HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-09-09 Correspondence Dog Park
Action Committee
Proposal to Develop an
Off-Leash Recreation Area
in Iowa City
Submitted to the
Iowa City City Council
September 8, 2003
by the
Johnson County Dog Park
Action Committee
Table of Contents:
JC DogPAC Mission Statement ................................... 3
What is an Off-Leash Recreation Area (OLRA) ................. 4
Why Establish an Off-Leash Recreation Area ................... 4
Benefits for the Community ............................... 5
Benefits for Dog Owners ................................... 5
Benefits for Dogs ............................................ 6
Site Selection ........................................................ 7
Off-Leash Recreation Area Design Specifics ................... 7
Usage Guidelines, Park Rules, Permits ........................... 8
Common Concerns about an Off-Leash Recreation Area ...... 9
Dog waste .................................................... 9
Confrontations ............................................... 9
Liability ..................................................... 10
Administration ............................................... 10
Park Support ......................................................... 11
Appendices
Location Map ................................................. 12
Aerial photograph/Plat Map ................................ 13
Topographical map .......................................... 14
OLRA Design diagram ..................................... 15
Photographs ................................................ 16
Cost Estimates .............................................. 20
Park Rules draft .............................................. 25
Permit Application draft ................................... 26
Release of Liability draft ....................................... 27
2
Site Selection
The JC DogPAC Design Committee spent considerable time researching existing Off-
Leash Recreation Areas and dog parks across the country in order to develop a list of
criteria to use to evaluate potential park sites in Iowa City. A city map showing potential
sites was provided by the Iowa City Public Works Department. Each of the potential sites
was evaluated using the following criteria:
· To keep development costs reasonable, the site should already be owned by the
City of Iowa City.
· To protect the health and safety of park visitors, the site should be free of
environmental contaminants.
· Development of the site should not fracture an existing neighborhood or
subdivision.
· Development of the site should not encroach on existing parks/recreational uses.
· To protect the city tax base, the site should not be on land slated for future
commercial or residential development.
· To prevent traffic congestion, the site should be large enough to accommodate off
street parking for park user areas.
· The site should have a pleasing topography.
· To prevent overuse and excessive wear and tear on the land, the site should be
larger than 10 acres.
· To prevent potential damage to park infrastructure, the site should not be on a
flood plane.
From a beginning list of over 10 sites, members of JC DogPAC determined that the city-
owned parcel of land 2 miles west of Hwy 218 on Kansas Avenue is ideally suited for an
Off-Leash Recreation Area. Parcel #1114351001 is on Kansas Ave., ~ of a mile south of
IWV Road/Melrose. (See Appendix for location map, aerial photograph/plat map, and
topographical map of the site).
Parcel 1114351001 is currently owned by the City of Iowa City as part of the green space
buffer zone surrounding the Iowa City Landfill, and as such, future residential
development is unfeasible. JC DogPAC is asking the Iowa City City Council to set aside
this parcel for the establishment of an Off-Leash Recreation Area.
Off-Leash Recreation Area Design Specifics
There are a number of options for the design of an Off-Leash Recreation Area, the
majority of which can only be determined after the site is chosen, as they will be site
specific.
JC DogPAC has developed the attached park ~lesign specifically for Parcel 1114351001
(see appendix for design diagram). Due to the size of this project, JC DogPAC is
proposing a multi-year plan for completion of the OLRA. Our planning committee has
done extensive research on the creation of an OLRA. Based on this research, we are
7
requesting the Iowa City City Council to provide the following elements necessary for a
successful Off-Leash Recreation Area.
Year One - Essential elements needed to open an Off Leash Recreation Area · Official designation of Pamel 114351001 as park site
· Suspension of the Iowa City leash law for this parcel of land
· Acceptance/authorization of OLRA plans as designed
· Grading and resurfacing of a portion of the vacated section of Kansas Avenue
leading to park entrance (approximately 350 feet)
· Grading and surfacing of a park entrance (approximately 200 feet) and a 50x 180'
parking area for 40 cars
· Installation of a bridge over the creek separating the parking area and the fenced
section of the park, similar to the bridge at Hunter's Run Park (photo 1 )
· Approximately 6000 linear feet of fencing. Approximately 3500 feet of 4-foot
woven wire 4"x4" grid and 2500 feet of 5-foot woven wire "No Climb" 2"x4" grid
fence (photo 2 )
· Three 12-foot farm gates (one per section to facilitate mowing) (photo 3)
· Four ADA-accessible 4-foot self closing gates, (one per section of park) (photo 4)
· Seeding, annual maintenance, and mowing of the approximately 14 acres of turf
grass section of the park using Rural Iowa DOT seed mix
· Rental and maintenance of a temporary Port-A-John
· Signage as deemed necessary (photos 5 & 6)
· A dual sided informational kiosk in the entrance yard for posting of OLRA rules
and regulations, education opportunities, events, and notices (photos 7 & 8)
· Garbage Stations: 1 can with lid and one "Doggie Dooley" waste composter per 5
acres, with weekly garbage pickup (Actual waste pick up within the park to be
done by park users and volunteers) (photo 9)
· One ADA-accessible park shelter, similar to the smaller shelter at Hunter's Run
Park (photo 10)
Subsequent Year(s) · Fifteen 8 foot long benches to be distributed throughout the park (photo 11)
· ADA-accessible graded and surfaced paths though the park
· Seeding of approximately 14 acres of restored prairie section of the Off-Leash
Recreation Area
(See the Appendix for actual cost estimates)
Usage Guidelines, Park Rules, Permits
With the assistance of Misha Goodman, Director of the Iowa City Animal Care and
Adoption Center, guidelines are being developed for use of the park. People wishing to
use the Off-Leash Recreation Area on a regular basis will be required to apply annually at
the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center for a permit. To obtain a permit, owners
will be required to show proof of a current animal license or proof of vaccination
(including distemper, parvo, and rabies), and pay an annual tag fee for each dog. In
addition, owners will be required to sign a Release of Liability statement and a statement
agreeing to abide by all posted rules at the park. All documents will be kept on file at the
Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center. The guidelines and rules will meet Iowa
City code, and meet or exceed those used at dog parks and Off-Leash Recreation Areas
nationally. (See Appendix for examples of Rules, Application, and Waiver.)
Operating hours for the park will be dawn to dusk, 365 days a year.
Rules will be posted at the site, as will information on spay and neuter programs, training
opportunities, park events, and information about the Iowa City Animal Cam and
Adoption Center.
Common Concerns about an Off-Leash Recreation Area
Dog Waste
Concern: Some citizens are concerned that dog feces are unsightly and will become a
health hazard.
JC DogPAC Response: While it is true that dog feces am unsightly and can pose a health
hazard, dogs defecate whether they am off-leash or on-leash. The Off-Leash Recreation
Ama will promote responsible waste control by dog owners. The primary mechanism
through which this will be accomplished will be by requiring all owners to clean up after
their own dogs. The proposed OLRA will include many features to increase compliance
with this role, including signage, ample access to bags and garbage cans, as well as the
placement of "Doggie Dooleys" throughout the park. While most people who use the
recreation area will understand the necessity of providing a clean and healthy
environment for themselves and others, them will be some exceptions. The primary
mechanism to ensure that clean up regulation are followed in these cases is informal:
most park users, wanting to maintain a clean, healthy environment for themselves and
their dog, will be eager to remind others to pick up after their dog. In most
circumstances, this self-policing by the community will help maintain a waste-free area.
Since them will always be accidents, JC DogPAC will schedule park volunteers to make
weekly sweeps of the ama to pick up any "unclaimed" waste.
Confrontations
Concern: Some people are concerned about confrontations that might take place
involving off-leash dogs. These can be confrontations between dogs as well as between
dogs and humans.
JC DogPAC Response: Very few parks nationwide have reported incidents of dog bites,
suggesting that this problem is generally exaggerated (National Recreation and Park
Association, 1995). Further, because the dog park will be considered "neutral territory"
by most dogs, they will be less prone to territorial aggression. In fact, reseamh suggests
that over 90% of incidents occur on a dog's territory and not in open public spaces
(JAMA, Jan 1997). The spaciousness of our proposed OLRA will undoubtedly minimize
the potential for confrontations even further.
Despite these facts, posted park rules and regulations will include many guidelines
intended to ensure appropriate use:
1. Dogs must be under owner's supervision and voice control at all times.
2. Dogs new to the park or dogs that may be aggressive in group situations should
be kept in the training yard until their behavior is determined. Dogs who have
injured a person or other dog by biting am prohibited from using the park.
3. Owners are responsible for all actions of their dogs.
4. Children under the age of 10 should enter only under a parent's constant
supervision.
These rules and regulations will be provided when users obtain permits and will be
posted immediately outside the entrance to the park. Further, community policing is
likely to be effectual in many cases, as the vast majority of park users prefer to maintain a
safe and friendly environment.
Liability
Concern: City officials may have concerns about liability for incidents that occur in the
Off-Leash Recreation Area.
JC DogPAC Response: The concern about liability is legitimate, but evidence from
existing dog parks and OLRAs suggests that risks are minimak In fact, a study done by
the National Recreation and Park Associations concluded that not a single liability suit
had occurred in any of the existing dog parks. Some park rules state that owners are
responsible for any damages caused by their dog, including veterinary bills if their dog
bites another dog. Some cities, in addition, have dog bite statutes holding the owner
legally liable for any injury caused by their dog. Other cities post a waiver of
responsibility stating that the owner is responsible for their dog's actions, including but
not limited to damage to park grounds and facilities as well as injuries cased by the dog.
This not only relinquishes the city of liability from injury caused by eh dogs, but also
from injury to ~)r loss of the dog as a result of escape from the park.
JC DogPAC has developed, with the assistance of David Bright and Anne Burnside, a
Release of Liability form that all persons who bring a dog to the park will be required to
sign. In addition, signs will be posted at the park entrance reminding users that they are
responsible for their dog's actions and that the City will not be held liable.
Administration
Concern: The city may be concerned about the cost of running and maintaining the Off-
Leash Recreation Area.
JC DogPAC Response: JC DogPAC has worked for several months to provide the city
with an accurate and thorough estimate of expenses associated with establishing and
maintaining an OLRA. As noted elsewhere in this document, a permit will be required
for all dogs using the park. JC DogPAC has worked with Misha Goodman, Director of
10
the Iowa City Animal Cam and Adoption Center, to establish guidelines for obtaining a
permit. In addition, we propose, with the concurrence of Ms. Goodman, that the Iowa
City Animal Care and Adoption Center handle the application and permit process.
Lastly, JC DogPAC will serve as a "friends-of-the-park" organization, and will conduct
ongoing beautification, park improvement, and user education projects.
Park Support
JC DogPAC was established in November of 2002 and currently has a membership of
more than 90 citizens. As information about our organization and the proposed Off-
Leash Recreation Area spreads, our membership is increasing, as is our community
support.
At the February 2003 JC DogPAC meeting, an initial Board of Directors was elected.
Board members are: Fred Boehmke, David Bright, Anne Burnside, Beth Fisher, Misha
Goodman, Barb Meredith, and Beth Shields. At the same meeting, organization Bylaws
and Articles of Incorporation were adopted. These can be viewed at our web site,
www.jcdogpac.org.
With the assistance of board members David Bright, president of the Friends of the
Animal Center Foundation, and Anne Burnside, JC DogPAC is also in the process of
applying for Federal nonprofit status. Iowa nonprofit status was granted in Mamh 2003.
With tax-exempt status, JC DogPAC will be able to raise funds through tax-deductible
donations. A bank account has been opened for the organization, and donations are being
received. With these donations, JC DogPAC will work to support the park and
community by providing additional features such as landscaping, agility equipment, and
other amenities to enhance the beauty and usefulness of the park.
11
992 Photography
0 100 200
feet
Property Line
........
750~
Property Line
Topography based on t982 USGS 7.5 Quad data
..... ~ BASIC = 4-91 LF
QLH/2 Design Diagram
Iowa City
Off-Leash Recreation Area
Proposed Rules
For Owners:
Maximum of two dogs per handler.
