One of the many issues that arose during the debate over the Prestage Farms economic development proposal was how it would impact our quality of life here in North Iowa. One of the principal drivers of strong communities with a high quality of life is that they have high quality educational, business, and political leadership in the community. Unfortunately, the people of Mason City and surrounding areas were poorly served by the kind of leadership demonstrated by many in trying to recruit Prestage Farms to this area.
First of all, it was presumptive and arrogant of Governor Branstad and the Iowa Economic Development Authority to assume that the people of North Iowa would simply accept what the mayor and the city council in Mason City told them about the Prestage Farms proposal without doing any independent research, and that anywhere outside Des Moines would somehow be an appropriate location for a hog-processing plant.
Secondly, a person’s character is foundational for leadership and is sometimes most clearly revealed in defeat, and for Ron Prestage to immediately accuse the good people of North Iowa of racism as the explanation for the defeat of the proposal says a lot about his character and about any city council member willing to do business with him in the future. Let us assume for a moment that he made a mistake, as we all do, so what is really interesting is both the lack of a quick and profound apology but also the lack of political skill. If he had graciously thanked the people of the community for their consideration of his project, he would have laid the groundwork for another proposal, but those were not the cards he played.
The goal of the promoters of this project was not to educate and involve the public in any meaningful way, but to hoodwink them as fast as possible. This explains both the rushed process and the selective presentation of evidence by the principals involved. (See my article in the Globe Gazette, Prestage proposal a risky bet on the future from April 28th, 2016) It also explains their anger when enough public pressure was brought to bear to convince three people on the council to vote against it.
Finally, we have to be careful who we follow as leaders. Several key promoters of the Prestage Farms proposal are not from Mason City and may not have stayed in the area long term. They have the financial ability to not have to live in neighborhoods affected by this proposal and have the resources to retire somewhere else eventually. Some may have felt that it was a way to burnish their resumes or advance their careers, but the vast majority of middle class and working class folks in the county would have been the ones who had to live with the negative consequences of their decisions.
The threat that we still face is a revived attempt by the State of Iowa, Prestage Farms, and those locally that will reap large financial rewards to bring back this hog-processing plant proposal. These groups may attempt to sweeten the previous offer and/or threaten to withhold state money from the downtown development project. That kind of proposal would cut both ways and may flip one or more of the councilmen that voted against the earlier proposal. While I understand the need for pragmatism in politics, I also believe there is a time to stand on principle, and any attempt to bully or buy this community should be immediately rejected. The need is for quality leadership in North Iowa.
Sincerely,
Bennett Smith
Bennett Smith is an asset manager in Clear Lake, IA and an instructor in history and political science at North Iowa Area Community College.
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Probably that child molester Anon. He likes to do that and then try to blame other people.
That would be LVS deleting the comments.
He gets his panties in a bunch when the disparaging but truthful comments about him appear.
He likes to dish out trash on others, but when it comes to being the truth about him, he’s a pussy and deletes the comments.
He’s just a stupid old coot with a yellow streak down his back a mile wide.
Agreed. Its LVS who likes to play the Report Comment game. He is so sly (he thinks) that he often deletes the comment that he first made which promoted others to trounce on him. Like my cat covering his poop in the litter box. What a wussy.
Well said. I hope the citizens of Mason City will remember what these promoters of Prestage said and did at election time.
It’s called VOTE. This PROVES it should have gone to a voting situation. You can’t tell me more people wanted it. The MAJORITY spoke. period. Prestage saw it too obviously.
The educated and wealthy are finally speaking up, or are being spoken up for. Hog slaughter plant down the street = 1000’s of pig transport trucks in Clear Lake = more automobile fatalities = smelly roads and countryside = decline of life for Lake residents.
Clear Lake did help kill this. Clear Lake hates to have Mason City have anything that might compromise the lake “life style”. Always look out for #1 is their motto. There would have been minimal truck traffic through Clear Lake.
If this is so democratic RegRed WHY not VOTE on it? That’s true democracy. You just want the plant. Wait until one of there self centered plans hit’s your home. It’s all about being fair, they are elected in by we the people and should adhere to our wants and needs, in this case put it to vote. simple. It should never divide a town or turn it into ” them and us.” Why VOTING was invented. All real simple. You must like how they are doing business and think that’s right. It’s not. Even if I was for this outlandish bullshit would I think it is being handled incorrectly. Picture, hell I don’t know, a sport where it’s tied and they need a breaker but instead just said nope that’s it they win. A hundred other examples . Unless you are just dumb and so closed minded then never mind. Whatever it’s your quality of living and dime too. And yes it has surpassed bullying and on to terrorism when the MAJORITY has spoke. Of course you will say”how do y know majority don’t want it” back to the word VOTE then.
we will never know who represents the majority. the only thing we know for a fact is that there has not been one single prestage opponent who objected to putting this on the ballot, and looking at the opposite camp, no prestage lover has demanded a public vote on it – not even after the tie vote crushed their done-deal illusion.
this, of course, does not prove anything about the true sentiments of the majority. what it DOES tell us is that both camps clearly *thinks* that the majority opposes prestage.
