I just wanted to remind citizens of Mason City, those of you who occupy one of the 14,000 houses and apartments that make up the bulk of the city. I want to remind you it’s not the mayor or the city administrator that makes the final decision of what affects how this city operates; what comes and goes in and out of town, and then what you’re going to be liable for and what you’re not.
Please understand that it is the city council upon whose shoulders the final say rests – to a point. It is this small cadre who the voters have placed in those 6 chairs that carry a big club. These same 6 who have the ability to make your life a living hell.
Remember Prestiage Foods? Remember the long lines, the meetings that lasted until 2 am? The city was on the verge of becoming one big feedlot, or should I say confinement pen full of pig shit and flies and manure run off that would’ve destroyed our water supply, not only here but the whole of North Iowa. I will never forget. It was then that your full focus was on those six council people, you had already given them the authority to destroy the town and everything in it. It was too late to go back. I remember those meetings, I’ll never forget them. It was those meetings that should’ve convinced every qualified voter here to never again fail to vote. It was a time when there was nothing more important in the world than the task of saving our community.
In so many ways they can also affect the value of your property… the salability of your home which in turn could affect your retirement years.
The council is the sole decider, it is that body that must bear the responsibility above all others. When you placed those people at that table you bestowed a degree that gave them the right to decided whatever they wanted… and there isn’t anything you can do about it.
Trust
Now it’s trust that lies before you. Do you trust Eric Bookmeyer? If you do you are mostly alone.
Do you want a $20 million skating rink inside Southbridge Mall? Personally, I don’t. I’m not going to go into explaining everything that is on the table in front of you, if you attended school up to the sixth grade you know this is a bad deal. We have an ice rink at the former fairgrounds that could be restored into a first class facility for a fraction of what Eric Bookmeyer wants to spend; under 5 million which would also include a new horse barn. He’s blown through hundred of thousands of YOUR dollars already for NOTHING. See that parking ramp downtown? No? Your money is in it. See that Younker’s expansion? No? Your money is in it.
There was a time in this community that the mayor controlled each and every vote at the council table. Then after the life-ending Prestage tragedy, that changed. We can thank Alex Khun for that. Bookmeyer still has lockdown votes at the table (3 – they are braindead) and in my opinion those votes come from Solberg, Hickey and Schoneman. These people can’t think for themselves… lobotomized… they would follow Bookmeyer into pig shit waist deep and still not smell a thing. The other three are free thinkers… I know Lee is. To control the community you live in all you need to do is vote… and when you do, VOTE NO!
Peter Children
Mason City, Iowa
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Question; how many of those who responded to this article actually voted in the last election? Please understand that I am grateful for your responses whether they are positive or negative to the material in question.The goal here is to be able to develop some sort of idea what the percentage of actual voters would be.
All the responses appeared to me to be well thought out.
What??? Finally something a siding salesman doesn’t know.
This article is 100 percent right. Stop wasting tax payers money. We don’t need any of this crap downtown. Brain dead idiots. Biggest joke I ever seen. Just ask the town.
You want example of success?
Look no further than Fairfield Iowa.
Progressive, innovative and successful.
Although only about 10,000 people, they make it work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfield,_Iowa
Check out the bios of their Mayor, City Council and administrator.
Their Mayor has “a little” more to back up his chops than being a job recruiter for a couple of years and a house husband for the last decade.
http://cityoffairfieldiowa.com/
Taxpayers ARE responsible for TIF bonds/loans whatever and don’t let them tell you different – here in worthless county 3 – 5 % of my tax bill is for TIF = paying someone else’s taxes for 10 years.
Incorrect. TIF financing is paid for by the increase in tax generation of an improvement. The taxpayer does not repay a TIF bond.
Where you are confused is in the fact the TIF shows up as a line item on your tax assessment. This is for accounting purposes only. Whether the TIF district existed or not, you would still pay the exact same amount.
This is absolutely correct. They are trying to jam this down the taxpayers throat without a vote. Demand a vote and then vote NO on spending millions on nothing. Build a new rink at the fair grounds and if they want a hotel let them do it with their money. Why should we GIVE our tax money to the new mall owner and the hotel builder so they can make more money?
There is a vote required for this, genius.
Many idiotic opinions written on these pages, this one is the most idiotic. The mayors of Mason City have never controlled the vote of council members as Children claims. Children has turned into a bitter old man with nothing to do but spit venom. Sad.
And, you are just a sad lackey Kevin.
You are as dumb as the day is long if you think that Solberg and Hickey have the ability to think for themselves or make their own decisions. Schoneman is blinded by dollar signs, that will always lead his vote.
The way Bookmeyer controls the council is the same way he controls the boards and commissions. He makes sure they are stocked with people that agree with him and will do his bidding. Maybe even have something TO GAIN (they call that corruption) by going along with him. That’s how he picks his lackeys. A “big landlord” on the Human Rights Commission as an example. What slum landlord wants a tenant ratting them off to the HRC after the tenant is screwed over and/or ripped off? Campaign contributors (remember, Eric raised $12,000 in his last campaign) get high seed. Just look up Eric’s campaign disclosure and who he appointed and who stood to benefit. Doctors gave him $. Mercy got a street. I could keep going, but Eric is a waste of my time. When he leaves town, tho, I’ll chip in on his bus ticket.
