Winter and Tax blues

It is a bright, shiny, glary, but a little cold day here in Coralville. Sure it looks nice, but the weatherman still says, 'high 20s, low 30s'...' I am HOPING that 30s and 40s are SOON! It is almost March 1.. This global warming is not going well. It has been cold everywhere in the U.S. I thought the glow and inner warmth gained by watching IOWA win the Orange Bowl would carry me thru,, but on January 5 or 6 I got just a cold as I was BEFORE the game. I encouage all of you faithful readers to really make sure you watch your driving here in Coralville. Potholes are really hard on a car. REAL hard. You can blow a tire and bend a rim real easy, AND throw your car out of alignment very easily. Watch it.. Can't help but HOPE that the recent announcement by UIHC will be a HUGE economic gain for Coralville and the Area, but for the people who visit as well.. Did you know that Coralville will be building a parking ramp next to the new UIHC near the Marriott? You do now...Did you know that Coralville's budget will RAISE property taxes by about $20/$1000 assessed value.. NOT good. NOT cheap. NOT Happy.. Coralville needs to realize, and SOON, that jobs, programs, .....MIGHT need to be cut. We are a dynamic town, a progressive town, a town that is in good financial shape, a great future, great things ahead, but we are also in the high tax business. City leaders should THINK about the future..I KNOW they do, I think they do a great job, we have a real good staff and employees. We DON"T have a bottomless pit of money. Keep an eye on Cablevision Channel 5 for budget hearings!.

Mr. Groundhog has spoken

So will it be true? 6 more weeks of Winter..Think of this,, since Christmas, and mostly in January, we Coralville'ians have been treated to: Snow, wind, drifts, ice storm, rain, thunder, no sunshine, fog, whiteout conditions, below normal temps, below 0 temps, and more!! Can't stand it to even try to think of 'more'.. When I was a kid up on 8th street in Coralville, say, mid-50s, the Town of Coralville owned a road grader, (remember those?) AND a little Ford "N' tractor with a canvas top that had plastic windows...When we got snow, the GIANT road grader would go all around town grading the streets. Now remember, NONE of the streets were paved,, just chip and seal, and they were open ditches everywhere. The road grader operator, Ray Kinsinger who lived in the 700 block of 7th avenue, would push/grade the snow into the ditches. Along behind the grader would come Ray's brother, Wally Kinsinger, (he lived in Kalona) on/in the Ford tractor. Wally had a plow/blade on the back, and he kind of 'cleaned up' the snow not handled by the road grader..This grader was cool, as Ray could make it 'lean to the right or left! The whole big thing would lean! Ray also operated this big monstracity standing UP. It had about 10 handles next to the steering wheel.. Up, down, left, right, angle, raise, lower,, etc. It was fun to watch! The tractor followed right behind the grader, so if you lived on the other end of town, you had to wait all day! Too bad! Take heart when you see Coralville's snow crews these days, as I think they do a good job! .....No roadgraders though!!