HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-04-03 CorrespondenceJohnson County, [A
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Recommendations:
• Keep the Covered Outdoor Market at the Chauncey Swan Parking
Ramp (supported by 75% of customers & 86% of vendors).
✓ Shelter from rain & blistering Summer sun (weatherproof).
✓ Convenient free & sheltered parking.
✓ Compact market space reduces extensive walking.
✓ Adjacent park provides space for entertainment, seating, play &
socializing.
✓ Close to all other downtown public & private resources.
• Make the market self - supporting.
✓ Reasonable increase in vendor fees. Currently the lowest in the
region at $260 per stall for a 26 week season.
✓ Seek additional funding via grants, corporate sponsorships and
other community organizations.
✓ Seek a media sponsor for enhanced market exposure.
✓ Explore cooperative marketing with downtown merchants.
✓ Maintain the current 70/30 food -to -arts & crafts ratio and
accept additional vendors with priority to non - duplicate
products. (Currently 155 Saturday & 42 Wednesday stalls.)
✓ Expansion in phases as dictated by demand (2 -5 years):
• Phase 1: Sidewalk & Ralston Creek space on Van Buren
St adjacent to the east side of the ramp.
• Phase 2: Chauncey Swan Park.
• Phase 3: West on Washington St across Gilbert St.
Complicated by access needs for Ecumenical Towers.
• Hire a full -time Market Coordinator & part-to -full -time Market
Master funded by increased fees & market expansion.
• Create an advisory board to run the market. The board would report
to the Parks & Rec Commission.
• Offer a year round market run by the same staff to include the current
Grant Wood Market Place.
• Long Term: Offer a covered permanent downtown location that
would house a year round market. Perhaps in the Riverfront Crossing
Park.
• Continue the planning process to establish a timeline for
implementation & detailed site mapping.
IL)-5 �113
Proposed Resolution Relating to the Death of Trayvon Martin
Early last week several hundred people, black and white, young and old, gathered together at the
fountain on the Ped Mall as part of the "Million Hoodie March" to express outrage and grief at
the killing of an unarmed 17 -year old boy by a neighborhood watch leader in a gated suburban
neighborhood near Orlando, Florida.
I believe we should respond to that event by adopting a resolution expressing our dismay and
outrage about the senseless killing of this young man. The fact that a young man is black, wears a
hoodie, and is walking in a predominantly white neighborhood does not mean necessarily mean
he is dangerous or has done anything wrong, and does not justify the killing of an unarmed
person.
And yet I aware that some of you think our council should refrain from expressing its views about
what the federal government or other local governments do. I disagree with that view, but
understand it.
With that objection in mind, I'd like to suggest that we adopt a resolution containing language
similar to the following:
• Whereas we recognize that Trayvon Martin's killing has caused grief and outrage among
many Iowa Citians, and has produced the widespread desire to honor Trayvon Martin and
to see a truly objective inquiry into his death so that justice can be served,
• whereas "Stand Your Ground" ordinances enable people to kill other people simply
because they fear that they are in danger,
• whereas research has amply documented that fear of another person often is a function of
one's predispositions and beliefs (including racial profiling) instead of the other person's
actual behavior,
• whereas we recognize that there are deep and important differences in how people have
interpreted and responded to the killing, and
• whereas we are aware that that such differences can be found in Iowa City as well, and
• whereas we recognize that the full facts of the case are not yet known and probably never
be fully known, and
• whereas Iowa Citians have a long and admirable history of resisting racism and racial
profiling.
Now, therefore, we call upon ourselves, our staff, private security guards, and the people of Iowa
City to reject racism and racist behavior in all its forms, to follow the truth wherever it leads, and
to do everything possible to ensure racial, ethnic, and economic justice in our city.