All dogs must be supervised by an adult handler, 18 years and up.
Dogs must be within owner's eyesight and under owner's voice control.
Owners must clean up and dispose of fecal matter.
Owners must carry one leash per dog.
No food in the park.
Training treats only; must be carried in a container or training/bait bag.
Owners mast respect the requests of other dog owners regarding their animals.
Owners are responsible and hable for any damage caused by their dogs.
Children must be supervised at all times. Parents of young children should be especially
cautious.
For Dogs:
Dogs must have permit to use the park and display tag on collar.
Dogs must wear some type of collar while in park.
Dogs must remain on leash until inside fenced area.
Dogs must be vaccinated against parvo, distemper, and rabies.
Aggressive dogs will be asked to leave the park with owners.
Intact females may not attend park while in heat cycle.
Puppies must he over 4 months of age and vaccinated as indicated above.
Sick and lame dogs will not be permitted to use park.
25
Iowa City
Off-Leash Recreation Area
Permit Application
In order to use the Iowa City Off-Leash Recreation Area, dogs must wear a collar at all
times displaying the Iowa City Off-Leash Recreation Area permit tag. One copy of this
application must be filled out for each animal using the park. A waiver must be signed
by each individual who brings a registered dog to the park. Tick and flea prevention is
recommended for using an Off-Leash Area, but is not required. Bordetella (kennel
cough) vaccination is also suggested for your dog's protection.
Name of Owner(s) Owner's phone number Today's Date
Address (Street) (City) (Zip)
Name of dog Breed of Dog Color of dog
Age of Dog Primary Vet (name) (address) (phone)
Signature of Applicant Date
Signature of Co-Applicant Date
Please submit a signed letter from your veterinarian providing proof of vaccination and
expiration dates of Rabies, Distemper, and Parvo inoculations with this application.
Expiration Date of Rabies Inoculation # on Rabies certification/tag
Expiration Date of Distemper & Parvo Inoculations
Fees:
Standard Fee per dog per year ........................................................... to be determined
(yearly discount with veterinarian proof of spay or neuter) ............. to be determined
(yearly multiple dog discount) .......................................................... to be determined
Total amount due:
Issued Tag # Date bg
26
Iowa City
Off Leash Recreation Area
Release of Liability
I hereby acknowledge that I voluntarily have applied to participate and use, with my dog(s), the Iowa City
Off-Leash Recreation Area. I understand that the act of unleashing my dog(s) and being physically present
inside the off-leash park necessarily involves risks of injury to me, other people, my dogs(s), and other
dogs, and which risks are entirely my responsibility. I expressly assume all these risks. I am aware of the
risks and hazards inherent upon entering the off-leash area and I choose to voluntarily enter the premises
knowing that the condition might become more hazardous and/or dangerous for myself and/or dogs(s) and
that I voluntarily assume all risks, loss, damages, or injury that may be sustained by entering the off-leash
area. Thc permit system is not established to guarantee that dogs in park are safe or healthy. I further
understand that dogs, irrespective of their training and usual past behavior or characteristics, may act or
react unpredictably at times based upon instinct or circumstances, and I agree to assume the risk of injury to
me, any individual (including children) accompanying me in the off-leash area and my dogs(s). I further
understand and assume the risk that not all dogs in the off-leash area have been vaccinated for Distemper or
Parvo, all of which could result in injury to me and my dogs(s) or companions. Additional risks include, but
are not limited to dog fights, dog bites and injuries to humans and other dogs; dog theft or unlawful
capture; dog escape over or under fences; plants and/or water sources in the park may be poisonous to dogs
or people; park vegetation may have burrs or seeds that could become tangled in a dog's coat or lodge in a
dog's feet, ears, nose or eyes; mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, fleas or other insects may be present; wild
animals such as skunks, raccoons, opossums, or stray dogs could be present in the park, all of which might
injure or infect my dogs(s). I understand and expressly assume ali additional risks.
It is my understanding that no agent or employee of the City of Iowa City, the Parks and Recreation
Department, the Animal Care Center, or the Johnson County Dog PAC organization will supervise the off-
leash area at any time. I further understand that neither the City of Iowa City, the Parks and Recreation
Department, the Animal Care Center or the Johnson County Dog PAC organization, or any other
organization renting parts of the park for teaching dog classes or dog shows assumes liability for loss,
damage or any kind of injury sustained by any human or dog while using the off-leash area. I, therefore,
expressly assume all risks associated with using the off-leash dog park, as well as fixtures and equipment
located therein.
By signing this release of liability and using the off-leash dog park, I hereby fully and forever release and
discharge the City of Iowa City, the Parks and Recreation Department, the Iowa City Animal Care Center,
the Johnson County Dog PAC, and their volunteers, employees and agents from any claims, demands,
damages, rights of action or causes of action present or future, whether the same be known or unknown,
antic!pated or unanticipated, resulting from or arising out of my use or intended use of said off-leash area
premises. I fully and forever release and discharge the City of Iowa City, the Parks and Recreation
Department, the Iowa City Animal Care Center, and the Johnson County DogPAC organization and their
employees and agents from any and all negligent acts and omissions in the same, and intended to be legally
bound by this release.
I have carefully mad this release of liability and understand and fully agree with its contents. I also have
received a copy of the brochure outlining rules for use, etiquette for dog owners, and recommendations for
dog owners.
This is a release of liability. Do not sign if you do not understand or do not agree with its terms. Any
owner/handler using the park must sign this waiver. IF THE APPLICANT HAS NOT ATTAINED THE
AGE OF LEGAL MAJORITY (18), THE SIGNATURE OF PARENT OR GUARDIAN SHALL ALSO
BE REQUIRED.
Signature: Date:
Signature: Date:
27
Marian Karr
From: bobby [bobbyjett_2000@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 11:36 AM
To: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: Dog Park
I om writing to show my support for the proposed dog pork in Iowa City. I think this is o very
important issue that should be given serious consideration. It is o quaility of life issue for
the residents of Zowo City os well os the dogs. Dogs ore very good for o city, and odd on
element that is hard to measure. There ore o number of other cities, Boise and Denver being
two, who hove large dog populations that really odd to the quality of life there. T urge you to
create o dog pork for oil of us. Thank You.
Bobby Jett
3t9-430-8386 (cell)
319-338-24~4 (fox)
www. moeng~ouP. cam
*** eSafe scanned this email for malicious content ***
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9/3/03
Marian Karr ~
From: Norjel @aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 3:55 PM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Subject: Dog park
I think the dog park in Iowa City would be a great idea. There are many pet owners in this town who would welcome a
place where their dogs can run and play with other dogs and get exercise without the restraints of a leash at all times.
When our daughter visited from Denver a few years ago, she commented that she could not believe that a town the size
of Iowa City and especially an upscale community like this did not have a dog park. They have them in Denver and I'm
sure many other places as well.
Also those who complain about dogs in downtown Iowa City would not have be subjected to dogs as much if there were a
place people could take dogs where other dog owners socialize and do not object to dogs.
I thought it was a great idea that the City Park pool had a dog day swim on the last day of the season. This also was a
first and seemed to be well received by pet owners.
Thanks for listening.
Norma Jett
9/3/03
Marian Karr
From: Broderson, Melissa [melissa-broderson@uiowa.edu]
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 2:35 PM
To: 'council@iowa-city.org'
Subject: Dog Park
Iowa City needs a dog park! Dogs have become more socialized spending time
with their owners and being allowed into more businesses in the community.
Look how the doggie day care has been supported with open arms in the Iowa
City area. Look at the turn out of the recent dog paddle event, hundreds of
dogs came with their owners for an evening of fun and socializing. The
city has provided us many wonderful walking paths, now help us find a safe
place for our dogs to get the exercise they need by being off leash, able to
run, play and socialize.
Thank you,
Melissa Broderson
Dog lover and soon to be dog owner.
~-~ \ "?
Marian Karr
From: Judy McPartland [j.mcpartland@mchsi.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2003 9:59 PM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Subject: Off leash dog park
Members of the City of Iowa City City Council,
I would ask you to support the establishment of an off-leash dog
recreation area in Iowa City. The proposal, at least in the version that
I saw, laid out good reasons for supporting the dog park. AS someone who
moved to Iowa City from elsewhere, I miss having a place where my dogs
can run freely. I have also found that one of the quickest way to feel
welcome is to find folks with similar interests. Dog lovers, as well as
their dogs, come in all colors, shapes and sizes. Dog lovers welcome
other dog lovers and a dog park will provide a distinctive venue for
co~unity building.
Thanks.
Judith K. McPartland
405 Crestview Ave
Iowa City, IA 52245
339-8964
~ ~(2.) Page 1 of 1
Marian Kart
From: Kathleen Oanz [kathleen-janz@uiowa.edu]
Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2003 12:22 PM
To: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: dog park and human health
September 6, 2003
Dear Council Members:
As a dog owner and long-time resident of Iowa City, I write in support of the citizen-initiative to develop an
off-leash dog park. Furthermore, I write as a research scientist at the University of Iowa with expertise in
physical activity and (human) health to encourage you to set aside a dog-park parcel large enough to allow for
the development of walking trails. By large enough, I mean a parcel of at least 30 acres of diverse terrain.
Active recreation improves human health. A recent study shows that a sedentary lifestyle is second only to
tobacco use as the greatest cause of premature death in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) reports that the decline in physical activity over the past three decades, which has mirrored
the increase in obesity, is due to a reduction in everyday physical activity such as walking to the store or
walking for pleasure through one's neighborhood rather than participation in sports and exercise. This suggests
that providing access to walking opportunities is among our very most important public health strategies for
increasing physical activity, reducing obesity, and reducing the accompanying co-morbidities of inactivity and
obesity such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Small off-leash dog parks encourage people to stand around while their dogs move. This leads to congestion
and poorly supervised dogs. On the other hand, parks with well-designed trails allow owners to share the
physical activity with their dogs. ADA-compliant trails give disabled citizens the opportunity to exercise with
their dogs. Trails provide the following additional benefits: they preserve the natural area, increase user safety
(by providing a stable walking surface), and increase visitation to the park. More visits to parks means more
health benefits for both people and their pets.
Recently a team of researchers in Australia conducted a population-based study of the physical activity levels of
dog owners. Their findings showed that dog owners are not more active than non-dog owners unless they
practice regular, sustained dog walking. Trails at an off-leash dog park can make this possible. In addition, the
study authors reported that, among the dog owners who did walk their pets, dog walking constituted 23% of the
owners' total walking. This is a relatively large portion; certainly an increase of 23% of walking by the general
population would be a major public health success.
Dog walking is an important benefit of dog ownership and approximately 40% of the residents in Iowa City
own dogs. An off-leash park at the Kansas Avenue site (40 acres) or another similarly-sized acreage should
make a significant contribution in helping Iowa City residents improve their health.
Respectfully,
Kathleen Janz
328 Reno Street
Associate Professor
Department of Health and Sport Studies
Department of Epidemiology
University of Iowa
9/8/03
Page I of 1
Marian Kart ~-k,''~-)
From: Fashimpaur@aol.com
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 12:37 PM
To: council@iowa-city.or§
Subject: off-leash park
Dear Councilmembers,
I was the designer and originally chair for the off-leash area park in Cedar Rapids,Iowa. That park opened two
years ago and has had an average of 600 daily pass holders each year (netting city at least $15,000 profit, maybe
as much as $30,000). It has had another 200 or more daily pass users each year giving Animal Control an
additional $400-$600 per year for their funds. The park has had very few incidents, mostly minor issues that
owners resolved with one another, and 99% of people who have ~tried it love it. We've had two or three folks
say they moved to C.R. after learning we had an off-leash area. It is truly an asset for the city, has been no
detriment other than some mowing time factored into the parks budget and finding a recreation or parks office
that has staff willing to sell the annual tags.
The Iowa City group seems 150% better organized, higher membership numbers,etc, than we started with so I'm
confident they'll do a great job and help you build a fantastic park -- possibly the best one in the midwest.
