What is the future of Iowa's small towns? (II)

The lives we should all be living:
"Texas Two-Step," a movie on the Hallmark Channel,
offers romance and country music in a small town third place
(swiped from hallmarkchannel.com)

(6/16/2026) In my last post, I noted the reputation of the 1990s TV series Friends has as a contributor to the "back to the city" trend earlier in this century, and wondered not only whether that trend has ebbed, but where today's friends are leading. Hannah Nuss, an entrepreneur and speaker at the recent EntreFest put on by NewBoCo, suggested we might spend some quality time pondering an infamous theme of made-for-TV romance movies: the young woman in the big city returning to her small town roots and finding true love and entrepreneurial happiness.

Hannah Nuss presents at EntreFest
(Outrageous laptop borrowed from Robbie Nesmith)

Nuss, of Denver, Iowa, is founder of a shop and a publishing company, both of which are called Local. She cited small town/rural advantages such as low startup costs, low rents, "super-low" cost of living, neighborly culture, and a small enough population that word of mouth spreads faster. She argues that the death of rural Iowa is a "false narrative people accept," and that "entrepreneurship is here" along with the happy endings of all those romance movies where the heroine chooses love over the big city.

Delaney Howell-Goth on stage at the Englert Theater

Also at EntreFest last week, two other female entrepreneurs from small towns touted advantages for business and economic development. Marketer Delaney Howell-Groth (AgCulture Marketing), who farms with her husband near Rhodes, Iowa, said women entrepreneurs are already active enough to create more than half of all jobs created in small towns. Even more people could be shown the way--or the way back, if they've already left--if there were a supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem providing access to resources, training, and knowledge, which is what the conference she started, She Creates Rural, aims to be.

Stephanie Grutz presents at EntreFest

A third business owner, Stephanie Grutz, mostly talked about her personal journey, but has just moved the headquarters of her healthcare businesses from Dubuque to Peosta, in part because she lives there, but also because she wants rural residents to have access to the types of therapies more commonly found in larger cities.

The river that ran through these three presentations was the contrast between an overwhelming big city full of action and people and wealth and the perception (illusion?) of economic opportunity, against a small arena with less wealth and fewer people, but a less frantic pace, and a chance for stable and "deep relationships" with the people you do encounter. A smaller, less crowded stage allows a person to be impactful and known. 

Both the movie plot and the death-of-rural paradigm rely on stereotypes, of course, which however exaggerated also reflect some important truths. Lyz Lenz (2026) sees the same phenomenon at work in the popularity of Ballerina Farm, a Utah farm, store, and social media phenomenon created by Hannah Neeleman, a self-styled "trad wife." Lyz notes that the women interviewed by The New York Times "don't want to be Hannah Neeleman, exactly. What they want is a glimpse at an easier life." She continues:

They all seem very aware of what must go on behind the scenes to raise and school all those children while building a business empire and staying thin and breaking bread. But it's that idea of something simple and easier.... A nice husband, a bit of land, some chickens, and some kids? Isn't that so much easier than this modern world, where you sit at a computer and create value for a company that is actively plotting to sell your flesh to AI?

Yes, they're cute, but my laptop smells better
© Copyright Evelyn Simak and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons License.

Of course the trad wives and romance movies are selling fantasy, just like Friends, whose characters had an unbelievable Upper East Side lifestyle considering they worked at a coffeeshop.

If the rural young are hearing messages that they must leave to thrive, as our speakers suggested, those messages are landing for a reason. I'm not from a small town, but I'm from a state where small town representatives have run the government for years. And the messages they are bringing from their towns to the state in legislation and executive action pulsate with resentment. They snarl at immigrants, they snarl at transgendered people, they snarl at people who are concerned about the environment. If you are a young person who is different, or seeks a different truth, or whose mind is not slammed shut, these sorts of messages are not encouraging you to do anything but flee.

Back to reality: In a world with only two alternatives, corporate big city overstimulation or quiet old white small town, choosing either is going to be painful, because you'll be required to give up something you value. But are there really only two alternatives? More Americans live in suburbs than any other type of place. I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago, with great schools and a big public library. Does no one dream of living in a suburb? When I go back, everything's different and no one knows me. Maybe not.

Prince Street, 2018: Boston's North End neighborhood
is urban without being noisy and frantic

It may be that in the contrast of extremes can be found there's a combination of attributes many Americans desire in their places but have difficulty finding: walkable neighborhoods, deep relationships, a variety of economic opportunities, and a variety of people with interesting perspectives. A few small towns seem to have achieved this, as have a few urban neighborhoods. But the more we as a country rely on cars to get us anywhere, and low prices at big-box stores to get us by, those places will continue to be hard to find, or to build. 

