Petitioners: Time to end public market plan -QCTimes
Here they go again. The person quoted most in the article admits that he was also involved in the failed (miserably) attempt to block the River Renaissance projects. He also says how nothing downtown is working. Strange, but I'd say 90%+ occupancy in this building is working pretty well. I'd say the Figge being featured in the Chicago Tribune and NYTimes is something to be proud of. The RME's 3rd version (The Redstone Room) seems like it might be the charm, and has already sold out one of its first concerts.
As of yet, no city money is even being spent on the Freight House project. One thing that D1 needs to do is revise their pie-in-the-sky 54 million dollar figure that keeps being thrown around. Unrealistic stuff like that just gives the againsters more ammunition. If even $20 million is reinvested in that area it would be well worth the investment of a million bucks for the Freight House. In addition to leveraging the surrounding development, the public market would be another attraction that we can show off when attracting both tourists, and new businesses interested in locating here.
Of course, this goes against the Againsters brilliant plan for solving Davenport's problems: Don't do anything remotely risky, and certainly don't do anything that might attract new residents to Davenport. Oh yeah, and Davenport has to somehow provide plentiful city services with no taxes. Its tough to win people over when all your side has is not wanting to do things.
22 comments:
It's not that we are against everything, it's just that these projects have such a terrible track record of success. None of these projects have turned Davenport into the "wonderland" that was promised. And who are we kidding? Davenport is full of down to earth, hard working people. We are not the snooty hi-brows that are attracted to such things. If D1 wants to do good things for the city, provide attractions that are geared for the residents and not outsiders that pop in for a couple of days and then leave. D1 is made up of too many high society wannabes. Come back down to earth and do a reality check as far as what type of clientele your market is.
I agree with some of what the first poster said, mostly that Davenport and D1 tend to set expectations too high. $54 million in development from the Freight House? Maybe over 20 years... Did the city honestly believe the parking garages would be full by now? And if so, why wouldn't they have built extra capacity for future growth? The Figge is beautiful, and I'm sure its getting much better attendance than it did on the Hill, but you can't expect everyone in the QC to become a weekly art museum visitor. All of this makes me sound like an againster myself!
BUT...
We do need to take risks sometimes to try and grow the city, and its tax base. Not all of the risks are going to work out. I truly believe that in a few years we'll look back at River Renaissance as a success, not necessarily because of the projects themselves, but because of the focus on downtown and secondary developments that brings.
Could the public market concept fail? Yes, its a risk. However, its a small risk, and one that I think we have good odds on. The Crescent warehouse district is a prime example that the QC has people who are willing to pay more for an urban lifestyle. I believe there are people who would be even more willing to move downtown if there was something along the lines of the proposed public market.
I still wish they'd try a public fund-raising campaign though. As I said before, and the QCTimes echoed, I'd be willing to throw in some money to help revitalize the west side of downtown. It doesn't take too many $1000 donations like the Times pledged to start adding up to real money.
Conservative Demo here:
Sir, (to the Lt Col) I thought _you_ were going to move to Florida?
The RME basement could sell out every single one of its shows and it will still bleed cash Lots of people run bars/music venues, very fww of them are rich. The basement might be self-sustaining or turn a small profit (depending on how honest they are with the accounting), but there is no way any reasonable person could think that it will carry the rest of the project into the black.
Col. Dav.: Just because private donors are putting more money into failing schemes than the city, does not make it a wise investment for the city. You know what would really make the city grow: Subisidising every business to the tune of 25%. Or maybe just lowing taxes a bit. But then how would the city pay for all of the secret D1 projects they won't even make public (see Just Cruisin's post)?
To Anonymous at 10:23.
You are one of those againsters that have never been downtown. What do you mean "RME basement"? That is not where the new "Redstone Room" is. You would have know that by just reading the paper!! Do you know what is going on in this town AT ALL ??
After thev Freight House is redeveloped where is the money going to come from to redevelop the skybridge.
Seriously the energy and focus needs to at least shift to the Brady and Harrison Street corridor.
The city needs to let the Isle of Capri project play out before anymore upfront money is put into downtown. The Mark was allowed to flourish as a cornerstone in Moline before many other projects were piled on.
Has it ever occurred to you "for-sters" that maybe we againsters aren't necessarily against the ideas but instead just plain no longer trust the promises (and the promisers!) made in support of the ideas?
It has occured to me, but I just haven't seen much evidence of it. Even good projects with public support, such as the new libraries, aren't getting support from various people, including certain aldermen. Are there any capital projects other than streets or sewers that the againsters have supported?
Show me a 'for-ster' who's supported streets and sewers North of the railroad tracks and South of Locust? Real support, above and beyond the filling potholes which is preventive maintenance that protects the investment we make in our infrastructure. Pothole filling is no more frivolous than cleaning the bathrooms at the FIGGE.
