3 Saturday Morning Images

A few images to start the weekend:

First of all, today's the first outdoor Freight House Farmer's Market of the year. Just think, last year when they had their first Saturday market they had to have it on River Drive because the Freight House parking lot was flooded.

The sun rises over downtown Davenport. You can read into this as good things ahead for the heart of Davenport... or just think its a sunrise.

Much like last Saturday, here's the new building going up to replace 605 Main. Since its pretty much the biggest thing being built around here right now, I'm considering having a weekly Saturday image of the construction progress.

QCI's 471-Word Sugar Review

I made it out to Showcase Cinemas 53 last night to see Sugar. As most of you know, it was partially filmed in the QC area a couple years ago. Here's my quick (and spoiler-free) review:

As all the other reviews say, its not a stereotypical cliched baseball movie. One of the people who I saw it with pointed out something he expected to happen with the last shot, that absolutely would have in a Disney-esque sports movie, but didn't in Sugar. I also agree with the folks who have said this is a baseball movie made by people who know baseball. The main character, Sugar, is a pitcher, and in several scenes he runs off the round after a batter hits the ball to back up either first or home plate. You don't see that kind of accuracy in "Rookie of the Year." Most reviews seem to refer to it as a good movie even for folks who don't care for the sport. There's much more to the film than baseball, but I couldn't give a review of the movie from the perspective of a non-baseball person. I'm sure there are some out there somewhere. So for a baseball fan, this is a great movie.

As an Iowa fan... not so much. There's no particular bad guy in this movie, although there are a few isolated jerks. So it doesn't make Iowans out to be bad folks, but it does reinforce a lot of Midwestern stereotypes. Some of these, like everyone being nice, don't hurt us any. Others, like that most of us live on farms and don't speak any languages other than English, are less flattering, and less accurate. At one point Sugar needs to catch a Greyhound bus, and instead of going to the Ground Transportation Center 2 blocks from the stadium, they of course show him being dropped off by a taxi at a bar/convenience store at the intersection of 2 farm-lined country roads. Because that's where we catch the bus in Iowa... You definitely get the feeling that this is a movie set in Iowa made by New Yorkers.

Overall though, its a great movie. Around 99% of America doesn't live in Iowa, and a good portion of those who do may not care about reinforcing stereotypes, so my complaints on that aspect are inconsequential to the big picture. Also, from interviews it seems like the filmmakers understand that there's more to Iowa than cities like Burlington, even if they didn't really show it. The music is prominently featured in the movie, and its good stuff. While I am biased, the scenery is beautiful. They used a mixture of downtown Davenport and downtown Burlington overview shots to portray downtown "Bridgetown, IA." Even the farms and countryside look great. I'm not sure how much longer it will be playing at 53, (Moviefone.com shows at least through May 6th) but I'd recommend seeing it soon if you don't want to wait for the DVD. Its also pretty cool to see Davenport in a non-Italian movie.

Weekend Open Thread

I've been taking advantage of these beautiful days to do stuff outside, and I'll probably be pretty busy this weekend as well. Regulars know what that means... an Open Thread. Talk about whatever you want.

Also, here's an image of the progress on the new halfway house/Department of Corrections building replacing 605 Main Street. Its going up fast.

Iowa’s Front Porch Parkway – Public Open House

How about River Boulevard? -QCTimes

Here's a press release from the city about Thursday night's open house:

Iowa’s Front Porch Parkway – Public Open House
Thursday, April 23rd 2009
4-6:00 p.m.
Design Center
102 E 2nd Street (parking in ramp above)

The City of Davenport will be showcasing preliminary design concepts—and seeking public input—on the latest installment of RiverVision. River Drive downtown—Iowa’s Front Porch Parkway—has great potential to create a strong link between the downtown and our vibrant riverfront, and has been identified in RiverVision as a key component of our downtown waterfront revitalization. Landscape enhancements are being considered to enrich the visitor experience, create safer pedestrian crossings, and provide an opportunity for public art, strengthening the identity of our river front and downtown as the cultural nexus of the Quad Cities.

The public is invited to view the preliminary concept plans for greening River Drive, and is encouraged to provide feedback. The input received at this exhibition will be valuable in helping to determine the final design for downtown River Drive.

The exhibition is informal. As such, there will not be a formal presentation or start time. The public is invited to peruse the concepts anytime between 4-6 p.m., to ask questions of City Staff, and to provide much desired input. Come when you can, and stay as long as you want.

For more information, contact Darrin Nordahl, City Designer

And here are some maps and artists concepts of what this could look like.
(As always, click on any image to see a larger version)

A detailed look at a possible planter design.

This is the impressive pair of images. What River Drive looks like now, above, and what it could look like, in the lower image.

The overall project area.

A possible design for one block's median.

Q-C Watchblog

As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the QCTimes has started a new blog run by the various municipal beat reporters, called Q-C Watchblog. It will probably be covering some stuff that those of us who follow city politics and development will find interesting, but wouldn't be newsworthy enough to make it into the paper.

From their description:

"The Quad-City Times reporters who cover Bettendorf, Davenport, Scott County and the Illinois Quad-Cities are watching for news, notes and anecdotes that happen beyond meetings and without press releases. Look for links to articles about events or issues that could affect the Quad-Cities, or contact the Watchbloggers with a newstip. It is all happening here."

I've added a link to Q-C Watchblog over on the right with the rest of the blogs.

Week in Review: The good and the bad

I've been busy this last week, and didn't get much time to post. Here are a few of the high and low points of the week for me in QC news.

The Good

Blackhawk Hotel restoration begins!
Forrest Block building ready to go!
Naysayers abound! But who cares, as in less than 2 years there will be dozens of new market-rate apartments downtown. They'll fill up fast, and hopefully some of our timid developers around here will take note that downtown is different than it was 20 years ago. Or even 6 years ago. Local developers or not, I hope Restoration St. Louis picks another building to bring back to life next.

Centennial Park Active Recreation Corridor finished!
See the previous post for pictures. The park was jammed Saturday, and the great thing is, it would have been jammed with or without the ribbon cutting ceremony. Every time I drive past the skatepark, day or night, if its over 40 degrees or so there are people there skating and biking. I bet its the most populated park per square foot in town.

Police pursuits
No, its not a good thing that we have people who run from the police. However, at least twice last week when they took off the police actually followed! This is how to fight crime. Chase them when they run, tow their cars when they bail out, catch the passengers they left in the back seat, make criminals' lives difficult. These things were happening last week, and its progress.

Improvements at Modern Woodmen Park
These owners are actually making improvements to the stadium, rather than sending people in money costumes to pay their bills late. What a difference. Check out the new ribbon board in right field. I don't think too many single-A minor league teams have one of these.


The Bad

"Friends" of Credit Island?
Its amazing to me that people can justify opposing something on the basis that it might get vandalized. Lets just not building anything, in that case! We can all hide in our basements and hope we don't get vandalized. Its a good thing that there are people with the vision to accomplish things in this world, rather than people who just fear any unknown possibilities. This bridge, which is already budgeted and ready to go, is part of linking the riverfront trail to the Duck Creek trail to make a huge recreational loop. While a few naysayers calling themselves friends of Credit Island may not think its a good idea, I can find a lot of people who think its a great idea. Bikes on credit island not a good idea? Maybe some of these "friends" should have noticed that there's been a bike lane going onto the island for years.

Handicapped Fees
Credit this one to Professor Lynn. He's against people paying a fee for using the storm sewer system, but he's ok with charging one for being handicapped and getting a parking space? If people are taking advantage of the system, check into it. According to the article there are 900 of these residential street handicapped spots in the city. One of the worries is that people have moved away but their spots remain. Solution: Have an intern or volunteer go through and check the Scott County property records once a year to see if people have moved. At a minute each, that would take one person less than 2 workdays. Or keep the idea of having people renew their spot every year, but drop the $40 installation fee. If 10% of the spots turn over per year, you're looking at a big $3600 income per year for "new sign fees." It would probably cost that much just to come up with a new billing form to do it. Don't say I never saw a tax or fee I didn't like.

Centennial Park Images

Yesterday was the grand opening of the active recreation section of Centennial Park. I was able to make it down for the speeches and ribbon cutting, and got a few pictures.
Here is the snack bar, bathroom, and utility room pavilion, with picnic tables and the kiddie basketball court in the foreground.


Here we have Governor Culver speaking, and then being presented with a rocking chair inscribed with "Davenport: Iowa's Front Porch." He said he'd put it on the porch at Terrace Hill, but then he left it behind. I suppose he didn't bring the Gubernatorial pickup truck. I'm sure someone will manage to get it to Des Moines.

The actual event, with the usual folks and the usual scissors. It rained on and off during the speeches, but people didn't mind. Even with the sprinkles it was a very nice day to be outside.

