This Deal Smells. Penick & Ford [Now Penford] Wants To Buy Riverside Park. I Say Bulldoze Penford and Make the 11-Acre Cedar Rapids Park Bigger

Even the Bohemies don't want Penford's smells going any further south. The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports, "The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library’s board of directors and staff members oppose Penford Products’ proposal to buy the city’s Riverside Park for possible future expansion...In a statement, museum/library board and staff members said a Penford expansion would hurt the “visitor experience” to the museum. “We want visitors who might come on a one-time basis to be so impressed that they return and tell their families and friends to come here,” the museum/library said in its news release. “This is how a great destination becomes popular and brings dollars to the city. The proposed expansion of Penford is an incongruent message to present to visitors regarding the importance of their visit and in making our city a welcoming place.” Any Penford expansion into what is now an 11-acre city park next door to the corn-processing plant would move the industrial operation closer to the museum/library, which itself has moved to a higher location away from the river but closer to Penford since the flood of 2008...Photo of Penford courtesy of the Gazette." [RON MALY'S COMMENTS: My days of playing, and watching, baseball games at Riverside Park date back to the 1940s. Rumor has it that there once was a tennis court at Riverside Park, and that's where my mother and dad met. That's another reason I don't want Penford buying the park. I can only imagine what the company would do with the 11 acres. Actually, I have a better idea. I think Penford should be bulldozed. Look at the picture of the place. It's a terrible sight. And it smells even worse. After Penford is bulldozed, the city of Cedar Rapids can clean up the debris and make Riverside Park bigger.]