Matt. Did you buy the council off also. You just took $30000.00 of taxpayers money for a property you just bought to fix up. I believe this passed 6 to 0. I think you were treated more than fair.
Matt Marquart receive no more or no less than what he was entitled to under the current circumstances. Believe me he did not receive anything special.
Why not spend 10 M on the Fairgrounds and really make the entire rats nest out there a showplace know across the state? These people want to dump 18 million into a [property they don’t own.
Wow..where have you been !! Hickey, Solberg and Schoneman worship at the throne of Drunkmeyer ! Janet even cuts his meat when they are out to dinner at the Historic Park Inn Restaurant ! When her office was downtown. he could be seen walking over on Council meeting Tuesdays to go over the agenda and tell her how to vote.That is all pale in comparison to the rest of the story !
I agree with Peter…what’s wrong with updating the rink at the Fairgrounds?? Why spend spend spend??? The uptown rink will NOT bring more jobs to Mason City…so…do I understand correctly…money spent on the Gateway project PLUS more monies on the old JC Penny site rink??? Help me understand..im writing City Council member Paul Adams as I’m hoping I’ll at least get an honest answer….we have more huge empty buildings!!!
There would be $10M in state funds available to build the multi purpose arena at the Southbridge site because there is significant private investment proposed within proximity (the hotel). There is no private investment proposed at the Fairgrounds so there are no state funds available to build a multi purpose arena there. It will be more expensive to the Mason City taxpayer to build at the fairgrounds because the entire construction costs would need to be financed with bonds. With the state money available at the downtown site, no bonds are needed (except TIF bonds which do not affect the Mason City taxpayer) and the cost to the Mason City taxpayer is less.
PLUS…Any urban planner would tell you to build a multi purpose arena near the cities downtown core. Its done for the same reason grocery stores put the milk and bread at the back of the store – they force you to navigate through the store in hopes of additional impulse buys because your demand for the milk and bread is inelastic. Peoples demand for this type of entertainment is nearly inelastic and you want to force them to your cities core in hopes they spend additional dollars on food, drinks, parking…
And, the investment at the fair grounds is a he’ll of a lot less, so the cost to taxpayers is a lot less. And, if they come downtown and drink or spend money at someone else’s hotel who benefits. Not the taxpayers. We just pay out and get nothing back. Whatever happened to investing in your own business if you want to make money. We are sick of investing in the dead downtown for someone else.
Me! me! me! Trump thinking at its best.
I guess its true that you can’t argue with stupid. When people go out before a entertainment event and eat, and drink…Are there not tax revenues generated? And are taxes not used to pay for public goods in which every tax payer reaps the benefits from?? Do you have detailed cost estimates on a multi purpose arena built at the fairgrounds? Something tells me that the state funds at the Southbridge site more than offset any increase in cost there versus having to pay for a arena with 100% mason city tax payer funded bonds.
But I thought, if we build a hotel and ice arena, just like Bookmeyer wants, people will move here by the thousands. Isn’t that true
Do you agree that the decades long trend of declining population in Mason City is a problem that should be addressed? What are your ideas to make Mason City ‘grow’?
Surely not another hotel. How about some property nuisance enforcement. Three quarters of the town looks run down and crappy. Some GOOD and DECENT jobs that don’t involve slaughter and stench. Just some ideas.
Great! I agree, property nuisance law enforcement has been too lax in Mason City for many years. Improving upon this should a be a focus of the city.
On your next thought…Take that a step further. How does Mason City attract good, decent jobs?
There is a fellow that works for the N.I. Corridor development, that sits on his ass and waits for slaughterhouse projects to fall into his lap. So, for starters, shitcan his lazy ass, and get someone with ambition in there to try and draw big company’s in. That’s HIS job, not mine.
We all agree that for Mason City to grow, we need to bring good jobs to town. So many in this town take this thought process no further than simply stating ‘we need to bring good jobs to town’ and fail to really think about what can be done to actually accomplish this goal.
Businesses have many needs. They need access to customers, access to capital, access to qualified employees, access to transportation networks, access to raw materials, and these needs all exist within the context of tax environment and regulatory structure. Depending upon the specific business, these needs have varying degrees of importance (a computer chip manufacturer really needs skilled workers above all else, for example). You’ll find that most all growth industries (medical, hi tech manufacturing, financial services) in this country would probably rank ‘access to qualified employees” as their #1 criteria in selecting new locations.
So what can Mason City do to attract the type of worker that growth industries are looking for? Investing in quality of life amenities is one way.
Anyone else have any insight on how growth industries are attracted?
