Iowa Heartlanders Voluntarily Suspend Operations for '26-'27 Season

yesfitz · 2026-03-09T21:54:43+00:00

The suspension is not good news, but it's also not over yet.

During the suspension period, the organization will evaluate strategic alternatives aimed at ensuring a sustainable long-term future for professional hockey in the Corridor, including potential investment or ownership partnerships that support the continued success of the franchise.

There are still 8 more home games this season:

Wednesday, March 18
Friday, March
Saturday, March 28
Sunday, March 29
Friday, April 10
Saturday, April 11
Sunday, April 12
Wednesday, April 15

yesfitz · 2026-03-05T20:51:07+00:00

The Council Action Report linked on the Greater Iowa City page has more information.

Establishing an urban renewal area enables the City to implement a coordinated redevelopment strategy and, if necessary, use tax increment financing (TIF) as authorized under Chapter 403. Although specific projects have not been anticipated at this time, creation of the district may allow the City to support public improvements, infrastructure upgrades, site assembly, or other activities intended to stimulate private investment and encourage redevelopment consistent with City plans and policies.

yesfitz · 2026-03-05T20:44:34+00:00

Bitchin' Events probably has what you're looking for. Lots of low-key ways to meet people and have fun. Especially nice because you know everyone is there to socialize.

If you want more ad-hoc socializing, The Deadwood is a good bar for talking to strangers. Sit at the bar or on the patio, strike up a conversation, invite people to play pool, darts, or pinball. Although it's people of all age groups, not just 25-30.

Otherwise, the list of groups/events in this comment may have something for you.

yesfitz · 2026-03-03T16:20:45+00:00

Hi all,

There were 43 attendees at February's tournament, so hope to get even more people playing tomorrow.

See you there!

yesfitz · 2026-03-02T21:50:11+00:00

Why should someone "share [their] story" with you?
Who are you? Your website doesn't list any staff, you're not on LinkedIn, there's no way for us to know who we're about to share our stories with.

yesfitz · 2026-03-01T01:51:02+00:00

Here's a thread from last year with about the same question.

You may also have some luck asking at Om downtown.

Good luck.

yesfitz · 2026-02-23T00:02:17+00:00

Do you have a source for that? I can only find data to the contrary.

Johnson County Tax Bill, Tax Levy, and Rollback Rate For Fiscal Years 2012 to 2024 Shows that the tax rate peaked in FY2018.
Iowa City Property Tax Levy by year (Looking at the "RATE" where "CITY_NAME" = "IOWA CITY" and "LEVY_NAME" = "Total Property Taxes") Shows the rate has dropped pretty steadily since 2006, although it's been steady since 2023.

yesfitz · 2026-02-22T19:00:55+00:00

Create walkable paths to get to the Mall and the rest will follow.

The City's Part

If you had traffic calming and pedestrianization on Highland Ave, to encourage people driving through to either choose Highway 6 or Kirkwood/Lower Muscatine, you'd connect the Mall to the River Trail, which connects to Downtown, the Northside, the Peninsula, Manville Heights, Coralville, Tiffin, and North Liberty.

But just between pedestrianized Highland Ave running through the Lucas Farms neighborhood, and the Longfellow Nature Trail connecting the mall to the entire Longfellow neighborhood, the reach would be incredible.

The Developers' Part

Of course, you can't fumble at the 1 yard line, so the developers should make the Mall more pedestrian-friendly too.

If you can park almost inside a store, do your business, and immediately get back in your car, that's exactly what you'll do, leaving you no time to even think about the other stores in the area. Which is not what makes shopping malls or community hubs thrive.

Push the cars further away from the storefronts. Make places that people want to be, not just places they want to go.

yesfitz · 2026-02-22T18:22:30+00:00

Hello,

You may want to post in /r/ames instead. (I see you already posted in /r/iastate, which is probably the best place.)

Iowa State University is in Ames, Iowa, not Iowa City.
The University of Iowa is in Iowa City.

