Thursday, October 18, 2007

Bloggers Block Open Thread

Sometimes I get in a rut where I can't get excited about putting together a post or two. This is one of those times, so I'm just going to call this an open thread.

What's going on this weekend?

Anyone else ready to just have the 2008 election this November and be done with it?

In this article about Bettendorf's sprawl (I mean "growth") I found one of the quotes somewhat humorous:
Blunk said he doesn’t believe those who opposed the rezoning of land at Devils Glen Road and 53rd Avenue are opposed to all commercial development. “What it basically boiled down to is they did not want the bright lights and hubbub and late hours.”
Don't worry Bettendorfers, I don't think you'll ever have to worry about bright lights, hubbub, or late hours.

Anyone else notice how happy QCOnline is to report on the troubles of former Internet Revealed customers? Its almost like QCOnline owns a competing internet provider... hmm....

57 comments:

Anonymous said...

QCI - Bettendorf has had to deal with bright lights, etc. When the Northwest tower and Lindquist were being built the neightbors came together with these concerns. There is a strip mall to be built at Middle Road and Crow Creek - bright lights could become an issue. However like Davenport - Bettendorf is always in favor of the developer. I am looking forward to the Bettendorf election. Maybe we can get alderpersons who will return calls, not make assumptions on an issue, will vote for what is best for the city and will stand up to the city administrator. Bettendorf officials really are not much different the Davenport just less back bone.

Anonymous said...

So Lisa Lewis had a huge event last night, raising decent bucks. Her event was at "The Hat"...

In contrast, Tony Ambrose had a fund raiser at the Outing Club, and I hear turn out was miserable. Niky Bowles and a few of the old gals, but not many supporters...

Thanks Lisa for supporting businesses in the ward. Someone needs to tell Tony the Outing Club in in the 5th.

Anonymous said...

At least someone's reporting on the downright awful customer service Solo Direct was providing. They never had more than two or three people on the phones, the phone number frequently transfered to a fax line, you had to wait "on hold" (listening to the phone ring) for 30-40 minutes before it got picked up, they lied (I was told on Thursday, and again on Friday that they were "close" to a solution), they still haven't communicated how they're planning to compensate subscribers, they threw the Reveals under the bus, they cast blame on everyone but themselves...

I was with Internet Revealed for ten years (no exaggeration), and I always recommended them whenever someone asked me about an ISP. Never again. Nor will I ever consider Solo for business service, which seemed to be all they cared about anyway. I'm glad to hear they're transferring people to AT&T and Qwest, I was going to do that myself once they cough up whatever compensation they're going to (not that I'm holding my breath.)

I feel sorry for Solo's phone operators, even though they stayed professional, and didn't rag on Solo, you could tell that the company sounds like a perfectly awful place to work.

Anonymous said...

Hey Lisa, why won't you tell us how many years you have lived in the 4th ward? Is that because you just moved here after being fired in Chicago, so now you think you will pick up a job spending our tax dollars?

Unknown said...

Anyone read this week's RC Reader editorial? They complain about folks like Gluba and Winborn coming "back to the trough" that these public service jobs provide. They don't seem to have an issue with Yerington returning to the "trough", or with the $130,000 settlement he got from the city a couple years back.

Anonymous said...

Yerington is different. The City illegally fired him, so that was a staff goof up. He had the money owed to him.

Unknown said...

The main point I was trying to make is that Yerington is easily as guilty of coming "back to the trough" this election cycle as Gluba or Winborn ever were, whether he was fired illegally or not.

Anonymous said...

Please come join us on the road to change.
Fundraiser for Doug Cunningham.
Candidate for Davenport Fifth Ward Alderman.
Hosted by Dave Cunningham.

Where: Davenport Sailing Club, 1255 E. River Drive Davenport, Iowa.(Turn south from East River Drive and Oneida Ave to the Boat House Restaurant, turn left to the Sailing Club)

When: Thursday October 25, 2007@ 5:30pm to 8:30pm (Refreshments Served)

_________________________________________________________________

Anonymous said...

