Editorial by Matt Marquardt –
Mason City is plagued by a liar of a mayor named Eric Bookmeyer. He gets a free paycheck from the people of Mason City and lives off his wife’s labor.
In other words, this man is a parasite who has no idea what a hard day’s work looks like. Some might say he is a virus who latches onto healthy, paying hosts who are foolish enough to foot the bill for his existence.
Such a man is extremely hazardous to the working people of Mason City. He has called jobs that pay $9.50 per hour an “over-achievement”. He said that last year when his cronies shuffled in a new call center when the last one, IC Systems, fled town with its tail between its legs. One call center leaves, the next comes in, paying similar wages. These are not “new jobs” … they replaced only some of the old ones. This is called “progress” in Bookmeyersville, USA. We do not brag about $20 an hour jobs here. We wave goodbye to them.
Meanwhile, surrounding towns are beating Mason City left and right. Charles City is becoming known for high-paying manufacturing jobs. Osage is constructing a new chemical plant. Fort Dodge has a burgeoning industrial park. Lake Mills landed Winnebago manufacturing. Now, even Clear Lake is nearing a rumored distribution center with 160 jobs paying $39K average. (This sounds a lot like Mason City’s botched “attempt” to finalize a deal with Target years ago. Some say that was lost on purpose.)
The truth is, Bookmeyer has nothing to hang his hat on in Mason City. Nothing. His legacy will be that he will be known for killing Human Rights and helping to keep good jobs out of Mason City so that his cronies who run the Chamber of Commerce and the EDC will not have to compete with higher-paying companies. He will also be known by eyewitnesses such as myself who witnessed Bookmeyer drunk as a skunk in the local bars, badgering the lowly wage-earners. Way to go, Eric. You will leave Mason City worse than when you found it; with crumbling infrastructure, skyrocketing taxes and fees, and a dwindling population.
Speaking of wages, not all cities are plagued by a disease like Eric Bookmeyer that sickens the pot for working men and women. In Austin, Minnesota, Mayor Tom Stiehm has advocated for a minimum wage hike above $10.00 an hour. He notes that, like Mason City, the poverty rate in his city hovers near 20%. That is 1-in-5 people. His main opponent is – you guessed it – the Chamber of Commerce. It must be nice to have at least one leader who sees the writing on the wall and stands up for the majority of the people he serves. Austin is lucky to have a leader who acknowledges the truth. We are stuck with a liar and a failure in Eric Bookmeyer.
This ing’hstis just the way to kick life into this debate.
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How about a congrats to clear Lake for landing the new job source??? It is north Iowa today not Mason City today am I correct? And yes I am a subscriber whom is questioning my renewing when subscription is up. Sounds like it is all Mason City gossip, and nothing for north Iowa itself! I see Ames, and Iowa city articles frequently, but , then it should be Iowa today!
Then don’t re-subscribe; that’s your choice. There is no solid proof the deal is done, to begin with. What is the name of the company? Right, it has no been released, because the deal is in motion. In fact, per Clear Lake city hall, no announcement to that affect will be made for weeks. NIT will be happy to report the deal once it is finalized. If you read the editorial, it has very little to do with Clear Lake, and more to do with Mason City’s ill-fortune due to its elected and non-elected leaders.
A distribution center is not a manufacturing center. Chances are most of the stuff coming through it will be Chinese made. Germany, also had its distribution centers operational during WW2….should the occupied countries have gotten all excited when one came to town? You can pipe down about all that international market crap. Bottom line is The Localized Green Sustainable Renewable Option is the only Architectural Development plan any of us should be following. A warehouse to peddle Chinese crap doesn’t impress me in the slightest. Let’s hope that’s not what is coming to town.
Anyone smell RECALL? anyone look into city contracts? How may of them are paying donators of his? Dirty?
Ummm… Yeah, they don’t do recall elections in Iowa.
