in neighborhoods that are supposed to be “Green Ways” according to the cities “preferred plan”?
• Did you know that C.R. is having stable, sturdy, 100+ year old homes demolished but leaving other homes that are growing giant mold spores, have not been boarded up and have wild feral animals living inside of them?
• Did you know that residents of Nashville were not kept from reentering their homes?
• Did you know that there are human rights violations happening in Cedar Rapids Iowa? According to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 17 (1) everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

The invitation also questions Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett for saying on April 29 that his top five projects for the city are:

1. Trails
2. Cedar Rapids Event Center
3. 3rd Street Entertainment District
4. West Side Green Way Recreational Opportunities
5. Reallocation of FEMA funds to alternative projects

“The City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa has used the great tragedy that its citizens suffered as a way to push their ‘River Front Project’ on people who never voted for it,” reads the notice. “Cedar Rapids still has a huge population of displaced and homeless due to the flood. Shouldn’t these people be their priority?”