Gluba basically is saying blah blah blah blah blah. I want some action, not blahs. Although I HATE is alliance with the Landlords. If they use audodialers again, then I will not vote for Yerrington. I don't care who the messages are about, he took money from them and he is responsible for thier actions. Period.

Anonymous said...

From an Alderman Van Fossen fan:

It was great to see Ron Van Fossen back at the City Council Meetings. I thought he looked better than I have seen him in a long time. I think jail time must realy agree with him. He seemed to have lost some weight. Maybe he didn't like the jail food? Also, no beer in jail, what a great place for a recovering drunk. Keep up the good work Ron, and we expect to see you in jail again soon. Thank you for your service to the 1st ward and our fine city.

Anonymous said...

Hey 7:04 pm, then you better not vote for Gluba either. He took money from the landlords and has done more business with them then Yerington ever did!

Snarky Chick said...

anon @ 10:30, could you please provide proof that Gluba took money from the landlords?

Anonymous said...

Is it really true that Ambrose holds his fund raisers at the Outing Club? Who paid for that expensive deal? Maybe the landlords helped with that expense.

Anonymous said...

re:10:56. And just when we thought Nicky Bowles went away. If you read closely you can tell that Nicky is back slinging mud. She is worse than the landlords.

Anonymous said...

Revealed hasn't been the same since Bill Reveal sold it. I am sorry for the people who bought the business, but they are no Revealnet. I switched my server to QWest a month ago thank heavens.

Anonymous said...

Lisa Lewis has only lived in the 4th ward for one month, and now she wants to run the City! I say vote Ray!

Anonymous said...

Lisa Lewis has my vote!!!! Sharp..just a sharp! I think she WILL be a great representative for the 4th. Vote Lewis people! The "bulldog" has to go.

Anonymous said...

So that's her answer as to why you should vote for her even though she has only lived in Davenport for one month? Lets see, an unemployed woman moves to Davenport and wants to spend thousands of your tax dollars, and I am suppossed to vote for her...why again???

Vote for Ray Ambrose people!

Anonymous said...

Ever since the wards where changed and I got "stuck" in the 4th ward, I have voted AGAINST Ambrose and FOR whom ever is running against him. I find him to be an embarrassment to my city. He never has a thought of his own. All I hear from him is “Something should be done about this or that” or “Someone should look into this or that”. He never comes up with a solution to a problem. He thinks all this city needs is smooth streets and gently flowing sewers. I live just south of Kimberly and he does not represent me. (Of course, things were not any better when I was in the 2nd ward and had “listen to me talk” George N. as my alderman). I need to move to the 6th ward.

Anonymous said...

Lisa Lewis is actually getting the support of some of our cities' oldest and most established county reps. Fennely, Hancock - just to name a few. I thought Ambrose had their support.

Anonymous said...

Oh so thats your answer as to why we should put an unemployed person who has only lived in Davenport for a month in charge of millions of our tax dollars...We should vote for Lisa Lewis because somebody else says so...

Vote for Ambrose. He has lived here his whole life!

Anonymous said...

10:19

You bash Lewis for being unemployed.

What is Ambrose's job?

Other than alderman, that is.

Anonymous said...

Lisa Lewis registered to vote in Scott County on 9/14/2005. If she just moved back a month ago, she wasn't gone long.

Anonymous said...

Ambrose id one of the BIGGEST morons I have ever dealt with. This clown hasn't had or even applied for a job in over 10 years! He is a "at-home" tool if ever I saw one. What has he accomplished other than making a fool of himself at council meeting. This "homophobe" wanted the police to patrol the bike path so he didn't feel threatened while riding his bike on the levy while wearing no shirt and super short shorts.

Anonymous said...