Responding to the Col.
That $4 reflects actual private donations (Figgie & Adler), -- tax deductible. A very good deal for the wealthy needing to reduce taxable income.
Boat Dollars, -- an obligatory return of money originally coming from Davenport people, a very small percentage of what the casino sucks out of this community.
Downtown SSMID dollars (higher tax's paid by downtown) merchants) -- if its good enough for downtown, then allow me to set up my own SSMID so I can clean up my neighborhood. Or allow me to keep any portion of the annual local property tax increase I pay.
as well as the $18 million of state dollars. -- collected from local citizens. State dollars are our tax dollars. Tax dollars are not private money. Lower my state taxes so I can spend it on improving my non-downtown neighborhood.
A sale isn't a sale unless you need what's on sale.
Synergy? Gag me! When that has-been word is rolled out I guarantee you D1 is scraping the bottom of the barrel and the balloon is about to pop.
Basing city revenue on 100% capacity of the parking garages is a perfect example of the dangerously liberal estimating coming out of downtown. Regardless of the garage size, project a reasonable rate of vacancy and cover the costs at that level. If use exceeds the plan, then we earn some profit free and clear. God forbid the city makes a small profit on something and repairs a few extra miles of streets, or has a better fire works display one year. Or uses some cash in hand to build another garage so bonds can be less.
Pre-river renaissance there was a movement by forsters to tear down empty and dilapidated buildings,including the Peterson Building. The againsters said no. Today the Peterson Building proudly stands and now houses the RME. Againsters are worth listening to.
Saying no is saying yes to other possibilities not fully defined. Saying no is having faith that the best idea, the most fruitfull and appropriate idea will develop. Being a forster for poorly planned ideas -- often for the sake of 'doing something' -- delays and can prevent real success from taking place.
The solution to all the financial problems of our city is to give federal tax credits to private investors who finance police and fire departments, city inspectors, sewer builders and pot hole fillers. Our city would be Eden.
The argument that Davenport needs to tend to potholes, streets, sewers and the like is specious. No matter how hard we try, no matter how many roads we tear up, rebuild, patch the need will always be there. Infrastructure wears down. Davenport's roads are about as good as most in Iowa. Sure some are better. Some are worse. What River Renaissance and 70% of the voters recognized is that while maintaining roads are important, Davenport can and must do more.
In my thirty years in Davenport, River Renaissance is the first large-planned investment I have seen. Sure there have been improvements here and there, but nothing on the scale or with the same promise. The public market is no different. The investment that will be generated may not be $54 million, but it will be something.
Davenport has come a long way since River Renaissance and the fruits haven't even been fully realized. Residential living downtown. Business opening up. Reclamation of the river front. and on and on. Why stop now?
Why stop now? Because the ship is being steered by ameteurs. Money overboard. Drop the anchor. Replace the captain and crew. Chart a course that will get us to the other shore.
Responding to anon at 7:49PM...
You make good points on the fact that a lot of the River Renaissance money involved was money taken out of Davenport some other way. Guess what? Without River Renaissance all of that money would still have been taken out of Davenport and never come back. At least with RR, Davenport got a some of it back.
I do agree the Freight House project numbers are inflated, and the city should try to get the best deal possible. But what I like about the project is that it is basically just trying to expand on an amenity we already have (the farmer's market). In fact, the Figge, IMAX, and John O'Donnell renovation were all expansions and improvements of existing amenities, too (and not "new" amenities).
It's a slightly different discussion to debate if we need new amenities like the RME or the skybridge. But the art museum, ballpark, Putnam and farmer's market are all amenities we decided we wanted a long, long time ago. What's wrong with preserving them and updating them every 50 years or so?
From a certified "againster"...
Yes, I am against reckless spending. Nobody wants to go through the boring old Figgie or spend $25.00 to see some "B" grade band or walk through the urine stained bridge to nowhere or spend time in yet another library or yet another farmer's market.
What I am "for" is a business climate the encourages private enterprise to bring in new stores and restraunts. That means lower taxes, working streets and sewers, and relaxation of the Davenport contractor law (which restricts new business from building).
By your definition Davenport certainly has a lot of "nobody"s in it.
Oh sure. The RME probably gets 20 customers through their doors on an average day (with no big expenditures for a band that day).
The Figgie is so crowded you can see another patron every 15 or 20 minutes as you stroll through.
Wait, you are right QCI. There are a ton of homeless people on the Brooke Bridge to Nowhere.
Last time I was at the Figge it was quite busy. And this person also included the new library in his list of things we don't need, and that's being HEAVILY used. Even the community meeting rooms are getting a lot of use. I pretty much acknowledged that the RME has been struggling, but I do believe that the Redstone Room concept has the ability to turn that around. Like someone has said in the past, you must be visiting these things a lot if you always know how many people are there.
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