Five years into office, Hickey leaps into action on North End squalor

MASON CITY – It only took councilman Travis Hickey five years to get fed up with North Federal.

Over five years into his time on the city council, Hickey is finally addressing city staff and calling for “an incentive plan with the goal of incentivizing owners on the North Federal Corridor to invest in their properties.”

He wants the plan delivered to the council by July, to be hashed out in a work session.

The last time city hall tried to clean up North Federal, they leveled threats against a landlord, saying that his buildings could be demolished if he didn’t act to repair them.  Then, a deal was struck in private to do needed repairs.  They also threatened a now-closed North End bar called Alley Katz a couple of years ago when the trouble there got too hot to handle. As is the tradition by Mayor Eric Bookmeyer, Hickey and other bullies in city hall, more threats were leveled against an elderly man whose house city hall apparently doesn’t like. Phil Flinchum is still battling in court to keep his North End house from the wrecking ball.

Not since the epic fail of Jean Marinos’ Northbridge fiasco (that taxpayers are still paying through the nose for) that she supported as mayor over ten years ago has a real plan been put in place to try to solve the quandary in the North End.  Mayor Eric Bookmeyer and his regime of “yes” council members have largely ignored the plight there, instead focusing nearly all their energies on a small area in the so-called “Cultural Crescent” and especially giving much attention to the 000 block of North Federal, referred to by some as “Welfare Row” due to the huge dole outs from taxpayers to business owners there.