The City Council on Wednesday night gave its general approval to much of a new downtown parking plan proposed by City staff and the Downtown District. The proposed parking plan incorporates at least a dozen current program changes, including half price parking for individiuals using downtown ramps, a means to balance construction needs with consumer/visitor parking needs, and a conversion of angle permit parking on First Street and parts of Second and Third Avenues. This new parking system enforces the new realities of post-flood Downtown Cedar Rapids, including the Plaza and First Street Ramp being indefinitely closed, along with restrict on street parking due to construction. Doug Neumann, President and CEO for the Cedar Rapids Downtown District, is encouraged by incentives this program will bring for those using the downtown area. “Half price parking is really the key to this new program,” Neumann said. “It’s one more tool to help us bring exisiting businesses back to downtown and to attract new business.” Neumann noted that when taxes, maintenance and depreciation cost of parking lots are considered, it is likely cheaper now to park in the secure, covered parking downtown than to own or lease a surface parking lot somewhere else. City Council has set the Downtown Parking Proposal for public hearing Wednesday August 27.
Several significant downtown buildings and services reopened this week. The Great America Building – a beacon of riverfront resilience in so many of the iconic images from the flood – has begun moving its tenants back in, with some already open for business. Likewise, the Armstong Centre – a central building in the downtown memories of so many Cedar Rapidians – has moved its upper floor tenants back in and many are open for business. Waypoint Services also has reopened its daycare center, and expects the Madge Phillips Center to reopen soon.
Just two months since the flood crest, downtown is now growing stronger by the day.
Numbers tell part of this story: a June 13, 2008 flood crest of 31.1 feet that was 19 feet over flood stage and 11 feet above a 79-year-old record flood; 25,000 homes evacuated; 9,000 downtown workers displaced; and damage and recovery costs that will swirl into staggering billion-dollar numbers.
But far more of this story will be told in terms other than those stoic facts. Much of our story, when it has finally been completely told weeks, months, even years from now, will be about heroes and helping hands; about recovery and resolve; about tears and triumph; about neighbors and friends and strangers who become our friends. This story will be about a proud, historic, beautiful, vibrant downtown that rebounds from devastation to magnificence.
As community leaders such as City Manager Jim Prosser and Gazette Communications CEO Chuck Peters have said, things will never be ‘normal’ again. However, we will have a ‘new normal.’ We’ll share that journey to a ‘new normal’ right here.