Blimpy Beermeyer is for the rich theres no two way’s about it, look what he done to Lionel and them. He only care’s about the richy riches what a piss poor excuse for mayor we got here. Look how he does, get’s his Republitard buddy Todd Blodgett a convicted Nazi drug adict money launder take the Blimp to lunch with Steve Minert, they sell us down the river they give our money to the Harley. Out to the Country club a couple years ago it was, been going down hill ever since only going to get worse.
Amen brother!!!
It has been said before, the leadership of our Chamber is all about themselves, and NOT the community.
Also remember, the wellness of our community as a whole, reflects upon how it meets the needs of all it’s citizens, not just a select group of them. Eliminating those who help others reflects their disdain for those needed it. Let them eat cake!
The excuse du jour was lack of funds. Yet organizations who’s mission are not critical to the communities needs, are never suffer for want. For them, the purse strings are always open.
Especially galling is when one organization, is given additional funding when when we could not afford providing Human Rights. It spotlights the warped priorities of our elected officials.
Matt’s right. How successful can a blue zone be when the drive thrus are full every lunch hour and dinner hour? When the mayor himself is obese and his wife is a doctor? Plenty of money for that but my taxes are going up, my water rate and my trash rate. To boot, the schools are taking more. I wish i had voted last year when I had the chance.
Absolutely right on!!
A lot of what’s here is true and valuable if you watch the city Council meeting this last one and observe the mayor sneeze all over the back wall you could observe the following The blue zone teaches us to sneeze in our elbow that’s so we don’t spread germs obviously the mayor has flunked the blue zone and his wife the doctor should’ve taught him that along time ago but that’s okay he didn’t even have a hanky in his pocket fear not his butt boy trout ran to get him one. hell Janet even offered him a hanky. So after observing this I would say the mayor can’t dress himself, doesn’t carry a hanky?? Most men do!!! I don’t work at City Hall but I assume he comes to work with his lunch money pinned to his shirt at least his wife gives him allowance I assume
To read the Globe gazette I have to pay so what is wrong with $25.00 per year for an online information source? So many are use to getting so much for nothing and letting the other guy pay. So get your info from the Globe maybe they will give you free papers and delivery. Or better yet go to McDonalds or Hardees and read it free again something someone else has paid for. This town and country is full of parasites. Sorry I jumped off the article’s subject.
You sleep in the bed you make. CO will take in over 100 million a year just on cannabis taxes. This will pay for schools, parks and possibly reduce everyone’s property tax in the state. It also provides real growth in terms of jobs and real estate rental.
Iowa thinks differently and so it must except the consequences. 20% poverty and 70% of kids getting reduced price lunches because of their parents low income. Also we are slated for a new round of property appraisals which will result in higher property tax then the high tax we already pay.
Iowa could also benefit in a huge way from hemp farming. Iowa makes its own bed and that bed helps the status quo and not you.
Iowa does not suck. There are a lot of great people here there are also a lot of not nice people here. As far as Government goes government is great except when it’s cloak is worn by individuals who do not share the same perception of reality as the people who they govern.
And as far as Brent Willett taking all the credit for this rumored development in Clear Lake, I say this: A broken clock is right twice a day, and in this man’s case, once every 3 years. Seriously, one development of any significance in over three years for the entire county. I don’t trust the EDC, and neither should the people of Cerro Gordo county.
I would be willing to bet that Willett did absoluetly nothing to find this. I have heard that Amazon came to him.
Great article Matt. The voters got exactly what they deserved when they wouldn’t get off their butt’s and vote. Now we are stuck with this worthless, drunken mayor until the next election. They will really pay the price when they see their taxes go up right along with the fees for their utility’s. The Chamber has run this town forever and is the major reason we do not have decent jobs in Mason City.
Now, not only will our TAX RATE go up. Oh no, we are burning both ends of the candle now. Remember, Ms. Dana Naumann is bringing her troops around over the next two years to RE-ASSESS the value of all the residential and commercial properties in town. Just as property values start to rebound, she will nail you and me on the VALUE of our homes. We will pay through the nose once Eric is finished. Higher rates on higher values.
