You are always welcome to come the the Historic Preservation Commission meetings, just as you are the city council meetings. They're public meetings and there is always the opportunity for public comment. Both these options would most likely prove a more effective forum to express your concerns than the Gazette website.

It will continue to be a visual icon of that neighborhood as it has been for over a hundred years, and will be a fantastic focal point for development in that area - whether that's a park, condos, or mixed-use development. There are successful examples of this exact type of opportunity all across the country. Some new developments even try to replicate history to give a sense of longevity to the property and increase values. Here we already have a historic landmark, perfectly poised to be an icon of a new development that has huge potential to bring tax revenue back to the city.

Let's not forget how important the Sinclair plant is to the history of Cedar Rapids. We are a major industrial hub in Iowa because of Sinclair. Had this plant not been here and brought the railroads with with, we would not have Quaker Oats, or Rockwell Collins, or Aegon because Cedar Rapids would never have developed into a great location for them. Literally thousands upon thousands of people worked at Sinclair over the many decades it was in operation. Are we to just wipe the historical significance of the plant away by completely cleaning out the site? The smokestack will honor the significance of Sinclair and the hard work of the many laborers who lived in this city before us. The past is prologue - without it, we wouldn't be here.