Please work with them to make this a possibility. The truth is that you already have lots of dog owners
breaking the law in regular parks being off-leash. It would better for all citizens to give them a place to go
legally.
Sincerely,
Karen Torno Fashimpaur
#319-365-7954
K9COLA Chair June 2000- November 2002
9/8/03
MarianKarr '~ x~2"Page~' )
1
of l
From: paula boback [pboback@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 2:58 PM
To: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: DogPAC
Dear City Council Members-
I am writing to voice my support for the off-leash recreation area for dogs that DogPAC will be proposing
tonight at the City Council meeting. I believe all Iowa City community members will benefit from an off-leash
park in that it will be a place for people to gather with common interests and it initiates a greater since of
cormnunity. Also, allowing dogs to freely socialize with other dogs decreases the natural instinct to be
aggressive.
DogPAC has worked very hard to design a very detailed proposal for City Council. Many members of the
community have joined DogPAC and are proud of everything DogPAC has done to push this forward.
Thank you for listening to my support.
Paula Boback
University of Iowa Graduate Student
Ex~)ress yourself with MSN Messenger 6.0 -- download now!
9/8/03
Marian Karr
From: Kent Ackerson [kent_ackerson@msn.com]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 4:50 PM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Subject: Proposed Of~-Ieash Dog Park
My wife and I support the proposed Off-Leash Dog Park. We have two dogs. And
we have lived in Iowa City for 40 years. We have seen successful off-leash
parks in Cedar Rapids and in Florida, and believe developing such a facility
will be an asset to this community.
Sincerely,
Kent & Kay Ackerson
617 Brown St.
Iowa City
~ ~_(~..-~ Pagelofl
Marian Karr
From: Katie Imborek [kimborek@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 3:43 PM
To: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: Iowa City Dog Park
Dear City Council Members,
I would like to voice my support for the off-leash recreation area that JC DogPac is proposing tonight at the
City Council meeting. This would be a great asset to the community. Please consider accepting the proposal
and take a progressive step toward bettering Iowa City.
Sincerely,
Katie Imborek
Research Assistant
UIHC
Fast, faster, fastest: Upgrade to Cable or DSL today!
9/8/03
Marian Karr
From: Susan McAndrew [susanmc@operamail.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 5:58 PM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Subject: Mediacom
To whom it may concern:
I noticed in the local paper that you are looking at renewing Hediacom's contract as a
cable provider. We as a family have been disgruntled not only by poor quality of Hediacom
services hut also their lack of customer service and ability to address customer issues. I
hope that Iowa City can improve upon Hediacom and find a better service provider.
Thank you,
Susan HcAndrew
620 Scott Park Dr.
Iowa City 52245
http://www.operamail.com
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Marian Karr
From: david-m-cam pbell@uiowa.ed u
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 12:42 AM
To: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: Things To Do In Downtown Iowa City?
Councilor Connie Champion,
"I'm Hoping it will force them to find some alternative means of entertainment
those first few weeks of college"
I was just curious as to what entertainment you were talking about. I'm a
student at the University of Iowa and I live downtown. I do not have a car so
I'm restricted to the downtown area. The only entertainment besides getting
drunk someplace is the movie theater in the mall, which is in desperate need
of renovation. Also considering that they don't offer a student discount is a
great reason to go to a bar that doesn't have any cover instead of paying
$7.5O
to get into the movie and then who knows how much for drinks and food. Since
you would like to force students like myself to find entertainment, I think
that it would be a good idea for you to suggest some other forms of
entertainment that are in the downtown area besides the bars. I hope you
don't suggest that i panhandle like all the other scrubs in the pedmall which
by the way don't ever get in trouble for harassment by the police who turn
their heads on them because they are more worried about giving out PAULA's to
students who aren't't disrupting the peace. I'm glad that i don't have a car
seeing that you raised parking tickets also. Seems like you if you guys don't
give out enough PAULA's that you aren't making enough money so you have to
raise
the price of something else. So it would be nice if you could just email me a
list of things to do on the weekends for the rest of the school year that
don't involve drinking, and please dont send me a link to the stepping up
website because it's obvious that they havn't figured out how to spend their
money wisely. Who actually thought students would want to go to Planet X if
they got a discount. Don't you think that money would have been better spent
if it went on discounts at the movie theaters? I can't even remember the last
time we had a major concert here in Iowa City. Maybe that could be an alcohol
free event if you guys ever thought about having one. I'm expecting a list
also because most people know that if you say it you better be able to back it
up.
David Campbell
319 e. Court St. Apt 47
Iowa City, IA 52240
david-m-campbell@uiowa.edu
September 3, 2003 FILE[D
ZOO3SEP-3 AHII:36
City Council CITY L;LERK
City oflowaCity IOWA CITY, IOWA
410 E. Washingtou Street
Iowa City, IA 52240
Dear Council:
My name is Rod Sullivan, and I am the Chair of the Johnson County Democratic
Party. I have spent the past few months attempting to line up sites for the 2004 Iowa
Caucuses. It is regarding this process, and with great regret, that I write you today.
Per section 49.93 of the Code of Iowa, publicly owned buildings are required to
make themselves available for Caucuses in presidential election years. Caucuses are
scheduled for January 19, 2004 (Martin Luther King Junior Day)- a presidential election
year.
I feel strongly that the City of Iowa City has an obligation to promote democratic
processes. I have heard the current Council urge people to vote on numerous occasions.
In keeping with this notion, it seems that you would want to do everything possible to
facilitate the holding of the Iowa Caucuses.
Unfortunately, it is the opinion of the City Attorney that the City need not make
the Iowa City Public Library available; she feels that the City has done enough. She
suggests, instead, that I use the County Ambulance Building.
While the Ambulance Building is the polling place for that precinct, it is too small
to adequately hold the Caucus. What's more, I felt that it was in the best interests of
every citizen in Iowa City to inconvenience the Library rather than the Ambulance
Department. If holding a Caucus in the Ambulance Building added even one minute to
the response time in an emergency, we will have made a very poor choice.
It should be noted that the Cities of Coralville, No~h Liberty, Swisher, and
Shueyville have been tremendously cooperative. North Liberty is even making space
available for Caucus attendees who do not live in North Liberty proper. Every building
in the Iowa City, Solon, and Clear Creek School Districts is being used, as well as Lone
Tree High. County owned facilities are being used, as well as University buildings. All of
these arrangements have been made with minimal effort on my part, and excellent
cooperation on the part of the public entities.
Virtually none of the facilities in question are typically open in the evenings.
Certainly almost every building would be closed in honor of the King Day holiday.
The cooperation I have gotten from the ICCSD and other local entities matches
the experiences of County Chairs across Iowa. According to the Iowa Democratic Party,
only the.cities of Onawa and Iowa~City have declined to allow a building to be used. I
understand full well that 49.93 inconveniences municipalities, and places an extra
expenses onto an already s/rapped City budget. I am also aware that the City Attorney
may well have sound legal footing; it is possible that the City of Iowa City may legally be
able to avoid providing the Library as a Caucus site.
In my mind, this is a classic case of what is legal conflicting with what is right.
Can you choose to deny the use of the Library? Perhaps. Is it worth going to court to find
out, when EVERY other public authority save one in the State of Iowa has agreed to
cooperate? I think not. Is the cost of opening the library more than the cost of going to
court? I think not. Is this worth creating difficulties for the Ambulance Department? I am
sure it is not.
Again, 1 ask you not to do the minimum required under law, but rather to assist in
allowing the democratic process to occur in Iowa City. Keep our citizens as safe as
possible, and offer them the opportunity to participate in the Caucus. I hope that you will
see fit to instruct the City Manager to instruct all City Deparu~ents to make all City
buildings available on January 19, 2004.
One additional note; this is more a democratic matter than a Democratic matter. I
promise you that I would feel every bit as strongly about the City assisting the local
Republican Party in putting on Caucuses.
Sincerely,
Rod Sullivan
2326 E. Court St~et
Iowa City, lA 52245
354-7199
rodsulliv@aol.com
Ps. Thanks to Dale Helling for all of his assistance in this matter. He has been very polite
and helpful.
Cc: Steve Atkins, Dale Helling, Eleanor Dilkes
September 3, 2003
Mr. Rod Sullivan, Chair
Johnson Co~ Democratic P~ ~.
2326 E. Co~ S~eet
Iowa Ci~, IA 52245
Re: Precinct Caucuses
Dear Mr. Sullivan,
This letter will con£mn that the City has, at your request as Chair of the Johnson County Democratic Party,
and in accordance with Section 43.93 of the State Code, agreed to make space available for the 2004
precinct caucuses in the Senior Center (precinct 20), Recreation Center (precinct 19), Transit Building
(precinct 13) and Mercer Park Aquatic Center/Scanlon gymnasium (precinct 6).
In addition to the above buildings you have requested that the library meeting rooms be made available. As
you know, the library closes at 6:00 p.m. on the day of the caucuses. It is our understanding that you desire
the library space for the holding of the precinct 10 caucus notwithstanding the presence of other public
buildings in that precinct (Johnson County Ambulance Building, polling place for the district; Johnson
County Administration Building, a 2000 precinct caucus site). The library is not located in precinct 10. It
is located in precinct 20, the same precinct as the Senior Center, and is two blocks fiom the Recreation
Center. Both the Rec Center and the Senior Center are being made available to you. I understand fiom
City staff that you have reserved 3 rooms in the Senior Center, including the assembly hall, and three
rooms in the Recreation Center (Meeting Room A, Meeting Room B and the Social Hall). Finally, we have
agreed to work with you to make any additional necessary space available in the buildings you have already
reserved.
Given the above circumstances it is my opinion that the City is not required to make additional space
available at the library and I have so advised City staff. In light of this opinion it is my understanding that
the library director has chosen not to incur the additional expense of opening the library for the holding of
a caucus.
Ve y/ lu y yours, Z...--"-.x
Eleanor M. Dilkes
City Attorney
Cc: Steve Atkins, City Manager
Dale Helling, Assistant City Manager
Susan Craig, Library Director
City Council
Marian Kan', City Clerk
410 EAST WASHINGTON STREET * IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240-1826 · (319) 356-5000 · FAX (319) 356-5009
Dear, Mayoi and council members;
I would appreciate your close scrutiny of the correspondence that I received from the
City. It was my understanding that you would be provided the information on my water
hills, and makes a decision on the length of time that you would consider reimbursing me
for the defective meter in my home.
It was 17 years, but the code only allows for 5 years. The check and letter enclosed
bills me for the 300 cubic feet average per month over a 5-year period, but then bills me
again for July and August of this year by deducting $337.27. That is the amount that I
was billed using the old meter readings! Should I not have paid an amount based on an
average of 300 cubic feet for those two months also?
Please consider charging someone to look at the 17-year period. I am asking for a fair
settlement for both parties, the people of Iowa City and me.
Thanks for Your patience
Steve O'Donnell
21 North 7th Ave.
Iowa City, Iowa 52245
(319-337-3607)
August 28, 2003 ~ CJ[~ Of
Steven O'Dounell
21 N. 7th Ave
Iowa City, IA 52245-3301
Re: Utility Account: # 050-355-01
Service Address: 21 N. 7th Ave
Dear Mr. O'Donnell:
We have recently completed our review of the above utility account. The review
determined that a billing error occurred due to a malfunctioning water meter. A credit
refund in the amount of $2020.87 will be granted.
The credit refund was calculated by using the industry standard of 300 cubic fi for 5 years
(18,000 cuft) at our current water and sewer rates. Based on the industry standard
calculation, you would have been billed $1719.00. Our records show that over the past
five years you were billed 48,565 cubic feet of water and sewer usage in the amount of
$3739.87. The credit refund is the difference, in the amount of $2020.87. Enclosed is the
current rate schedule and five years of billing history for your records.
The credit refund in the amount of $2020.87 will be applied to your utility account. The
current balance due on your utility account is $337.27. A refund check in the amount of
$1683.60 is enclosed.
