I lived in Ames for twenty years. There is a determined core of people in Ames who want it to be their own little Camelot, to be exactly as they envision it, and never to change.Must listen - this is eye-opening. Thank you for sharing!
This segment says it all...Ames wants a University, but doesn't want students. They want football but they don't want fans. They want conventions but voted down a convention center. They want a place for kids to swim, but don't want a swimming pool...
Oh, you want to bring in a new mall that will bring in money and jobs to Ames? Hey, that’d change the town! Well, we’ll shove that off into the distance to strangle, then kill it.
You want to stick more businesses in a flood plain? Way over there? Sure, go ahead and landfill—that’ll never affect us here!
That they want to siphon off the best of Iowa State University and control what they don’t like is no surprise.