Basking in the recent approval of a casino license for Linn County, Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell chose a gaming metaphor to anchor her fourth “State of the City” address Wednesday.
“It’s time to bet on Cedar Rapids,” Ms. O’Donnell told a crowd of about 800 attendees at the annual address, held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Cedar Rapids Convention Complex.
Highlighting numerous development projects in Cedar Rapids, from community amenities such as ConnectCR, the LightLine loop and the downtown vision project to six new housing developments announced in the past year, with 228 total units, Ms. O’Donnell said her annual report was “more than just a report of the state of our city.”
“This is a declaration,” she said, “a declaration that Cedar Rapids is becoming a blueprint for what’s next in American cities – bold, future-focused and built to lead.”
She spoke directly about the decade-plus effort to acquire a casino license from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, which was granted Feb. 6 and is set to bring a new $275 million Cedar Crossing Casino to Cedar Rapids – and said the opposition to that effort, including a current lawsuit seeking to overturn the commission’s decision on procedural grounds, is being countered by the support of friends, family and the Cedar Rapids community at large.
“When they saw others try to block our opportunity for this project, they didn’t hesitate,” Ms. O’Donnell said. “They stood up and said, Cedar Rapids deserves better. And that’s when I knew something had shifted in our community. We weren’t just hoping anymore. We were expecting progress, and we were ready to lead it. We are accelerating, and we are charting our own course.”
She noted that as the city continues to recover from the 2008 floods and the 2020 derecho, large-scale developments such as the Google and QTS data centers on the city’s southwest side – the two largest economic expansion projects in the city’s history – along with expansions by existing companies like Lil’ Drug Store and International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) are adding millions in capital investment and hundreds of jobs to the community.
She noted that more than $800 million has been approved for the city’s $1 billion flood control system, with construction of that system ongoing, and that more than 120 miles of streets have been improved through the decade-long Paving for Progress plan, supported by a special local-option sales tax.
Cedar Rapids has more than 10,000 active businesses, and $417 million in new building permits were issued in the past fiscal year, encompassing both public and private projects, Ms. O’Donnell said.
“Cedar Rapids’ economy is growing twice as fast as the rest of our state,” she said, “and that’s because businesses are betting on our workforce.”
She also highlighted the ongoing Collaborative Growth Initiative, launched by the mayors of Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha in 2023, to focus on growing the region’s workforce pool.
Just in December, Jodi Schafer was hired as the program’s new Talent Attraction Director.
“I cannot overstate how critical this is to you,” Ms. O’Donnell said, “and I know you understand this, because many of us have had conversations about this. We cannot afford to lose people to our neighboring states simply because they ask and we don’t. And it’s happening already. This is about making sure that Cedar Rapids and our region stay competitive, stay magnetic, and stay on the map. We must be in the game, and together we can be. This is growth of vision, growth of strategy, growth of purpose, and we’re betting that it will be growth that lasts.”
She reinforced the importance of arts in the community, noting that a music ecosystem study is now under way in partnership with VenuWorks and the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, and a new Thursday night “Summer in the Square” concert series is debuting at Greene Square Park this year.
“Music and the arts aren’t side projects here,” she said. “They drive our community’s identity. They bring streets and spaces to life, and they build connections.”
Ms. O’Donnell also made a strong push for the revamped $117 million school bond issue that Cedar Rapids Community School District voters will face this fall, focused on renovation and expansion of existing school facilities.
“When we invest in the core of our city, that includes investing in our schools,” she said. “It strengthens our neighborhoods, we know it stabilizes housing, and it sends a clear message that we believe in the future of every student and every family in every corner of Cedar Rapids, and that belief is essential to the growth strategy that we’ve been talking about today, because when families look for great jobs, they’re also looking for great schools. We must all do our part to support this bond and ensure our schools reflect the excellence that we strive for as a city.”
Looking ahead, Ms. O’Donnell said the city hopes to add at least 10,500 jobs by the year 2035, and said that growth will be tied in part to the city’s longstanding aerospace legacy, from the Wright Brothers to Arthur Collins and Collins Aerospace, which remains the city’s largest employer.
“Cedar Rapids was built to fly – and we’re just getting off the ground,” she said. ”We are positioned now to grow our presence as a hub for the aerospace and aviation industries this year and beyond. And that is not just Cedar Rapids. That’s Coralville, that’s Iowa City, that’s our entire region.”
And to reinforce her gaming theme, Ms. O’Donnell ended her speech by inviting attendees to scratch off individual cards at their tables, designed to look like scratch-off lottery tickets, for a chance to win a “Bet on Cedar Rapids” token.
“But prize or no prize, I want you to know that a real bet is already in place,” she said. “Before anybody scratches a ticket, or even after you scratch, you can place your bet. You made it when you opened a business, when you built a home in Cedar Rapids, when you gave up your time, when you believed in Cedar Rapids. Keep betting. Bet on your neighborhoods. Bet on our kids. Bet on our ideas, and bet on Cedar Rapids.”