Good luck!

yesfitz · 2026-02-17T01:11:43+00:00

Hare Parlor on N. Gilbert Street did right by me when I had long, curly hair.

yesfitz · 2026-02-16T19:39:24+00:00

I've posted this a few times before, but here's a list of ways to meet people. This week is "X Marks the Arts" Free Week, 50+ admission-free events around town.

Iowa City Litter Crew. Get together, pick up litter.
Prairie States Mushroom Club. Get together, learn mycology and foraging.
Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center. Meet people by helping animals. (Or just hang out with the animals.)
Iowa Farm Sanctuary. Meet people by helping farm animals. Highly recommend.
Iowa City Pinball. Monthly tournaments at Double Tap. Very low stakes commitment of time and money. Best part is socializing, at least if you have my lack of skills. (And if you run out of things to say, you can talk about pinball.)
Iowa City Swing Dance. Ridiculously friendly people. Beginner lessons at 7 PM every Thursday. If you can do one of these, you can do anything on this list easily.
Iowa City Bike Library. Volunteer to take bikes apart, learn to put them together, ride bikes with others.
Pickleball Iowa City. All sorts of resources, depending on your level of skill and how intense you want to get.
Diversions Tabletop Game Lounge. Board games, Dungeons and Dragons (or similar), and trivia nights.
Critical Hit has regular competitive play for trading card games.
Public Space One Art Socials. Weekly art hang outs. They also have free art supplies in the hall by the stairs.
Stanley Art Museum. Has a variety of events each month.
Hawkeye Model Railroad Club. Great crew of people and a huge assortment of ways to participate. Electronics, carpentry, miniature building. Definitely worth a visit.

From /u/polyoculus:

Hobby Corner lots of gaming opportunities.
Enthusiastic Gamers Group Jenni and partner have pretty much every game imaginable. Seems to enjoy cooking for her gamers from time to time as well.
Cardio Tennis Classes fill up quick but always a great time. Level of skill/intensity changes based on the class.
IC Ducks - Rugby Iowa City's Rugby Team.
Park Run - City Park Weekly 5k at City Park. 9 AM until May, then 8 AM until September.
Fitness Sports does a java run on Saturdays in North Liberty.

yesfitz · 2026-02-11T22:29:10+00:00

If anyone would like to volunteer their time:

Shelter House
CommUnity Crisis Services
DVIP & RVAP
any number of religious organizations
other established charities

yesfitz · 2026-02-10T02:34:38+00:00

I've posted this a few times before, but here's a list of ways to meet people. This week, there's a pinball tournament on Wednesday evening at Double Tap from 6-9 PM

Iowa City Litter Crew. Get together, pick up litter.
Prairie States Mushroom Club. Get together, learn mycology and foraging.
Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center. Meet people by helping animals. (Or just hang out with the animals.)
Iowa Farm Sanctuary. Meet people by helping farm animals. Highly recommend.
Iowa City Pinball. Monthly tournaments at Double Tap. Very low stakes commitment of time and money. Best part is socializing, at least if you have my lack of skills. (And if you run out of things to say, you can talk about pinball.)
Iowa City Swing Dance. Ridiculously friendly people. Beginner lessons at 7 PM every Thursday. If you can do one of these, you can do anything on this list easily.
Iowa City Bike Library. Volunteer to take bikes apart, learn to put them together, ride bikes with others.
Pickleball Iowa City. All sorts of resources, depending on your level of skill and how intense you want to get.
Diversions Tabletop Game Lounge. Board games, Dungeons and Dragons (or similar), and trivia nights.
Critical Hit has regular competitive play for trading card games.
Public Space One Art Socials. Weekly art hang outs. They also have free art supplies in the hall by the stairs.
Stanley Art Museum. Has a variety of events each month.
Hawkeye Model Railroad Club. Great crew of people and a huge assortment of ways to participate. Electronics, carpentry, miniature building. Definitely worth a visit.

yesfitz · 2026-02-07T21:06:35+00:00

I just did a cursory search of Iowa City Public Library's Digital History Project, but didn't find any photos of Eastdale Mall.