Ambrose was a hotdog vendor downtown at one time. Now he's just a weenie. Great resume for an alderman.

Anonymous said...

Ambrose is also a QCRPA/Lubell pawn. A yes man for the QCRPA. I can prove it. He voted to disband the NEO for Lubell and then he voted to support the DAI citizens group which was planning the fire dept's taking over. Then when the fire dept and these citizens made recommendations to hire and fund new inspectors and new positions, he voted against that. He wanted us to inspect the rentals with volunteers. He IS a moron. A HUGE moron. Wake up 4th ward. Please.

Hey - Lynn did the same thing.

Vote Cunningham and Lewis for change.

Anonymous said...

The only way to truely change what is happening is to vote them all out - Cunningham has my vote in the 5th.

Anonymous said...

You folks that know the truth need to get off your @sses and spread the word on the street instead or repeating it on the blogs. Get the word out the Lynn and Ambrose are trash!

Anonymous said...

I challenge Lisa Lewis to tell us voters in the 4th ward why we should vote for an unemployed woman who has only been here for 30 days?

Anonymous said...

9:16 You sound like a broken record! Do you by chance have ANY relevant information??

Lisa said...

Thanks to those who've offered support and praise.

Here's the deal:

I am not unemployed, nor was I ever "fired" from anything in Chicago. I work as a voiceover announcer from a small audio studio in our home on Fillmore Lane. It's not fancy, but I run a TLM-103 microphone into an mBox and edit on ProTools LE. Anyone is welcome to contact me and I'll have you over for coffee and a tour of my basement. ;-)

My roster of recent clients includes The View (ABC), Nightly News (NBC), the National Geographic Channel and many others. Please visit my website (www.lisalewis.net) and listen to my demos to get an idea of what I do for a living. The site needs some updating on the tech pages (I obviously no longer live in Chicago, for example), but it will give you a sense of what I do.

My agents are located in NYC and Chicago - they represent me to clients, who email or fax me scripts. I record from here - either on my own or under their direction via a phone link (ISDN technology). That's how it works.

For years I could not work when visiting Davenport, because the technology wasn't up to speed. But by 2004, Qwest had begun offering ISDN and I was finally able to come home full-time AND make a living in my field. So I moved back. I had spent over 20 years working on stage and on-camera and was more than willing to put that part of my career on the back burner in exchange for the chance to live in my hometown again.

That's the deal on how I earn a living - it's a highly competitive field and a risky business, but my career has been 25 years in the making and I'm darn proud of what I've accomplished professionally.

The flexible schedule is one of the perks - and why I'm willing and able to offer myself as a candidate for office.

Hope this clears up any misconceptions.

Lisa L.

Anonymous said...

Lisa, when did you move to the 4th Ward?

Anonymous said...

Lisa, are you saying you moved to Davenport in 2004 or Qwest began offering DSL in 2004 but that you have only lived here since August? Where did you live prior to August?

Lisa said...

I cannot tell you precisely when ISDN first became available to residential consumers in Davenport, but I first learned of its availability in 2004. As a result, I moved back to Davenport in 2005. I stayed with my father for a few weeks, then I moved into a home in the 6th ward. I bought that home (a small and modest place by Heights standards, by the way) in part because I could not find a house or apartment for rent that met my technical needs - meaning, the type and amount of electrical support I needed to maintain and protect my studio equipment.

I met my fiance shortly after I arrived in town, and his home was in the 4th ward (near 5 Points). Because he has four children, we spent the majority of our time at his home and eventually decided to buy a home together - IN THE 4TH WARD - and sell the other houses. My house sat empty for several months because I didn't want to put it on the market and have it sit until I felt it would sell.

With the generous help of Chris's parents,we moved into our home on Fillmore Lane last winter, and after finally selling the other two homes, were able to buy the property in July. For what it is worth, I made no money on the sale of my home - I took a loss.