However, after the speeches were over, the sun came out and a perfect rainbow formed, centered right over downtown and Centennial Park. Seems like a good omen if there ever was one.

1st Phase of Centennial Park Grand Opening

Saturday's the big day for the "Active Recreation Corridor" part of Centennial Park. The Governor will be taking part in a ribbon cutting ceremony at 5pm Saturday. Also, check out the video on the link below for some aerial views of the park under construction.

From the city website:

Please make plans to "cut-the-ribbon" with us for the opening of the recently completed Centennial Park Active Recreation Corridor on Saturday, April 18th. The Grand Opening Celebration begins at 10:00 a.m. and will offer live music, basketball clinics, demonstrations at the Skate Park, family-friendly games and activities, giveaways and much more. The Active Recreation Corridor has much to offer families, including a complex of two full, tournament quality basketball courts, a youth half-court, a concession/restroom pavilion, a stage, as well as picnic and informal play areas west of the new Skate Park. Surrounding the active recreation elements along River Drive are streetscape and landscape borders designed to support multiple uses including spectator viewing, active recreation participant rest area, family play, and picnicking. The project received a $286,000 Iowa Great Places grant.

Brick Streets

Moline expected to choose more expensive brick street repair option -QCOnline

This is somewhat related to Dave Barrett's blog post of a couple weeks ago about a street near his home in Moline. The city of Moline is going to repair a brick street using bricks, rather than just take the easy way out and slap some concrete or asphalt down instead. I knew that Davenport also mandates that certain streets are left as brick, but I was curious as to the cost over time. It seems like brick streets last forever compared to blacktop or cement. I did some Google searching, and found this page on WalkableStreets.com with a USA Today article from 2003. As I read it, I was surprised to see these excerpts:

Winter Park's brick restoration program is one of the most extensive in the country, but the city is not alone in its effort to preserve or bring back a method of paving that had all but disappeared during the last half century. Exactly how many towns and cities are returning to brick streets isn't known. But the trend seems to be going on in all parts of the country:

* Champaign, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa, are among dozens of cities that ban paving over brick streets with other materials. Both cities spend nearly $100,000 a year to maintain brick streets.

....

But some cities say the cost is worth it.

"They last. With a little repair they'll go another 100 years," says Eric Schallert, senior engineer in the Davenport, Iowa, Public Works department.

So apparently our brick street program isn't as common as I would have assumed, or at least it wasn't in 2003. The article seems to have differing opinions on whether brick is cheaper or more expensive in the long run. Below is a picture taken back in 2006 of High Street in Davenport near Genesis East and Golick's.
While Davenport's brick streets may not be the quietest, smoothest, or flattest, they definitely have character. I'd be curious to see the cost/benefit of cement vs asphalt vs brick over a 100 year period. I'd think that if Davenport's brick streets could still be around as old as they are, that with modern roadbed technology a "new" brick street could last even longer. On the other hand "new" sidewalks don't seem to last nearly as long as old ones. Something to think about.

2 Nights in a row at the iWC

I was able to see most of the Beach Boys concert on Thursday night, and then Friday night I went to what might have been the last QC Flames game at the iWireless Center. I'm pretty sure its the first time I've been to the arena two nights in a row.Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, the only 2 original members in this version of the Beach Boys. They made a few jokes about their age, but their voices haven't changed that much. Read the QCTimes review of the concert here. I wouldn't call the Beach Boys one of my all time favorite bands, although I really like Sloop John B, but I sure did know basically every song they played. I guess I never stopped to think about how many dozens of hit songs they had over the years.

It was a heck of a hockey game at the iWireless Center, but unfortunately it may be the last one there for a while. We'll find out over the off-season. One key thing to watch is what the AHL board decides regarding the Calgary Flames moving their farm team to Abbotsford. One thing's for sure, and that's that this season is over. Despite winning a great game in a shootout, the 2 other teams that needed to lose the rest of their games, Houston and Rockford, both failed their end of the QC Flames playoff plan.

During one of the breaks, during a rigged game of Deal or No Deal there was even a marriage proposal. She said it was a deal, and thus avoided making her boyfriend famous on YouTube. After the game, as seen above, the players gave away all the leftover freebies to the crowd. They also stood on the ice and watched a 2 minute farewell video on the big screen. It can be found on YouTube here. I really enjoyed becoming a fan of both the QC and Calgary Flames, and I'm sorry things didn't work out. Hopefully we can get a different AHL team, but I'm not hopeful on that.