If you have any questions or if I can be of any more assistance, please call me at
(319} 356-5066, ext. 2258.
Sincerely, ~
Lori Hanna
Customer Service Representative ~-~
Encl.
CC: Director of Finance
City Manager
410 EAST WASHINGTON STREET · IOWA CITY, IOWA 52240-1825 ' (319) 356-5000 * FAX (319) 356-5009
CITY UTILITY RATES
Water Monthly Charge
Minimum Monthly Charge Monthly Usage Rates
Meter Size (inches) Rate Cubic Feet Rate
5/8 (residential size) $7.10 First 100/mo. min. monthly charge
% $7.76 101-3,000/mo. $3.32/100 cu. ft.
I $9.15 3,001 and over $2.38/100 cu. ft.
1% $18.25
2 $24.53 Single Purpose Meter Charges*
3 $45.33 Fimt 100/mo. min. monthly charge
4 $79.08 Over 1011mo. $3.32/100 cu. ft.
6 $159.13
* Water usage only. There will be no minimum monthly charge for a single-purpose water meter ~,u.i
November to March for those months during which no water is used.
Sewer Monthly Charge (based on total water consumption)
Minimum Monthly Charge (includes the first 100 cu. ft. used) $7.18
Each Additional 100 cu. ft. $3.52
Garbage and Recycling Garbage Recycling
fMonthly Fee per Unit $9.00 $3.10
(per single-family dwelling or each apartment up to four units)
Current rates as of July 1, 2003
~,~~ CITY OF IOWA CITY No. 518114
~"~-~ 410 EAST WASHINGTON STREET
', ~ Cltl~ot..~ / (~9) 3s6-sooo DATE
PAY One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty Three Dollars and 80 Cents
O'DONNELL, STEVE CITY OF IOWA CITY
TO IH£ 21 N ?TH AVE
OBD£R
,"Sl.,q,l.l.l,"" I:O?3q;2l'f-,;21*l: "'00 [00;2
518114
,~l.,r'[7~'~.-mr IOWA~./l~.t~e"W]'T~ 410 EAST WAS H l N G T O N ST R E E T
INVOIGE
DESCRIPTION NUMBER AMOUNT
REFUND ACCT 050-35501 I $1,683.60
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
1,719.00.
b719- DO -
000
~020.87'
'~gO w~O~
August 28, 2003
Dear Mayor Lehman and members of the City Council,
I have been a daily bus rider for the last 23 years. I am depended on Iowa City
Transit to get me where I need to go. Transit is one of the best services the City
provides. That being said, I am deeply saddened that the transit office downtown will
be closing tomorrow. It seems to me that this provided bus riders and others with a
great way to access some basic city services. And as a City employee I just don't buy
this it's a budget cut excuse. Closing this office was not on Mr. Atkins list of ways to trim
the budget. I know I was there. I have copies of his proposals. What disappoints me is
that there was no warning this was coming. Why couldn't there be some time for the
public to suggest ideas to save this service? I am going to suggest late as it is, that you
reconsider this. Perhaps if staffing is a problem why not borrow a staff member from
each division to man the desk for one afternoon a week? Monday finance, Tuesday
the library, Wednesday parks and recreation etc. Get divisions that handle money and
have them work the desk. A lot of money was spent to build that office. Now it is
nothing more than an expensive toilet for bus drivers. Would you have the money if
you had charged the .10 for that damned free shuttle that benefits only a few? Please
reconsider this.
Terri Byers
2509 Neva~ Avm~e
Iowa C~ty, IA 52240-67/6
Marian Karr
From: mjc [mcrane@Lcom.net]
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 2:19 PM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Subject: congratulation!
congratulations iowa city---the binge drinking capital of the world!!! what a joke if it weren't so true and such a serious
problem!
michael crane, md
8/27/03
LEGACY POINTE
Assisted Living Community
Active Living With Comfortable Care
To:
Emie Lehman
Connie Champion
Dee Vanderhoef
Irvin Pfab
Mike O'Donnell
Ross Wilburn
Steven Kanner
The Dial Companies and Independence Ridge Apartment Homes would like to cordially
invite all Iowa City city council members to be our special guests for a groundbreaking
ceremony and ribbon cutting at the future home of Independence Ridge on Friday,
September 5th at 11 a.m. The Iowa City Chamber of Commerce will be present for the
ribbon cutting, precisely at I 1 a.m.
The Independence Ridge Apartment Homes will be a unique 24-unit independent living
facility for seniors 60 and older that will open in the summer of 2004. Independence
Ridge is the newest member of the Legacy Pointe campus at 1020 South Scott Blvd.
We look forward to seeing all of you at our ceremony, and then feel free to stick around
for a complimentary barbecue and live music.
Please RSVP by September 3rd. Thanks, I hope to meet ail of you on the 5th.
Sincerely,
Steve em oom
Marketing Director
Legacy Pointe Assisted Living
Independence Ridge Apartment Homes
(319) 341-0911
1020 S. Scott Blvd. · Iowa City, IA 52240
(319) 341-0911
ProfessionallyManagedbyDialSeniorManagement, Inc.
Marian Karr
From: Lisa Mollenhauer
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 12:38 PM
To: 'Mjosmith 1930@aol.com'
Cc: Jim Protaskey; *City Council; Steve Atkins; Rick Fosse; Brad Neumann
Subject: Refuse Collection
Ms. Smith,
Thank you for your note to the City Council. Your letter is an official public record and as such will be included on
Council's next Formal Agenda Consent Calendar (as will this response). This note is also being forwarded to the City
Manager who was aware of your concern before I responded to your phone message.
It is my understanding you have a 4-unit building. You are charged a $9/month garbage fee/unit which allows the
collection of either one 65-gallon tipper cart (provided by the City) or two 35 gallon bags or cans (again, per unit). This fee
is charged whether or not you use the maximum allowable collection capacity. You are displeased with having to pay the
$9 per month per unit fee when the garbage produced by the four units will fit into two tipper carts. You indicated to me
you had only two tipper carts (apparently a misunderstanding on original delivery of carts) for the building and, since you
didn't have the other two, did not want to pay for them. My response was that the tenants of your building are able to set
out a total of two tipper carts and four 35 gallon bags, and that you would be assessed the $9 per month per unit
fee whether or not your tenants put out the maximum allowed (as is the case with every household). I was also told
Streets offered to deliver the other two tipper carts but you refused. You then indicated to me that you wanted them
delivered. (The information I received from Streets has since been corrected - we have no additional carts at this time but
you have been put on a waiting list until they arrive.) Until they are delivered, your tenants are able to set out a total
of four extra bags, so you are able to receive a service being charged.
Particularly with good recycling skills, many Iowa City residents only utilize collection of one bag per household even
though they are charged for two. Interestingly, we also receive comments from residents that the maximum allowed
capacity is not enough - they do not appreciate having to purchase stickers for excess trash. As a compromise, the policy
of charging for a minimum of either one tipper cart (65 ga) or two 35 ga bags/cans was established by the City Council
many years ago.
Again, thank you for your note. Although you don't agree with the City's refuse collection policy, I appreciate the
opportunity to discuss it with you.
Lisa
Lisa Mo~lenhauer
Administrative Assistant to the City Manager
City of Iowa City
410 E Washingto~l Street
Iowa City, IA 52240
(319) 356-5010
.... Original Message .....
From: Mjosmith1930~aol.com [mailto:Mjosmith1930~aol.com]
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 11:57 AM
To: council~iowa-city.org
Subject: (no subject)
My name is M. Joan Smith, I hive at 1225 East Davenport Street. I have a four unit apartment house. I
occupy the main floor of this building. When I read my City Services Bill I find I am being charged for 4 of
the tippy garbage cans. I only have 2 of these cans. I have only used two of these cans once since they
were delivered. I am paying $18.00 a month for two cans that I don't have and can't use because the City
doesn't have the cans to give me. I ask you, is that fair????
When I talked to the Refuse Department I was told in so many words "Tough, you have the 4 apartments
8/18/03
Page 2 of 2
and we don't care if you are paying for four cans and only have two". I then called our City Managers Office
and talked to Lisa, who I thought was rather short, and her solution was for them to come out and deliver me
two more cans which I wouldn't use.
I then called Dee VanderHoef. Her solution was for me to raise the rents on my apartments. A solution that
makes no sense to me. I am still paying $18.00 a month for something I don't have and wouldn't use if I had
them. You people are always saying the rents in Iowa City are too high. I wonder why!!
A Mr. Jim Protasky came out and visited with me. I was told that he doesn't have two cans to give me. SO
again, I am paying $200 a year for something I don't have and don't need. I must say he was very nice, he
understands the problem. So the end result is I am being cheated out of $18.00 a month for something
don't have and don't need.
I would like this forwarded to our City Manager as I can't find his address.
Certainly there must be something you can do about this.
M. Joan Smith
8/18/03
Marian Karr
From: Lisa Mollenhauer
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 1:16 PM
To: 'Bill Larson'
Cc: *City Council; Ron Knoche; Rick Fosse
Subject: RE: Maintenance of Mormon Trek Blvd Grass
Mr. Larson,
Thank you for your note to the City Council. It will be distributed to Council as an official, public record on their next Formal
Agenda Consent Calendar.
The renovation project along Mormon Trek was partially funded by The University of iowa. One of their stipulations was
that the landscaping in that designated area (including the median) be wild prairie plantings. This was not the City's
choice.
If you have questions or comments about the plantings, I would encourage you to contact Larry Wilson of The University of
Iowa at 335-1206 or larry-wilson@uiowaedu.
We appreciate hearing your concerns.
Lisa
Lisa Mollenhauer
Administrative Assistant to the City Manager
City of Iowa City
410 E Washington Street
Iowa City, IA 52240
(319) 356-5010
..... Original Message .....
From: Bill Larson [mailto:bill4food@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 7:49 AM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Subject: Maintenance of Mormon Trek BIvd Grass
Dear Iowa City Council Members:
First of all let me tell you how happy I am to be living in, as well as
owning and operating a dining business in the Greater Coralville/Iowa City
area.
My dining establishment is in Coralville, and we are usually busy as a
matter of course thorughout the year, but this past summer we have been
especially busy with the many tourists, and parents of new students going
through freshman and new student orientation. My employees and I overhear
many conversations as well as directly being told suggestions and comments,
about the restaurants and the Coralville-lowa City area.
t want to express one comment directly to you that is recurring. Almost
daily we have heard people stating how they can immediately determine where
the dividing line between Coralville and Iowa City is situated.
While driving along First Avenue in Coralville and where it continues in
Iowa City on Mormon Trek Boulevard, countless people mention the difference
between the carefully manicured landscaping bordering First Avenue, and how
it changes drastically as they drive under the railroad trestle bridge as it
becomes under the Iowa City jurisdiction. As the people travel to the new
!
University of Iowa Sports Hall of Fame building especially, they mention how
the tall weeds in the median boulevard and along the shoulders of the road
detract from the beauty of the Finkbine Golf Course and the entrance view of
the Hall of Fame building. They notice how the grass is not mowed at all,
and how beautiful it could really be as an entrance to Iowa City if the
Parks Department would take an pro-active role in cutting the grass and
removing the tall weeds. I must tell you that many of the parents
(students) will often say something like: "It's like Coralville really cares
about the image it presents and the amount of landscaping care it provides,
and Iowa City just lets it go and forgets about it". Often times, I've seen
the City Administrator of Coralville, himself, out checking over the works
his crews do on Highway 6 and on First Avenue, and on quite a few occasions,
getting right into the action to string holiday lights and other projects.
I would suggest that each of you take a drive along Mormon Trek sometime and
see for yourselves how it appears as a nicely paved road through a field of
tall weeds.
I only am providing this message to help you present the best image possible
to visitors---and to residents as well. We all need to work together in the
area, since we all are living together here, trying to make it the best
place possible as we conduct business. It's a prime area in which we should
all be proud, since we can offer so much to visitors and residents alike.