I think the Prestage family showed their true colors when they started name calling when they didn’t get their way. Now we know what kind of low quality company they would have been if allowed to come here.
Anytime a business wants to get handouts, reduced taxes or other incentives then the public has every right to have their voices heard. And YES 10 years of reduced taxes is a handout. Besides that who do you think is going to foot the bill for the 35 plus million for infrastructure that they say will be needed. That’s right the rest of us and we are not getting 10 years of reduced taxes in return. The people of Mason City have made it clear they don’t want this plant.
Forgetting who she worked for cost the Mason City Superintendent of Schools her job, over this same issue. The mayor, council and chamber need the same reminder.
They have been saying MC is dying for years. Still here. This is major league BS and a handful want to think they pulled off something fantastic. A pork plant is not it folks. Talk about dying, that will seal the deal. So what if we never get bigger what does it really matter. We are doing just fine. People who work work people who don’t don’t, people do not change their spots. The jobs with this plant are not designated for locals anyway. They have made that clear. Have you really talked to anyone around here that is saying “Oh I hope it comes in that’s the job for me!” I can’t find work here…there are plenty go get it. This is faux power and political only !.Let’s face it 6 people who THINK they are powerful about this town would be chewed up and spit out in any other city in America. This is not difficult or a great feat to win anything around here by bullying, or as one person stated TERRORISM.
” This is not difficult or a great feat to win anything around here by bullying, or as one person stated TERRORISM” I think you really meant democracy . This is how our local government works. We elect people to represent us and they inevitability will piss some people off. It will be the pro-plant people if they don’t reconsider and the anti-plant people if they do.
If someone wants a job, I think he/she should be entitled to take it. When a person or corporation wants to make a job available it is selfish IMHO for anyone to say “you can’t have this job or you can’t provide this job, because I don’t like what you do or represent”.
When a priviate company wants our money to provide these jobs when we already have jobs available and unfilled in the area? Why should we have to pay? The property Prestage is zoned for what they want to build. They could start building today but they want a deal to bring more unfillable jobs to the area. No thanks.
i.e. they want mason city tax payesr to subsidize them so they can sell pork at below true production cost to chinese consumers. no thanks.
Not subsidize, just reduce the property taxes for the first 10 years. Remember this is 1.395 million per year more than
we get if they don’t build here. This is a standard way to get companies to expand or locate in a community. After 10 years we get the whole 3.166 million. This is a complete win/win situation financially for the City.
So not apologizing is the “line in the sand”? I actually thought he was correct in his assessment that the racists/anti immigrant/anti minority people had too big of voice in the 3 to 3 tie vote. Unfortunately there are still a few racists in Mason City as evidenced by some of the comments right here on NIT. Go to the City of Mason City web site and click on Prestage FAQ. The City hid nothing. It’s pretty much all there. This is a GOOD project and a very necessary one if Mason City does not want to die a slow death.
Here:
http://www.britannica.com/topic/racism
I know its a lot of words for you to read but it may help you appreciate the meaning of a word that you clearly fail to comprehend.
“Racism reflects an acceptance of the deepest forms and degrees of divisiveness and carries the implication that differences among groups are so great that they cannot be transcended.” It’s the us vs them mentality which is what some here on NIT and Max are trying to spread. Thanks for helping me prove my point.
Reggie,
Thanks for reading that long article all the way to the end – it must have taken you a long time – but now you know the actual definition of the word ‘racist’ and will not further embarrass yourself by misusing it. Next time when you want to say that someone spreads an “us vs them mentality”, I bet you’ll say just that, rather than incorrectly trying to label them racists. Thanks again, and I’m happy to have helped you prove the point you REALLY wanted to make.
The “us”,superior /white/christian vs “them” inferior/dark skin/Muslim /Devout Catholic is a part of being a racist. I stand by my assertion that there are still racists in Mason City. You saying there is none means you don’t know the definition.
@Regiie (Red) -you are correct and the racist liars are wrong. All they do is lie and misdirect to get their way. They have killed this dying city.
