The Sioux City Council members in their weekly Monday meeting unanimously approved the first consideration of a zoning amendment that would enable the Siouxland Community Health Center to operate an outdoor mobile shower just south of its main building.
The Health Center had provided the shower unit to people during the warm months of the year from 2019 to 2022. But it has not been used in 2023, since city staff announced that questions about the shower unit placement had come to light.
Several people weighed in on the proposal before the council. Siouxland Community Health Center CEO Mari Kaptain-Dahlen said people who are experiencing homelessness use the mobile shower unit, as do others living in the downtown neighborhood who have inadequate plumbing in their homes.
She said the mobile unit has provided more than 1,800 showers in four years.
The proposal before the city council would have the shower unit placed on the health center’s south adjacent parking lot, which is very close to the Warming Shelter. The mobile shower in the prior years had been in the main parking lot, but officials said there isn’t room for that.
The Health Center is a General Commercial zoned property, where accessories without a principal structure are prohibited. The council will take more steps to address the code amendment in a future meeting.
In other news, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley will hold a campaign in Sioux City on Sunday.
The Woodbury County Republican Party in a release said Haley will speak speak at 5:30 p.m. at the Yockey Center of Morningside University.
Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, is among a group of 2024 Republican candidates who are trying to get traction to move ahead of the polling leader, former President Donald Trump.
Additionally, fans of NASCAR will get a big opportunity to see it in the state of Iowa next year, when for the first time the Iowa Speedway will be added to NASCAR’s Cup Series.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on Tuesday announced that major event will be held on June 16, 2024, at the speedway facility located in Newton, Iowa. Reynolds touted it as entertainment that goes beyond sports, and she anticipates a lot of Iowans will attend.
Driver Brad Keselowski was among those on hand during the governor’s announcement, as was former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace, who designed the Newton facility. There will be two other NASCAR events that June weekend at the Iowa Speedway.