Illinois Election Day Open Thread

While I rarely get into the Illinois-side politics, I figured I stick up a discussion thread.

The only race I've followed at all is the one for Rock Island Mayor. Fortunately, the 2 candidates who are still actively running are the better 2 of the 3 who started out. David Kimbell, who dropped out after the deadline for having his name taken off the ballot, has some odd opinions about the riverfront. Here's what he had to say in this QCTimes article:

Kimbell said he is also opposed to the park plan and would like to see a development that will bring in jobs.

“I would rather see the city try to bring is some kind of manufacturing,” he said. “It would be a good place for it because the (Casino Rock Island) riverboat will be moved and we need something to replace it.”

Yikes. Replace Casino Rock Island with manufacturing? I can think of a few better uses for what is basically Rock Island's "front yard." Such as... Armory Park! Obviously I shouldn't judge a candidate on one view, but this comment sure seems nutty. David Levin thinks RI should slow down development on Armory Park, which I also disagree with, but at least that's a position with some logical arguments behind it. So I guess consider this my un-endorsement of the candidate who's already dropped out.

Update Wednesday morning: Its a tie! Or at least close to one. We'll see if this race goes on as long as Minnesota's senate contest.

"Sugar" Opens Today (in NYC and LA...)

As someone commented over on Cruiser's blog, the film "Sugar," which was filmed partially in the Quad Cities, opens today in New York and Los Angeles. I've posted the trailer before, but just to be thorough, it can be found here. It makes the movie look pretty good.

I read a bunch of reviews yesterday, and literally all of them were positive about the movie. You can find 20+ of them using this Google News search for "Sugar."

One of the better quotes I ran across somewhat reassures me that Davenport won't be presented as a hick town, but Burlington, and possibly the entire state might be in danger of being smeared with that brush.

From this review at Hollywood and Fine:

But the film also deals with the larger issues of being dropped in the middle of nowhere – in this case, Davenport, Iowa, which was renamed Bridgetown for the film – with no support system and little maturity to cope with loneliness and insecurity. Where better to make that notion cinematic than to plunk Dominican ballplayers into the relatively undiverse rural American midwest?

“When we were choosing a place, we wanted a contrast as big as possible, one that isolated them as much as possible,” Boden says.

Not that Davenport itself was the perfect fit: “Davenport is actually a more diverse place,” Fleck says. “We wanted Miguel to be isolated, so we modeled the town on Burlington, Iowa. It’s just that all the resources we needed were in Davenport. So we shot there and made up a town name.”

So Davenport isn't the way they're making Bridgetown look, but Bridgetown physically looks a heck of a lot like Davenport. Its ironic that Modern Woodmen Park sits in a political precinct that went for Obama over McCain 80%-20%, but may end up looking in the film like its in a more prejudiced small town.

Oh well, hopefully people will be so blown away by the beautiful scenery and the friendly (if outdated) people shown in the movie that they'll come here and see the real Iowa. Just ask Dyersville what a good baseball movie can do for tourism.

Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center: Part 2

Here are a couple of interior pictures that I took at the new Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf this past Monday night. The place is nice, but really no different than what the River Center would look like if it were built today.


I didn't have time to explore, but I believe the stairs at the end of the 2nd image lead to the casino and hotels via the skywalk across the railroad tracks.

A few rumors

Just thought I'd post a few tidbits that I've been hearing lately.

In response to criticism about tearing down entire neighborhoods for parking, St. Ambrose has said that it will stop tearing down surrounding blocks for surface parking. Their new plan is to tear down dorms and classrooms, and then replace them with parking lots.

Niky Bowles has been working on her next housing project. While her previous project, Villa D'Este, was lauded by some as "the best project every built in Davenport," it has been somewhat less successful than imagined. She believes that the entrance was not ornate enough to attract residents, and plans for her next condo development's gateway to include real mermaids.

Mark Nelson has decided to retire as a real estate appraiser, and instead open a store selling buggy whips, phone book holders, roller skate keys, GM stock, and 8-track tapes. He believes that he has a good feel for what is up-and-coming and popular in the modern world. It was this knowledge that allowed him to make such an accurate portrayal of the health of downtown Davenport.

St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport is considering adding a cover charge for attending service. The revenue from this would be used to both tear down additional historic buildings, and also to gold-plate their existing church building. During their biblical research they've discovered that Jesus actually prefered hanging out with rich people after all.