For what it is worth, I was born and raised in the 1st ward -- I'm a west-end kid down to my socks and always will be. This thinly veiled attempt to suggest that I am a Johnny Come Lately or carpetbagger is entirely unfounded. This is my hometown - if anything, I think I deserve at least a little respect for not only moving back to support the city with my tax dollars, but being willing to give something back in terms of service if elected.

With apologies to Stephen Colbert, I don't think we can gauge a person's "Davenportiality" on how long they've lived at one address.

This is exactly what has plagued city government for too long: putting personalities before policy prevents us from discussing the very real challenges we face in this city.

In sum, I am as much a part of the fabric of this community as anyone else. And I am frankly proud that the west-ender in me hasn't once challenged you to meet me at the tunnel after school so I can whup ya. (That's a little Davenportiality test for everyone to enjoy. Only people from certain Davenport neighborhoods will get that joke.)

;-)

Lisa L.

PS: Anon, if there is anything else about my personal life you'd like to know, fire away. For now, I'll simply offer that I take allergy medication every day, am trying to lose 5 more pounds before election day and had a mammogram on Thursday morning. Would you like the CBH to send the film to YOU or to my physician?

;-)

Anonymous said...

Pioneer
Why do you grow up...
Yerington is the best candidate for Davenport and as said he was illegally fired and the city OWED him money. he was a damn good Mayor the 4 years he was in office.

You are the type that if he gets elected you will be kissing a$$ to get friends with him after you have done nothing but trash him..

QuadCityImages said...

You can't say he was illegally fired, because the case did not go to court. I suspect he was legally fired, but as was reported at the time, it was cheaper to just settle than go through a court battle.

When he commented on an active investigation and named a suspect without permission of his superiors, that's where he went wrong.

Stop acting like Yerington was just up and fired out of the blue.

Anonymous said...

Lisa,
Great post. Hope that puts these people in there place. I met you when you brought your yard sign to my house. I liked you then and now I like you more after that posting.

P.S. Forget about the 5 pounds. You look great.

Anonymous said...

Ray Ambrose has lived in the 4th ward for twenty years. Lisa Lewis has lived there for less then four months. Lisa Lewis left Davenport for fame and fortune in Chicago, but it never worked out, and she has only been in Davenport for less then two years, and already she thinks she can run the City better then Alderman Ambrose. On election day, make the clear choice. Vote Ambrose for 4tb Ward.
Ray Ambrose: Experience, Leadership, and Trust.

Anonymous said...

QCI

It is well known you have attacked Yeringotn on every blog on the net. so your opinion really doens't hold to much weight.

Have you talked to ANYONE who ws involeved?
Have you talked to anyone on the DPD

They all say Yerington got shafted.
He was a damn good cop and a wonderful person to know. He cares about people and Davenport

QuadCityImages said...

Ray Ambrose supporters: mud-slinging.

If the best council members were those who lived in the wards the longest, we'd have an all 80-year-old council.

I'd say it matters what people are going to do a lot more than how long they've lived where they live.

The more you people attack someone with lies and innuendo, the more intelligent people will turn away from the candidate you're supporting.

Anonymous said...

I agree QCI - we need to vote the records of people. We all want a civil council and frankly we need to have some fresh faces. It is upsetting that the oldies can't figure out when it is time to retire and move on. Ambrose - good or bad - he has been on too long. His volunteer comment was a good sign he is getting to used to his position.

QuadCityImages said...

3:50, What did I say that was incorrect?

I've said it many times: Davenport needs calm stability, and Yerington has nothing but scandals and conflict in his past. I'm not comfortable risking the next 2 years on his claim to have changed completely.

Anonymous said...

I don't care what you say, somebody that has been in her ward for two months and wants to run it makes me uneasy. Voting on the 6th ward is a lot different then voting on the 4th ward, they are very different demographics. Plus, Lewis wants to take over the cahle companies and have the City run them. She will end up raising our taxes and putting incompetent people in charge of the cable companyu.