Water Street, 2013: Decorah is small but has 
a great commercial street an easy walk from residential areas

Small towns that can apply urbanism, and celebrate diversity and inclusion, may find themselves the objects of a lot of people's desires. And that, along with the positive examples and mentoring offered by people like our three speakers, would do wonders for their entrepreneurial ecosystems. And "big" cities that create some real neighborhoods will find they too can ride out whatever fantasies the media are selling us, even if their residents aren't handsome cowboys running Christmas tree farms.

SEE ALSO: 

Kiva website for small capital loans

Produce Iowa web site for small town Iowa film makers

ORIGINAL POST: "What is the Future of Iowa's Small Towns?" 3 July 2018

Prairie Patch Farms Llama Experience: 
If you've read this far, you deserve a picture of a llama

First Avenue Corridor Redevelopment Plan

Micro-area map

(2/12/2026) Can a historic neighborhood business district near downtown be reincarnated in the 21st century?

The City of Cedar Rapids is preparing a Corridor Redevelopment Plan for First Avenue East between 12th and 16th Streets, roughly the same area as covered in the First Avenue East Micro-Area Action Plan adopted in 2025 (Nieland 2025). That plan, while not bold, took notice of the problems that have accumulated over the years in this area:

• It is historically a neighborhood business district in an area where housing stock and population have been declining for decades
• So, businesses have neither the surrounding population to support a neighborhood business nor parking capacity for chain retail
• It is the main commercial street for the Mound View and Wellington Heights neighborhoods, but with 20,000 cars a day along five lanes it mainly serves as a highway between Interstate 380 and points farther out
• So, walking across or along 1st Avenue is highly unpleasant and dangerous

Modest development across 1st Avenue from Coe College

Ideas to mitigate these problems in the 2025 plan included more crosswalks, street trees, and business recruitment. The Corridor Redevelopment Plan is a sort of adjunct to the Micro-Area Action Plan, focused on design elements. Its stated goal is providing "a coordinated vision for new buildings, public spaces, and street improvements to support reinvestment."

Former Hy-Vee Grocery remains vacant nearly two years after closing
(picture taken from A Avenue facing 1st Avenue)

The city held an open house this week at Coe's Alumni House, at which they invited public comment on the Corridor Redevelopment Plan. Display boards located around the room looked very specific, but in fact they were imaginative concepts showing what a little nudge from the city might produce. What the city is committing to, if that's not too strong a phrase, is planting street trees and working with the State of Iowa to slow traffic, narrowing lanes and possibly inserting a tree lined median. (1st Avenue is also State Route 922 and Business U.S. 151.) 

Hypothetical locations of new development
(The mixed-use building with interior parking is at the former Hy-Vee site)

Also: Emily Stochl, who co-owns the Cafe Allez that has been fixing to move into the old Brewed Awakenings space at 1271 1st for quite awhile, told me 13th Street SE will become two-way, which would make access to that block from 1st much easier. Betsy Bostian from the city planning department told the Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association Tuesday night that the city was also going to try to rectify the crossing at 16th Street. Coe College is also willing to make some of their unused space east of campus temporarily available.

Some of Coe College's vacant land in the Mound View neighborhood

From these improvements might come more business investment and maybe some housing as well--and if they don't, we'll still have improved safety and dignity for pedestrians, at relatively low cost. A plaza was shown at 14th Street and 2nd Avenue, across from the Commonwealth Apartments, though its provenance was unclear. 

There were a lot of critical comments posted at the Coe open house, mainly complaining about slowing traffic on 1st, as well as missing some amenities like a grocery store and pharmacy. I'm all for having those amenities, too, but the current business models for groceries and pharmacies seem to require large buildings and large parking lots, neither of which is available in this historically neighborhood retail area.

The Wellington Heights neighbors exposed a flaw in the rosy scenario portrayed on the display boards. Efforts to develop the target area could easily fall afoul of the zoning process. The neighbors seemed primarily concerned with unwelcome uses, like smoke and vape shops and parking garages. The city people encouraged them to use the zoning process to voice specific concerns, but zoning is famous for derailing even good development by escalating time and costs (cf. Gray 2022). I feel the city should adopt a form-based code for this area to forestall this.

I think if the loudest voices prevail, 1st Avenue is doomed to be an underperforming stroad for the rest of time. I think, however, that the city is facing some other imperatives. With the state cutting property taxes on an annual basis, and city population not growing, Cedar Rapids just cannot let some of the most valuable property in the city rot. They simply have to do something to restart it, and if they can do it without kickstarting an ambitious housing program (my preference), so much the better. I hope the City Council sees it that way!

