Where is the Rain Forest?

The question of the rain forest's location is apparently still up in the air. According to "Rain forest must find private funds," from the Daily Iowan, the slow process of acheiving financial goals has brought up the question of where the rain forest will actually be constructed. Due to the fact that funds were not secured efficiently, citizens may not even see the rain forest project in the local area of Coralville. There are some issues about a known 50 million dollar grant by the government, which not only covers basic costs, but also many other things such as project officials salaries. This grant will not necessarily secure the fact that we will see this project up and running any time soon, because it must be matched, and it still leaves at least 90 million dollars left. It turns out that officials have not even asked the city of coralville to raise the money, and are turning to private sources.
What is problematic, is the fact that officials like David Oman, who know exactly what is going on are not spending time to communicate with the community and give citizens answers. The question of moving the project elsewhere is being avoided by those with the answers, and information about funding is also being withheld. So what is the city of Coralville doing? Are they allowed any say?: How are they supposed to make informed decisions, and come together on an agreement if no one is giving out information to work with?
It almost seems as if the project is moving aling without local opinions, and important decisions are kept quite by project officials until everything is ready. It may move before we realize it, and the hopes of project supporters will die. Citizens who are still believing in this project, and their future here in Coralville must know what is going on, because it will effect their lives, and possibly their living situation.
In an article by Tim Dunlap, he explains how the new idea of blogging can be a great opportunity for people to talk about politics, and to share information easily and quickly. It is easy to access, and anyone can do it for free. Dunlap considers the notion that there are many reasons different people use blogs, but "To others they represent a rebirth of participatory democracy, a new form of journalism, and even the home of the new public intellectuals." He promotes the positive uses of a public, political blog like our rain forest project blog here.
As a group working on this rain forest blog, we are strongly encouraging respondants, expecially those who may have answers. We are out to teach the public about this great opportunity, and work to provide the best possible knowledge we can get our hands on. We need other opinions and insights, as well as any facts that are not displayed to be brought up so we can help make this blogging atmosphere a successful and productive one. Blogs have the opportunity to become a revolutionary democratic tool for societies, and so we encourage the activity and action within it. Tell us what you think!