Recognition vs. action
Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is to be commended for rising on the floor of the House of Representatives on Jan. 16 to congratulate the Clinton Municipal Airport “on their distinguished general aviation award by the Federal Aviation Administration.” The FAA “selected this airport for its active community involvement, successful project submission, and contributions to the local economy.” The award is well-deserved and brings positive recognition to our state.
What the congresswoman didn’t say is that many of the Clinton airport’s achievements were possible because of $460,623 in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act and $448,000 in funding from the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. Across the country, the infrastructure law alone is investing $25 billion over five years in US airports to modernize terminals, increase safety, expand capacity, replace equipment, and more. As with the airport improvements in Clinton, these investments are creating local jobs and stimulating local economies.
In her remarks, directed at her constituents back home, Miller-Meeks also neglected to say that she voted NO for both the Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure and Jobs Act. It seems she is happy to share in recognition for successful projects but not willing to go against her MAGA colleagues in Washington to support them. Time to put people over politics and elect representatives who get things done for everyday Iowans, not just provide tax breaks for ultra-rich donors and special interests.
Thomas Cook, Iowa City
Republican policies are intended to fragment Iowa
From an Atlantic article by Jonathan Haidt, April 11, 2022: “The story of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) is the best metaphor I have found for what has happened to America. … It’s a story about the fragmentation of everything. It’s about the shattering of all that had seemed solid, the scattering of people who had been a community. It’s a metaphor for what is happening not only between red and blue, but within the left and within the right, as well as within universities, companies, professional associations, museums, and even families.”
It certainly is happening within Iowa, especially education in Iowa, under the governorship of Kim Reynolds and the Republican majority in Iowa’s Legislature. Fragmentation, not building community, is the name of their game. The voucher system voted in last year is fragmenting what used to be strong public education. Now they propose to split the AEAs, a totally backward step that promotes competition rather than cooperation.
Schools, and groups that serve them, operate better in a cooperative atmosphere with teachers, administration, and parents sharing and implementing best practices for the benefit of children and students. There is no benefit to children, especially special education children, in fragmenting the AEAs, in making school districts compete for services, or choosing to spend the money elsewhere.
This is another ploy to further erode public education, to split what used to seem solid, to break apart communities and separate people even more.
Will Republican legislators think about consequences, about their constituents, or will they toe the party line and further fragment communities and institutions in Iowa?
Susan Wakefield, Iowa City
Lawmakers should restore summer EBT participation
Feeding America finds 1 in 11 Iowa children face hunger. Gov. Kim Reynolds’ refusal to participate in the 2024 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program, providing over 240,000 eligible children a $40 per child per month EBT card for summer food purchases is baffling. She doesn’t explain how she will be “enhancing and expanding already existing childhood nutrition programs.” The administrative cost of about $2.2 million would be a fraction of Iowa’s $1.83 billion surplus. The federal government’s cost would be $28,800,000 possibly generating $43,200,000 to $51,840,000 in local economic activity.
Summer EBT provides a new layer of flexible nutrition allowing families to supplement summer meals with foods available anytime, especially when summer meal sites are not open. Summer EBT would help children in rural Iowa who cannot travel long distances to receive a meal, live in communities without summer meal sites or live in families whose schedules prevent daily travel to meal sites.
House File 2042 and Senate File 2039 have been introduced requiring Iowa’s Department of Health and Human Services, coordinating with the Department of Education, to submit a letter of intent to the United States secretary of agriculture to apply for and participate in this summer EBT program.
Hopefully all Iowa legislators will support these bills and this program which will help Iowa’s hungry children.
Diane Duncan-Goldsmith, Iowa City
Zoning board erred on neighborhood proposal
What a disappointment! I attended the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on Jan. 17 with the intention of learning more about the Procter & Gamble application to rezone the former Kirkwood College facility on Lower Muscatine Road. I am a resident of the neighborhood impacted by the requested rezoning, and after I listened to all the public comments, I was certain this application would not be approved.
The representatives for P&> stated they have no plans for the facility; they just want it rezoned. While P&> may have no current plan, it has hired the services of Shive-Hattery, an architecture and engineering firm. So do they have a plan but rezoning is easier if they don’t say?
On the other hand, the citizens who were from the neighborhood spoke well and stated many of the reasons not to rezone. These reasons included increased traffic, increased industrial odors and associated health risks, decreased property values, and a poorer quality of life in the neighborhood, to name a few. Additionally, there is the potential impact harmful emissions could have on the neighboring schools. The neighborhood is already highly industrialized and many of these issues are currently on going. Should P&> be allowed to make the problem worse? Clearly this was an application that could not be approved.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Planning and Zoning Commission, knowing P&> had no plan for the property and hearing all the valid concerns from the citizens the Commission is supposed to protect, voted unanimously to recommend approval of the application and send it on to the City Council for final approval in February. The commission sided with big business over the citizens most affected by rezoning. What a disappointment!
Michael Neville, Iowa City
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters: Republican policies are intended to fragment Iowa
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