Bill Larson
Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*
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Marian Karr
From: Lisa Mollenhauer
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 1:13 PM
To: 'Jamie Johnson'
Cc: *City Council
Subject: RE: Hoops tournament
Mr. Johnson,
Thank you for your note to the City Council. As an official public document, it will be included on their next Formal Agenda
Consent Calendar which will be distributed Thursday, September 4.
If you wish to communicate with Council before that, I suggest you contact them via telephone. Their phones numbers are
available at http://www, icgov.org/citycouncil.htm
Have a great afternoon.
Lisa
Lisa Mollenhauer
Administrative Assistant to the City Manager
City of Iowa City
410 E Washington Street
Iowa City, IA 52240
(319) 356-5010
..... Original Message .....
From: Jamie Johnson [mailto:jamie@futurestarsonline.com]
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 12:30 PM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Subject: Hoops tournament
FutureStars Basketball would like to extend a special offer to the City of
Iowa City to become secondary sponsor or an advertiser during our AutoGlass
Center "Hoops in the Heartland" FutureStars Invitational, which will be held
October 17th -19th, 2003 at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.
The AutoGlass Center "Hoops in the Heartland" FutureStars Invitational is an
annual basketball event, which draws 32 of the top AAU and high school
basketball teams from across the United States into Hawkeye Country! There
will be approximately 400 players participating in the event, plus thousands
more who will attend the tournament during the weekend.
This is a tremendous opportunity for the City of Iowa City to make a
difference is these kids lives by helping us with our basketball tournament.
Many of these kids will go on to college, as students or as student
athletes. This event allows them to showcase their skills in hopes of
landing a college scholarship.
Many current and former Hawkeye's have played in this event over the years.
Here's a list of past participants: Nick Collison (Kansas and NBA), Kirk
Hinrich (Kansas and NBA), Dean Oliver (Iowa and NBA), Ricky Davis (Iowa and
NBA), Glenn Worley (Iowa), Jeff Hornet (Iowa), Greg Brunner (Iowa), Mike
Henderson (Iowa), and Nick DeWitz (Iowa). The best players from the state
of Iowa play for Martin Brothers Select, who will be in the field of 32.
I will be in touch with you by Friday August 22nd, 2003 to see if the City
of Iowa City has any interest in working with us on this event. We'll also
1
see if you have any interest in advertising and/or becoming a secondary
sponsor at our annual basketball tournament.
Thank you for your time and consideration. If you should have any
questions, please feel free to contact me at anytime.
Sincerely,
Jamie M. Johnson
FutureStars Basketball
Hoopmasters.com
1-800-659-9522
Jamie@hoopmasters.com
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Ru~ 15 03 12:I?p The
~L~BS Miller could not be reached According topolice andcourt me~d ittothe fttllcouncil.
for comment by the ~ua~-C/~y documents, Miller was among Under Iowa law,
T~mes. Jacobs did not return 11 dancers at an adult club licenses must win lot
ontinue fi`om Page A1 repeated calls from the Times to called Beach Girls in rural West approvalbefore they go on to
· ies to obscure his intent, but his off.me Des Moines who were arrested Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Di
~ believe that he is involved The city's legal department during a raid alter undercover sion for final approval,
iihtheclub,"saidStevenWar- does not routinely check the officers observed thern exposing Lynn Walding, the agenc;
asse, a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, accuracy of information on their breasts in violation of adminb, i~-ator. Non-slcoh
lwyer who ~ed the suits on liquor and adult i~-siness locallaws, related misdemeanors are
ehalf of Daisy. Docks' owners, license applications, Corpora- $~t. Mike Ficoola, a likely to delay or block issuar
tion Counsel Mary Thee said. spokesman for the West Des of a licens~
l'minpessessiono~ documents . "We don't do a legal review Moines police, said that aside However, pertof lowa'sliqt
aattndicateclearlyhisinvolv~ tmlessthereisaque.~,~.ton,"she fi`om the1999 raid, BeachGiris laws requtres applicants to b~
lent, but I'm not at liberty to said. wasnota consistent trouble spot. "good moral character," Wa
iveyoude~l-atthistima" The police depariment con- "In the past 90 days, we've ingsaid. The allency also take
He described Roemer as a for. ducts criminal back~'ound made fob:?/;',il)s out there, and dim view of applicants who
let partner in Daisy' Docks checks on applicants for liquor three ..'.a. ~ for alarms," he said. not truthful. If inaccurate in/
~ho, alon~ with three other end adult business licenses. 'We give it regular patrols, so mationisdiscoveredonenap]
ssociates, sidled the noncom- Law requires applicants to list maybe that's why we don't ~ee cation, that is ~roundsto revl
eie agreement so none of them criminal offenses. Adult-bnsi- much trouble there." or deny a license, he said.
wuld "bolt and open up a com- ness license applicants also ~,t. Jcop~merrecommended Based on the dispute betwt
ettnEbusineasnearby.~ must submit ~rinis. al~proval of Miller's liquor- Roemer and the owners
Roemer said the suit is beinl Miller listed two misde- license application altar Daven- DaisyDooksasoutllnedini
rehesttated by Speer, who he meaner offenses on her liquor- port police reviewed it. He was lawsuits, Warbasse said
aid is a partner in end tho gen- license al)l~lication. Both unavailable for domment when would "not be surprised"
ral menater of Daisy Docks. occurred in Iowa and, in both the T/roes attempted to contact information on Miller's apl~li
le declined further comment, cases, she paid a fin~ One c/the him. The City Council's Public tious.was found to be untrue.
eferrint other questioas to his offenses was a 1999 arrest in Safety Committee is scheduled
.tterney,.$terenJacshsofDav- Dallas County, Iowa, for inde- to review the lieense Thursday
nport, end to Miller. cent exposura and decide whether to recom-
Iowa Fire Equipment Comp
2800 DELAWARE · DES MOINES, IA 50317 · PHONE (515) 265-8030
327 FIRST STREET · IOWA CITY, IA 52240 · PHONE (319) 337-4434 O
FAX (515) 265-7649 · WATS (800) 798-1440
Ernie Lehman, Mayor ~ )00 '~ [[
City of Iowa City
410 East Washington ~ ~
Iowa City, Iowa 52240
Dear Mayor Lehman,
I am writing to ask you the proper procedure to follow to request Iowa City's City
Council review and modify a provision in an Iowa City ordinance.
A recently enacted ordinance requires that all firms and individuals providing certain
types of fire protection services be licensed by Iowa City.
While we strongly support the licensing of companies in the fire protection field, we
believe the specific provision in this ordinance, requiring a NICET level employee,
licensed by Iowa City, remain on site during the entire scope of work, needs
reconsideration.
We operate in nine states and have over 11,000 customers. No other jurisdiction in which
we operate has this specific requirement.
The bill currently under consideration by the State of Iowa and by the U.S. House of
Representatives require a" managing employee" be NICET certified, but do not require
the certification holder to be on the job site during the entire scope of work. They must
supervise and oversee the project, but aren't required to remain on site while every bolt is
turned and every screw is tightened.
All the other jurisdictions we also operate in, who require NICET certification, do not
require the NICET level certification holder to be on site.
We respectfully are requesting that this portion of the ordinance be modified to require a
NICET level employee supervise and oversee the installation, inspection, maintenance,
and repair of fire notification and suppression systems, but not be required to be at each
job location.
"With a Commitment to ~)
Customer Satisfaction~
Unfortunately, the current ordinance has required us to send letters to our Iowa City
customers either canceling their contract with us or dramatically increasing their cost.
We had planned on expanding our Iowa City office and had been looking for a larger
facility within Iowa City. Those plans, of course, are on hold.
Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
R~sl;~tfullv
David Findl~cr'
Business Manager
Iowa Fire Equipment Company
dbfindlev(a~iafire.com
cc: Stephan Atkins, IC City Administrator
files
Marian Karr
From: Genesis Group [thegenesisgospelgroup@hotmaiLcom]
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 12:16 PM
To: marian_karr@iowa-city.org
Cc: connie_champion@iowa-city.org; dee_vanderhoef@iowa-city.org; ernie_lehman@iowa-
city.org; irvin_pfab@iowa-city.org; mike_odonnell@iowa~city.org; ross_wilburn@iowa-c[ty.org;
stephen_atkins@iowa-city.org
Subject: E-MaiJed Article
Could you be certain to circulate to the entire council and the city manager
a copy of this article. I think it is timely, especially since it seems I
was "misquoted" and "misunderstood" almost immediately, concerning the
"individualization aspects" of city ordinances and policies implemented,
which I characterized as being bigoted.
It seems there isn't much concern unless one is on the "receiving end" of
the constructs (ordinances and policies) put into place, or when those
constructs (ordinances and policies) are "questioned and criticized." As I
stated to a couple of the council members abd a number of people in the
community in the last few days, we have an expectation that city ordinances
and policies be administered in an even-handed non-disparate manner.
James Thomas
131 North First Avenue
Iowa city, IA
319 358 9585
Get MSN 8 and help protect your children with advanced parental controls.
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 1 of 10
Constitutional Commentary (Minnesota)
8 (1991): 395.
Posted for Educational use only. The printed edition remains canonical. For citational use please visit the local law library or obtain a
back issue.
VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE
SOCIETY
Douglas Laycock *
One of the less attractive patterns in human behavior is our tendency to stereotype those with whom
whom we disagree, those whose interests conflict with our own, or those who are simply different
from ourselves. Such stereotypes create and reinforce prejudice, and they distort our politics, our
policy debates, and our constitutional debates. These evils are of course well known; they are an
important part of racism, sexism, and discrimination against lesbians and gays. But we do not
appear to have generalized the lessons.
Among the educated classes that have been most sensitized to the dangers of the most widely
condemned stereotypes, other stereotypes and prejudices flourish. Respected academics and
journalists, and respected journals who pride themselves on their tolerance, publish extraordinary
statements about groups that have generally failed to engage the sympathies of intellectuals.
In this brief comment, I wish to illustrate the point with a few clear examples. Some involve
religion; one involves a potpourri of political and class biases. These are by no means the only
examples; the problem is pervasive. Many of us-probably most of us-have acted on unstated and
unexamined assumptions that would be as offensive as these if we committed them to print without
the veil of euphemisms. Printed or unprinted, flagrant or veiled, these stereotypes are corrosive of
the social fabric. The only way to resist is to highlight them and to sensitize ourselves to them.
[Page 396]
One group that can still be safely insulted is the seriously religious. Fundamentalists, evangelicals,
and Catholics remain fair game in many circles. Michael Smith has collected numerous
antireligious passages in Supreme Court opinions,[1] one of them a quotation from an anti-Catholic
hate tract. [2]
Suzanna Sherry, writing in the Michigan Law Review, equated fundamentalist legislators with racist
racist school boards: "There are still racist school boards in a nation that generally finds racism
intolerable, fundamentalist legislators in a nation that rejects a national religion, and so on."[3] The
skillful parallelism of the sentence packs powerful implications. Fundamentalism is parallel to
racism as a threat to constitutional values; fundamentalists oppose the consensus against a national
religion just as racists oppose the consensus against racism. If Professor Sherry knows that
fundamentalist legislators are protected by the test oath clause,[4] she gives no hint of it. If she
knows that few fundamentalists want a national religion, she gives no hint of that either.
Another example comes from Roger Mudd on National Public Television, on a special on religious
liberty (of all things). An historian explained to Mudd that James Madison's fight against religious
establishment in Virginia depended on the support of large numbers of evangelical Protestants. [5]
Mudd responded: "That's really an interesting political alliance ... to have enlightened men of
reason tied in with the evangelicals."[6] Apparently Mudd thinks that no evangelical can be
enlightened or a man of reason, and that it is surprising to find that evangelicals would support
anything an enlightened man of reason would support.
