Project Destiny Vote in Two Weeks

Reading through several comments available on the Internet about Project
Destiny, I have to agree with the headline offered by one Des Moines area
television station. Quite a few people do not even know that there will be a
vote on the proposal for a new 1% sales tax in the counties of Dallas, Polk,
and Warren. Even for people who do know about the July 10th election, there
is little understanding of the full consequences of the vote. (Read an
earlier Around Des Moines post on Project Destiny.)

The City of Des Moines hosted a virtual meeting to gather comments about
Project Destiny before the city council voted on how to allocate the third
of revenue not pre-determined by the regional agreement for the tax
proposal. There were 51 posts that can be viewed via pdf or via html. Many
of the posts were about neighborhood redevelopment, basic services such as
libraries and buses, and the proposed skateboard park near the Des Moines
River. The city council voted to spend the revenue for more property tax
reduction and other selective cost offsets.

One of the residents asked the question about which I have been wondering.
That is, how will votes be tallied? One print media noted that rural voters
in Polk County need to approve the ballot in order to benefit. A blogger
noted that residents in West Des Moines will be subject to the 1% tax if the
majority of voters in either Dallas, Polk, or Warren county vote for the
tax, because the city is located in all three counties. However, what
happens if voters in Polk County approve the tax, but not those in the City
of Des Moines? What happens if Des Moines goes for the tax, but not Clive?

Even if Clive and Des Moines voters both approve the local option sales tax,
will there be a standard rule on maintenance of bicycle trails? The mayor of
Des Moines claims that his city maintains trails the year around, but the
Greenbelt in Clive has signs posted warning that the trail is not maintained
in winter. In addition, it is illegal to use the Greenbelt during the night,
a restriction not imposed for bike lanes on city streets.

For people who have time and $12 to attend a luncheon on June 26, the former
mayor of Pittsburgh, which funded downtown development and sports arenas
with a Regional Asset Tax (RAT), will be speaking. A post was made about the
luncheon on EssentialEstrogen.com. There is also a comment to the post that
I made based on my years of living in Pittsburgh with the consequences of
the RAT.

Guest Author: M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa.