Another Friday Open Thread

I went down for 90 minutes or so to be an extra for the baseball movie. Apparently the people who went Tuesday were told that if they stay the whole time Tuesday, last night, and tonight, they get $100. I guess I missed that in the paper or on the news. However, that works out to like $5 an hour, so I don't think I missed out on much.

I'm pretty worried the movie is going to end up being "Dominican baseball player comes to Iowa after watching Field of Dreams and finds out that Midwesterners are racist hicks." Obviously this isn't true, but when the casting call for teammates comes out and they're only looking for white guys, its not a good sign. I know they filmed in Burlington also, so maybe it will be "Progressive QC metro welcomes Dominican player, but small town Burlington isn't as receptive." Let Burlington be the bad guy...

Bye Bye Swing

Unless the Swing of the Quad Cities pull of a miracle and win both games in Beloit, John O'Donnell has seen its last Swing game. Vote for the new name at SwingBaseball.com, by the way. It appears the poll is being hacked, so we'll see what happens. Somehow I doubt that the "Quad City Talons" would be winning by such a huge margin. I doubt the Napoleon Dynamite vote is that big.

The game included half-off admission for Davenport residents, so I had hoped to see a packed house. Whether it was the weeknight game, the impending storm, or a lack of publicity, they had less than 1500 fans in attendance. Here I had been hoping that a big crowd would send a message to the new owners that cheaper tickets equal bigger crowds, more excitement, and more income in the long run. Oh well. It was nice to sit in the 3rd row Club Seats for only $6 each. It was also nice to sit in the Mediacom Sports Lounge and watch the Dodgers game while the tarp was being unrolled and rerolled.

Here's hoping the Swing win the next 2 games (after losing 8 in a row) and we can all pack JOD Saturday night for the next home playoff game.

Go-Karts and Shootouts

Here's a video I shot over at the Rock Island Grand Prix on Sunday. This is uploaded through Blogger instead of YouTube, so we'll see if it works better.

Edit: It appears that Blogspot's video embedding code is complete garbage, so here's the YouTube version as well.

And here are a couple of images from the Pioneer Village Fall Festival.

Coexistence , DPD Tour, and Lighted Boats

Lots of good stuff going on around here in the last few days.


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 -QCOnline

I 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.

QCI: Cynic?

Anonymous posted this last night on the previous thread:

Hey QCI - I have noticed that your cynical side is showing lately. You are becoming rude and kind of a smart ass. What gives? You always criticized people who act that way.

You're right, Anonymous. My cynical side is really my main side (ask people who know me in real life), but I'm normally an optimistic cynic. Unfortunately, sometimes I get tired of it all..

Lately I'm just sick of the circus.

I'm sick of Alderman that should never have been elected drinking, driving, harassing, etc.
I'm sick of landlords being the unseen 11th Alderman.
I'm sick of 10 minute discussions on friggin garbage stickers.
I'm sick of conspiracy theories, and actual conspiracies.
I'm sick of Aldermen who can't think for themselves.
I'm sick of being younger than everyone on the council yet wanting to tell them to grow up.

Some of these folks on the council treat it all like a big game, but the circus atmosphere at City Hall is doing serious damage to Davenports reputation, and ability to attract new businesses and residents. As good as Davenport is doing now, which I believe is pretty good, think how much better things would be if we had a council that acted like professionals.

Unfortunately, the circus is a self-perpetuating problem. The pros that we need on the council are too smart to throw themselves into the center ring. Some are brave enough to think they can change things, and I applaud these people.

Other than try and vote for people who can stay above the fray, what can we do? If you've got a blog, you can start getting angry and smart-assed until someone points it out, and then realize you're only contributing to the problem.

Open Thread, but I know what it will turn into...

So....

Meyer walks out of meeting after stormy session -QCTimes

At this point Keith has lost all effectiveness. He's accusing people of lying, slamming his usual allies, and just generally acting like there's a huge anti-Keith conspiracy. I can't imagine another 2 years of this if he were to get reelected.

The RCReader continues to defend him, and I'm sure many blog commenters will too, but in my opinion he's really lost it over the last 2 months. Make sure and read Keith's 2am post on the QCTimes comments.

More genius suggestions from "The Professor"

Davenport eyes turning to Meskwakis to run casino -QCOnline

We can all agree that having Isle of Capri owning 2 casinos in the same market is causing one of them (us) to be constantly screwed over. I think many of us are ready for a different operator for Davenport's gaming license.

So here's Alderman Lynn's solution: In order to fix the problem of our casino being owned by a company with another casino in the same market, we need to switch to the Meskwakis, who ALSO OWN ANOTHER CASINO IN THE SAME MARKET. If anyone doubts we're in the same market, just remember how much the profits increased while Tama was closed. In addition to making no sense, it sounds like its not even legally feasible.

This is almost as ironic as supporting Yerington to calm down City Hall, or allowing rent-to-own tenants to be exempt from rental inspections, or an Alderman owned by landlords eliminating the very section of government charged with keeping track of landlords.... Oh wait, I'm seeing a pattern here.
My opinion of St. Ambrose as an educational institution is decreasing.

Lego My RiverCenter

Blackhawk hotel focus of casino input meeting -QCTimes

I finally made it to one of the new round of casino elections, and it was pretty interesting.

The meeting started out with Clayton recapping the previous meetings, and giving some revised money figures, as mentioned in the QCTimes article. Basically there's a real difference between what IOC would like to pay and what the RiverCenter is actually worth. Keep in mind that its the city coming right out with this info, and not claiming its only worth what IOC wants to pay or anything sneaky like that.

After the recap, the representatives from Restoration St. Louis presented, and were especially impressive. That is the company that has been chosen to renovate the Blackhawk. Someday. Hopefully. They showed off some of their 100+ projects in the StL area, and some were very similar to, and actually in worse shape than the Blackhawk. They also showed some artist's renderings and possible floorplans for the Blackhawk, including a possible mix of hotel, residential, retail and office. Even the anti-gambling folks who were constantly making rude comments and saying how gambling should leave Davenport were impressed by the Blackhawk plans. The only problem is that IOC is having second thoughts about giving away the building for $1. There was a definite consensus that this group needs to be allowed to get started on their project.

During the Q&A section, it became very clear that probably none of the people at the meeting thought the casino moving into the RiverCenter was a good idea. There were a lot of people that wanted it to move out of downtown entirely. Unfortunately city staff failed to point out that in addition to the questionable RSM McGladrey study's claim that it would be more profitable downtown, there is also an incentive for the city to keep them down there as leverage for the riverfront CAT grant. A number of people seemed against gambling entirely, but that really had no relevance at the meeting since gambling has been approved by voters several times. Finally Keith Meyer came up to the microphone and asked a rambling "question" that pointed out that he tried to get the SCC Culinary Arts program into the RiverCenter, and asked whether the city had explored the option of moving eServ into the RiverCenter, since the appraisal showed it being worth less than they're planning to spend out on 53rd. Apparently he pictures hundreds of cubicles laid out across the vast floorspace of RiverCenter South. After finishing speaking, I'm pretty sure I saw him storm out of the building.

Following the somewhat confrontational Q&A section, all the tables were given maps of downtown, along with Legos representing parking, casino space, convention space, and hotel rooms. The image on the right shows the current situation. White was parking, gray=hotel, red=casino, and yellow=convention space. We were supposed to place them wherever we wanted around downtown, as a design exercise. This caused another outbreak of anger because people were only given a map of downtown, and many don't want the casino downtown. My table consisted of myself, Joe Taylor, and Jen Olsen. Kind of an interesting mixture of opinions, although we agreed on more than I would have expected. I built my previously stated dream plan out of Legos, and they both seemed ok with it, so I presented that during the time the tables reported back to the main group. The group as a whole seemed fairly receptive to the idea, since it adds more to downtown without taking anything away. If you haven't read my post on that plan, I suggest you do. Here's the link.

A video of the whole session will eventually appear here on the city's website, in addition to on the cable channel. I urge you to watch that to at least see the Restoration St. Louis section.

Don't Forget!

Third meeting on casino relocation is today -QCTimes

5:30PM, RiverCenter South

"The meeting will focus on urban design, including the style and type of desired downtown buildings and the renovation of the Blackhawk Hotel."

I plan to actually make it to this one.

Candidate announcement: Jeff Justin

I was sent this candidate announcement for Jeff Justin:

Jeff Justin is a candidate for the 6th Ward seat on the Davenport City Council

Saying he is “a listener with proven leadership experience who cares about his hometown,” Jeff Justin announced his intentions to run for the 6th ward council seat currently held by Charlie Brooke.

“I will use my education and business experience to promote growth and recruit good paying jobs so our children have opportunities at home,” Justin said. “Davenport is my hometown and it is important to me that we continue to build on the many positive attributes of our city.”

Jeff was born and raised in Davenport’s 5th ward and is actively involved in the community. He was co-chair of the city governance committee, is a current member of the parking advisory committee, and is the Davenport community contact volunteer for his employer, MidAmerican Energy. In addition, he has been involved in United Way, Junior Achievement, Knights of Columbus, the Midwest Energy Association, the Bettendorf Chamber and DavenportOne, is on the board of the Davenport Kiwanis, and completed the Leadership Davenport curriculum through St. Ambrose University in 2002.

Jeff has worked for MidAmerican Energy for 27 years, and serves as Manager of Performance Support in the downtown office. He graduated from Central High School in 1978, received his Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from St. Ambrose University in 2000, and his MBA from the University of Iowa in 2003. He graduated with honors from both universities and his education and professional experience will be an asset to the council and to the residents of the 6th ward.

Jeff has been married to his wife Susan since 1994. He has received support from the business community, city leaders, former aldermen, and many 6th ward residents who want him to bring his business experience and leadership to the council.

”We must continue to focus on infrastructure, crime, and fiscal responsibility,” Justin stated. “With the limited resources and variety of demands placed on local government, the City of Davenport, particularly the City Council, needs to set priorities, work together in a civil manner, and focus on including citizens and community stakeholders in achieving these priorities.”

“A successful and healthy community has a diverse growth plan that includes both public and private partners,” Justin added. “The Council hasn’t been able to work together to set priorities and work with community stakeholders in a progressive and aggressive way to achieve growth in our tax base. The confrontational style has also alienated key community partners who make significant investments in our community including private business, non-profits, and other government entities. Sound and efficient basic services, a solid capital investment plan to maintain and improve what we have, and innovative partnerships with our stakeholders to expand our tax base are key elements to growing our community. We must govern with the integrity, maturity, and intelligence that Davenport deserves.”

Please visit www.justin4davenport.com for more information. You may contact Jeff by e-mail at jwj@justin4davenport.com

QCI Around Town

Former Savitri’s restaurant put up for sale again -QCTimes
My slow blogging blew a chance to beat the mainstream media to this "story," because I took this picture last Monday night after the downtown residents' meeting. Its pretty unfortunate, and it kind of says that maybe we're not "fancy" enough to have more than a few high end restaurants. Hopefully whatever comes in next is a little more accessible.

In better downtown restaurant news, the former 225 at the Figge restaurant has reopened as the Riverview Cafe, with very reasonable prices. Unfortunately its only open for lunch! I didn't notice a story about this in the QCTimes, but before I say they only point out the negative, I'll just assume I missed the article.

An AbsoluteDSM member pointed out that crews were drilling the geothermal system for the McKesson Building in Rock Island, and I believe I got a picture of them in action. Here's some more info on that project. A deer that my girlfriend spotted as we were driving through Duck Creek Park. It was right up near the Duck Creek Pavilion parking lot. Maybe it was planning on wandering over to the 14th hole, which was always one of my favorites.

Week-old News: Downtown Residents' Meeting

The meeting last Monday was technically a meeting about the Downtown Living Strategy, which is basically what it sounds like.

The official purpose of the Downtown Living Strategy is as follows:

• Analyze the current market of housing in Downtown Davenport
• Survey downtown residents on why they choose to live Downtown
• Identify constraints and opportunities in the housing market
• Propose strategies to increase the attractiveness of Downtown as not only a great place to do business, entertain oneself and enjoy the magnificent Mississippi Riverfront, but to live as well

That is taken from the PowerPoint that was shown at the meeting. If you would like to download the PowerPoint file, I've uploaded it here. Just click where it says "Click here to download DowntownResidentMeeting.ppt." The demographic stats suffer from the fact that the last Census was done before any of the new downtown projects got off the ground. Between 1990 and 2000 there were 250 residents added to downtown. Between 2000 and now, at least 200 new residential units have been added, so we're probably growing faster during this decade. The PowerPoint also has the early results from a survey that's being taken of downtown residents, although not many have been turned in yet.

One of the key discussions during the meeting was about incentives. Currently, most of the residential projects downtown have been taking advantage of lower/middle income tax credits, but these come with many Federal and State strings attached. It was debated whether the city should provide incentives to encourage other income levels, in order to create a more financially diverse downtown population. Cities giving incentives or providing cheap space for grocery or convenience stores was also mentioned, since this could leverage more private residential development. Right now its kind of a chicken/egg conundrum, with residential waiting for more shopping options, and retail waiting for more residents. Another issue was that currently I believe there is a total of 1 condo for sale downtown. Some people would like to live downtown, but want to buy their home instead of rent. Right now, unless they want the Bucktown Loft, those people are out of luck.

This led to another discussion that took up much of the meeting. As you would guess, most, if not all of the people at the meeting were pretty pro-downtown Davenport. Several people there wanted to live downtown, but were unable to find market rate apartments or condos. It was pointed out that the market-rate units at the Crescent Lofts, Mississippi Lofts, and CityView all have virtually no vacancies. I wondered why developers, or banks, seem unwilling to build and finance new market rate residential downtown. I used my usual example of the $150,000+ condos behind HyVee on Eastern. I feel that a project like that (3-4 stories $150-200k condos), redesigned to fit downtown or on the edge of downtown, would be a huge success. So did most of the people at the meeting. The area in between the Crescent Warehouse District and the CityView would be perfect for something like that.

What ended up coming out is that we were all pretty confident in the downtown housing market, but it doesn't seem like the money people (banks and developers) are willing to take a risk and deviate from their safe suburban developments. I feel that once someone gets the nerve to lead the way, things will go rapidly from there. If one developer builds a market rate apartment building downtown, and its full within 6 months, other developers will take note. The same goes for condos. Then retail and restaurants will also take note, and then things could really start to snowball. We all felt like downtown Davenport is right on the edge of that kind of success, but it just needs that last little nudge.

What it takes to run

I stopped down Friday and picked up an election packet, (NOT BECAUSE I'M GOING TO RUN FOR ANYTHING; I'M NOT) but so I could see how many signatures are required on the assorted petitions. The number is determined by taking 2% of the already-small number of people who voted in the last city election.

Here's the list for Davenport:
Mayor ------309
At-Large----260
1st Ward----35
2nd Ward---32
3rd Ward---19
4th Ward---45
5th Ward---29
6th Ward---59
7th Ward---44
8th Ward---41

All offices in Bettendorf and Eldridge require 25 signatures.

These are kind of interesting. Looking at the 6th ward, you can see one reason that many of our Mayors and At-Large Aldermen have come from there. They vote more than the rest of us. Someone from the 3rd ward would need a massive 19 signatures, but I am pretty sure that's up from the 17 that were required last time. Maybe those 2 extra names will keep us from having 10 people running for 3rd Ward again. They've also made some changes to the absentee ballot system, possibly in response to the scandals they ran into last time.

So if any of you are considering throwing your hat in the ring, there's still time. I got shuffled around City Hall so much trying to find these that I was sure someone would have posted that they saw me picking one up... For the record, no matter what the lady at the front desk tells you, the packets are in the Administration Office, not the Mayor's Office.

Friday night festivities open thread

It was a hot time on the ol' police scanner last night. Some problems in the 3rd street bar area early on, and later an incident at 315 W Locust. I've driven past and seen several squad cars in the alley behind the Kwik Shop there before, so apparently that house is a trouble spot. Apparently a crowd of folks were hanging around outside, and the cops converged on the area on foot. At least one person ran and I heard one call of a gun being spotted, although I never heard anything further about the gun. The person that ran was caught, and found to be wanted. Another criminal off the streets courtesy of the DPD. Sometimes I think we should be putting blue ribbon magnets on our cars for these folks out there in their own local war zone. Hopefully when we get our new Chief we can dump the no-chase policy and really start cracking down.

Believe it or not, all this arguing really wears me out. I don't turn back from a comments-filled debate, but sometimes they cause me to write few actual posts. I'm still working on a post about the downtown residents' meeting last Monday, and still gathering facts about the East Village thing. And of course spending too much time debating in the comments.

Also, I hope Rudy doesn't judge us by our food, because everyone knows the best Magic Mountains are the hash brown ones.

A few things

Mayor blames Meyer for leak- QCTimes

He really stepped in it this time- Barb Ickes (QCT)

Although I'd prefer this whole thread didn't revolve around it, considering at least 3 other blogs already have posts about it, I'd be remiss in not mentioning this article. As I do every 1 out of every 10 columns are so, I agree with Barb on this one. It seems like Keith has been going downhill recently. I have previously discussed how he had improved so much during his time on the council, but lately he's kind of worrying me.

Q-C Airport sets boarding record -QCTimes
The QCI Airport continues to do better and better every year. There is nothing but good news here. Someday they'll get that non-stop to Phoenix...

Nomination papers filed so far -City of Davenport website
The city doing this kind of makes Gluba's decision to announce his intentions in September a little pointless. By then we'll already know if he's filed or not. Also... who are some of these people?

Parking department looking for downtown signage plan -City RFP
If you're a signage/wayfinding company reading this, you've already missed your chance. According to Tom Flaherty, they want signs to let people know that there's parking downtown, where it is, and how to get to it. This seems like a good idea, and many other cities, including Des Moines, are doing similar things to show visitors and citizens where parking is available. The parking signage is supposed to work together with the hopefully upcoming Corbin wayfinding signs, although not really be part of the Corbin system.

