Ottumwa-IA

9 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6 OT TUMWA , IOWA push on it.” He also believes that the city can entice workers from faraway metropolitan areas, such as Chicago, to think about relocating to Ottumwa and working remotely. “We’re an Amtrak community,” he notes. “The California Zephyr comes through every day with service to Chicago, Denver, and points west. We want to make a pitch to folks who are currently working from home and paying, say, $1,800 a month for an apartment in Chicago, that they can live in Ottumwa for a fraction of that, and still have a great opportunity to go back to the big city whenever they want to.” Meanwhile, Simonson reports that some city projects are focused on improving Ottumwa’s quality of life, responding not only to its current residents’ needs but also as an enticement to those prospective newcomers. One such project is a master plan for Greater Ottumwa Park, a 300-acre site right in the heart of the city. “It’s not really suitable for large- scale new building development, but it’s a really cool and beautiful place,” he says. “We have camped there already, we have sports there already, and the new master plan for that space is going to give us the soccer complex that Ottumwa should have, new tennis courts, new basketball courts, and a more modern shower house for the campground. We want to make it a regional gem for everyone to enjoy. “We’re also looking at West 2nd St., which is a struggling neighborhood. It’s not very attractive and we’re looking at making that area more beautiful. We’re relaxing our long-time reluctance about having trees too close to the right-of-way. We’re going to do some pretty aggressive free tree plantings and we’re going to make that a beautiful, tree-lined boulevard to greet people as they come into Ottumwa.” Finally, as part of its downtown