Small Town Solutions: Staying Vital in Rural Iowa

Iowa towns that are thriving, bucking trend of rural decline

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A handful of small Iowa towns with 5,000 or fewer people and not part of a larger metro area bucked the trend in the 2020 census and grew their populations. These towns grew populations at a time when the 2020 census showed Iowa’s urban population growing to 64% of the state’s 3.16 million people. The share of urban dwellers in Iowa was near 61% in both 2010 and 2000, 58% in 1990, and 57% in 1980. With support from the Solutions Journalism Network

A four-month IowaWatch investigation that included visits to 58 towns of 5,000 or fewer people turned up examples of growing rural communities. One of those growing in population isn’t even incorporated, but counted, none the less, by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Small Town Solutions: Staying Vital in Rural Iowa

Political divisions mingle with Bloomfield’s push for vitality

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BLOOMFIELD, Iowa – A lot of people were paying attention to Bloomfield, in southern Iowa, a few years ago. “Bloomfield sets sustainable design example for Iowa,” a Jan. 1, 2016, Des Moines Register headline read above a story about a new solar power project to supplement the power Bloomfield’s municipal utility buys from Southern Iowa Electric. 

With support from the Solutions Journalism Network

“Governor Reynolds, Lt. Governor Gregg Celebrate Bloomfield’s New Solar Project,” the Iowa Department of Economic Development and Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office titled an Aug. 1, 2018, news release. “Bloomfield has demonstrated exactly the type of innovative and forward thinking we hoped to foster when we released the Iowa Energy Plan in December 2016,” Reynolds said in that release.

opinion

Evans: Inconsistency’s Quicksand Snags Our Governor

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Consistency can rise up and snare political leaders if they are not careful. A recent example is Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is now squirming after questions were raised over whether she favors local control or state control. The question came up this summer when Madison County officials began studying a proposal from some people living in rural areas outside of Winterset. Those residents want to restrict where wind turbines can be erected in the county. Randy Evans
STRAY THOUGHTS
Randy Evans is the executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

solar power dispute

Solar Flare-Up: Utility Blocks Iowa Firm From Harnessing The Sun In Milwaukee

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As solar energy has become more popular and cost-effective, this once fringe renewable source is now at the center of an energy turf war in Wisconsin. At issue is a project in which an Iowa-based renewables company wants to partner with the city of Milwaukee to power seven municipal buildings with solar. Eagle Point Solar would help to finance the city’s project, taking advantage of federal tax breaks that local governments do not qualify for. Eagle Point, based in Dubuque, Iowa, is suing the public utility, We Energies, for refusing to connect a series of solar arrays to each other. We Energies says it is simply following the law.