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 2 of 10
A similar thought appears in Professor Sherry's comment that "divine revelation and biblical
literalism are irrational superstitious [Page 397] nonsense."[7] This is somewhat different, because
at least in form the attack is on particular ideas and not on the people who hold those ideas. But the
harsh tone suggests a related disrespect for the people who would believe such things. These people
would seem to be irrational, superstitious, and lacking in sense. That implication is consistent with
her more personal attack on fundamentalist legislators.
Survey evidence shows that the great bulk of the population believes in divine revelation. Some
83% feel extremely close or somewhat close to God, 86% believe the Bible is divinely inspired,
and 37% believe "the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for
word."[8] Whatever one thinks of the merits of these beliefs, the millions of Americans who hold
them do not generally behave in irrational or superstitious ways.
Academic hostility to serious religion is part of a larger cultural gulf in contemporary society. The
Wall Street Journal denounces limousine liberals, the Beltway crowd, and the white wine and brie
set. The people targeted by these labels denounce Reaganites, hardhats, white ethnics, or-if they are
above a certain age-Archie Bunker types. Some of these labels target a cluster of attitudes, some
target a specific group, and none are used with precision. But from either side, such labels embody
a set of political and cultural stereotypes: a whole group of people all have the same bad ideas, and
that whole group of people is dangerous. Just how extreme such stereotypes can be is illustrated by
Wendy Brown's remarkable anecdote in the Yale Law dournal. [9]
The anecdote is this: Emerging from a back-packing trip deep in the Sierra Nevada, Professor
Brown discovered that her car would not start.[10] She enlisted the aid of a nearby sportsman, who
spent the next two hours helping her get the car started. Her benefactor was culturally and
politically very different fi'om Professor Brown. He was wearing a National Rifle Association cap,
he was surveying the woods for his hunting club, he was drinking beer and reading a porn
magazine, and he had a satellite dish on his Winnebago.
Professor Brown apparently disapproves of all these things, which is her right. So far it is a
wonderful story about the best of America: two strangers who disagree on practically everything,
ig- [Page 398] noring differences of politics, sex, and social and economic class, cooperating in the
wilderness to solve a serious problem faced by only one of them. If de Tocqueville had been there,
he would have reported it to his readers in France.
But, Professor Brown reflects, it is fortunate that she had three friends with her. If she had run into
this man alone in the woods, she "would have been seized with one great and appropriate fear:
rape."[11] Perhaps she would experience this fear because rape is so horrible that even a small risk
looms large, and because at any time, and with any male not well known and fully trusted, there is
some statistical risk of rape. I quite agree that rape is horrible, that there was some risk, that/fthe
man had a propensity to rape, isolation and a gun would present a favorable opportunity and thus
increase the risk, and that Professor Brown would be naive never to think of this risk. If her point
were confined to this universal risk, it would arouse little comment.
Even so, it is significant that this general fear of rape from any unknown male is analogous to the
fear of street crime that many urban citizens experience when they encounter an unknown black.
[12] Both fears project on all members of a large class the dangers associated with a statistical risk
arising from the misconduct of a small subset of the class. This is the essence of stereotyping-to
attribute to all members of a group the bad traits of a few.
The fear of unknown blacks is widely deemed racist, and is unlikely to be legitimated in the pages
of the Yale Law dournal. Treating all unknown blacks with visible caution may be entirely rational
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES 1N POLITE SOCIETY Page 3 of 10
to the risk averse, but it is properly condemned because it imposes serious costs in racial isolation
and ostracism on all blacks, the great majority of whom are law abiding. II 3] Similarly, however
rational it is for women to take precautions against unknown males, visibly treating all males as
potential rapists inflicts costs on the innocent majority and further strains relations between the
sexes. Whatever precautions may be necessary, it is important to distinguish in thought and rhetoric
between two propositions: (1) Some men are potential rapists, and because it is impossible to tell
which ones, there is always some risk. (2) All men are potential rapists. Proposition (1) is true, but
proposition (2) does not follow from (1).
Professor Brown's anecdote goes well beyond either of these [Page 399] propositions. The
juxtaposition of her fear of rape with this man's personal characteristics plainly implies that with
this man, she perceived the risk of rape to be significantly greater than average. She could tell that
he was a likely rapist because of his NRA cap, his hunting club, his beer, his satellite dish, and his
porn magazine. That charge is implicit in the entire anecdote; there is no other reason to dwell on
his personal characteristics. She eventually makes the point explicit: "During the hours I spent with
him, I had no reason to conclude that his respect for women's personhood ran any deeper than his
respect for the lives of Sierra deer..."!! [ 14]
There are indeed people in our society who have no more respect for humans than for animals. We
call them psychopaths, and when they act on their impulses and we catch them, we lock them up.
They are mostly male, but as far as I can tell, they are a tiny percentage of the population. What is
the evidence that this man was a psychopath? Well, the NRA cap, the hunting club, the beer, the
satellite dish, and the porn magazine.
We also have the evidence that he spent two hours of his limited time in the mountains helping a
total stranger fix her car. The stranger was a woman, and he gave his time to help her; that is some
reason to conclude that he respects women more than deer. That he offered to help her is not
dispositive, as there are occasional accounts of men who help a woman and then rape her. But there
is no evidence that Professor Brown's benefactor was such a man. He simply helped her.
That did not earn him any credit with her, nor did it provide her any evidence that he respected
women more than deer. Nothing in his individual conduct could overcome Professor Brown's
stereotype. If you fixedly believe that blacks are lazy, a hardworking black is "no reason to
conclude" otherwise. Either he is an exception, or his hard work is invisible to you. For Professor
Brown, NRA members with porn magazines are likely rapists who think of women as animals, and
individual traits and conduct are invisible to her even when she is the beneficiary.
Professor Brown's description of her benefactor emphasizes their political disagreements, but there
are also important elements of class bias in the story, especially in its comparison of his beer and
television to her trail mix and Nietzsche. However heroic the working class may be in the abstract,
its members are a perpetual disappointment to many academics. They do not believe what
academics believe, read what academics read, or choose the recreation that [Page 400] academics
choose. They are also widely thought to be intolerant. But as far as I can tell, no class and no
political faction dominates the market in intolerance.[15]
Friends who read this article in manuscript had divided reactions to Professor Brown's anecdote.
Some readers of each sex found it outrageous; other readers of each sex suggested exculpatory
explanations. Patricia Cain reports a different distribution of reactions.[ 16] In her experience most
men are outraged by the anecdote, and most women are outraged by the male reaction. We are both
generalizing from small and unrepresentative samples; neither of us has a careful study of the
correlates of reactions to the Brown anecdote. But I think I have a more politically diverse set of
reactions. It seems clear to me that the most important variable that causes different reactions is not
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 4 of 10
sex, but politics. Liberal individualist feminists of either sex may be outraged by the Brown
anecdote, but somewhere on the cominuum from liberal individualist feminism to radical class-
oppression feminism, people first begin to explain the anecdote away, then to not be troubled by it
at all, and finally, to be angry at the suggestion that anyone might have been offended.
The suggested exculpatory explanations of the Brown anecdote are revealing in themselves. One
reader said that Professor Brown was talking about her feelings, and not about an objective increase
in risk. Another said that maybe she was talking about a tiny Bayesian increase in risk, but even a
tiny increase is significant when the risk is as horrible as rape.
The extreme subjectivity of the first explanation contrasts sharply with the mathematical rigor of
the second. Both explanations came from my readers' advocacy skills; neither came from the
apparent meaning of Brown's text. These are the sort of explanations that are greeted with derision
after a public figure says something offensive to racial minorities. If the authenticity of Professor
Brown's feelings makes objective data irrelevant, then the authentic feelings of confirmed racists
are equally valid and make objective data equally irrelevant. A willingness to explain away slurs
against some groups, while putting the worst possible reading on every real [Page 401] or imagined
slight against other groups, independemly illustrates the problem I am describing.
It is useful to consider how the story would have been told if Professor Brown's car had broken
down in Harlem instead of in the mountains. Suppose her benefactor had been a young black male
with a radical political button, and suppose he carried a gun, a beer, a porn magazine, and a
boombox. I am confident that her report of the encounter would have been very different. Either her
fear of rape would not have appeared in a respectable journal, or it would have appeared in a
confessional tone and emphasized a very different moral. The point would have been: "He came
only to help me, and I was afraid to let him help; see how fear and racism distorts our whole
society." The point would not have been: "I was forced to ask him for help, and it is a good thing I
was not alone or he might have raped me."
Some readers are undoubtedly thinking that stereotyping blacks or women or even white males is
importantly different from stereotyping NRA members, evangelicals, or porn readers. NRA
members, evangelicals, and porn readers have evidenced a belief, or at least a taste, that they hold
individually and that makes them different in some important way from people who do not hold the
same belief or have the same taste. But any individual black or woman or white male may be
different from even a statistically accurate generalization about the group into which he or she was
born.
This difference is real. It is reasonable to infer that Professor Brown and her NRA benefactor
disagree fundamentally about guns, about hunting, and about pornography. They probably disagree
about sex roles, but this inference is less certain.[ 17] It is entirely legitimate to take their
disagreements seriously, and for each to argue about the costs that the other's views and behavior
might impose on other individuals or on the society generally. It is equally legitimate for religious
believers and non-believers to take their disagreements seriously.
What is illegitimate is to assume that these real differences imply other more offensive differences,
up to and including a propensity to felony. Millions of American men own guns, go hunting, drink
beer, and read porn magazines. The group targeted by Brown's smear includes my father, my
father-in-law, and most of the working-class men I knew as a youth. They were mostly decent
human beings, struggling to support their families, with a small [Page 402] fraction of the power
and status that Wendy Brown enjoys as a tenured academic. In retrospect, I do not think much of
their sexual politics, although at least one of them raised an extraordinary daughter. But it is an
enormous inferential leap from their politics and their social class to a propensity to rape. Very few
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 5 of 10
men of any social class rape strangers in surprise attacks or equate women with the deer they hunt.
There is a name for the mental process that imputes to such a large group the evil of a few
members. The name is bigotry.
It is easy to be tolerant of unimportant differences. But all of us tend to think the worst of people
who disagree with us on really important things. We tend to assume that our opponents followed
the same chain of reasoning we did, so that if they reject our conclusion, they must also reject our
most fundamental premise. If they believe that-fill in any belief that really upsets you-then they
must also believe even worse things, and if they believe such bad things, they are likely to act on
them. We have all thought in this way, and sometimes spoken or written in this way. I do not
exempt myself.
Direct mail fund raisers play on these stereotypes, aggravate them, and profit from them. II8] It is
much easier to raise money to fight the devil than to raise money to fine-tune the balance of
interests between two groups of Americans who subscribe to many of the same basic values.
Stereotyping the opponent lends itself to powerful labels in an argument. There is emotional punch
to calling someone a racist or a likely rapist, an atheist or a communist, a persecutor or a fanatic.
Willingness to use such labels can intimidate some opponents into silence.
But these stereotypes also poison our public discourse, distort our understanding of the real
differences among us, and reduce the chances for resolving those differences even in part. These
stereotypes corrode the bonds of mutual concern and respect that hold a pluralistic society together.
These bonds are stretched enough by honest disagreement and simple demands for change. Once in
our history they broke entirely, and some minority groups have been placed outside their protection
for long periods. But generally these bonds have held. They make it unsurprising when Americans
from "opposite ends of the political and cultural universe" help one another.[ 19]
To corrode these bonds unnecessarily is a dangerous thing. [Page 403] And we should have no
illusions about who is most endangered. In any outbreak of intolerance, in any reduction of mutual
concern and respect, the weak and oppressed will suffer more than the strong and dominant. Those
who are most endangered by stereotypes and prejudice have special reasons to avoid invoking their
own stereotypes and prejudices against others.
Appendix
At the risk of diverting the issue, I feel compelled by readers' comments to report some of the
available social science data on the stereotypes embodied in Professor Brown's anecdote. I
emphasize that the data in this Appendix are distinctly secondary to my principal point. It is
generally a mistake to think of persons with different political or cultural values as prone to rape or
any other evil. That point holds whatever the general incidence of rape, and even if rape occurs at a
slightly higher rate among the particular political or cultural group than in the general population.
