Justice Flip-Flops

What's all this I keep hearing about a Just Ice center? Don't we already have a skating rink at Coral Ridge Mall?



Gilda Radner's not the only one who's flip-flopped on the justice center. I notoriously did so last fall, so my support this time is less surprising.

But today we have a couple prominent endorsements who were No in last fall's election but are Yes for tomorrow's special.

I feel very ambivalent about the Justice Center vote, but will vote Y because the revisions and other actions have improved the proposal.
— Jim Throgmorton (@Throg4IC) May 6, 2013

Throgmorton, the lone lefty on the Iowa City council, was also the only opponent in last fall's 6-1 council endorsement of a Yes vote.

Also significant: The Daily Iowan this morning switched its endorsement from No to Yes.

In November, we opposed the Justice Center on the grounds that it was too expensive and that jail overcrowding might be better combated by diverting more county resources into jail-alternative programs. Our position was naïve; we viewed the debate as too many do, in ideological terms — as a product of the tension between law and order conservatism and libertarianism. But the need for the justice center is ultimately rooted in pragmatism, in real concerns about the long-term health of the county’s facilities. We missed this point originally, and we believe those who view the justice center as simply an oppressive extension of the criminal-justice system continue to miss this point.