Don Steichen

Owner of 1222 4th street NW

I hav been a resident of time check my whole life.  The city wanted time check for flood protection/retention even though downtown is bottle necked restricting flow, I think we’ll all agree with that. New Bo was rebuilt with the city’s help even though it’s much lower than Time Check.  7 of us rebuilt in the construction zone with no monetary help at all.

We rebuilt  on our own dime with the City saying we were all OK to do so. Now we’re eminent domaining the remaining houses in the construction zone. To me it’s nothing more than a land grab for a city’s vision not it’s citizens. 

We are eminent domaining houses and allowing others to build at the same time. Even rezoning Ellis boulevard for 3 and 4 story structures.  Even protecting Cedar Lake from flood and for what cause, it is true water detention.

As a citizen I’ve learned we may own our properties but the city believes we have no say that their wish is what is good for the City .

Apparently, all the city reconstruction meetings voicing our thoughts were a waste of time. Please respond to why the City changed its mind on taking the construction Zone engineering wise????