Community Corner
Iowa City City Council Passes Sidewalk Café Ordinance: Daily Iowan Reader, September 5
Also inside: Tim Dwight pushes solar power at UI, Obama to come to UI campus, Ferentz: Meyer rewarded for clutch play.
IC City Council passes sidewalk café ordinance
The Iowa City City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to pass an ordinance implementing changes to the sidewalk-café policy in downtown Iowa City, and most local business owners say they’re pleased.
The City Council approved two items pertaining to sidewalk cafés. The first took sidewalk cafés out of the City Code and put them in an administrative code. The second had two parts — adding an administrative policy on how to handle the current sidewalk cafés and flexibility to expand sidewalk cafés in planters outside the Pedestrian Mall.
“It’s just another way of expanding upon the synergy of downtown Iowa City,” said Jim Mondanaro, the owner of Micky’s Irish Pub & Grill, 11 S. Dubuque St.
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He proposed the ordinance for sidewalk cafés. Micky’s focused its efforts on expanding cafés into parking areas. Because the parking section of the ordinance was not discussed or passed Tuesday, Micky’s won’t be able to move forward with finding staff for its plans with outdoor dining yet.
Read more here.
Find out what's happening in Iowa Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Magic Bus finds new home in Coralville
Due to the new location’s distance from the stadium, the Magic Bus will host Friday night concerts before every game day, instead of traditional game day tailgating.
Read more here.
Paul Ryan addresses economy, national debt in Cedar Rapids
Republican VP nominee Paul Ryan tackled economic issues in a speech in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, following the announcement Tuesday that the national debt had reached the $16 million mark.
Read more here.
IC school board: elementary school needs take precedence over new high school
The Iowa City School Board discussed the possibility of spending unallocated money on improving elementary schools within the district.
Read more here.
Football: Meyer rewarded for clutch performance
A clutch field goal capped off a good performance on Sept. 1 for kicker Mike Meyer, who earned a Big Ten special teams player of the week award.
Read more here.
Column: Practice safe biking
City officials want to renew Iowa City’s Bicycle Friendly Community designation this winter, and they are enthusiastically hoping to move up from the town’s current bronze level to a silver-level designation. This would signal Iowa City as a more bicycle-friendly city. However, is Iowa City really that “bicycle-friendly?”
Read more here.