10th anniversary post: Thinking Big in Cedar Rapids

 

Dale Todd speaks at Cedar Rapids Public Library, 
May 2016

 "Waterfronts are the rock stars of city infrastructure."--

MATTHEW LISTER, MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR GEHL AMERICAS,  AT CNU34

(5/23/2026) When Dale Todd spoke at a special edition of 1 Million Cups Cedar Rapids at the Cedar Rapids Public Library ten years ago, on behalf of the package of projects known as Destination Cedar Rapids, he was between stints on the Cedar Rapids City Council. Ten years later, those projects are well enough along to show they connect the city in important ways, while the jury's still out on the other big idea pitched that week, MedQuarter.

CONNECT CR

Conceptual picture of the Alliant Energy Lightline
bridge over the Cedar River
(swiped from cedar-rapids.org)

Destination Cedar Rapids is now known as Connect CR, and has been supported by $5 million from the City of Cedar Rapids, an equivalent amount from the Hall-Perrine Foundation, and donation of Cedar Lake by Alliant Energy. The hope is to activate the Cedar River and the man-made Cedar Lake, for as  another CNU speaker, Eric Klinenberg argued, infrastructure like this can serve both functional (flood protection) and social purposes.

plans for Cedar Lake

Cedar Lake required a great deal of remediation, and apparently the leveling of numerous trees as well. (I know one avid birder who can't bring herself to return to what had been one of her favorite spots.) A lot of features, like the shelters and challenge course, remain to be built. It is scheduled to be completed in 2027.

Northern view of Cedar Lake

Yet on a Monday mid-afternoon, people were already using the space, walking and cycling around the lake on the trails, or sitting on benches by the lake.

cyclist on upper trail, taken from lower trail

 It is accessible by trail from the north or from Downtown, though being located across I-380 from neighborhoods it's only walkable for the bold and fit.

You can see Mound View from Cedar Lake, but
the train tracks mean you can't get there from here

Down the trail, the Alliant Energy Lightline bridge will connect the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, as it rolls south of Czech Village, to where development is planned in the New Bohemia expansion. Completion is planned for this fall, when it will be a huge contribution to trail system connectivity. In time it may also and help build a neighborhood south of New Bohemia.

Construction progress as of today: view from the SW side

Cedar Lake and the Alliant Energy Lightline are connected by the Cedar Valley Nature Trail, and highlight our emerging trail system. Together they provide both fun and utility. What is fun and useful for residents also is attractive to visitors (see "The Public Realm" 2026.) City Manager Jeff Pomeranz is quoted on the city webpage: "We need these kinds of special places for our residents, for our businesses, and for our visitors." The page also appropriately notes that entire ConnectCR package is "designed to strengthen connections across our city."

North end of the Lightline Bridge,
from 10th St SE

KCRG-TV report on bridge construction from earlier this month (1:48):

MEDQUARTER

I've said a lot about the MedQuarter in this space, most of it negative, but the fact that very little has changed in its 55 blocks during the last ten years means that good choices are not precluded. Ten years ago I imagined an optimistic scenario in which:

Development creates an important connection between what's happening Downtown and in New Bohemia, and the core neighborhoods of Oak Hill-Jackson and Wellington Heights. This proves a source of sustenance for Downtown and New Bo. Work force housing gets built. Expanded employment opportunities create vibrant, diverse neighborhoods that in turn sustain street life and local businesses. Maybe even: Density gradually replaces the current ridiculous oversupply of parking, while visitors are accommodated by local circulator buses that provide easy transportation between clinics and other local sites.

Looking east from 8th Street and 4th Avenue, 2014

The same view today
(The adorable shrub at the corner was removed after 2021)

Looking at the four parts of the "general theory of walkability" created by Jeff Speck (Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time [Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2012]), the MedQuarter does not perform as well as it should be doing, as close as it is to Downtown.

• safety: Mixed. There are sidewalks throughout the MedQuarter, and converting one-way streets back to two-way has helped with traffic speeds. Design still favors motor vehicles, and 1st Avenue, as well as 7th and 8th Streets near I-380, are not safe for pedestrians or cyclists. The lack of buildings and people, particularly at night, does not help people feel safe, either. 
• comfort: Poor. The streets are wide, with few shady street trees (although 8th Street by Mercy Hospital is a nice exception), and at least during the day a lot of noisy car traffic.
• interesting: Poor. With a tiny residential population and little commerce, there are few signs of life on the street. Most sidewalks are next to parking lots or large buildings.
• useful: Poor. Once you leave the hospital, there are few destinations for walking or cycling: no parks or elementary schools, a couple ethnic grocery stores, a handful of restaurants, the Post Office, an excellent coffeehouse that unfortunately is only open three days a week, a few other places.

The MedQuarter has many parking lots and few places

I think this could be fixed, if anyone wanted to. The three big boys--the two hospitals and Physicians Clinic of Iowa--are there to stay, and their preponderance of out-of-area visitors means parking is always going to be a concern. But it doesn't have to be the only concern. If the MedQuarter develops in a way that facilitates connection between the neighborhoods and Downtown--besides driving through it, I mean--it could strengthen the city socially and fiscally. Besides, car dependence is antithetical to public health. I'm not optimistic that these are considerations for those who wield power over the area, but as of now, it could still happen.

ORIGINAL POST: "Thinking Big in Cedar Rapids," 4 May 2016

Thinking big in Cedar Rapids

(5/4/2016) Representatives from two groups planning substantial projects designed to benefit the City of Cedar Rapids appeared at a 1 Million Cups event Wednesday morning, which by possible coincidence was also the 100th anniversary of the birth of ur-urbanist Jane Jacobs (1916-2006).

Jacobs's best-known work is her 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which has inspired many an urbanist. She wrote it while living in New York, part of her resistance to uber-planner Robert Moses's uber-plans for the city which involved leveling large parts of her neighborhood, Greenwich Village. She argues, based on extensive observations, that what contributes to the life of cities is an organic type of development that emerges over time from countless individual actions and interactions. The grand schemes of urban planners, however well-intentioned, often contribute to cities' death by creating barriers to life-sustaining interactions like wide streets, massive housing projects, and parks that are isolated and scary.

It's a long book, and a complex argument, but very readable, and apart from a few archaisms very contemporary. If you haven't read it, you should, and what better day than her 100th anniversary to make that resolution?

Jacobs's vision has inspired many an urbanist, whose tasks now are not so much to protect vibrant but threatened urban neighborhoods but somehow to bring back to life places that have suffered from the suburban model of development. In Cedar Rapids, as in towns across the land, the inclination is to jump-start life through "home run" style projects that promise instant (and surely inflated) job creation, along with attractive amenities and, heaven help us, green space. Up-front costs to government are sold as WORTH IT, and long-term infrastructure costs are ignored. The new Westdale Mall is an infamous local example; the downtown casino project that was nixed by the State of Iowa seemed like another; and I'm dubious about the baseball complex and the waterpark planned for different edges of town.

David Tominsky introduces the speakers

The two projects presented Wednesday are more modest in scope, and promise not so much heroically to save the day as to facilitate the re-creation of those connections that Jacobs said sustained the life of the city. A lot depends on how they are carried out, and so, standing firmly on both sides of the fence, I present optimistic and pessimistic scenarios for each. In doing so, I assume as many have argued (see Smith, cited below, for a recent example) that the future of the city lies in reinhabiting its core and not in low-density development at the edges.

MedQuarter

What: 55 square blocks east of downtown, governed by a Self-Supporting Municipal Improvement District, bookended by two hospitals. Hospitals, clinics and assorted other businesses currently employ 8000 people. And parking. A great deal of parking.

The current MedQuarter; parking areas in gray

Goals: To become a nationally-recognized medical destination, on the model if not the scale of Rochester, Minnesota. To leverage the medical assets into commercial, neighborhood and workforce development.

Optimistic scenario: Development creates an important connection between what's happening downtown and in New Bohemia and the core neighborhoods of Oakhill-Jackson and Wellington Heights. This proves a source of sustenance for downtown and New Bo. Work force housing gets built. Expanded employment opportunities create vibrant, diverse neighborhoods that in turn sustain street life and local businesses. Maybe even: Density gradually replaces the current ridiculous oversupply of parking, while visitors are accommodated by local circulator buses that provide easy transportation between clinics and other local sites.

Pessimistic scenario: The big boys--the hospitals and Physicians Clinic of Iowa--get the space they want to expand. Nothing else gets done, because there's no institution desirous or capable of carrying it out. With priorities on security and adequate parking, the area continues to be a barrier between downtown and core neighborhoods--which then continue to suffer from disinvestment and lack of opportunity (arguably worse than gentrification). The greenway along 4th Avenue, created by clearing out older housing, is never used because there's no place to go. The banners fade, and someone realizes "in the Q" means "standing in line."

Destination Cedar Rapids

Much of these developments are planned for areas that were flooded in 2008

What: Coming together of multiple projects along the Cedar River, including development of Cedar Lake, the 3rd Street Corridor downtown, recreational development of the former Sinclair Meatpacking property, and Czech Village, planned over the next five years. Specific projects include reconstruction of a rail bridge across the river south of New Bo for recreation, development of housing and shopping east of New Bo, and a multi-use park at the end of 3rd Street.

Goals: To promote Cedar Rapids as a tourist-recreational destination, where residents and visitors can have a "Wow" day. In the words of former Parks Commissioner Dale Todd (below), one of the presenters on behalf of the project, "This community has to grow. We can no longer be where we're at."

Optimistic scenario: The single brand provides some synergy to the different projects, and helps them all get done. These developments attract businesses and families to the city center, and the density helps sustain a vibrant core. The park adds an important feature for young families who are currently not well-served by downtown, and helps spur housing growth. Infill growth helps make city services more efficient, adding to the general satisfaction. Future floods do minimal damage, thanks to far-sighted design.

Pessimistic scenario: Efforts to provide "Wow" days overlook the organic growth needed to sustain the area over time. Cooperation that looks good on paper is harder in practice, and gives way to rivalry. At least some projects get done, but return on investment falls well short of substantial costs. People agree that the projects are nice places to visit, but prefer to live elsewhere. Eventually they find some other, newer cool places to go. The banners fade, businesses close, projects age, and start to look dowdy.

The Med Quarter and Destination Cedar Rapids plans are at a reasonable scale. How they play out depends on whether the private interests supporting them are compatible with the overall good of the city, and how well they contribute to organic development as opposed to being ends in themselves--in other words, how well they fit into Jane Jacobs's vision of what sustains life in a city.

SEE ALSO:
 Thomas Campanella, "Jane Jacobs and the Death and Life of American Planning," Places, April 2011, https://placesjournal.org/article/jane-jacobs-and-the-death-and-life-of-american-planning/
 Nolan Gray, "Who Plans? Jane Jacobs' Hayekian Critique of American Planning," Strong Towns, 4 May 2016, http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/5/2/who-plans-jane-jacobs-hayekian-critique-of-urban-planning
 Story Hinckley, "Jane Jacobs: What Would the Urban Visionary Think of U.S. Cities Today?" Christian Science Monitor, 4 May 2016, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2016/0504/Jane-Jacobs-What-would-the-urban-visionary-think-of-US-cities-today
 Noah Smith, "Want Economic Growth? Try Urban Density," Bloomberg View, 3 May 2016, http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-05-03/want-to-boost-economic-growth-empty-the-suburbs