RIVERSIDE CITY COUNCIL

Ride Long and Prosper?

Riverside City Council votes down request to help refurbish Ragbrai/Star Trek Delta Shield

By Paul D. Bowker
Posted 1/12/23

RIVERSIDE

The Riverside/Ragbrai/Star Trek Delta Shield sculpture has been through more battles than the USS Enterprise herself in deep space.

It has clearly gone where some would rather not go …

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RIVERSIDE CITY COUNCIL

Ride Long and Prosper?

Riverside City Council votes down request to help refurbish Ragbrai/Star Trek Delta Shield

Posted

RIVERSIDE

The Riverside/Ragbrai/Star Trek Delta Shield sculpture has been through more battles than the USS Enterprise herself in deep space.

It has clearly gone where some would rather not go boldly at all.

After serving as one of the focal points for Riverside when Iowa’s annual Ragbrai bicycle race came through town in July 2018, the sculpture was later chained to a fence surrounding a city tennis court, moved to a farm on the north end of town, was damaged when a fire destroyed a barn at the farm and wound up on the grounds of the city’s water plant.

There, once sparkling paint was damaged by weather, letters on the sculpture broke off and weeds grew through the spokes of bicycles which were welded to the sculpture in 2018 by Mike Meinders, President of the Voyage Home Museum and Riverside History Center.

Meinders had the remains of his sculpture pointed out to him by his grandson two years ago.

“My heart just dropped,” Meinders told The News last week.

Already backed with $5,000 in pledges from the Voyage Home Museum and Riverside Area Community Club (RACC), Meinders went in front of the Riverside City Council on Jan. 3 to ask for funds to help cover an itemized repair estimate of $7,818. He requested up to $2,800 for a project that would include sandblasting, painting and other refurbishing.

“I’m a little torn on what to do,” said Council Person Kevin Mills, who voted in favor of the funds request and remembered the part it played for the city in the 2018 Ragbrai.

“When Ragbrai came through here, it was a big deal,” Mills said.

The request by Meinders kicked off an extensive discussion. At the finish, it was voted down 3-2 with Mills and Lois Schneider voting in favor of the city pitching in for repairs and installation at Railroad Park, and Council Persons Tom Sexton, Edgar McGuire and Kevin Kiene voting against.

Sexton said he was concerned about the safety of the large sculpture and if children could climb it and then fall off.

The sculpture, which Meinders said he completed in just two weeks prior to the Ragbrai race, was formed in the shape of the Star Trek Delta Shield with assorted bicycles attached to it under the words, “Ride long and prosper.”

“Bikes and starships, very big difference,” McGuire said.

The 2023 Ragbrai, known as the Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The race route is scheduled to be announced Jan. 28.

But what of the sculpture? Meinders isn’t sure, even after receiving $2,500 commitment pledges from both the museum and RACC.

“They’re going to have to do something if they want to have it put up,” he said. “The factions that are on the City Council right now apparently see this as kind of frivolous and they don’t really need to do it and they don’t think it represents our town.”

Meinders disagrees.

“This is part of tourism,” he said.

“We owe it to people who believe in it,” Council Person Lois Schneider said. “I believe in it for them.”

Christine Yancey, former City Administrator, said she approached the City Council in 2020 or 2021 to have a light and bracing installed at Railroad Park, with the idea that it was completed in time for Trek Fest in 2022. Meinders said repair work was approved by a previous City Council, but the work was never done.

Trek Fest and Museum

Officials from The Voyage Home Museum and Riverside Area Community Club/Trek Fest are asking for a combined $43,000 in Fiscal Year 2024 funds.

A public hearing on the proposed FY24 budget is tentatively set for March 20.

Museum officials are hoping to get $22,000 in the next fiscal year. The museum is in the midst of an expansion that will allow for display of more Star Trek memorabilia, as well as more displays to show Riverside’s railroad legacy and displays of military veterans.

“There’s a lot of cool stuff in there, that’s for sure,” Council Person Edgar McGuire said.

Travis Riggan, Trek Fest 38 chair, asked the City Council for $21,000. Trek Fest is scheduled to take place Friday and Saturday, June 23 and 24, 2023, with possibly an additional event to take place June 22.

The annual parade, featuring yet unannounced Star Trek celebrities, will take place June 24.

Council Action

The City Council approved estimates from LL Pelling of North Liberty for chip/seal street patching, ranging from $2.70 per square yard for a single seal coat to $290 a ton for cold mix patch material.

The Council set a Feb. 6 public hearing for a rezoning request for a lot on Commercial Drive.

The Council tabled a review of bid proposals for repairs to a lift station.

Next board meeting: The City Council will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 17.

Star Trek, Delta Shield, Riverside, City Council, Mike Meinders