The issue I raise is not whether the true risk is 10% or 1% or 1/10 of 1%, but rather that it is wrong
to impute the dangerous propensity to the other 90%, 99%, or 99.9%.
The cumulative risk of rape over a lifetime is substantial, but the risk in any one encounter with an
unknown male is incalculably small. The largest data set is the Justice Department's fourteen-year
aggregation of data from the National Crime Survey. [20] More than one hundred thousand
respondents per year, half of them women, all age twelve or older, were asked a series of questions
about whether they had been victims of crime in the preceding year. The reported annual incidence
of rape and attempted rape was 1.6 per 1000 women, or 1/6 of 1%.[21] In the Survey questionnaire,
a "verbal threat" of rape counts as an attempt,[22] and in an earlier publication based on the first ten
years of these data, 25% of the reported incidents were verbal threats.[23] Over the entire fourteen-
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 6 of 10
year period, the annual rate of completed rapes in the general female population aged 12 and over
was .6 per 1000, or about 6/100 of 1%.[24] Only about half these incidents had been reported to the
po- [Page 404] lice.[25] Thus, the Survey does much to correct for the underreporting of rape in
official crime statistics. But there is still some underreporting in the Survey. A small study in San
Jose found that one-third of rapes reported to the police were not reported to interviewers when the
Survey questionnaire was later administered to victims.[26] There is no reliable way to estimate the
percentage of victims who report neither to the police nor to interviewers. If we inflate the Survey
data by a third based on the San Jose study, and by another third as a sheer guess about the rapes
reported to neither police nor interviewer, the annual rate of rape, attempted rape, and verbal threat
of rape rises to 2.8 per 1000, or not quite 3/10 of 1%.
The Survey reports age- and race-specific rates for seven age classes. J27] The highest rate was 5.5
per 1000 for black women aged 20-24. In the classes that include most women academics, the rate
was 2.3 per 1000 for white women aged 25-34, and .6 per 1000 for white women aged 35-49. If we
make the simplifying assumption that the reported rate for each age class applies to each age in the
class, and if we then cumulate the age-specific rates for each age, we get a crude estimate of the
lifetime risk of rape. These Survey data suggest that from age 12 to 80, 85.4 of every I000 women,
or about 8.5%, would experience a rape, attempted rape, or verbal threat of rape. Just over a third of
these women, or about 3% of the population, would experience a completed rape. If we inflate
these numbers by a third and then by another third as a crude estimate of underreporting, we get a
lifetime risk of 15.2% for rape, attempted rape, or verbal threat of rape, and 5.2% for completed
rape.[28]
An estimate of women's lifetime risk of rape is not an estimate of the percentage of men who will
rape. Large numbers of rapes are committed by a small number of serial rapists.[29] There is no
way to quantify this factor, but the percentage of men who rape-and thus the odds that Professor
Brown's benefactor might someday commit or attempt a rape-must be very much smaller than the
percentage of women who are raped. [Page 405]
These numbers from the National Crime Survey are considerably lower than the numbers
commonly cited in the feminist literature. The reasons for the discrepancy are complex and not
entirely clear. But I am tentatively persuaded by Susan Estrich, who concludes that the difference is
"largely definitional."[30] Most women appear not to define as rape a range of sexual pressure in
dating situations that feminist scholars do define as rape.[31 ] The percentage of men who would
take unfair advantage in a dating situation is probably much larger than the percentage of men who
would rape a stranger. Whatever one thinks of the moral value of that distinction, large numbers of
both men and women appear to see the situations as quite distinct. Estrich would begin to solve the
problem by defining degrees of rape, or lesser included offenses.[32]
This definitional dispute is not relevant to the Brown anecdote. Professor Brown was not in a
dating situation; what she had to fear was stranger rape at gunpoint. The National Crime Survey
data appears to provide the best available estimate of that risk. The Survey reports any incident that
the victim defines as a rape or attempted rape, and surely few women would define stranger rape at
gunpoint as anything other than rape.
There is no evidence that hunters or gun enthusiasts are disproportionately prone to rape. One study
found no correlation between reported incidents of rape and the number of hunting licenses issued
in a jurisdiction;J33] another study found statistically significant negative correlations after
controlling for population.[34] A third study found no correlation between rape and the number of
subscriptions to gun and hunting magazines.[35] A fourth study [Page 406] found no correlation
between gun ownership and attitudes toward feminism.[36] Guns are used in only 9% of all rapes
and attempts,[37] and it is a reasonable guess that nearly all of these are handguns rather than
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 7 of 10
hunting weapons. But Professor Brown is right that a gun increases a rapist's chance of success:
guns were used in 6% of attempted rapes and 13% of completed rapes.[38]
A Philadelphia study suggests that the rapist had been drinking in 24% of rapes,[39] but alcohol is
implicated in a much larger percentage of other violent crimes.[40] Thus, alcohol is generally
conducive to crime, including rape, but the relationship is weaker for rape than for other crimes. No
one appears to have studied whether beer drinkers, as opposed to wine drinkers or hard liquor
drinkers, are disproportionately prone to rape. Nor does anyone appear to have studied whether
owners of Winnebagos or satellite dishes are disproportionately prone to rape.
Whether rapists are incited by pornography is a hotly debated question. Many of the conflicting
studies are summarized in the Report of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography,
which tentatively concluded that sex offenses are related at least to exposure to violent or deviant
pornography at an unusually early age.[41] A more recent study found a statistically significant
correlation between rape rates and the sale of soft core pomographic magazines in each state.[42]
But the correlation disappeared when the researchers controlled for attitudes towards non-sexual
violence.[43]
Thus, there is evidence that some rapists have been influenced by alcohol or pornography. This
relationship might turn out to be substantial when rapists are the denominator-when we ask what
pementage of rapists drink beer or read pornographic magazines. But the effect remains very small
when rapists are the numerator- [Page 407] when we ask what percentage of men who drink beer or
read pornographic magazines commit or attempt rape.
Exposure to beer and pornographic magazines is very widespread. A Gallup Poll in 1985 reported
that more than 90% of American males under age 50 have "ever" read a magazine "like Playboy or
Penthouse," and that about 60% "sometimes buy or read" such magazines.[44] Similarly, some
72% of the male population sometimes drinks alcoholic beverages,[45] and 86% of what they drink
is beer.[46] Only a tiny percentage of these men ever rape or attempt to rape a stranger. The
inference from beer and a pornographic magazine to a risk of rape is weak-so weak that its
principal function is to viciously stereotype the great majority. Whatever the evils of alcohol and
pornography, it is a serious mistake to think of all these men as prone to rape in a chance encounter.
* Alice McKean Young Regents Chair in Law, The University of Texas at Austin. I am grateful to
Patricia Cain, Joe Feagin, Joseph Horn, Sanford Levinson, Carolyn Powe, Lucas Powe, Fred
Schauer, and Teresa Sullivan for comments on earlier drafts, and to Mark Warr for introducing me
to the social science literature on rape. I wrote most of this article during a very pleasant semester
at the University of Michigan Law School, where Audrey Anderson provided valuable research
assistance.
I should also note here my immense respect for a co-editor of this journal, Suzanna Sherry, who
chose to publish this article despite its harsh criticism of a short passage from her own writings. We
have agreed to disagree about the content of that passage. My account of that disagreement is that
even the most open-minded people can lapse into stereotypes on particular issues.
It is instructive to compare Professor Sherry's editorial response to that of the Yale Law Journal. I
submitted an earlier version of this paper to Yale as a reply to an article that had appeared in the
most recent issue of that journal. The editors never acknowledged receipt of the manuscript.
1. Michael E. Smith, The SpecialPlace of Religion in the Constitution, 1983 Sup. Ct. Rev. 83, 98-
100.
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 8 of 10
2. Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602, 635 n.20 (1971) (Douglas, concurring), quoting Loraine
Boettner, Roman Catholicism 360 (Presbyterian & Reformed Publ., 1962). For a description of the
Boettner book, see Douglas Laycock, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, 54 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 390,
418-21 (1977).
3. Suzanna Sherry, Outlaw Blues (Book Review), 87 Mich. L. Rev. 1418, 1432 (1989).
4. U.S. Const., art. VI, cl. 3. ("[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any
Office or public Trust under the United States."). The substance of the clause was applied to the
states in Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488 (1961).
5. For the relevant history, including the role of the evangelicals, see Thomas E. Buckley, Church
and State in Revolutionary Virginia, 1776-1787 (U. Virginia Press, 1977); Thomas J. Curry, The
First Freedoms: Church and State in America to the Passage of the First Amendment (Oxford U.
Press 1986); Michael W. McCounell, The Origins and Historical Understanding of Free Exercise
of Religion, 103 Harv. L. Rev. 1409 (1990).
6. "The Supreme Court's Holy Battles," broadcast on National Public Television, Sept. 19, 1989
(videotape in collection of Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin).
7. Sherry, 87 Mich. L. Rev. at 1427 (cited in note 3).
8. Dennis A. Gilbert, Compendium Of American Public Opinion 304-06 (Facts on File Publications
1988).
9. Wendy Brown, Guns, Cowboys, Philadelphia Mayors, and Civic Republicanism: On Sanford
Levinson's The Embarrassing Second Amendment, 99 Yale L.J. 661 (1989).
10. The anecdote appears id. at 666-67.
11. Id. at 666.
12. See, e.g., letter to editor in N.Y. Times A26, col. 4 (Aug. 31, 1990).
13. For evidence of the psychological costs, see Joe R. Feagin, The Continuing Significance of
Race: Antiblack Discrimination in Public Places, 56 Am. Soc. Rev. 101 (1991).
14. Brown, 99 Yale L.J. at 666 (exclamation points added) (cited in note 9).
15. For other perspectives on class bias and related ethnic bias, see Andrew M. Greeley, Why Can't
They Be Like Us: America's White Ethnic Groups (E.P. Dutton, 1971); Michael Lerner,
Respectable Bigotry, 38 Am. Scholar 606 (1969). For a collection of other abusive epithets directed
against gun owners in political debate, press accounts, and academic literature, see Don B. Kates,
Guns, Murders, And The Constitution 6-9, 11-14 (Pacific Research Inst., 1990).
16. Patricia A. Cain, Feminist Legal Scholarship, 76 Iowa L. Rev. - (1991) (forthcoming). My
account of Professor Cain's views also draws on several conversations and an oral presentation of
her paper.
17. One study found no correlation between gun ownership and attitudes toward feminism. See text
accompanying note 36.
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 9 of 10
18. See E. J. Dionne, Politics: To Give the Devils Their Due, It Pays From a Fundraising
Standpoint to Have Them Around, N.Y. Times A24, col. 5 (May 23, 1989).
19. The quotation is from Brown, 99 Yale L.J. at 666 (cited in note 9).
20. Caroline Wolf Harlow, Female Victims of Violent Crime (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1991) ("Female
Victims").
21. Id., Table 13.
22. Id. at 10.
23. U.S. Dept. of Justice, The Crime of Rape, Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin 5 (1985).
24. Harlow, Female Victims at Table 13 (cited in note 20).
25. Id. at Table 18.
26. City of San Jose Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, San Jose Methods Test Of
Known Crime Victims (1972).
27. Harlow, Female Victims at 8 (cited in note 20).
28. A rounding error in the Survey data makes the ratio of completed to attempted rapes ambiguous
in a way that slightly affects this calculation. The Survey repons rates per 1000 female population
of .6 completed rapes, 1.1 attempted rapes, and 1.6 total. Carried to two decimals, the ratio of
completed to attempted rapes could be as low as .55 to 1.10 (.33) or as high as .59 to 1.06 (.36).
The figures in text use the median possibility of .57 to 1.08, or .35.
29. Gene G. Abel, Mary S. Mittelman & Judith V. Becket, Sexual Offenders: Results of Assessment
and Recommendations for Treatment, in Mark H. Ben-Aron, Stephen J. Hucker, and Christopher D.
