There’s a lot of buzz in the air as spring hits our not-so-sleepy little river town. People are excited about new opportunities like the opening of the downtown Hy-Vee, the addition of the Sedgwick jobs and, of course, more Mexican restaurants.

At the same time, people are upset about the proposed construction of a major book publisher’s office space in the tourism-visioned Port of Dubuque... not to mention A.J. Spiegel building condos on the bluffs overlooking downtown which will, according to one of the not-so-happy-about-the-condos contingent at a city council meeting, “blot out the sun!” Really?

I guess the general consensus is that we all want new stuff, we just don’t want it to be built. I suppose if I rant on with my view of things I’m sure to hear about it from both sides but I do have all this green space to fill. I think somewhere there has to be a middle ground. If we are, as a community, going to overwhelmingly vote down a baseball stadium then we can’t get upset when something we didn’t expect five years ago now fills the Port. If we want to pay our firefighters and fix our streets, we do actually need tax dollars. The first bluff project at Eagle Point caused a lot of stir, almost as much as the turmoil over the 10 new firefighters the city couldn’t afford at the time even though the taxes on the Eagle Point Project would have done the trick. Now the newest upscale condo project by Mercy again offers to bring in substantial new revenue to the city. You can also hardly blame a developer for having the vision to think big and put grand housing in a place with a grand view.

We often celebrate the architecture of the past that dots our downtown bluff lines but I wonder if those painted ladies that now define Dubuque’s bluffs met such strong resistance in 1850? Is it not possible that we may one day see AJ’s bold structures as landmarks as well? I know there are no clear answers and everyone thinks that they are right from their point of view. I do care about the history, beauty and natural environment of our city. It’s incredibly important to me as the condos in question will be directly above my own home on the 100 block of Bluff Street. I also recognize that we are, in the end, living in the heart of a city and development must be expected. Now that it seems it WILL happen, how can we contribute to make it be the best it can be?

On another note, things are a flurry at 365 World Headquarters (1st & Main, downtown Dubuque). I really hope you’re enjoying your first-ever read of Dubuque365ink. A lot of energy and collective passion from the most in- credible individuals you could ever want to know are compiled here for your perusal. We are incredibly excited to continue to grow this publication and make it be something you look forward to with great anticipation every two weeks. In addition to promoting events and the cultural and arts world of Dubuque we also hope that it serves as a collection of ideas that spark actual civic debate. What a concept. I am already waiting for my cell to ring about the last paragraph.

Before I close I do want to thank all of the contributors, friends and offers of support that flood in every day. 365 is built to serve the community and because of that, YOU ARE 365. Over the last five years helping people just like you connect to greater opportunity in our community has been our greatest success. You know, when you suddenly throw publishing a news- paper on top of your “things to do” pile, you start getting up a lot earlier in the morning. Unfortunately, due to things like writing, editing and designing everything, you don’t get to go to sleep earlier to accommodate. So I’m now looking into this whole power-nap theory that some people I know put a lot of stock in. However, when I tried to catch some afternoon Zs, I found the sun was beating right in my eyes from the west through the shutters of my Bluff Street row house. There appeared to be a flaw in my master plan. But that’s okay, because pretty soon the sun will be conveniently blotted out by those new condos and I should sleep great.