And I'm still working on the rest of those posts I said I was planning.

Skybridge Silliness

Davenport Council: Skybridge will not get cameras, for now -QCTimes last week

Why not?

I don't see why this is even a debate. The debate should be why they weren't included in the original plan. We built a beautiful glass structure, open to the public 24/7.... whatever could go wrong with that? Most public places have security cameras to make the police department's job easier when something happens. I believe the RiverCenter has cameras, and probably the new library too. You can't sneeze in Chicago without it being recorded, although I believe that city provides a good example of cameras going too far. Practically every retail store has cameras, and almost none of them are monitored around the clock.

I mention this because apparently the problem with cameras is they won't be monitored 24/7. Does this mean that Keith and the others would have approved of it if we paid someone $6 an hour times 8760 hours a year (more than $50,000) to monitor them? I like his volunteer idea, and there's no reason not to implement that as well, but I doubt we'll ever get 24/7's worth of volunteers. A better idea would be an actual Skybridge patrol, much like the VIPs occasionally do. Just the presence of witnesses would prevent a lot of stuff from happening.

In the mean time cameras can serve as our witnesses, and allow more of the vandals to be caught and prosecuted. Hopefully the council reconsiders and installs the cameras. It seems like common sense, but as we all know... that's no indicator of what this council will do.

Where in the QC is Phil Yerington's memory?

Yerington: 'I'm running' for mayor -QCTimes yesterday

Apparently, Phil Yerington would like a lot of people to forget a lot of things. He's also forgetting a lot of things himself. A Google search is not his friend.

People like me, who support things like River Renaissance and a lot of what happened with downtown during his time as Mayor, should forget/ignore all the stuff he's saying now. Now he's against that kind of stuff. Of course, its not his fault, because he claims that River Renaissance got magically changed between his being for it and it actually being built. According to him, as he says in his opinion column for the Dispatch/Argus, it was "butchered." To the right is a very early rendering of River Renaissance. Sorry about the glare, and the fact that I didn't get the whole poster in the shot. It shows 2 parking garages, a (different looking) skybridge to the casino/riverfront, the River Music History Center (RME), an uglier Figge, and the AgTech Center (New Ventures Center). Hmm... how is that different than what we ended up with? I fought hard for River Renaissance, and it turned out damn close to what it was planned to be. Yerington is banking on people not remembering his "get off your barstools" comment, and his rabid support for RR. For people who do remember, he's claiming it didn't turn out the way he wanted it.

In his same column, he suggests the casino move to the 53rd and Eastern land, forgetting that some of it has already been sold to developers, and much of it is currently being turned into a park and branch library. There's that bad memory again.

In the QCTimes article announcing that he's running, Mr. Yerington makes the jaw-dropping statement of “The current aldermen have spent too much time fighting among themselves and have forgotten there’s a town to run,” he added." Speaking of forgetting, he's apparently forgotten being sued by Niky Bowles, trying to get Gibbs fired from the PD, getting rid of former PD Chief Lynn and hoping to get himself hired as the new Police Chief, and many other things. So for those who want city hall to be less of a circus, Phil would like you to forget most of what happened while he was Mayor last time. He would apparently also like people to forget the half-dozen controversies he's been involved in since leaving the Mayor's office, some of which have never even come to light.

For people on the "other side" from me, Mr. Yerington would like you to forget plenty of things also, or at least believe that he's changed his mind about almost everything. For those of you who generally find yourselves agreeing with the Lynn/Hamerlinck/Meyer side of the council or supporting Niky Bowles-types, Yerington would like you to forget the following:

• That he hired Craig Malin (but he's sorry now!)
• Him calling Niky Bowles "evil" and "a cancer"
• His aforementioned support of River Renaissance
• Him being mentioned in the same sentences (and lawsuits) with Bob McGivern
• His statements that he'd run if Bill Lynn didn't
• His earlier statements that he wasn't going to run for city office at all
  

The only good thing I see about him running for Mayor is that if Lynn also runs, at least one of the 2 of them will be out after the primary.

In short, whether you support downtown, don't support downtown, want city hall to be more of a circus, or want city hall to be less of a circus, you all have reasons to forget voting for Phil Yerington.

Open Thread

Here are a few of the posts I'd like to write in the next few days. I've started on a few of them already.

• Yerington
• The East Village porch "controversy"
• Photos from around town
• Downtown residents' meeting on Monday
• New downtown signage?
• Skybridge silliness
• And, of course... whatever else pops up

Until I get some more written though, I've gotta call this an Open Thread.

Friday morning election rumors

Normally I don't put much stock in rumors, but here are a few I've heard from a fairly reliable source:

1. Bill Gluba is in

2. Bill Lynn is getting signatures to run for Mayor

3. Doc Davis may be dropping out and endorsing Lynn, confirming my worst fears about him.

4. Alderman Barnhill is probably just running for reelection in the 7th

5. At least 3 people will run in the 6th ward

So the big three so far for Mayor are Gluba, Howard, and Lynn. Who gets out of the primary between those 3? And who else may still throw their hat in? I believe Yerington said he wouldn't run if Lynn does, but I may be mistaken. I suspect if Yerington and Lynn both ran, they'd divide their base, probably to the benefit of Gluba and Howard. The same would probably go for Davis. What do you loyal(?) readers think?

Where in the QC is this? #17

The 17th installment of this little feature is a tie in with all the local mainstream media coverage of our area bridges and their conditions. I never heard mention of this little wood structure, so I guess its in fine shape.

This is an easy "Where" image, so I expect it will be guessed within minutes or hours. I'm working on a couple of posts though, so that's fine.

QCTimes misses the point

Bet on the sure thing: Q-C Habitat for Humanity -QCTimes Editorial

I find it strange that the Times picks this issue to really take Alderman Meyer to task, but you never know what side they're going to take. The editorial never once mentions the fact that if Habitat built houses that look like this image I stole from Alderman Frink's blog of a new old-looking house, a lot fewer people would be resisting. Instead they build houses that would be the worst in almost any neighborhood in town, much less semi-historic ones.