Webster, eds., Clinical Criminology: The Assessment and Treatment of Criminal Behavior (Univ.
of Toronto, 1985).
30. Susan Estrich, Rape, 95 Yale L.J. 1087, 1169 (1986).
31. See id. at 1161-69. For some of the questions and definitions used in studies cited in the
feminist literature, see Neil Gilbert, The Phantom Epidemic of Sexual Assault, 103 The Public
Interest 54, 57-61 (Spring 1991). For the questions and definitions used in the National Crime
Survey, see Harlow, Female Victims at 10 (cited in note 20).
32. Estrich, 95 Yale L.J. at 1179-84 (cited in note 30).
33. L. Baron & M. Strans, Legitimate Violence and Rape: A Test of the Cultural Spillover Theory
(paper presented at the Eastern Sociological Society meeting, 1985) (cited in 1 Attorney General's
Commission On Pornography, Final Report 946 (1986)) ("Final Report").
34. Chris W. Eskridge, Zero-Order Inverse Correlations Between Crimes of Violence and Hunting
Licenses in the United States, 71 Sociology & Social Research 55, 56-57 Tables 2-3 (October
1986). For other studies showing no correlation or negative correlations between gun ownership
and rates of violent crime, see David McDowall, Gun Availability and Robbery Rates: A Panel
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VICIOUS STEREOTYPES IN POLITE SOCIETY Page 10 of 10
Study of Large ~S. Cities, 1974-1978, 8 Law & Poi. Q. 135 (1986); Gary Kleck, The Relationship
Between Gun Ownership Levels and Rates of Violence in the United States, in Don B. Kates, ed.,
Firearms And Violence 99 (Ballinger Pub., 1984); Alan J. Lizotte and David J. Bordua, Firearms
Ownership for Sport and Protection: Two Not So Divergent Models, 46 Am. Soc. Rev. 499 (1981);
Douglas R. Murray, Handguns, Gun Control Laws and Firearm Violence, 23 Soc. Probs. 81
(1975).
35. Scott and Schwalm (1985) (cited without further identification in 1 Final Report at 948 (cited in
note 33)).
36. Arthur L. Stinchcombe, et al., Crime And Punishment: Changing Attitudes In America 113
(Jossey-Bass Pub., 1980).
37. Harlow, Female Victims at Table 25 (cited in note 20).
38. Id.
39. Menachem Amir, Patterns in Forcible Rape 99, Table 33 (U. Chi. Press, 1971).
40. Another Philadelphia study found that 54.4% of homicide offenders had been drinking shortly
before they killed. Marvin E. Wolfgang, Patterns in Criminal Homicide 136, Table 14 (U. Penn.,
1958).
41. The social science literature is reviewed in 1 Final Report at 901-76 (cited in note 33). The
conclusions are summarized id. at 974-76. For criticism and defense of the report, see Daniel Linz,
Steven D. Penrod, & Edward Donnerstein, The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography:
The Gaps Between "Findings" and Facts, 1987 Am. B. Foundation Research J. 713; Frederick
Schauer, Causation Theory and the Causes of Sexual Violence, 1987 Am. Bar Found. Res. J. 737.
42. Larry Baron and Murray A. Strauss, Four Theories of Rajve in American Society: A State-Level
Analysis 182-86 (Yale U. Press, 1989).
43. Id. at 186-97.
44. 1 Final Report at 920 (cited in note 33).
45. Gallup Report No. 258 at 9 (March 1987).
46. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, StatisticalAbstract Of The United States 125, Table 204 (110th ed.
1990).
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IOWA CITY MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
1801 South Riverside Ddve iowa City, Iowa 52246
Office Phone (319) 356-5045
The Honorable Mayor ,~; ::¢
Mr. Ernest Lehman ~
410 East Washington ~, cn
Iowa City, Iowa 52240 ~
Re: ABS report
Dear Emie:
On August 22, the Airport Manager and I conducted a conference call with Michael
Hodges from Airport Business Solutions to discuss the schedule for presentation of the
draft airport business report. I shared with Mr. Hodges my perception of both the Iowa
City Council and Iowa City Airport Commission expectations for ABS to perform/provide
an unbiased analysis/report. It was clear dudng the conversation with Mr. Hodges that
ABS, from the beginning, set out to provide the Iowa City Council and Iowa City Airport
Commission a report purely based on his firm's many years of aviation consulting
experience, combined with the raw data collected specifically for our facility/market.
The Commission is expecting a draft of the entire report, outlining the strengths and
weaknesses of the airport, as well as suggestions on how to make planning and
operational improvements. The provided analysis will assist the Commission in
establishing a set of goals as well as a timeline for implementing all appropriate
recommendations.
The draft report is due to the Airport Manager on September 2 and will be distributed to
the Commission and the Council for review. The odginal plan was to have ABS present
the report to the Council and Commission at the Council's work session on September 8.
I would like to suggest rescheduling the review for your work session on September 22
instead of September 8th. This will allow the Commission and Council more time to read
the report and formulate questions for Mr. Hodges.
Ron O'Neil has confirmed that Mr. Hodges of ABS will be able to attend a meeting on
September 22 if it is scheduled for the same time as the original meeting was. Steve
Atkins (Iowa City Manager) and Ron O'Neil have discussed having about an hour for
discussion, starting at 5:30 p.m. If September 22 does not work for the Council, we
would recommend extending the date forward as necessary to honor the original
project's intent.
Let me know what time and date works best for the Council, as I will need to finalize the
plan with Mr. Hodges as soon as possible. If you have questions or would like to
discuss this in more detail, please contact me at 337-1480 or the Airport Manager at
356-5045.
Baron Thrower, Acting Chairperson
Iowa City Airport Commission
Cc: City Council
Airport Commission
Steve Atkins, City Manager
Sue Dulek, Assistant City Attorney
Ron O'Neil, Airport Manager
City of Iowa City
MEMORANDUM
Date: August 26, 2003
To: City Council
From: City Manager
Re: Airport
Attached is a copy of a letter directed to Mayor Lehman requesting the postponement of
the ABS report to the City Council and Airport Commission, from September 8 work
session to the September 22 work session. I discussed this matter with Mayor Lehman,
and he concurred. I have informed the Airport Manager of the change in the date as they
have requested.
mgr/mem/airpodrpt9-22.doc
City of Iowa City
MEMORANDUM
Date: August 18, 2003
To: City Clerk
From: Anissa Williams, Traffic Engineering Planner (~u
Re: Item for September 9, 2003 City Council meeting: Installation of NO PARKING
ANYTIME signs on the cul-de-sac bulb of Miller Avenue
As directed by Title 9, Chapter 1, 3B of the City Code, this is to advise the City Council of
the following action.
Action:
Pursuant to Section 9-1-3A(12), R7-1 signs indicating NO PARKING ANYTIME will be
installed on the cul-de-sac bulb of Miller Avenue, north of Benton Street.
Comment:
This action is being taken to provide sufficient access for public works and emergency
vehicles. Vehicles parking on the cul-de-sac bulb create a hazard for public works and
emergency vehicle access. 9-1-3A(12) of the City Code gives the City authority to regulate
parking for safety hazards on public or private streets.
Mgr\agendaitm\aw9-9agditm.doc
City of Iowa City
MEMORANDUM
Date: September 2, 2003
To: City Clerk
From: Anissa Williams, JCCOG Traffic Engineering Planner ~
Re: Item for September 9, 2003 City Council Meeting: Installation of NO PARKING 8
A.M. - 5 P.M. MON-FRI signs on the south side of Oakcrest Street between
Sunset Street and George Street
As directed by Title 9, Chapter 1, Section 3B of the City Code, this is to advise the City
Council of the following action.
Action:
Pursuant to Section 9-1-3A(10), NO PARKING 8 A.M. - 5 P.M. MON-FRI signs will be
installed on the south side of Oakcrest Street between Sunset Street and George Street.
Comment:
This request was made by a resident of Oakcrest Street. The City's investigation found no
safety issues with the proposal, so it was left to a neighborhood survey. 22 residences
were surveyed, with 18 responses received. 14 of the responses (78%) were in favor of
the proposal. There are currently no restrictions to parking on the south side of Oakcrest
Street.
jccogtp/memlaw-oakcrestl doc
FILED
Z003SEP-5 PH3:03
CITY CLERK
September 5, 2003 IOWA IOWA
Mayor and Iowa City Council
410 E. Washington Street
Iowa City, Ia. 52240
Dear Mayor Emie Lehman and Council Members,
I was recently informed that the City received a request from a resident of Oakcrest
Street to prohibit on-street parking from 8 A.M.-5 P.M. Monday - Friday on the south
side of Oakcrest Street between Sunset and George Streets. This item is on the consent
calendar for approval at the September 9, 2003 city council meeting.
As you know, Oaknoll began construction on a new health center in April, 2002.
This project includes a 2 level parking ramp located at the comer of George and Oakcrest
Streets. Since this project began, approximately 30 parking spaces were lost. This
resulted in staff parking on various neighborhood streets (including Oakcrest) close to the
Oaknoll campus.
The ramp will be ready for partial occupancy by December 1, 2003 eliminating
congestion in the surrounding neighborhoods caused by Oaknoll staff parking. Although I
understand and can support no parking on Oakcrest Street, I am respectfully requesting
that no action be taken until December 1, 2003.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Patricia Heiden
Executive Director
.~ e_.~, I~) Page 1 of l
Marian Karr
From: Thefordes@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 6:42 PM
To: council@iowa-city.org
Subject: Dog Paddle
Dear Council members,
I'm not sure if any of you were able to make it to City Park Pool last Tuesday for the Dog Paddle and saw first hand what
a fun, well attended, well organized event that was. I am a proponent of socializing dogs (and owners, for that matter)
and this was such a great opportunity for them to meet and greet other dogs in a somewhat structured setting with plenty
of activity..
Kudos to JC DogPAC, Terry Trueblood, and all the volunteers who provided a safe, fun time for our dogs.
Sue Forde
9/5/03
~> e._-~'O.O ) Page 1 of 1
Marian Karr
From: don Groteluschen [hawkijon@mchsi.com]
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 3:02 PM
To: council@iowa-city.erg; steve-atkins@iowa-city.org; rj-winkelhake@iowa-city.org
Subject: Game Day Traffic
There is a lot of talk on the internet about your Chief's comments on game day traffic.
I am sure your citizens who are involved with your local economy (all of them) are more than happy to have the city help
ensure that things run smoothly on game day.
All of us that come to your fair city half a dozen times a year and spend hundreds of dollars can't quite see the problem.
You are looking like fools.
Get over yourselves. Iowa City IS the University of Iowa. Maybe they should move the university to a town that wants it.
I am sure there would be hundreds of towns across the state that would love to have it.
Jon Groteluschen
Fort Dodge
9/5/03
~-~o) Pagelofl
Marian Kart
From: .Joe Wegman [jwegman@awwelt.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 1:26 PM
To: co u ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: lC POLICE
I am curious to know your feelings on the recent decision that lC Police will not be helping with traffic control after Iowa
Football Games. Thank you.
Joe Wegman, CPCU
jwegman~awwelt.com
9/9/03
Marian Karr
From: sunshine [sunshine@ia.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 1:05 PM
To: cou ncil@iowa-city.org
Subject: traffic control
If the City Council wants the Police department to do traffic control on
football weekends, then it should increase the Police budget by $5,000.00.
HOWEVER, consider what the university/athletic department makes from ticket
sales: $246 per season tickets (student price is less), $40 and $45 per
ticket for remaining seats. Using 45,000 as season ticket holders, 10,000
as students and 10,000 to 15,000 for single tickets, the university's take
is close to $13,000,000.00. Certainly, they can afford $5,000.00 for
traffic control.
Some of you may say that IC benefits from football. Certainly that is true
for some merchants and that is good. But many of us have been and are
inconvenienced by all the traffic. Consider that many of us have to go far
out of our way to get to various places. Also consider that many people
have difficulty or can't visit patients at the hospital during those
Saturday mornings and afternoons, etc.
Mel Sunshine