@Matt-If they should happen to raise the value of my home I intend on taking them to court. They didn’t drop the value a penny during the bust. Homes in this area have dropped an easy $20K in real value in the last few years. There are at least five houses that are decent homes in this area that have been for sale for at least a year and three of them four over two years. They have dropped the prices from 80K to about 60K and still have not sold. The only ones buying the homes up here are the rent lords when they are foreclosed on. No wonder the North End is going down hill. No decent jobs equal no money to buy homes. Eric should be run out of town on a rail along with his henchmen that go along with his B. S.
I am only an observer here, but would like to point this out.
NIT makes available to non paying users only information about the corruption, lies, and discontent towards the ‘Cronies’ of MC.
If you want to know about ‘other’ news and information you have to pay.
One way or the other I find this highly interesting, because some one is controlling this for a specific reason.
You must be referring to me, NIT Publisher Matt Marquardt. I care about Mason City so I allow this message of truth to be trumpeted to all. The outside world needs to know that a snake and his puppet masters run my hometown. Is that so wrong?
Matt, I am not saying you are right or wrong. Every on has the right to free speech. I just find it intriguing that a subscriber has to pay to read about how a CC Education Board Member was in a car accident. But it is free to hear a personal entry on the mayor (i am not supporting him, only using this as an example) When you boil it down, the truth is the car accident, the opinion is your take (personal account) on the ‘cronies’
You should be saying I am right, because I do believe I backed up my opinion with facts. Is Eric a drunken buffoon? Yes, I saw him act that way at the OP and many others have witnessed it, for example, at the Country Club. Ask the former barkeep, he told me and a whole lot of others about his shenanigans. Is poverty rampant in MC? Yes, look it up, ~20% in poverty, and long lines at the food bank. Did Eric say $9.50 an hour jobs are an overachievement? Yes, it is on video and documented in meeting minutes. Does Eric leech of his wife and the taxpayers? Certainly he does, he has no other gainful employment. Is the EDC successful in creating new jobs? Absolutely not; it now hangs its hat on retention, not creation, of jobs. It secures corporate welfare for outfits like Metalcraft and Harley when they even whisper they “might” leave. The evidence is in front of your eyes. Do you see any new manufacturing, distribution, in CG county? No, you see Cherry Berries and Marshall’s that pay crap wages.
Matt first I feel you went off topic. So I will make this simple and clear. My personal beliefs of government is junk. It’s not politics it’s popularity. I don’t agree with bookie getting reelected, and I voted against him. Therefore my vote didn’t make any difference. There off that soap box. Secondly. I have another belief, one person should not push religion/ government on to another.
I feel that you allow free viewing of political minded articles so that you can funnel viewers to read those articles.
So my question is why do you do this?
I agree with food for thought, I didn’t vote for him either. But I’m not obsessed with the mayor and his every decesion, move or personal life. NIT seems to be.
Being obsessed with other people and taking up so much of your time and when you do find time for friends and family the quality will be diminished by your lack of attention.
Being obsessed is also tiring, mentally as much as physically, as sleep is hard to come by and every waking moment is taken up with the object of your desire.
To counter all this you need to take charge of your emotions and feelings. Try to step back and assess what it is you need to do and then put as much effort into breaking the cycle of obsession as you waste on the problem.
Give yourself a new goal as we are all motivated by individual needs, which, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and these are physical, security, belonging, esteem, learning etc.
You need to be motivated by being with or seeking approval from few individuals to making yourself a happy person with a more rounded approach to yours, and other people’s lives.
Probably be deleted but oh well food for thought!!
Still no answer, must be taking the day off with the rest of the yuppies on presidents day.
Matt I agree as long as Bookie gets to run this city we will never advance in the industry jobs we all need. You people that voted for this so called major should be ashamed. I live here because of my job so don’t even tell me to move.
Did I read 70% of the kids in the school system receive reduced lunches. I have no problem helping the kid and making sure they have food to eat but this is telling of the cities problems.