We’re back with another installment of Make it Make Sense. This week we’re going to zoom out from the University of Iowa to talk about some things happening in Iowa City and the communities surrounding it. We’ll be back to dissecting the misadventures of DEI in this state next time…this is actually a good sneak peek of things I’ll talk about beyond my past gig in the Division. (Though I’m sure there will be enough buffoonery to dip back in every now and again.) Anyways let’s get into it!
On July 21st the Iowa Department of Transportation released a statement that their Iowa City DOT office would be closing in five days and moving to a new facility on the outskirts of Coralville. Word is this came as news to both Iowa City and Coralville officials, as demonstrated by this searing take-down by Iowa City Council member Shawn Harmsen in Bleeding Heartland.
Shawn does a great job of providing a detailed analysis on the whiplash announcement and closure of the Iowa City DOT office and how this is textbook voter suppression. Some highlights: the announcement was made on the Friday afternoon before RAGBRAI with only three business days before the relocation, the now defunct Iowa City location was right next to an accessible bus stop, which, wouldn’t ya believe it, IC transport just implemented it’s free bus service only a few days after the DOT relocation. While the new Coralville location has no current public transport routes even remotely near it. But to talk about the biggest takeaway from the article is to call out Iowa City’s thinly veiled, worst kept secret (hint: it rhymes with shmegragation.) One doesn’t even need to look at the demographic data to know that the old Iowa City location was smack dab in the middle of an area known for its diversity of race, ethnicity, and social economics. As Shawn points out, “…according to census data, some of those Iowa City neighborhoods are made up of 20 to 44 percent Black residents. All of them are at least double or triple the statewide average for non-white racial diversity.” The new Coralville location…not so much. So then let’s put this all together. The new spot makes going to the DOT for things like getting an ID harder for those already challenged to make the trek1. And with proof of identity being required at the polls before one votes…it’s not a stretch to say that this relocation will have ramifications in upcoming elections.
Again, the article by Council Member Harmsen does a great job of breaking down the reasons why this move will hurt Iowa City and its neighborhoods and I encourage everyone to click through for the deep dive. But I wanted to add another layer to the goings on. Because there are a few more dots that we can connect here. Dots that I learned about while getting the latest chisme from my ma.
My mom, as she is want to do, was telling me the latest things giving her and those around her grief. In her run down she mentioned that it is going to be super annoying to try to get my nephew his learners permit. “Yeah yeah they moved the office to Coralville,” I added. “No. Not just that. They moving the Muscatine office,” my mom replied. After a bit of confusion…I realized that the Iowa City DOT wasn’t the only office being relocated. My family still lives in the hometown that I grew up, West Liberty. Which is a town relatively equidistant from the cities of Muscatine and Iowa City. Though there is no word on where the new Muscatine location will be…I won’t be surprised if it’s as inconvenient as can be for people like my family. That is, people in West Liberty and Muscatine. Which, in a fun little coincidence, happens to have a grip of people of color. 51.8% of the people in West Liberty, IA are hispanic (1.94k people). While 18.5% of the people in Muscatine, IA are hispanic (4.37k people). The other locations that are named for relocation are Waterloo and Council Bluffs. Do I even need to say that they too have significant hispanic and/or black populations? Can we just take my word on it? Oh fine don’t take my word.
I mean, all we can do right now is conjecture because there are so few concrete facts being presented from officials2. All we know is that the Muscatine office will relocate at the end of their lease this year. When that will be and to where is a mystery to the public. Shit the Muscatine DOT page doesn’t even mention the upcoming closure of its current space. Folks let me tell ya…this is bad. Like imagine a not too far fetched scenario where the Muscatine DOT office is closed down for a bit while relocating in the coming months. That means the closest DOT office for Muscatine residents is either in Davenport (41 min) or in that damned Coralville location (51 min.) With this utterly inevitably bizzaro national election coming up in a little over a year any time at all where potential voters are suppressed is impactful.
There’s one last point I want to make here. The image above shows the voting history for Muscatine County. I’m sharing this to talk about something that has irked me for a long time when it comes to discourse I hear in Iowa City. Can you take a guess on what it is? I’ll tell you right now that it’s something I’ve been guilty of as well…though I’m trying to do better as of late. It’s this gem: Iowa City is a blue oasis in a sea of red. Which was only really true since 2016…as demonstrated by the fact that counties like Muscatine County were majority democrat until then (what happened after 2016? What’s that you say? It’s been reactionary since Obama’s presidency you say? It’s a thread that runs parallel with the collective losing of their shit from the Trumpers in the GOP. God let’s unpack that another day yeah?) And even now…in recent elections counties like Muscatine county are more purple than you’d think. Don’t get me wrong…it went for Trump…but definitely not by an overwhelming majority. So what irks me with the blue oasis saying is that it discredits the literal thousands of people with voting power. It feeds into this narrative that we should give up and cut ties with the rest of the state. That places like West Liberty, Muscatine, Council Bluffs, and Waterloo are lost causes. That relocating an office that is a prerequisite to being able to flex that voting power is no big deal because they were just the sea of red anyway. If Reynolds and co are going to continue to engage in these acts of voter suppression then those counties are going to continue to shift, but not because there is an absence of voters to counter those acts. But because those voters are being attacked by two fronts: the direct suppression and the indirect dismissal by those of us in this “oasis.”
For “fun” (because really how much fun is anything associated with the DOT really?) I plotted my route via public transport to the old IC location and the new Coralville one. I’m on the East Side of Iowa City and it would have taken me about 35 minutes to get to Eastdale Plaza. For the new location: an hour and a half…including 19 minutes of walking as the cherry on top.
And finding those few facts wasn’t easy. Seriously. Researching (aka slogging through page after page of DOT news releases) for this post was, as the kids say nowadays, mid. Not for like of trying (cue the hours long montage) I couldn’t actually find the official word from the DOT that those four offices were the four of the eighteen being relocated and instead had to piecemeal it from other sources.