Closing Streets vs. Buying Hotels or doing neither in the City of Cedar Rapids

The Gazette is reporting in the Sunday edition of the newspaper in the story titled Cedar Rapids will announce purchase of Crowne Plaza that the City will acquire the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel as part of the U.S. Cellular Center/Events Center redevelopment plan.

Other recent news for Cedar Rapids:

• Privatizing parking in C.R. no simple matter - The Gazette


• Payments to renters complicated for Cedar Rapids - The Gazette

Closing streets for the benefit of a private entity is very unusual, though it has been done once already for PCI, with the closing of Seven Street SE between Eighth and Seventh Avenue nearly twenty years ago. PCI has been awarded the 1000-1200 blocks of Second Avenue SE for their medical mall development.

Other local government news for Cedar Rapids:

• Local-option revenue could help buy land for key projects - The Gazette


• Corps endorses flood-protection for east side - The Gazette


• First major wave of flood demolitions nearly finished - The Gazette


• Area flooded in 2008 targeted for new Cedar Rapids housing - The Gazette

Unemployment rate, Linn County, IA - Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
6.3% of the labor force - Not seasonally adjusted - Sep 2010

peace

Wow, August is about to wrap up... Where did our Summer go?

It's been a busy month. Students headed back to schools and colleges. The final weekend in many ways seems like the final weekend of Summer, before we head into Labor Day weekend and September shortly.

In Cedar Rapids, Mt. Mercy College has become a local university, as of this past week.

Mount Mercy in Cedar Rapids becomes a university ‎- Radio Iowa
An eastern Iowa school is the second in the state this month to change from a college to a university. Mount Mercy ...

Mount Mercy Change to University Began Years Ago‎ - KCRG
Mass Celebrates Mount Mercy Name Change‎ - KCRG

This past Tuesday, August 24Th, we learned that the City of Cedar Rapids is taking the first step towards the closing of two blocks of Second Avenue SE for a medical mall.

Council Votes 6-3 to Close a Piece of Second Avenue SE‎ - KCRG
By Tracey McCullough CEDAR RAPIDS — After lengthy comment this evening from ... the council voted 6-3 to close a two-block stretch of Second Avenue SE to ...

BBC finds connections between Katrina, Cedar Rapids disasters‎ - Iowa Independent
“The government says 'because you initially helped yourself we won't help you'”, says Nancy Kasparek, president of US Bank in Cedar Rapids. ...

July unemployment rate remains flat in Corridor‎ - TMCnet
Area jobless rate holds steady at 6.3 percent‎ - Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier

Lake Delhi damage could top $150 million, dam repair may cost $5 million - The Gazette
Damage from late July flooding that breached the Lake Delhi dam could top $150 million and repairs to the dam itself could ...

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Economic News: Unemployment, Recovery and Impacts

The Friday, July 24, 2009 edition of Burt Folsom.com. Folsom, a professor of United States economic history, features an article titled, What do we do with 11.7% unemployment. For more on the politics of the 1920s read Public Interest Institute Brief: Governing by the Founder's Constitution: The Presidency of Warren Harding.

Exclusive: Economists surveyed see slow recovery -USA Today
The beginning of an economic recovery appears to be just a few months away but unemployment will continue to ...

Second wave of foreclosures possible - Philadelphia Inquirer‎
... is not being funded at a level necessary to deal with the rising unemployment rate, Dodd said. Stephanie Butler, senior counselor at Mount Airy USA in ...

Bernanke Sees High Jobless Rate, Even in Recovery -New York Times
Latest government data show the US unemployment rate at 9.5 percent, the highest since 1983. "We're doing everything we can to support the economy. ...

Some are saying it may not be til 2011, until unemployment moves in the right direction. With Pelosi-ObamaCare, increasing Federal debt and Big Government on the rise, the private sector has reason to feel a little concerned about jobs and business climate.

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Rising unemployment, mixed views on the Federal Stimulus spending

"This was supposed to be about jobs, jobs, and jobs. And the fact is, it
turned into nothing more than spending, spending, and more spending on a lot of
big government bureaucracy." - House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh)

The Monday, July 6, 2009 edition of The Wall Street Journal features an article titled, Calls grow to increase stimulus spending. For more on this issue, read Public Interest Institutes's Follow the Constitution rather than Keynes.

More misreading? - Dallas Morning News
Any chance they've misread the hoped-for stimulus results? Any chance they've misread what taking over GM is going to mean? Any chance they've misread what ...

Biden: Administration "Misread" Economy - U.S. News & World Report

Cantor open to second stimulus with tax cuts - The Hill

Cantor: Stimulus Isn't Working - RealClearPolitics

"I don't think anybody can honestly say that we're satisfied with the results so
far of the stimulus. But we believe the stimulus was absolutely
essential." - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md)

Hoyer: Stimulus Slow to Create Jobs, But Time is Not Ripe for New ... - FOX News

2 Democrat said Sunday that he is not satisfied with the results of the stimulus so far, but it's too soon to consider a second package since not all of the ...

The Stimulus: Six Months Later -National Ledger - Jon Kyl
With some now suggesting a second stimulus package, it's a good time to look at some preliminary results of the first package. In January, the president's ...

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The Economist: China seeks stimulation too

China seeks stimulation A stimulus plan to inject $586 billion into China's economy. But the devil lies in the detail Full article
Into the wilderness Republicans try to rediscover themselves, and puzzle over Sarah Palin's fate Full article

The week ahead A global summit to discuss the economic and financial crisis, and other news Full article

A painful job to do As unemployment surges Barack Obama will have to take some awkward economic decisions Full article

Germany's feeble stimulus package A stimulus package in Germany amounts to mild fiscal loosening Full article

Who will the government look to bail out next? Colin Cowherd today was suggesting the media, since they employ people too. Newspapers are seeing rough times these days.

peace