The official ribbon cutting may be weeks away but I took advantage of an unusually perfect spring day and ventured out to the area off of Houser Street where the Muscatine Pollinator Park and the Muscatine Dog Park will be located.

April has not been the best for outdoor activities as yet but with plenty of sunshine and temperatures close to 60 degrees, the inspiration to venture out to the area and see the progress was too much to resist.

I have to admit the inspiration came in part from Muscatine Street Maintenance Supervisor Randy Howell who told me during a meeting earlier in the week that city crews had been out clearing brush away from the old railroad bridge on the abandoned Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad Corporation tracks west of Houser Street. That bridge is part of the Pollinator Park Trail, a one-mile segment that circumnavigates the park…

Muscatine is a great place to live and nothing demonstrates that fact more than how residents come together to serve. Whether that service comes on the committee, project, or organizational level, or in just helping out a neighbor, Muscatine residents are working together to make a great community even better.

The City of Muscatine is very thankful and grateful for the many residents who have volunteered their time and service to be a member on one of the many boards and commissions that assist in developing and monitoring City programs, policies and services.

“These individuals who volunteer to serve on one of our boards or commissions, those who attend the many public meetings to add their input to the discussions, and those who volunteer throughout the community are extremely important in our efforts to make Muscatine an even better place to live, work, raise a family, or retire,” Gregg Mandsager…

The recent Iowa Supreme Court decision this past week stating that the Iowa Department of Transportation did not have authority over the use of Automatic Traffic Enforcement (ATE) systems renewed discussion on the amount of money received by Muscatine from the fines, what that money is used for, and how much of the total fine does not stay in Muscatine.

The ATE system in Muscatine consists of permanent fixtures at five intersections along with a mobile unit. The five intersections in Muscatine that have had the ATE system operating since April 2011 include Washington Street at Park Avenue (north and south approaches), Cleveland Street at Park Avenue (north and south approaches), Cedar Street at Houser Street (east and west approaches), University Drive at U.S. Highway 61 (westbound approach), and Mulberry Avenue at U.S. Highway 61 (westbound approach). There is also a mobile unit that has been in operation for the…

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to return to my hometown for a short visit with family and friends. It has been eight months since I moved to Muscatine, but it seems like years since I left the county seat (population 8,000) surrounded by farm land that I lived in for 55 years. The town does not sit on the banks of a river but it does have a medium size lake on which my dad taught me how to sail and how to fish and I taught my children the same and even taught them how to swim.

Muscatine is about three times the size of Paris (Illinois, not France), sits on a world famous river, and has endless possibilities for young and old alike. Realistically the two communities have little in common. Beyond that surface reality, however, is a commonality shared by the people – rich, middle-class…

In recognition of National Arbor Day (Friday, Apr. 28), Parks and Recreation Director Richard Klimes offered the following on the value of trees to the citizens of Muscatine.

The dictionary definition of a tree is very vague: “a woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk growing to a considerable height and bearing lateral branches at some distance from the ground.”

However, trees are much more than that.

The definition provides a physical description but trees are more than just a pretty thing to look at throughout the seasons. Trees provide many benefits from climate control, to health benefits, to renewing the environment around them.

Trees help combat climate change. Not only do they produce oxygen to clean and renew our air, trees cycle out carbon dioxide caused by pollution. With air quality and climate control being a persistent public health issue, trees are needed to improve air…