Lisa said...

I haven't even had a private thought about the cable companies in recent history, let alone made a public comment about them, so I don't know where you'd get that idea, 5:27.

And in my opinion, an alderman does not "run" a ward, the residents do. An alderman serves two roles: daily troubleshooter and first responder on quality of life issues, and advocate/representative for ward residents - as well as sworn fiduciary - on the city council.

I'll let my previous comments stand with regard to my ongoing career and my worthiness to represent this large and diverse area of the city, and add only the following.

After weeks of walking every area of the ward every day and evening, I am quite familiar with the different issues and concerns in each neighborhood. SoLo, NoLo, Heatherton, the area near the fairgrounds, etc. The list goes on.

I have been warmly invited into homes in every neighborhood and have learned something new every day, because I try to listen and absorb what is being communicated to me.

It's a different approach, this "going out to meet people and listening to them" thing. But this is - as the kids say - how I roll. I highly recommend it to anyone running for office.

Lisa L.

Anonymous said...

Lisa - you are going to be great. Ambrose is part of the problem and he has not made himself part of the solution.

Anonymous said...

FYI - my campaign committee has elected to change the location of the fundraiser on October 25th. It seems we were drawing so much interest from people wanting to attend we are moving to the larger location of the Yacht Club next door (at the end of Mound) We will have sign etc, redirecting people who don't get notice. I am excited that so many people want to attend, and thanks again for everyone's support! Doug Cunningham

Anonymous said...

To 10/20/2007 9:16 AM

I challenge Ray Ambrose to tell us voters in the 4th ward why we should vote for an unemployed MAN who has not done a thing for us in almost 8 years?

Anonymous said...

I agree with QCI, Davenport needs calming and this is why I will be voting for Yerington. He is a very calm man who will get what the people in Davenport need.

Just look at this promise program? DO YOU WANT YOUR TAXES RAISED TO PUT MY CHILDREN THROUGH COLLEGE?

Well Phil is against this 100% and feel this is a great program but Bad funding we need private funding mot your tax dollars.

Anonymous said...

I really don't care if Ambrose is unemployed or not. The point is that he has done nothing for this city but complain. He has no original ideas and has no vision for the future. I think the fact that Lisa Lewis lived away from Davenport for a time, might bring some fresh new ideas to the council. We have had Ambrose for several years, and although he rails about crime, what has he changed. Nothing!!!

Anonymous said...

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=30872572

Bill Gluba’s son admit the following

“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.

Now does this family sound like someone we want to run our city?

Anonymous said...

this is a hunter thompson quote and not gluba's. it's darkly humorous and well known. if he is using it on his myspace page at this time it's dumb and he should remove it, but it doesn't mean he does drugs. people put up funny quotes on myspace all the time, lighten up!!!!

QuadCityImages said...

Clearly the Yerington folks are worried to start attacking candidates' children.

Anonymous said...

The QCRPA is ruining Yerrington's campaign. Phil - get away from them in public. People do not believe that you can't be bought. People don't like the negative stuff.

Anonymous said...

It has come to my attention that some handbills are being distributed in the 5th Ward labeled as "Neighbor News". I want to make it clear this is not from myself or any of my committee members.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have campaigned twice for Alderman At Large and at NO time have I run a negative campaign. We maintain that if your message is not strong enough to win the election then you don't belong in office.

As a personal message to Mr. Lynn, I give you my assurance that this material does not emanate from me. I respect this office and myself more than that.

Doug Cunningham

Anonymous said...

Yerington had nothing to do with the post about Gluba's son I found it myself on myspace and posted on the times site. and I and not one of Yeringtons people

Anonymous said...

Yes - but you are working for Yerrington Dan. We all know it and right - I can't be bought. Sure you can't Phil.

Anonymous said...

I am not Dan nor am I working for Phil. but hey nice try.