Historic Downtown Newton has been marred by the presence of the now infamous 2020 Derecho Monument for over 5 years. Our city government  has failed to take any meaningful action to force demolition of the "dangerous and infested" structure located at 209 West 2nd Street North. 

The fact of the matter is that the city could have taken title to the building at any point since beginning their lawsuit in 2021. Iowa law allows for cities to take ownership over abandoned buildings and demolish structures that are potentially dangerous. The city has blamed the long pattern of inaction on the building's owner, Chedester Properties, LLC, all the while claiming they are helpless and at the mercy of the court system. This is simply not true. The truth is that the city doesn't want to incur the cost of demolishing this structure, and is now grasping at straws over 4 years into a lawsuit that [as of August 28, 2025] does not even have a future court date set.  Its time for a different approach!

This petition calls upon the citizens of Newton to hold our elected officials accountable. At least three members of city council were serving in their current roles in August of 2020 when the derecho storm caused severe damage to a highly visible historic building, forced partial closure of a busy dowtown street, and resulted in the loss of several public parking spaces which serve downtown businesses. One of these people wants to serve as your next mayor.  Newton deserves better! The truth is that any one of our council members could have raised this issue and done more to force action. It would be even better if more than one of them was willing to carry that torch. Instead we have been continually fed the same line that the case is "tied up in court" and that the city is "doing everything it can, but the building owner just won't cooperate."

Its time for members of city council to start asking the tough questions of city staff and legal counsel!

By signing this petition, you are indicating that you will NOT vote to elect (or re-elect) any member of city council who was in office in August of 2020 - UNLESS demolition of the building located at  209 West 2nd Street North begins before 12:01 AM on October 1, 2025.