City of Cedar Rapids 1st Avenue East Corridor Redevelopment Plan and Micro-Area Action Plan page

EARLIER POSTS:

"Could 1st Avenue East Be a Grand Boulevard?" 1 July 2024

"Crossing Cedar Rapids' Busiest Intersections: 1st Avenue," 8 August 2023

10th anniversary post: What's up in Uptown Marion?

 

7th Avenue storefronts

(1/8/2026) Uptown Marion has been a work in progress for more than a decade, so it was time for another visit. Two things stand out to me:

1. Developments have made good use of historic buildings, and new construction is compatible with the overall feel.

Someone who hasn't been to Marion in 20 years would definitely notice changes, but at the same time the place would feel familiar. Even where I'm not sure the project costs will be returned, like the redone City Square Park, the results are excellent.

Former location of Irwin's Clothing, 2016

Restoration Dental, 2026

Strip mall, 2021

Mixed use building, 2026

First United Methodist Church, 2016

condominium project, 2021

City Square Park, 2016

City Square Park, 2026

Hooray: it even has restrooms!

2. There are several residential neighborhoods that connect directly to Uptown.

In multiple directions, Uptown businesses are located directly by houses. That means a lot of people can walk easily to Uptown, so the effort required to get people there can be less intense, and parking facilities don't have to be intrusive. 

12th Street looking north from 9th Avenue

8th Avenue looking east from 13th Street

8th Street looking south from 6th Avenue
by the West End Diner
(where I had breakfast)

The businesses in Uptown tend towards consumption--there is a lot of hair, and a lot of bars--but the public library is here, too, and schools are nearby, so nearby residents can do a lot without a car. (Truth in blogging disclosure: I personally take what hair I have to Trims salon in Uptown.)

3. Other observations

Public transportation options are not great...

I miss this bus stop: 1100 7th Avenue, pre-2017

...but there is an east-west trail through Uptown that goes a long way in both directions, and soon (this year or early 2027?) the CeMar Trail connection to Cedar Rapids will be complete.

The Art Alley, a concept ten years ago, has been fully realized, and is great.

Ordinary and unassuming alley, 2016

Fall: outdoor performance by Red Cedar

Holiday lights, 2026

First Presbyterian Church has been in Uptown way before it was Uptown. When 140+ years old I am, look this good I will not.

First Presbyterian Church

Uptown is home both to the new public library...

Marion Public Library, 1101 6th Avenue

...and the vacant lot where the old one was:

1000 block of 6th Avenue

SEE ALSO:

"Let's Talk About: What's Up in Uptown Marion?" 2 January 2016

"What's Up in Uptown Marion? (II)," 15 February 2021

I Wish This Parking Was... (II)

"T3": 200 block of Johnson Av NW (Google Earth screenshot)

(12/2/2025) Work continues apace on Cedar Rapids' casino, due to open at the end of this month. In time, when it is a fabulous success and we are all rolling in prosperity, you can tell me how dumb I was back in 2025 for my negative outlook.

There are three reasons to oppose casinos. The first two relate to the morality of gambling and the class distribution of gambling losses (which fall much more on the poor). There are also doubts, given the rise of Internet gambling, whether brick and mortar gambling still has a future. I'll take all those as read, but my specific complaint about this casino has to do with its use of land. We are taking several blocks close to the center of the city, which should be used for more intense development, and using it for what is ultra-suburban development.

Casino, under construction, F Avenue view

Andres Duany, one of the earliest new urbanists, described traditional development patterns as a transect that gradually tapered from the most intensive development at the urban core ("T6") to agricultural ("T2") and natural ("T1") areas at the edge of town. (See the discussion at Steuteville 2017, as well as Andres Duany, Jeff Speck and Mike Lydon. The Smart Growth Manual [McGraw Hill, 2010], 1.4) 

This ordering is "useful" (Steuteville's word), because it preserves space in urbanist design for nature and agriculture, enables people not to be completely dependent on cars, provides a unified concept of development, and allows that development to proceed in harmony with surrounding areas. 

Future casino parking. I-380 in background

Development according to the transect is more inclusive by centering economic opportunity on the urban core. Kevin Klinkenberg (2015) wrote about why urbanism matters most in urban cores: If we truly care about the less fortunate in society, we would want them in places of maximum opportunity for access to jobs at low cost--not scattered about in suburbia. Less need to drive, and more green space at the edge of town, is also better for the natural environment on which we all depend. And making intense use of the most valuable land is better for city finances.

Casino construction, from 1st Street NW

Cedar Rapids, like most towns, was built according to the transect long before Duany coined the term. Downtown looks like "T6" and the core neighborhoods look like "T3." The problem is that, in the decades since the town was built, the area around town that was once "T4" and "T5" was gutted and remains a doughnut of emptiness. Instead of small but intense development that could provide customers and clients for downtown businesses as well as property tax revenue for the city, we have what we have, making for a car-dependent city and lots of complaints about parking.

