House Journal: Page 97: Friday, January 17, 2003
A sense of pride, and a sense of community.
All of that, we have in abundance. Those are the strengths we must build on.
Our values, our land, our schools, and, most of all, our people. Those are the
resources we must marshal to build the New Iowa. For, ladies and gentlemen, we must
build a new Iowa. We must build a New Iowa that encourages entrepreneurship from
within and attracts development from afar. We must build a New Iowa that
guarantees the best education for all, from preschool through college and beyond. We
must build a New Iowa that has the resources, and the will, to take care of the needy
and the ill - the physically ill and the mentally ill - as well as our natural resources -
the land, air, and water. We must build a New Iowa so rich in opportunities to succeed
and so varied in resources to enjoy that our sons and daughters will want to settle here
and sons and daughters from elsewhere will want to move here - even if they aren’t
pursuing a pretty girl from Mount Pleasant.
But wishing won’t make it true.
We must act.
We must change.
Whether or not we act, we will, of course, change. But, without bold actions the
change that comes will be change for the worse. For if we do not manage change,
change will manage us. We have already begun to act. Through the partnerships
forged by Vision Iowa - partnerships involving cities and counties and schools and
private interests - through those partnerships, we are committing upwards of $2 billion
to make Iowa a better place for those of us lucky enough to live here and a more
attractive place for those seeking to move here. From the spectacular new waterfront
in Dubuque to Music Man Square in Mason City to the canals and windmills of Pella,
we are putting Iowa on the tourism map, the economic development map, and the let’s-
just-have-some-fun map. We are building trails and libraries and skate parks and
community centers - as well as the wondrous new downtown in Des Moines and
riverfronts in Davenport, Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Waterloo, and Clinton, along with
Dubuque.
This is part of the new Iowa.
And it is just a start.
It shows, though, what we can do in this great state. It shows how we can build
spectacularly on our values and our resources to provide good jobs and clean fun. It
shows we can work together - city with county, school with town, state with everyone -
to leverage our dollars and our ideas and our energies. And it shows, most of all, that
good ideas are abundant in this wonderful state and that there are legions of good
people ready to bring those ideas to life. It shows that dreams can come true.
But only if we accept change. No, we must do more than accept it. We must
embrace it.
Embracing change means a new, focused economic development effort. Changing
our economy from one of low priced agricultural commodities and lower paying jobs to
© 2003 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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