LVS, you are such a paradox. You hate Muslims, yet you call anyone who voiced an opinion against the packing plant racist. You don’t like African Americans (thugs, racists). Just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t mean they are wrong or a liar or a racist. It means they disagree with you. As far as Reggie is concerned, yes, there are racists in Mason City. There are racists in every town in this country. The people against the plant were not all racists. Some were, some weren’t. I don’t get your point.
Bodacious, LVS isn’t so much a paradox as he is just an asinine old coot.
Feeble minded, ignorant and basically a just a stupid old geezer with internet access.
While LVS is not a racist, he is definitely a bigot.
A monomaniac with severely limited mentality, LVS is a prime example that yes, evolution does go backwards.
Why are you attacking me? I have not commented on this story at all. It is a dead subject and not worth debating over. Your un- warranted attacks just show your total ignorance and lack of integrity. Especial coming from a child molester like ANON.
@bodacious-I have tried to always be decent with you, but can see I was mistaken. I do not not hate all Muslims at all but certainly do the terrorist. Also I have nothing against blacks. I do not like thugs, rapist, racist and drug dealers of any color. If people obey our laws (they are there to protect everyone) I have no problem with anyone. As usual, liberals see only what they want to see.
I don’t know for sure LVS, but I was pretty sure that was you posting under the anonymous moniker for a couple of reasons. You always begin your replies to people directly as @—(insert name). racist liar is one of your many canned insults or a combination of them. And the typing is evidence of someone in a hurry as are many of your past posts. If it wasn’t you, sorry. And in a recent post by you and I can’t remember where I read it, you stated you have been posting anonymously. I thought it was a reasonable assumption.
.” The people against the plant were not all racists. Some were, some weren’t. I don’t get your point.” Bodacious, I didn’t say they all were racists. They just that they had a bigger/louder voice in the discussion than they should have IMHO
Reggie, I know you didn’t lump all the protesters as racist. I appreciate that. As far as they had too much of a voice with the 3 council people who voted ‘no’, that is the part where I don’t see the point. I think all 3 voted no because of reasons that far outweigh the racist vote. The taxpayer’s money involved, the hastiness of the whole process and the ecological impact were all cited as reasons to say no. I don’t think I heard any of them say a word about immigrants. John Lee, earlier in the process when asked about the influx of students needing language training, said bring them on or something of the sort. Kuhn was always about the money aspect, and Shickel felt the majority of Mason Cityans were against it for many reasons. Not trying to pick a fight here, just offering my view.
Kuhn’s money problem was a Red Herring in my opinion. He wanted to appear for the people but was sure the project was going to go through. The property tax cut in half for the first 10 years was the main thing we were giving them, The rest of the 20 million we would have gotten back in user fees within 10 years. If you are an investment person, a 10 year payback is not bad. The wages were comparable to other manufacturing jobs in the area. Now you may argue that the local current pay is too low but that is what Prestage should compete with.
John Lee flipped because his daughter slipped him a note under his door. He let his emotions ,not his head , rule his actions.
The ecological argument was another attempt at misdirection. This plant would not have harmed the environment in any way. They were not going to have a manure lagoon like a lot of people were saying. According to the DNR the draw on the Jordan aquifer was not going to harm the water supply at all. People kept mixing CAFO’s and this plant together. I agree we need to have tougher rules on CAFO’s.
I believe the plan appeared to be “rushed thru” because everyone involved thought it was a “no brainer” and everyone would embrace it. Also Prestage wanted to start building this year. It was a very costly miscalculation on the City’s part and Prestage’s part.
Now to the racist factor I kept hearing that the new workers were going to be Mexicans or Somalis that were going to work at the plant for a short period then stay in Mason City unemployed and either milk the welfare system or turn to crime. Also overwhelm our schools with non English speaking kids and bring our test scores down to a substandard level. And heaven forbid they would get school lunch assistance or might need help with laundry.We could have been a welcoming city and helped the less fortunate to lift themselves up by their bootstraps, but no ,not in our lily white town.We missed a golden opportunity to grow our area and I think we will regret this for many years.
Bennett Smith, I personally want to applaud you for recognizing Ron Prestage’s despicable behavior where he stigmatized Mason City as a racist community. Unlike our city officials, you’ve had the courage to call him out for an apology. I posted a letter to the editor in the Mason City Globe Gazette in which I stated that “it will take courageous leadership to dispel the racists tag”. I also insisted that our elected officials get busy and “clean up this mess that you[they] got us in.” Well, as I expected, none of them have been brave enough to do so, which leads me to conclude that their silence is a product of their guilt, or fear, of disagreeing with Ron Prestage, or of losing the plant altogether. Anyway, thanks for your keen observations!
