As a member of the New Pioneer Coop, I was eligible to vote in the New Pi "Vote to Grow in Iowa City." I "vote[d] YES if you think New Pioneer Food Coop SHOULD move the Iowa City store to a new downtown development or open a 2nd store in Iowa City."
Had I "vote[d] NO if [I thought] New Pioneer Food Coop SHOULD NOT move the Iowa City store to a new downtown development or open a 2nd store in Iowa City," I would have voted against Tim Dwight's group's offer of a new downtown site for a somewhat larger store. I would have voted against the possibility of a 2nd store at Sycamore Mall, potentially.
The ballot is inside the latest New Pi newsletter, "Let's Grow in Iowa City," the one with the stylized green tree with a brown trunk on the front. You can cut out the ballot and mail it or bring it to the store with you, but you must be a member and have a member number to print on your ballot to vote.
I would have preferred a choice to vote for keeping the current downtown store and accepting Tim Dwight's offer to build a somewhat larger New Pioneer store where Iowa City's downtown Rec Center parking lot is now, assuming a lot of things: assuming the Iowa City Council allows the lot to be donated or sold, assuming the council rezones the property, and assuming the council allows Tim Dwight's consortium to build there. That's a lot of assumptions. The council has shown no inclination to be fair to Tim Dwight, who proposed building a highly energy-efficient building, or to pick any of the proposed developments that included New Pi or the bike rental shop in the past, so that's a lot of assumptions.
I would like to see Tim Dwight's offer accepted. I'd like to see Dwight and New Pioneer Coop take the plunge, take the chance that an unfair and unpredictable council will allow a runner-up to Marc Moen's energy-inefficient building a chance to build an energy-efficient building in another location.
As for a location at Sycamore Mall, a lot would have to change at Sycamore Mall before I would consider that a desirable site for New Pioneer Coop, despite Sycamore's proximity to my own neighborhood.
The present downtown location is pedestrian friendly, bicycle friendly, and to a reasonable extent, vehicle friendly. Sycamore Mall is barely vehicle friendly. The parking lot is too large and too chaotic to be fit for anything but vehicle traffic.
As for the original downtown Iowa City site, I would be loathe to lose it, picturesque as it is. So much has been done to beautify it with Tom Agran's mural on the south wall and other artwork on the north wall, Patti Zwick's decorated tree in front on the south and east sides, the creek that makes that downtown site a flood plain, and the plantings that make the creek side picturesque and fun to walk or drive by as mothers show their toddlers the ducks in the creek.
After/if the Tim Dwight site is built downtown, New Pi could tear down the current old building, as sad as that would be for me and others, and rebuild a multi-story building with a concrete parking garage as a first floor with parking as an option in dry weather, with water flowing through it in the event of flooding.
On the first floor, a craft store with Patti Zwick's quilts, hand-knitted socks and caps, New Pi onesies for babies ("home-grown in Iowa," I think they say), the Philosophers' Guild cups I used to love to see in New Pi, maybe a year-round Farmers' Market of sorts. Then still building upwards, there could be office space for New Pi managers, more of whom will be women, I hope, but most of whom are male right now.
The office space currently in outlying buildings now could be used as rental properties or sold as residential properties to raise money.
That's my two cents' worth on the subject. I care a lot about what happens to New Pioneer Coop. I've been shopping there for years and I'm very fond of the place and the staff who work there.