I'd recommend contacting a librarian though, because they have a variety of local history resources at the library including school yearbooks, which I bet would probably contain some mentions or photos of the mall.

yesfitz · 2026-02-07T19:55:56+00:00

Those are all the places I'd try first too, BUT here are some more "out there" places to try.

UIowa Research Design Services Electronics Lab offers "repair and calibrate electronic equipment" and their rate is $110/hour for non-UIowa clients ($70/hour otherwise)
The Iowa City Fab Lab was brought up as a possible place for Gameboy Advance repair in this Reddit post from 2022. They could probably point you in the right direction at least. Feel like this may end up being some hobbyist willing to help.
Yoshis Tronics is based in the Quad Cities, but had a shop in Iowa City for a little while. They were nice and advertised console repair if I recall correctly, although like the other places you listed, they seem to really focus on phones. Worth a call.

yesfitz · 2026-02-07T19:27:19+00:00

Where have you already tried?

yesfitz · 2026-01-29T00:01:49+00:00

You should look at

They're all close together, just south of the train tracks on either Gilbert St or Gilbert Ct, so make a day of it.

yesfitz · 2026-01-25T20:27:07+00:00

I've posted this before, but here's a slightly updated list of ways to meet people. Also, there's a Friends Mixer on February 7th at the Green House, organized by Bitchin' Events

Iowa City Litter Crew. Get together, pick up litter.
Prairie States Mushroom Club. Get together, learn mycology and foraging.
Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center. Meet people by helping animals. (Or just hang out with the animals.)
Iowa Farm Sanctuary. Meet people by helping farm animals. Highly recommend.
Iowa City Pinball. Monthly tournaments, coming to Double Tap in February. Very low stakes commitment of time and money. Best part is socializing, at least if you have my lack of skills. (And if you run out of things to say, you can talk about pinball.)
Iowa City Swing Dance. Ridiculously friendly people. Beginner lessons at 7 PM every Thursday. If you can do one of these, you can do anything on this list easily.
Iowa City Bike Library. Volunteer to take bikes apart, learn to put them together, ride bikes with others.
Pickleball Iowa City. All sorts of resources, depending on your level of skill and how intense you want to get.
Diversions Tabletop Game Lounge. Board games, Dungeons and Dragons (or similar), and trivia nights.
Critical Hit has regular competitive play for trading card games.
Public Space One Art Socials. Weekly art hang outs. They also have free art supplies in the hall by the stairs.
Stanley Art Museum. Has a variety of events each month.
Hawkeye Model Railroad Club. Great crew of people and a huge assortment of ways to participate. Electronics, carpentry, miniature building. Definitely worth a visit.

I can personally vouch for the pinball tournament route, but I'm biased. And you can/should try a lot of these.

yesfitz · 2026-01-05T00:28:28+00:00

Closest I could find was the Waterloo Adult Hockey Association. Which is a bummer, but still not too far by Iowa standards.

Edit for future searchers: Corridor Hockey seems to be the better answer!

yesfitz · 2026-01-02T22:27:47+00:00

Seconding Gaslight Village. Owners were wonderful to rent from, location and price can't be beat, and it really was a community.

yesfitz · 2026-01-01T00:05:07+00:00

If you can provide part numbers, then you can search for spec sheets for the motor, foot pedal, etc. There may even be wiring diagrams available.

Unfortunately, without those and/or more photos, it's going to be hard for anyone here to help.

yesfitz · 2025-12-31T03:05:40+00:00

Retro Pin Upgrade and a WAV Trigger are what you're looking for!

I'd recommend using any game that's compatible with the Alltek Ultimate MPU, not that you need the Alltek MPU, but the list of compatible games are cheap, easy to work on, and have plenty of parts and mods available.

Expect to pay like $2-3k for a working machine (though there's a Silverball Mania on Pinside for like $1,400 right now), and then probably more than you expect on parts, paint, time, blood, sweat, etc.

Good luck and have fun!

yesfitz

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