Some people living in a Sioux City neighborhood oppose the rezoning of a parcel of farmland for industrial use to build a concrete mixing plant.
The Knife River construction company wants to buy 30 acres in Leeds, which is currently a cornfield, to relocate its operation.
However, a few dozen residents who attended the Sioux City Council meeting on Monday are in opposition, including Barry Bohlke.
“This will affect all of us in Leeds, the new amount of traffic, the dust, the noise, the child safety, and the damage to our property values,” Bohlke said.
He said more than 500 residents have signed a petition against rezoning.
A representative from Knife River Midwest said the company will comply with citizen concerns and the project would be good for the Sioux City economy.
The council members decided to push back the final vote by one week since one council member was not in attendance.
Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott opposes rezoning because he said the development is too close to homes.
*Also at the Monday council meeting, some people spoke out with passionate pleas to keep a homeless shelter from closing.
Officials with The Warming Shelter last week said it will be forced to shut down on October 1st due to lack of funding.
Jennifer Huls, who uses the facility, urged city leaders to take action.
“You have this all wrong. Not everybody out here is an addict, and not all of us have places to go this winter, we will die out here, we will die. We will freeze to death without the warming shelter, we will not live,” Huls said.
Warming Shelter officials said they have received an outpouring of offers to help, so they launched a GoFundMe fundraiser webpage to try and raise the $200,000 needed to stay open this winter.
Early in the process, more than $5,000 has been donated.
*The latest Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 shots are now available for anyone ages six months and older.
The new vaccines target the widely circulating KP.2 omicron variant.
Mike Brownlee is the Chief Pharmacy Officer at the University of Iowa Health Care. He said people can get the new COVID shot at the same time as their flu and RSV shots to prepare for respiratory virus season, to protect them through the winter.
Brownlee recommends in particular those who are 65 and older or immunocompromised get the new vaccine, because they are at highest risk for getting severely ill.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends waiting three months after a coronavirus infection to get the vaccine.
**Additionally, people who attended the Iowa State Fair last month overwhelmingly said they want legislators to pass a measure mandating that vehicle drivers use hand-free phone usage.
For the second consecutive year, the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau and Iowa State Patrol collaborated at the fair to survey attendees on cell phone use while driving. The survey, conducted with over 1,300 Iowans from nearly every county, revealed significant concerns about distracted driving.
Nearly 85 percent of Iowans surveyed support legislation mandating hands-free phone use. More than 30 states have passed a hands-free driving law.
Proposed bills mandating hands-free phone use have stalled in the Iowa Legislature. A hands-free bill in 2022 passed out of the Iowa Senate, but not in the House.
Luke Hoffman, Executive Director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, in a release said a hand-free requirement would save lives.
“It’s time for the legislature to equip law enforcement with the tools they need by passing hands-free this coming legislative session,” Hoffman said.
Half of respondents admitted to sometimes driving with phones in hand.
*As recovery from June flooding continues throughout Siouxland, a group on Tuesday gave 15 sets of clothes washers and dryers to families in Sioux City on Tuesday.
The Orphan Grain Train group wanted to help families, and the laundry appliances were taken to the Seaboard Triumph Foods Expo Center, and will soon go to the families. The Community Action Agency of Siouxland pinpointed families in need who were impacted by flooding.
