Cedar Rapids Gazette Publishes "Roots of Recovery" Series

Perhaps it was unintentional, but Retiring Guy likes the fact that the Library receives such prominent billing in this graphic.

Link to series of articles

Link to June 10 Cedar Rapids Gazette article, "Downtown’s losses poignant, but recovery has made strong start".

Excerpt: Although life has returned to a downtown stilled by the June 2008 floods, the silence in certain places speaks loudly.

Theatre Cedar Rapids has returned, but the Paramount Theatre — home of the Cedar Rapids Symphony — remains closed. The laughter at Penguin’s comedy club moved to the Clarion Inn, and the muted voice of the Cedar Rapids Public Library is now heard at Westdale Mall.

Some businesses that returned after the flood have already closed, including Blend restaurant, which helped spark a downtown revival before the flood, and a used-car dealer that opened on the former downtown Dairy Queen site.

Cedar Rapids Downtown District President Doug Neumann estimates $1 billion will be spent on downtown recovery and revitalization from June 2008 through June 2013. That doesn’t even include the estimated $900 million cost of the city’s preferred flood-protection plan.