Future casino parking

City officials are enthused about the advent of the casino--scheduled to open 12/31/2026--because they know the political value of a flashy project that gets a lot of attention and promises fun for all. But I wish the casino campus, parking lots and all, would look more like the stretch of Johnson Avenue pictured above, which I called in 2022 one of my favorite streets in the city.  The nine blocks of this project could be a neighborhood with workers and shoppers for downtown as well as neighborhood businesses, and students for nearby schools if we ever decide to build schools near the center of town again (another sore subject, for another day). The tax value of an individual property would be small, but collectively they would likely provide more city revenue than the casino will.

If one of the residents meets with misfortune, the neighborhood will survive, and the house will survive under new ownership. If the casino fails, I think we're looking at a big box with a long term vacancy.

If we must have a casino, put it out on Route 100.

One last look, from the trail along the Cedar River

SEE ALSO

"I Wish This Parking Was...," 27 November 2020

"Cedar Rapids' Big Bets," 17 January 2025

Black Friday Parking 2025: Northeast CR

 

It felt like it! (And on the Celsius scale, it actually was.)

(11/28/2025) Consumer confidence may be down at COVID levels, and Black Friday ads are increasingly oriented to websites, but it's still Black Friday. If you give a boy a parking lot, he's going to want to take a picture of it. At least it was warmer than last year, though at first not by much. Eventually the sun came out and it was all right.

Along the way, I saw this marquee.

Question, 224 Collins Road NE

The riddle was not funny, which weirdly reassured me I was not becoming hypothermic.

Answer, 224 Collins Road NE

Strong Towns started Black Friday Parking in 2013; my first year was 2015, covering roughly the same territory as this year. For the record, I also wore the same Garfield School sweatshirt. The Parking Reform Network has taken over the promotion, but the point remains the same: to document excess surface parking, even on what is arguably the busiest shopping day of the year (Lefebvre 2025).

I started a little past 9:00 at the bus stop on Twixt Town Road, close by the Collins Road Square shopping plaza. It was maybe one-third full.

 Collins Road Square, looking towards Petco

 Collins Road Square, looking towards Michael's

Across Collins Road is Lindale Mall, which dates from the early 1960s, but the Collins Road side has gotten quite the facelift. Its many parking lots were half-full, maybe more.

Lindale Mall, parking lot facing Collins Road

Hobby Lobby had the fullest parking lot I saw, easily 60 and maybe 75 percent full...

180 Collins Road, looking towards Hobby Lobby

...but even that plaza had plenty of empty spaces.

180 Collins Road, other side of the plaza

There were no cars parked in the huge lot on the other side of Collins Road. It has been vacant since the Hy-Vee grocery store. I don't know for a fact that Hy-Vee is retaining ownership of the building and just leaving it vacant, but I wouldn't put it past them; they tried that at their Mound View store, which also remains vacant anyhow.

empty parking lot at vacant building, 279 Collins Road
(utility pole cleverly used to block sun)

Across Northland Avenue from the former grocery store, however, Northland Square plaza's parking lot was well used, being at least 60 percent full. 

Northland Square from the east

But even today, there were plenty of parking spots going unused.

Northland Square, middle of the plaza

I cut across the Collins Aerospace parking lot--mostly empty, with a skeleton crew working today--and ended up at the Blairs Ferry Road Target. It had a lot of shoppers, and its parking lot was at least two-thirds full...

Target parking lot, east edge

...but a great big parking lot is hard to fill.

Target parking lot, west edge

I've said most years that I don't think these particular parking lots are driven by mandates in the zoning code (though those do exist). It's just how we develop commercial strips. Collins Road may be the ghastliest such strip in our city--though the Westdale area gets some votes, too--but it's just one example of development we shouldn't be doing. The parking lots themselves are just part of the damage, but they do more damage in town than they do on the suburban edge. I'll have more to say about that in a future post.

In a Strong Towns post entitled "What Comes Next After Abolishing Parking Mandates?" Tony Jordan of the Parking Reform Network argues that repealing such mandates is the first step on road to truly walkable cities:

To build the type of cities we want, to take advantage of zoning reforms that re-legalize compact, walkable, and transit-rich neighborhoods, we have to continue to pursue comprehensive parking reforms that go beyond repealing minimums and actively combat car dependency. Fortunately, these additional reforms and strategies are also simple, impactful, and fiscally advantageous. Cities should price their curbs to manage demand and spend the revenue on infrastructure and programs that improve safe, convenient, and equitable access to our communities for people traveling by any mode, not just in their cars. (Jordan 2022, italics mine)