Letter to the Editor on Menards

Posted: Thu, Oct 4, 2018 4:35 PM

(The following Letter to the Editor has been submitted by Dave Ohlert of Decorah in response to Jim Dale's recent Letter to the Editor):

"WHAT???? I've been trying, for the most part, to stay out of this battle over Menards. However, when I read something like Jim Dale's letter, I have to speak out. Maybe we should raise the Menards building high enough to farm under it. Maybe we should put grow lights under the building and power it from his proposed solar panels. We could even get electic helicopters to fly Menards patrons and freight in and out.

WOW!! A "Modest Proposal?" I have a different word for it. Contrary to what people want to believe, all of Freeport and a ton of Decorah and everything in between from bluff to bluff is Upper Iowa River floodplain, not just the area shown on the curren map designed to make people feel better about how badly we've already screwed it up. We always seem to play the floodplain card when we're trying to keep something out of Decorah. Maybe we should remove the dike, which only creates back water and higher elevation and velocity going past it, and make everyone in the low areas of town build up on top of the hill. That's just as "modest" of a proposal.

The city council should wake up some day and realize the jobs and tax relief Menards could give Decorah instead of giving away tax dollars on property tax abatements. I'm sorry, but if you can afford a $600,000 house, you should be able to pay the property taxes right out the chute. Don't explain to me how abatements work—I already know."