I would also buy their arguments against renovation a lot more if they didn't own a store full of old house parts.

A few early Election '07 thoughts

These are just a few of my early thoughts and opinions of a random assortment of the candidates and potential candidates:

Phil Yerington
A top priority for Davenport should be making city council meetings less entertaining and circus-like, and more professional and businesslike. Yerington has got to be in the top 3 most controversial and scandal-plagued Davenport politician from the last decade. We have enough problems with the politicization of the police department as it is, without bringing him back with his baggage and potential vendettas. The "clean slate" some are calling for shouldn't include figures from the past.

Doc Davis
In what I'm sure will be a surprising opinion to most of you, much of what Jim Davis has said sounds pretty good to me. Everything on his website is very common sense-based, and he doesn't appear to automatically oppose everything. Hopefully all Guardian Angels aren't closely tied with Bill Lynn, because that is one thing I don't want in a candidate for any position. The other worrisome thing is his opinion on the skatepark bathroom/picnic pavilion. His website states: "We can have installed around the perimeter, 9 tables (or a few more) with concrete slab for each and a 2-pole V-shaped corrugated roof for the much needed shade at this park for a lot less than the $375, 000.00 that is currently being entertained at City Hall (bids would be accepted). Here's my bid: $25,000.00. We could hook up to the city and have a block and mortar restroom built if need be later."
While I do suspect that these shelters would be cheaper than a quarter million dollars, for him to suggest that any handicapped-accessible structures in the floodplain could be built by the city, with all legal requirements and bidding process seems pretty unrealistic. I just hope he's not one of these politicians who thinks that in 2007 you can throw down a public restroom for $10,000. It cost over $50,000 just to build the handicapped curb ramp near the Adler. Even if these shelters could be installed that cheaply, they don't solve the bathroom/concession issue, or provide utilities for the rest of Centennial Park. In addition, this money has already been approved anyway, so its really a moot point. A mayor needs to have a realistic idea of what things cost in this day and age.

Jen Olsen
I saw somewhere that Mrs. Olsen wants to remove some of the circus atmosphere around city hall, but then she jumps headfirst into the Malin circus by saying that she'd work to fire him. I don't know that going after certain city staff is a good thing to run on. Aldermen need to work with city staff more than against them. I'm also not sure how much appeal she has in the heavy-voting 6th ward.

Ian Frink
Right now, Frink is the only person from the current council that I 100% believe should be reelected. He actually comes up with ideas, and asks a lot of questions, although not always at council meetings. He's stayed out of controversy as best as he can, and was one of the few council members who took steps towards removing Alderman Van Fossen. I was definitely glad to see that he chose to run again.

Bill Gluba
He would probably would make a good mayor, although its yet to be seen if he could "stand the heat" of the council chamber "kitchen." His comment about not running if Winborn did is encouraging to me, because I feel that Mayor Winborn has done a much better job under difficult (circus-like) circumstances than he's given credit for. Many people hate him because of his tie-breaking votes, but that's the way that our city's democratic system is set up to work folks. If Gluba could maintain or improve on this, he'll probably get my vote.

Mike Matson
I'd really like to know more about his positions, and his newly-posted website is very vague so far. However... he doesn't mention "sitting on the council like a bump on a log" as one of his plans, so he's probably ahead of Dumas for me.

Nathan Brown
I was able to meet Mr. Brown at the Sunderbruch Park opening, and he really seems to have his act together. I think he has the support of some of the folks working hard to make the Garden Addition and Roosevelt Community Center area a success, and he would make a well-spoken addition to the council. Best of all, he didn't drink, crash his car, assault or sexually harass anyone while I talked to him! This election should bring the 1st Ward back from 2 years of shameful representation.

Who will be the new Clayton Lloyd(Open Thread)

Davenport reveals finalists for economic development job -QCTimes

Part of their test should be putting all 4 candidates in a room with Alderman Meyer, Susie Bell and company, Niky, the Eglys, the RCReader folks, and a selection of online commenters and see which candidates come out alive.

And, the Swing are getting a new name, probably back to the River Bandits if you ask me.

Other than those weighty topics, this is an open thread.

Wednesday Assortment

Celebrate Q-C's RiverVision Wednesday -QCTimes
At least 2000 of you should come out for the Swing game today, as the first 2000 fans will be getting in free to celebrate Davenport and Rock Island's selection as the most livable cities under 100,000 in the nation. Of course, hopefully not all 2000 are taken before I get there, and that the weather holds. It'll be interesting to see if a big crowd shows up for the typically deserted noon game.

No one at meeting approves of turning RiverCenter into casino -QCTimes
Well, when you only get 20 people at a meeting, you can pretty much expect it will be 20 people against whatever the meeting is about. That said, I think IOC has generated so much ill-will and negative feelings about themselves that a majority of Davenport citizens probably do oppose giving them the south side of the RiverCenter. I just urge people not to judge the feelings of Davenport off of blog commenters and 20 meeting attendees. If that were an accurate barometer we'd be talking about Niky's landslide win in 2005. I'm still not in favor of the RiverCenter idea, I don't instantly despiseit as many seem to. I'm waiting to see the whole plan.

Habitat project is delayed for further scrutiny -QCTimes
This is one of the areas that I most agree with Keith Meyer. While I personally respect Habitat's mission, I see no reason (besides saving maybe a few thousand bucks) to build houses that stick out like sore thumbs in the neighborhoods where they are built. It seems like when a low income person is trying to become an established homeowner, why start them out with the stigma of living in a clearly different style of house? With the Habitat ReStore, I would think that Habitat has enough supplies to either renovate an existing home, or build a new home that fits the character of the neighborhood. It can be done, and in the article they even mention that they're doing it in Rock Island. Do it here Habitat. Also, I'm with Keith and many others as far as being horrified by the garage-looking houses on Main. This is why neighborhood design guidelines are good, whether it be the Village, downtown, or Main Street.

