I have already gotten a response to this question and it only says to get rid of those running the show.  This area is about ideas that would be helpful to the community and should be backed by some factual data or a plan of action.  Thank You Web Master

I would improve the City of Iron Mountain by:

11-02-2006-01

I would improve life in Iron Mountain by first tackling and improving the down-to-earth, practical, quality-of-life issues with which we must deal on a day-to-day basis.  I'd assign the highest priority to them not only because they're usually synonymous with essential human, social, and civic services, but because they're also very important in attracting, complementing, and maintaining sources of economic growth and development.

First, I would solve the water problem in Iron Mountain.  If we're to pay the amount required for safe water and water that doesn't taste foul, then we must remove the risk and the distasteful flavor from it and see that we have a reliable and efficient delivery system.  Period.  This is an issue we shouldn't even be debating.

I would enforce fair and reasonable air quality control.  This is just common sense, therefore that's what we should approach it with.  Who likes choking on a thick column of diesel smoke?  There's no good excuse for large trucks and heavy machinery to be idling indefinitely, unnecessarily gunning their engines, or emitting sooty thick coal-black exhaust in residential and commercial neighborhoods.  There's no good excuse for cars, pickups, and motorcycles to create unnecessarily thick and offensive gas and oil exhaust, either, while routinely traveling city streets and highways.  Heavy machinery would be limited to worksites or appropriately zoned districts in town, and the legal volume and density of exhaust per vehicle would be enforced.  Cars, pickups, and cycles would be ticketed, and repeaters would be arrested and/or have their vehicles impounded.

I would enforce the noise ordinances of Iron Mountain.  Another commonsensical move to get sound itself back down to a physically and mentally healthy level.  This would include not only vehicular noise of all types, such as missing, damaged, or unnecessarily loud exhaust systems.  There are plenty of other ways other than gunning a blatty exhaust system to prove what a big manly man you are.  Enforcement would also include other nuisance noise, such as the unnecessarily loud music of cranked stereos and booming basses, neighborhood partying, and similar intrusive rackets, not only from cars and pickups, but from houses, apartments, and yards.  I would also do whatever it takes to end the regular use of unreasonably used train horns throughout the day and night within the city.  What families should have to suffer nightly through that, then be expected to function at top form in school and at work the next day?  There are reasonable solutions available.  I'd promptly choose one and apply it.

As if the quality of water, air, and sound weren't already naturally important to me, I had the importance driven home in recent years from friends and family members who live in large urban areas.  They considered moving, moving back, or retiring to what they thought would be a pristine, rural, small-town Iron Mountain area or other charming spot in the U.P., until they visited often enough and got familiar enough with it so that, when I asked if or when they were going to make the move, they wondered why they should when, except for lighter traffic, Iron Mountain was really no different than the big city anymore in ways that mattered to them, had far less to offer than the big city, was awfully remote, and really didn't have the pristine features and values associated with the U.P. that they originally believed and would have been willing to make the move for -- the clean water, the clean air, the quietness.

Public safety is another issue I'd tackle immediately.  I don't want to settle for half-measures.  I don't want attempts to save money that are actually going to cost more money.  I want a proud, full-time, dedicated, and high-morale professional police department that focuses on serving and protecting the city's citizenry, and who is allowed by the politicians to do its job.  I don't think our police officers should have to worry about training to be half-hearted, undedicated firefighters who are on call in addition to their police duties, and have to rush to a fire and equip themselves from the trunk of a car while the firefighters and victims wait until the required number of personnel is available to act.  I don't think their careers as police officers should have to depend on them also being part-time firemen.  I also want a proud, full-time, dedicated, and high-morale professional fire department that focuses on serving and protecting the city's citizenry, and who is allowed by the politicians to do its job.  I want them to get on the truck, race to the fire at my house or business, and put it out immediately and/or save the people trapped inside -- not wait for a couple off-duty police officers to crawl out of bed, pee, dress, race to the scene of the fire, and equip themselves from the trunks of their vehicles.  I want both the departments to be excellent and have high ratings and keep down both the city's and my personal insurance premiums.  Like the rest of the citizenry, I want public safety to mean that the public is actually safe.  Like water and other crucial services, we pay what it costs and the heck with all the financial trickery that always ends up costing more.

Along with and to a lesser extent street maintenance, basic minimal recreational and park properties and facilites, proper sewage and flood control in certain areas of town -- these essential quality-of-life issues that affect us importantly every single day are the ones I would attack first and make right to improve life in Iron Mountain and make it a more pleasant and more attractive city socially, culturally, materially, environmentally, and economically for its current residents and for others we want to settle here.  Excel at making the basics really right and really good and the rest will follow.

10-31-2006-1

I would improve the city of Iron Mountain by improving our park and recreation areas.  We have a large population of kids in our community and we need to keep them on the right track.  I am the President of the Youth Tackle Football League that represents over 450 kids from our area.  Iron Mountain had almost 100 kids playing football this fall and over 100 kids playing soccer this past summer.  Iron Mountain currently has 2 fields for Soccer and 1 field for football.  The City Park field is a facility that gets used from early May right through the end of October.  I am able to irrigate the City Park field with the help of local businesses and the City.  Unfortunately the Crystal Lake Field does not get the needed attention.  By the second season of Soccer, the Crystal Lake field is a dust bowl.  By the end of September the City Park field has taken a heavy beating.

So to help keep are kids focused on sports and not other unproductive activities I would propose finding an area around City Park for another athletic field and upgrading the Crystal Lake complex.  For example the current deer pen is an eye sore.  By moving some dirt we could create a real nice field with bleachers on the far hill side and plenty of parking where the road is.  A concession stand could be built near the play ground.  An irrigation system could be installed at both fields by volunteers with money raised by our organizations.  I have talked to many local businesses about helping and we could easily apply for grants to help.  The problem that I face is with the Parks and Recreation Committee.  I asked for a meeting in July of 2006 and as of October 31st I still have heard nothing.  The Youth Football League has raised money to reseed the City Park Field and was hoping to complete it this fall.  The local Soccer League was also going to help.  We have heard nothing.

If we want people to live in this City we have to provide the recreation benefit of living in a community.  It seems that we have support from organizations, support from local businesses but no support from city government.  The people that run our local youth athletic organization volunteer a great deal of time to our kids.  I think the city needs to start helping these organization.

Dean Lefebvre