Friday, October 06, 2006

Friday Stuff

Will Bettendorf's riverfront project really succeed without somehow taking business away from the RiverCenter or Adler? Will Bettendorf ever have a real downtown?

Anyone else planning on their first visit to K's Merchandise in months or years now that they're liquidating? If anyone needs figurines, lava lamps, or indoor fountains, I can't think of a better place to get them. Or family-sized deep fryers. It took Sam Goody to about 60% off before things started being a good deal, but K's is reasonably priced enough that even 25% will make some things good deals.

Also, what do you folks see possibly going into K's soon-to-be-vacant location at Kimberly and Marquette?

The Great Train Expo (model railroad show) is returning to the QCCA Expo Center after a 1 or 2 year absence. I emailed organizers last year and they said they didn't make enough money here, but they'd be just down the road in Des Moines for 2005. Apparently in 2006 they have reconsidered, and will be back in Rock Island.

Will my Dodgers win a single game against the Mets? (I sadly predict not) For those who care, here's a link to BridgeToSomewhere's baseball predictions of last February. He was surprisingly right about the Dodgers making it to the playoffs, but not too much more.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Will Bettendorf's riverfront project really succeed without somehow taking business away from the RiverCenter or Adler? Will Bettendorf ever have a real downtown?"

No. No. It's going to kill the RiverCenter because it's got parking. Bettendorf will never have a downtown.

"Also, what do you folks see possibly going into K's soon-to-be-vacant location at Kimberly and Marquette?"

Nothing. At least not any retail. It's a crap location. Unless some megachurch takes it (a la Ultimate on 53rd) it's going to rot.

Anonymous said...

Bettendorf also has another key factor for killing the RiverCenter, I bet the Isle of Capri will be giving all those out of town meeting attendees a real cheap room. Hmmmm I wonder why the Blackhawk still is closed?

Unknown said...

Bettendorf will never have a "real" downtown as long as they continue with their greenfield development. As long as they keep growing in that fashion, there will be no pressure on them to renew their inner city. New downtown strip malls don't count.

On to the important stuff. The only two I got right were the Twins and the Cardinals. I had the Dodgers winning the division, not the Wild Card, but yes, they did make the playoffs. No one saw the Tigers coming. And the Phillies only missed the Wild Card by a very narrow margin. I was being optimistic that the Yankees would get shut out of the playoffs. And I learned several years ago to never pick against the Braves.

Unknown said...

What the New York Times had to say about the race in our 1st district:
http://tinyurl.com/fxglb

Anonymous said...

Conservative Demo here:

OoohKaayy.
Guess that last one went over my head.

Anonymous said...

When will the Davenport ONe folks and others see how negatively the poverty supporters are for Davenport. We have too much poverty adn we have too many vagrants roaming around this city, especially downtown and in the central city. Why can't the big shots understand that a huge barrior to progress downtown (Adler/Blackhawk, etc.) is connected to the high crime rate and the JLCS vagrants. Duh!The same folks that promote development downtown are giving money to JLCS and the other charities that ruin our city. We need to get a grip on crime and our homelessness attractions or we won't have a vibrant downtown.

Anonymous said...

10:13pm
Where would you put JLCH? How about up by Annie Witmyer? How about take over a couple vacant shops at Northpark?
Homelessness is not the main issue. It's quality housing downtown and not just loft space. How about giving a TIF to residents who restore houses in SOLO if they are owner occupied for 5 years? How about attracting a higher quality grocery store downtown and a pharmacy?

Anonymous said...

JLCS should first of all stick to their mission instead of being real estate developers. Heck - thye closed their pantry, but owns real estate. Wow.

Put JLCS in the North East part of Davenport so the vagrants can actually make some money looting and begging.

Anonymous said...

Conservative Demo here:

Hey QCI, looks like ya been found by a spammer eh?

QuadCityImages said...

Part of it is that the spam has had a slight increase, and part of it is that I've been busy with a friend's wedding these last few days, and have been slow on deleting them.

I was a great usher though.