A little code enforcement would be great. No one wants to be told how to live their lives but we have code laws for a reason. It still gets me couple years ago when the big code issue was parking your fancy motor home beside your house when all over town we have abandoned and boarded up homes. These blighted properties do more to lower the property values and neighborhood reputations that an expensive camper.
“Anyone else have any insight on how growth industries are attracted?”
First and foremost, young people fresh out of college want money. It was easy for my daughter when she graduated, they offered her $10,000 more per year in Chicago than she could have gotten here in Mason City. That $10,000 went a long way towards paying off her College loans in ten years.
Second was the lifestyle. There is no nightlife in Mason City, no clubs, no cabarets, no theater, no Zoo, no Major League Baseball. In big cities, you are a cab or train ride away from all of that and more. A small town like Mason City cannot offer that.
Young people with talents attract growth industries. Mason City is a place that young people move from to find opportunities. And all the wishing in the world, nor good intentions, will prevent that.
I say focus on being better at what you are, and where you are. Clean up the city, enforce laws, offer incentives. Other small towns like Clear Lake and Charles City have, and look at what they are attracting. Find out why them and not us. It ain’t a hockey rink nor hotel that will make the difference.
Yup, this guy gets it!
Great! Thank you for being thoughtful on this topic. So many in this community are negative nelly’s who will never think this issue through any further than saying ‘we need to bring in good jobs” or try to blame the issue on a corridor economic development person (who has the hardest job in the world, BTW).
You’re right. A young, educated workforce will attract growth industries. There are things communities can do to attract a young educated workforce and you don’t have to a be a metropolitan area of 5 million people to do it. But you do have to commit towards investing in a environment that young, educated workers find compelling. One way is to invest in quality of life enhancing amenities (like a multipurpose event center which will attract other investment which eventually leads to a critical mass – there isn’t one single magic bullet that will do this).
Mason City currently attracts low paying retail and food service businesses because of the ‘access to customers’ criteria we discussed earlier. Mason City is the largest city for some distance and patrons are accustomed to coming here for retail and food service needs. Mason City also has access to many agricultural raw materials for food processors (but we’ve seen that a very vocal group here in town does not have the stomach for this type of industry). So, if you’re not wanting retail, food service, or food processing type jobs, you’re going to have to fundamentally change something about Mason City.
I agree, Mason City needs good paying jobs, night life, something to attract younger ambitious citizens! Music Man Square isn’t going to bring in enough money…only visitors!! We want people to come a Live in Mason City…not a packing plant but good paying jobs to revitalize our area.. Clean it up!!! We’ve got way way too many empty, run down buildings??? That does nothing to bring in new families!!!! I wish we as a community would know what is available or what has been looked into before the big big money is spent!!!! Then we wouldn’t feel like cramming down our throats!!! There’s got to be more that Mason City can attract than a hog plant and a motel???!!! Who’s looking anyway??? Who’s doing the recruiting??? Help us!!!!!
The main reason that this town only attracts scruds, druggies, low lifes and welfare recipiants, is because they feel at home. The city is rundown. Our fearless leaders have wasted money on such dumb sh*t, that there is none left for the important things that keep a community nice. With every neighborhood within a mile radius of our precious revamped downtown looking like its only a car crash away from a zombie apocalypse. Take a drive through town with an open mind. It will disgust you. We need to fix what we got, not just ignore it and add new stuff. City hall has proven they cannot take care of what we already have, so why would any new buildings be any different. It would be like buying a new car, then wrecking it, and continueing to make the payments for the next five years. except its 20 years in this case.
There are so many positive things we could do it becomes confusing. So, we do what we have done in the past to get through today that creates the same tomorrow. Realize being angry about the past creates stress hormones and a condition where we can not think effectively. The angry past creates an angry today and an angry future. Realization of the damage anger and hate between the factions causes Mason City is enlightening.
You raise a great point. Many in this community are so very bitter about the mall and let it affect future decision making. Economists recognize something called sunk costs and caution people and organizations from basing their decisions on a sunk cost fallacy (that sunk investments made in the past should somehow factor in to the future direction of a individual or company).
Successful businesses recognize sunk costs and know that their existence cannot dictate decision making in the future.
Break the trance. Experiment in cost effective ways to find solutions. Conduct workshops to explore community building skills and ideas. Explore with a monthly “Vission North North Iowa” survey ongoing into the future. Find effective ways to involve everyone in the conversation. Create a renters association to self-solve many issues landlords are facing. In short faciltate individuals taking responclsabilty for solving Mason City problems. There are no easy answers.
Pete – You want to see stupid or collusion/corruption come to worth county – Hell they even want cerro gordo to join them along with mitchell county in what is known as the Port Authority scam. Look it up Iowa Code 28J – written by big corporations to steal taxpayer money. That’s why were No. 1 in per person debt in Iowa – Maybe you guys could take over for us -ps voters – kick walk and bartz out in the next election as they are corporate owned POS.
Please Peter, run for the council or mayors position. You are the only one that knows anything. The more yoy post on here, the more Im convinced of it.