The Small Town Project

So far, I see little evidence that Libon has discovered this site. I have few email addresses of Lisbon residents, so have been unable to notify many people there of its existence. (I may soon run an ad in the Sun, but first I want word of mouth to do it’s thing.) If you can remember to mention it to any Lisbon folks you see, it would really help spread the word. This site cannot be only a Mount Vernnon site. The two towns are closely linked, and events and changes in one will always affect the other. Please invite your Lisbon friends to check out the Small Town Project at http://www.smalltownproject.org/ .

Thanks!

The management

There is more debunking to do! Growth and development myths are pernicious little creatures. Thankfully, some are based on such blatantly flawed bits of logic that we can do away with them with one hand tied behind our back. Well, figuratively speaking; I gotta type here. Let’s look at one I’ve heard applied to Mount Vernon. (I suspect you hear it around Lisbon too, but would appreciate any confirmation or correction.)

Myth #2 — “We need growth and so must continue building. But don’t worry, we won’t grow too big — only out to the city limits.”

Okay, so those two sentences together are more an error of logic than a myth per se. (Still, the first sentence is simply a broader version of the myth we exploded in our last article.) But raise your hand if you already see the problem here. Seriously, I’ve heard each of the two sentences above multiple times from MV city officials. No, probably not right in sequence as they’re written here, but so what; these are two ideas that some in power accept and espouse without blinking.
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Sometimes they tell lies
and put ‘em in a truthful disguise. — Gil Scott-Heron

We’ve all heard it: “This town must grow to thrive!” or “We have to grow or die!” This is the major tenet the “growth machine” — that network of people in every community which profits from residential development — repeats constantly as a large part of its justification for ceaseless residential expansion.

Sprawl in Marion. Does this have to be MV/Lisbon’s Future?

There’s just one problem with it: It’s a myth. It’s propaganda spread by an industry which needs to justify itself to continue reaping the enormous profits generated by subdivision construction and suburban sprawl, regardless of what happens to existing towns as a result.
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This is a bit of a tangent from where this site is generally going to go, but it’s worth a mention. The Gazette today featured a front page story detailing how a large turnout of citizens helped spur the Cedar Rapids City Planning Commission to table a developer’s plan for a large development of mobile homes. The rationale for tabling it was, in large part, that it violated the city’s comprehensive plan. One commissioner noted that people “count on” the comprehensive plan when making decisions about investing in homes. An attorney pointed out that the comprehensive plan is “more than a guideline,” that it’s “legally significant.”
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Note: Comments on this post will remain open until after the election.

Please note the temporary special feature just under the “Take Action!” link in the “Site Basics” section of the sidebar. To the extent that I have anything worth passing along, it will contain discussion of those who file papers to run for City Council.

The filing deadline to run is Thursday, the 22nd, at 5:00 p.m.!

Jewels of Eastern Iowa
We must protect these jewels of eastern Iowa. These towns. Mount Vernon and Lisbon are near perfect examples of classic American small towns. We residents cherish their small town character. Indeed, many of us live here in large part because Lisbon and MV are such lovely small towns. These are towns where our children can walk to school, where half the town shows up to cheer on the high school football team, towns surrounded by farmland and open spaces, where neighborly values lost in larger cities remain — towns, in short, with true small town character.

But today that character is at risk. Current residential development threatens to erode it. New subdivisions are appearing at an alarming pace, and continued development is planned with no clear end in sight.

The largest development currently under construction is the near 300 home Stonebrook subdivision under way in Southwest MV. That’s easily 1,000 new residents. This town of 4,000 will go to 5,000, a 25% jump in population as a result of this single development!
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