Outstanding, wonderfully constructed and easy to grasp. We are fortunate to have people of Mr. Smith’s ilk living here. The answer to this quagmire can be traced directly back to the voter turnout; with few exceptions the working class does not vote….and the eeliest do. Now that the horse has left the barn people are shouting fire!
When you could have voted for Max Weaver for mayor you didn’t, when you could have voted for Matt Marquart, for fourth ward you didn’t, the same with Jody Draper.
This unbalance in human traits will not correct itself anytime soon….perhaps never but it is a window as to why. If you are one who avoids voting whatever you do not change because whether you know it or not you are part of the equation that the self proclaimed elitist count on in each election…. that being the constant factor of the percentile who will never vote.
Max Weaver wears clothes with holes in them which allows fear of uncertainty to enter your mind….but now he’s the pied-piper….he’s the one who is the de-facto leader and you realize the abnormal attire is what it always has been….a roadblock on the path to the Mayor’s office he himself built with his own hands. Does he love Mason City? Does he know city government? Is the Pope Catholic?
Stomp your foot, stomp it hard, tell your councilperson that they work for you. Hire a lawyer …..talk’s cheap. it takes money to buy whisky
What about Leonard Foster? Wouldn’t he have been as least as good as Matt? If Max was Mayor we wouldn’t be having this discussion because no new business would ever look at Mason City to locate in. Peter weren’t you and Matt saying we needed Jobs,jobs and more jobs. Not just retail jobs but manufacturing jobs. Well here are the only kind of “manufacturing ” jobs, that aren’t going to Mexico ,that we are going to get. I love Mason City, lived here my whole life, and I think this plant is our last chance to turn things around. I hope and pray the council reconsiders.
A slaughter house half this size might fit without major disruption; but this facility was far too overwhelming. This proposal was a major threat to the entire region not just this city. Think…..their home state will not allow them to build further developments…..that being the case why then would we? Bennett Smith laid it all out quite beautifully, if you can comprehend what he said….no more needs to be said.
Peter you want the “goldielocks” business to come to Mason City, not too big, not too small,just right. Well good luck with that . We blew it and we will feel this for many years to come. We had a chance to grow/survive and because of the fear of the unknown we panicked and rejected this perfect fit for Mason City. We live in Iowa not California or New York. We produce hogs and corn. We are and will never be a place high tech companies will want to come to.Sorry that is the truth. I really hope I am wrong about this and you and all the Anti-Prestage people are right. Unfortunately I wouldn’t bet on it.
Well said, Bennett Smith.
I do not deny we need “NEW” Leadership in Mason City. But, Weaver is not that leader. He is two faced and will switch whenever it gets him something.
What kind of a human would not understand these logistics? Is Anderson, the Mayor and council this cold blooded? They like a guy who slams the entire town including the 3 who had the balls to say no? What happened to the words peace love and caring?
I will go ahead and skip the bullying label and go straight to terrorism by our cities leaders, Chamber of commerce (Robin) even the one sided Globe Gazette and of course Ron Prestage. There is nothing else to call their Hitleresque behavior. Tis a shame.
BRAVO! BRAVO!
Thank you Mr. Smith
Thank you, Bennett Smith! You have stated this so well! We will not be bought and we will not be bullied into doing this project.
As always Mr. Smith, so we’ll said..the rumor now is they will try to scare the “circle of influence ” with the bogus tale the Des Moines Economic Development Community ” won’t give us anything for 20 years” if we turn it down..
Odd..governor appoints them..he sure ain’t gonna be around for 20 years..
A friend phoned them the day after council voted Prestage down, asked if it would affect us in the future, woman laughed, said, “not at all, communities turn down proposals all the time, won’t matter”..
Let’s hope whoever is deemed “circle of influence ” has some sense to go along with their “influence “…
Excellent piece Mr. Smith!! There is no place for Prestage in/around Mason City. I hope our 3 Council members that voted no can hold firm against the bullying of the Mayor, other 3 Council members, the Governor and the Chamber folks. This is NOT an appropriate “business” for Mason City and never will be. We are not stupid. We care deeply about MC & its future. We cannot afford the lifestyle change & damage Prestage would bring to a lovely community. Hold the course Mr. Lee, Mr. Kuhn & Mr. Schickel. We so appreciate your courage & thoughtful decision on behalf of your constituents.