The River Cities' Reader will be issuing a special "All Conspiracy Issue" finally tying up the loose ends of how the City of Davenport uses giant thumbtacks, LED lights, and federal stimulus money to secretly take control of a certain local daily newspaper's employees' minds. In an industry first, the issue will be printed entirely on tin foil.

*As previously stated, these are just rumors and I cannot vouch for them. The fact that I heard them last month from a rather short gentleman wearing a green hat, and the fact that today is April 1st, may or may not affect the accuracy of these rumors.

Maps, Streets, and 3D Models

As Matt pointed out on a previous post, Google Street View has begun to add some Quad City streets. I decided to take this opportunity to summarize what some of the map websites are doing relating to the QC area.

Google Maps/Google Earth
Google Maps is a map site similar to MapQuest or Yahoo Maps, only with generally better aerial photography. In the Quad City area, they don't have the highest level of aerial photography available, so the last (farthest in) zoom option is unavailable. Google Earth is a downloadable program that incorporates the Google Map info, but also adds more features. One of these features is 3d Models of buildings. Groups of people make these models and submit them to google through 3dWarehouse. Currently only 88 cities in North America have collections of models on this site, and Davenport is not only one of them, but it has one of the larger collections of models available. Some of these will automatically come up in Google Earth if you select the 3d buildings option, and others have not yet been added to it. All of them can be added to your personal Google Earth program manually. If you get really into it, you can even design your own buildings and see what they would look like in the real world. Here's a Google Earth 3d view of downtown Davenport.Each of these buildings was created by an actual person, either using SketchUp, or another program. They have a fairly high level of detail, because most of them were created from photographs. The only ones submitted for Davenport, I believe, are in and around downtown.

Microsoft Live Search Maps/Virtual Earth
Live Search Maps and Virtual Earth are the Microsoft versions of Google Maps and Google Earth. Live Search Maps has even better resolution and a closer zoom in the QC area than Google Maps, and it also has something called the Birds Eye feature. These images have very high resolution, and are shot from more of an isometric angle. Here's an example of a Bird's Eye view of Central High School in Davenport.
Microsoft Virtual Earth also has what they call Virtual Earth 3D, which is similar to the 3D models in Google Earth, except that I believe they are automatically generated by a computer based on the satellite images. They don't look as realistic as the 3D Warehouse images, but there are a LOT more buildings rendered in 3d. Even non-downtown stuff like hospitals, stores, or neighborhood churches are rendered in three dimensions. Here's an example of Virtual Earth 3D, looking at downtown Davenport.Just like in Google's version, you can tilt and pan these maps in any direction, and even "fly" down streets between buildings. Rumor has it that Microsoft plans to use some of this information in new versions of their Flight Simulator games for PCs.

Google Street View
Street View is a component of Google Maps where Google is essentially taking pictures of every mile of every street in America. They have only recently started doing streets in the QC area, and it appears they're mainly adding Moline streets right now. Davenport has a view main streets available, such as the Highway 61 corridor. If you see a minivan driving around town with a ton of cameras mounted on it, wave. You might show up on Google Street View. Here's an example, showing the new courthouse entrance on West 4th Street.You can just keep clicking on arrows to "drive" down streets, and even turn at intersections. At each step you can turn the camera 360 degrees to look at everything that someone driving down the street there could see. To see Street View, click on the stick figure on the left of Google Maps, and drag him to a highlighted available street. Right now most QC streets aren't available, but that's changing daily.

Map nerds like me already surely know about this stuff, but I just thought I'd get it out there for those of you with more interesting hobbies.

Hotels and Halfway Houses

The QCTimes has a few articles of interest today.

Construction continues on new halfway house -QCTimes
This thing is going up quickly, but I haven't seen any images of what it is going to look like when its done. There could be one in the print edition of the Times, which I haven't seen. It will be nice for the parole and probation officers to walk down hallways that don't feel like they're about to collapse.

Davenport OKs sale of bonds for Blackhawk Hotel restoration -QCTimes
Another step in the long process of getting the Blackhawk back to its former glory. The 30 luxury apartments are going to be rented in no time.

Confusion, money problems plague Riverside Plaza Hotel in Davenport -QCTimes
The comments from the fire chief are pretty interesting in this article. This hotel just needs someone willing to do more than a halfway job on bringing it up to date.

