I went down to the opening ceremonies for the world-traveling Coexistence display last Thursday. They had a number of good speakers, and also Vietnamese dragon dancers, and the Quad Cities Ballet Folklorico doing traditional Latin American folk dances. Despite the decently low amount of publicity, this exhibition is a pretty big deal. The QC area is the smallest stop out of all the world cities the exhibition has visited. Cities like Berlin, Amsterdam, and Jerusalem. And Davenport. The Des Moines Register has even had several articles about it. Hopefully media from Chicago will take note, as the display hasn't even been there.
I went with a group of friends and family to tour the new Police Station on Saturday, and I was very very impressed. Having spent 4 months at the old PD, it is really like night and day. One of the tour guide officers said they would have liked to show people the old station before giving tours of the new one, and I definitely agree. Before you had stuff like all 15 Patrol sergeants sharing one office smaller than most people's bedrooms and one or two desks total. Now each shift's 5 sergeants have their own office together, and each of them has their own personal desk/workstation. The Patrol areas were easily the biggest change from the old station. While the new station is three times larger than the old one, I'd estimate some of the patrol areas were 5 or 10 times larger than before. Everything was done with the input and discussion of officers, crime scene techs, and other experts for maximum efficiency. I think that the new station will save so much time and effort through efficiency that it will be like hiring several more officers.
And last but not least,
Glitter on the river: Venetian Boat Parade delights -QCOnlineI was glad to see this event resurrected, and its probably a better location for really seeing the boats up close. Only 16 boats participated this year, but hopefully numbers will go up next year now that people see its happening again.
3 comments:
Any further opinion about the art billboards, QCI? Did you enjoy the work? I checked them out Saturday morning and had a mixed reaction to the art, but overall felt strongly about the show as a whole. Here's my take:
http://bluegoldandgreen.blogspot.com/2007/09/coexistence.html
There are additional pics and I posted some of the quotes. What did you think about the local artist's panel?
I didn't even hear about the bopat parade or the art exihibit opening. This isn't rocket science. If you want people to come to the downtown for these events, tell us about them.
They were both mentioned in local newspapers, although the QCTimes seems to have downplayed the boat parade. I think QCOnline was a sponsor or something.
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