Forrest Block and Bridges

Forrest block project delayed, not dead -QCTimes

I know there were a lot of people wondering what was up with this project during Bix weekend. It would have been nice to have had an article in the Bix Sunday paper explaining to all the out-of-towners what the deal was. I was pretty sure this project was still on track, but its nice to see more official confirmation.


And in the random links category, thanks to Ask QCOnline for pointing out a pretty cool website, Bridges of the Upper Mississippi. I spent almost half an hour checking out bridges between Red Wing, Minnesota and Cairo, Illinois. Seeing some of the neat designs really makes you wonder how they managed to pick such a boring bridge for the I-80 crossing, considering the number of vehicles that use that daily. The design for the new I-74 bridge puts most of them to shame at least.

Great Mississippi Valley Fair 07

One more event in the busy summer schedule of festivals and fairs. "The fair" is also another thing that we probably take for granted. I've heard that it compares pretty favorably with many state fairs.

There's always plenty of food to be had. Since I skipped the Louisiana things-on-a-stick vendor at the Bixfest, I had myself a Pork-on-a-stick last night, which was delicious. There's also a trailer with enough ice cream treats to be a traveling Dairy Queen, so I sampled some of that too. The diving show has a different theme this year, and its also quite a bit smaller and shorter than last year. I'm not sure what happened there, but its still worth the 20 minutes to watch it. Its at least more exciting than the slow-paced chain saw art that I spent a while watching. Maybe someday they'll get some grandstand acts that I care to see...

One Open Thread Centre

Looks like the Putnam building has a new marketing campaign. Maybe its just me, but the website listed doesn't seem to work yet. That doesn't seem like an ideal message to bix visitors who may have gone home and tried to look into this building. I'll check again later today; maybe it was just a typical internet outage.

Update: The website works now, although as Snarky pointed out, its unfinished at this point.

My busy times are slowly winding down, so hopefully I can return to daily posting soon. For today though, this will be an open thread.

A sad note, and a few other things

Pilots killed at two air shows -CNN
Jim Leroy was one of the pilots who was recently killed during these two air show accidents. He was the last surviving member of the Masters of Disaster stunt team that I believe performed at the QC Air Show, and he was just here this year flying the same Bulldog stunt plane that he was killed in. He was considered one of the top air show stunt pilots in the world, which just goes to show how incredibly dangerous their profession is.

Skatepark news vans
There's a lot of talk about the cars that keep pulling up onto the cement apron around the skatepark, but has anyone stopped to wonder where they got the idea? I drive past the skatepark on almost a daily basis, and whenever there's any kind of story the news vans feel its their right to drive right up there onto the berm. Why is this any less bad than the kids doing it?

Fair traffic fun
This article mentions that the police are going to move the barricades for the locust street construction to try and match the flow of traffic. For those of you who have been to bigger cities, I imagine this will be similar to the middle lanes where they have the lights that show which direction the lanes are going. This allows lanes to be used for traffic into downtowns in the morning, and out in the evening. It'll be interesting to see how it works on Locust.

Wells Fargo Street fest relocation
Does anyone know the reason for moving the Bixfest back west of Brady? I heard it was to be closer to both the jazz fest and the 3rd street bar scene, but I wondered if there were other reasons. It seems to work better there, especially having the main stage in the parking lot next to the Mississippi Plaza. Anyone dislike the new/old location?

Some Bix Pix

The Brady Street Hill.

The men's and women's winners, Duncan Kibet and Wude Ayalew.

The Race for the Jackpot wasn't even close this year, with Christy Lazaridis easily getting the $3300 prize. The shot on the right is of the post race party, taken from the roof of the Crescent Lofts. The Wells Fargo Street Fest, back in its old location west of Brady.

Picnic Table-Garbage Can-Bottle-gate

I'm throwing out a discussion thread about the Alderman Meyer incident. The QCTimes' posting of the police reports, showing 2 completely different stories, are required reading before any commenting.

I don't know Alderman Meyer personally. We've corresponded via email, but never really in person. That said, I have a really hard time believing that he acted the way the lady at the skatepark is accusing him of. The swearing I could maybe believe, but the crap about running this town and owning the skatepark has to be an exaggeration. If those statements by Ms. Fuller are somehow proven false, I would hope she would be in some trouble herself.

That said, even the things that Alderman Meyer has admitted to doing are fairly serious mistakes. Losing your temper is no way to solve a situation, and now this is just one more circus-like incident hanging over the city council's chambers. More scandal and controversy should be the one thing we can all agree that we don't need.

Stuff I missed, or did I?

I have been in news/information withdrawal lately, with no internet access and not even the ability to read the news on my phone. It bothered me greatly, but now that I am back, part of me wonders what it is that I miss.

I start reading people slamming on Malin, slamming on Winborn, slamming on whoever... I guess its just not the stuff I read blogs for.

I will admit that Winborn's decision not to seek reelection is pretty big news, especially since back on the Louisville trip I heard him say that he was going to run again. I wonder if another 8 months of negativity changed his mind? Yerington, Howard, Lynn? None of the above, please. If it had to be someone who's already been involved, I'd probably pick Ian Frink. I think someone new might be a good idea though.

Lets try to keep things civil around here today; I've seen enough wasteland lately.

Long Weekend (for me) Open Thread

Over the next few days, or for as long as a week, I'll have very little opportunity to post anything. Among other things, I'll be driving and flying a combined total of over 3000 miles. Use this thread for discussing anything in the mean time.

Also, did anyone see those clouds yesterday morning? I didn't have a camera with me, but I managed to get the shot on the right with my cell phone. They were probably the most ominous looking clouds I've ever seen in Davenport. I really expected them to start swirling around and destroying stuff at any minute. Fortunately I don't know anything about meteorology, and they didn't do anything like that.

Have a good weekend, and I'll definitely be back in action in time for Bix festivities.

Where in the QC is this? #16

This one's probably too easy, but its all I have time for right now. Where is it?

The second guesser, Anonymous at 11:04 AM correctly identified the image as the clock tower on the depot in Rock Island. As Anonymous said, its now a reception hall known as Abbey Station, operated by the owners of the Abbey Hotel.

