Senate Journal: Page 79: Friday, January 17, 2003
It is our great schools, our safe streets and communities, our caring neighbors, our
good hospitals and nursing homes. It is the 15-minute "rush hour" or the ease with
which you can get tickets to a ball game or the symphony or can participate in a
community chorus or little theatre.
These are things native Iowans often take for granted, but that others envy. (One
recent transplant from the Big Apple told me, "I love Iowa. I've seen more Broadway
shows since I moved here than I saw in all my years in New York.")
As we seek to strengthen Iowa in the years ahead, we must place a renewed focus
on economic development-because a good job with a future is what will draw and keep
people here.
But economic development is about a lot more than just economics. If we are to
grow, and grow we must, we need to create an environment attractive to the next
generation of dreamers, inventors, and doers.
Study after study has shown that good schools, good housing, safe neighborhoods,
and amenities from parks and libraries to cultural attractions are even more important
than economic factors in a company's choice of where to locate-and a family's choice of
where to live.
We have that special quality of life here in Iowa. It is a unique ingredient that can
help us attract new businesses and new residents to our state.
And we must strive to ensure that our special Iowa quality of life is available to all
our residents-no matter their backgrounds or the obstacles they face in life.
Among the family of Iowans are racial, ethnic, and religious minorities, gays and
lesbians, people with mental illness, the poor, the abused and neglected, and the
physically or mentally challenged.
We must call upon the very best of our Iowa values-our sense of community-to
remove the barriers that keep us from tapping our full pool of talents as we seek to
realize the economic and human potential of our state.
In the next four years, let us work to create an environment that allows people to
step out of the shadow of poverty and abuse, and out of the closet of shame and fear; an
environment that closes the achievement gap in schools and the workplace; that
supports people with disabilities to live and work in the mainstream of community life;
that respects the spiritual practices of every faith; that showcases the best of who we
are to the rest of the nation and the world.
This is what will inspire young Iowans to build their futures here, as well as,
attract new residents to our state.
This is the path to a brighter future, offering hope and opportunity to all our
citizens.
This is the good Iowa we are, and the even greater Iowa we can be.
Thank you.
© 2003 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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