12 Headlines that would be good for Davenport

Every morning I when I start reading the paper, I hope for some positive news for Davenport instead of the usual circus and controversy. Here are a dozen of the kind of headlines I'm waiting to see. I don't feel that any of these are impossible, and some are downright probable. Some of these are good only for Davenport, such as #2 and #8, and some are good for the whole Quad Cities. In keeping with my belief that downtown is the heart of Davenport, about half of these are downtown-oriented.

Please add your suggestions for the list in the comments.

1. "X Company" to build 20 story corporate headquarters in downtown Davenport
Something like this would be the last piece to tip the scales for downtown success.

2. Alderman Van Fossen resigns his position on city council
No need to explain this one.

3. 20 story condo tower to be built in downtown Davenport
Similar to #1. If Moline can have one, why not us? Or even a mixture of #1 and #3.

4. (Dave & Busters, InPlay, GameWorks, pick one) to open downtown Davenport entertainment venue
See this blog post.

5. Brady Street Cinema and former hotel site to be redeveloped
Its a huge site, and currently providing a terrible first impression of Davenport

6. Toyota to build 2000-employee manufacturing plant in Davenport industrial park
Sure, we shouldn't pin all our hopes on heavy industry, but we shouldn't ignore it either.

7. 46th Street bridge to be built between Brady and Eastern, connecting the last piece between Harrison and Elmore.
I haven't even heard about this lately, so I'm guessing its years away. It would certainly help out 53rd and Kimberly, although at the expense of people who live on 46th.

8. New operator for Davenport casino license to build state-of-the-art casino hotel downtown
I'd settle for the same headline with "IOC" replacing new operator, but I don't see that happening.

9. Event similar to X-Games to be held at Davenport skatepark
We've got a world-class skatepark now, so why not add an event the size of Sturgis on the River to take advantage of it?

10. Amtrak returns passenger rail to the QC area
Say goodbye to I-88 tolls anyone?

11. Quad City International lands direct service to Phoenix
Ok, this one's slightly selfish, but I'm pretty sure I've read that Phoenix is the biggest final destination for QCIA travelers.

12. BRAC reverse decision, TACOM to stay at Arsenal
At this point the move to Michigan isn't going to save any money until 2030 anyway, and who knows what will be happening by then. Might as well leave them here.

Another home invasion, Van Fossen, and more cameras

Early this morning there was another home invasion robbery, this time near 13th and Carey. The victim stated that he was upstairs and he heard shots fired at the house and the front door kicked in. With a description like this, you can imagine the number of squad cars that started heading his way. Unfortunately, the victim gave 911 dispatchers the wrong address, so all the officers were surrounding a house 4 blocks away. By the time they made it to the right house, the suspects had escaped. It sounded like they had some leads, and some of the stolen property was recovered as well. Stuff like this makes me long for the heavy police crack down that we saw after the murder of Vincelina Howard.

Judge issues injunction against Van Fossen -QCTimes
This is the story that just won't die. It doesn't help that Webb's lawyer has had it in for city hall for years and years. Does anyone really think that Malin, city staff, and the Howard/Frink side of the council is working to protect Van Fossen? They're just as sick of his antics as the rest of us, and he nearly always votes against them anyway. What is in it for them to protect him? People who think the whole council is a secret society/good-ol' boys club are a bit too paranoid for my tastes. If anything people should be accusing them of running him out of office to take a vote away from the Lynn/Hamerlinck side of the council. Also, the guy is doing serious harm to the Van Fossen name by not resigning.

Davenport to set up more cameras in city -QCTimes
In some ways, I don't mind this, but in other ways I find it worse than the speed cameras. At least those only work when someone is definitely breaking the law. With all the politics that get tangled up with the DPD, I can imagine some admittedly unlikely scenarios where the cameras are misused.

Davenport alderman writes his novel in spare time -QCOnline
If any of you Davenporters don't usually read QCOnline because of its focus on Illinois news, check out this profile of Alderman Meyer. I learned several new things about my Alderman.

Jeff Speck at the Figge review

I attended Jeff Speck's lecture last night at the Figge, but due to various issues wasn't able to write a post about it until now. Cruiser has already posted his impressions of the evening here.

As others have said, the turnout was excellent. People wearing everything from a bicycling outfit, to jeans, to suits, which is great. There were people standing along the aisles of the auditorium in the Figge, and he seemed very well received. I wondered how many people were there for the free museum admission and free grub, but the number of people buying his book and having it signed after the event really showed that many of the people were really into Speck's points.

As far as the lecture itself, it was pretty textbook new urbanism stuff. Jeff pointed out during his talk that planners and others familiar with new urbanism may find it a bit basic. Many of the topics, such as building narrower streets, alleys, houses that look like houses instead of garages, and walkability have been discussed around this and other local blogs. I think this is the perfect introduction to this topic for people who have only heard a bit about new urbanism, or maybe have just a passing familiarity. This makes sense, since the lecture was taken in part from the Mayors Institute on City Design. I can definitely see it having an impact on people who were elected for skills other than city design and planning. One thing that I really have to commend him on was his illustrative images. He's been able to find intersections, developments, and photo angles that really show the downsides of suburbanization. Some of the sprawl images caused an obvious negative reaction from the crowd.

Mr. Speck admitted to not knowing all that much about Davenport and the Quad Cities specifically, and even hinted at coming back sometime to give a lecture that is directed more at our particular issues. I think this would be a great thing, especially now that at least 150 people are familiar with the concept. One of the only things that I took issue with was his criticism of the Skybridge. He discussed how strange it is to build a parking garage away from a casino, build an enclosed bridge from there to the boat, and have people walk over downtown without ever hitting the streets. I agree that that would be strange, but disagree that that is the point of the Skybridge. To me it will always be an observation bridge and landmark, and after the boat leaves that will become even more obvious.

All in all, it was a great event, and it was good to see so many people out at the Figge for something related to city planning and design. I was able to meet Jeff Speck, and I now know that he's at least been shown both this blog and Cruiser's. I'll be very interested in the results if he takes a closer look at the QC area and comes back with his specific suggestions for our issues.

Airport or car dealership

I was over at the airport Sunday to pick someone up, and I kept trying to catch a glimpse of one of the few PGA folks coming to the John Deere Classic that I actually recognize. As I heard a guy who had just grabbed a piece of luggage containing a set of clubs say into his phone, "I've got your clubs," I realized that PGA pros have people to wait at baggage claims for them.

When I was leaving I saw that a section of the short-term lot was blocked off, and was filled with brand new Buicks for the arriving players and tournament officials. There were 3 or 4 rows of precisely parked vehicles. I believe these are Buick Lucernes.

Serious Child Abuse

Thanks to Alderman Meyer for emailing us bloggers this police release.

Date: July 8, 2007 (15:02)

Reference: SERIOUS CHILD ABUSE

For Release: Immediate

Saturday, July 7, 2007 5:47 pm 1630 West 42nd Street

A two year old child is in serious condition at University Hospitals in Iowa City. He was taken there by air ambulance after initial treatment at Genesis Medical Center.

The little boy was found unresponsive when emergency personnel responded to a medical assistance call at 1630 West 42nd Street at 5:47 pm Saturday.

It is very apparent that the child sustained a severe beating as there was extensive bruising and trauma to the majority of the child’s body.

The mother, LIZABETH GARCIA, 24, has been arrested and charged with CHILD ENDANGERMENT with SERIOUS INJURY. She claims that the injuries happened as long as three days ago but that she did not seek medical attention for the child because she was afraid that DHS (Iowa Department of Human Services) and the police would get involved. Therefore the child was left to suffer.

Garcia said that injuries happened when she left the child in the care of her boyfriend while she went to work. The location of the boyfriend is currently unknown.

The boyfriend has been identified as HERMAN CARL MORRIS, also known as JAMES DOZIER or JAMES WILLIAMS. He is a black male, 27 years old, 5”10” tall and weighs 170 pounds. He is currently wanted on arrest warrants unrelated to this horrific crime. Those warrants, from the Davenport Police Department and Rock Island County include:
• Sex Abuse 2nd degree
• False Imprisonment
• Felon in Possession of a Firearm
• Assault with Intent to Commit Sex Abuse

A car owned by Garcia is unaccounted for and it is thought that Morris/Dozier/Williams might have that car. The vehicle is a green, 1995 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme four door. It has Iowa license plates 520 SIN.

Anyone having any knowledge concerning this information and/or the location of the Morris/Dozier/Williams is asked to immediately notify their local law enforcement agency or Crimestoppers.

Blue Sky July Open Thread

Good luck to all the competitors that will soon be descending on the QC area to participate in the John Deere Classic. I'm hoping to make it over there on one of the free days, although it promises to be just as hot as last year.

Congrats to the SoLo blog, as the very next post by Ambrose Fulton will be #600 for the oldest active Davenport politics-related blog around.

Jeff Speck at the Figge

If you haven't already heard about this from the QCTimes article, RCReader article, QCOnline article, or Cruiser's post, here's the info. As you can see, I'm late in the game on posting about this.

Jeff Speck is the author of Suburban Nation: The rise of sprawl and the decline of the American dream. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't yet read this book, even though its right down my alley. Maybe I'll pick one up and get it signed Monday. He's an expert on New Urbanism and city design, so it should be a pretty interesting presentation. You also get a free chance to check out the Figge along with the free lecture and free snacks.

Date: Monday, July 9th, 2007

Venue: John Deere Auditorium, Figge Art Museum (2nd floor gallery)

Schedule:

5-6 p.m.: Reception (heavy hors d’oeuvres and beverages [cash wine and beer bar])

6-7:30 p.m. Presentation

• 5 minute intro from Mayor Winborn
• 60 minute presentation from Jeff Speck
• 20 minute Q&A

7:30 – 8:15 p.m. Book Signing: Suburban Nation: The rise of sprawl and the decline of the American dream (sponsored by the Design Ranch)

4th of July Flood

Once in a while mother nature has to remind us who's really in charge. In a repeat of last year's storm, we got several inches of rain last night, and a lot of roads are flooded and washed out. Of course Locust Street near St. Ambrose was flooded and closed, but also Eastern and 29th. I think when the floodwaters start hitting the bridge the city starts worrying about the structural integrity and closes Eastern, because it didn't look like any water was actually over Eastern.Here's the view looking northeast towards Brady Street and Arby's from the Sancho's parking lot.

Hopefully the newly laid asphalt on the bike path east of Eastern survived the flood waters. I doubt this piece of submerged equipment near Jersey Ridge is going to be in good shape when crews get back to work tomorrow.

Clintons visit

Here are a few images from today's Bill and Hillary Clinton rally in downtown Davenport. It was great to see an urban location chosen for something like this, instead of just something with corn of a fairgrounds in the background. We need to show people there's more to Iowa than what they stereotypically think. Just to preempt any political debate that we don't really need, just remember I'm registered Independent and attended this as an important downtown event only.
Hillary and Bill, working the crowds. Check out the rest of my images from this afternoon on my flickr page here.

Monday morning assortment

I took a drive/walk around downtown last night around 3am, hoping to get some good images with my camera and tripod. I didn't have much luck, with the shot of city hall to the right the only one that came out ok. I didn't see another pedestrian while I was out. Not exactly a vibrant street scene, but I didn't see any criminals or drug dealers out either.

Speaking of downtown and crime, the QCTimes has an editorial today that fits with the argument I've been making around this blog for 2 years. Downtown in safer than many neighborhoods, but a couple of bad intersections and a lot of bad perception and media attention lowers people's opinion of downtown safety.

In the opposite of downtown news, QCOnline has a piece on Prairie Heights. It mentions a mixture of residential and commercial, but last time I saw the plan there was little to no commercial mixed in with the residential areas. Maybe someone in the know can correct me on this. I'm looking foward to seeing homes going up in the next couple months.

Thanks to whoever's decision it was to paint dotted lane lines across Brady at 3rd Street. The lanes jog by half a lane's width as you go through the intersection, and I've seen a lot of near-accidents there. Now its 100% obvious what lane you're supposed to end up in when you make it to the east side of Brady.