A couple of videos

I thought I'd take today to post a couple of QC-area marketing videos. I'm sure that most of you have seen the first one, which is about downtown Davenport, because they've been playing it a lot lately. The second one is from the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, (CVB) and talks more about the entire QC area, advertising it to both potential residents and visitors.

Here's the Downtown Davenport one:


And the Visit Quad Cities one:


I'd be curious if either of these are shown on TV stations in other markets, or on the Mediacom Connections channel around the state. While the videos are positive to the point where some could call them propaganda, they are an important part of selling the QC area. They're great for showing people that there's more to the Quad Cities or downtown Davenport than there was in the 1980's when some of them last visited. The first step in getting visitors here is showing them what we have to offer.

Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center

I was on a rare trip to Bettendorf to buy a ticket for the John Douglas presentation, and stopped to take a couple pictures of the Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center. I've heard its quite nice inside, but I haven't been yet. It is definitely better than some of the other recent developments in "downtown" Bettendorf, such as the strip mall next door, or the new Hardees. While its not exactly on the waterfront, its not a bad name either. Hopefully I'll be able to get some interior images on the 30th.

A few words about the Flames' departure

This is adapted from something I wrote over on the CalgaryPuck's QC Flames hockey forum. Its some of my thoughts as to why we probably won't have an AHL hockey team next year.


I think the Flames' problems all go back to last year. The rollout of the team wasn't great, causing early attendance to be lower than it should have. Some of the QC's hardcore hockey fans were alienated by the name change. Then the team started losing constantly, so it was hard to get new people to go to the games. When fans did go, they sat in an empty arena. No matter how exciting the game is, or how excited and enthusiastic the crowd is, if you're sitting there with 7,000 empty seats, it doesn't have a great atmosphere. Casual fans were turned off by this, increasing problems. It really became a vicious cycle in my opinion. I don't know what started it, or how to keep it from happening again if we get a new team.

Everyone (including me) likes to point out the River Bandits' awesome attendance turnaround. They had basically the opposite cycle. People were excited about lower ticket prices and returning to the River Bandits name, so early attendance was good. The crowds were excited and enthusiastic, so people had a good time regardless of the result on the field. The owners added more promotions, bringing in even more people, causing games to be packed and even more exciting. The year's attendance increased by something like 60%, despite the flooding issues.

One of the differences in these 2 scenarios is that the River Bandits have an incentive to fill the seats, even at low prices, because they get the concession and souvenir revenue. As far as I know, the Flames get nothing from concession sales, so having 8,000 fans paying $5 isn't really any better on paper than 4,000 fans paying $10. However, sitting in an arena with 8,000 people is a hell of a lot more fun than one with 4,000... or 2,000.

So I guess my point is that big crowds cause big crowds. The trouble is getting the good cycle going rather than the downward spiral.

Also, happy St. Patrick's Day.

Budget stuff, a brewery, and Snarky

Davenport Council unanimously approves budget -QCTimes
No tax or fee increases to speak of, due to some positions not being filled and of course the unpopular choice a few years back to add a stormwater fee. It sounds like next year might not be as peachy, however.

Davenport hires stimulus manager -QCTimes
This one seems fairly logical to me, depending on the guy's contract. From what it sounds like, it would be no benefits, and at-will, meaning he can be let go as soon as we get all the stimulus money we have coming, or as soon as he fails to get it for us. $250 a day isn't something to sneeze at, but it could pay off if having a "stimulus manager" is a point in our favor when competing for this money.

The Can Can: Great River Brewery Debuts Its Beers, but Bottles Aren’t on Tap -River Cities' Reader
I've been meaning to write something about this, but the Reader has a great article about downtown Davenport's newest business. I'm still hoping to stop down and check the place out sometime soon.

And finally, Snarky has a post up about the Davenport Promise. From what she told me this doesn't mean a return to active blogging, but she clearly had a few things worth saying. Its good to have someone that takes a more middle ground route between the QCIs and Cruisers of the blog world.

Monday Morning Omaha Open Thread

I spent the weekend in Omaha for a wedding, which was actually my first time going to Omaha rather than through it. I was impressed by some things, and unimpressed by some others.

I liked all the corporate headquarters downtown, such as Union Pacific. Visiting other cities always makes me wish that more of our corporate headquarters were located in our downtowns. Deere, Von Maur, maybe even QCR Holdings? Deere has too nice of a complex to move, and the same could arguably be said about Von Maur. I still think it would be neat to see a Quad City Bank & Trust high rise in downtown Davenport though. It would be kind of a jab back at national chains that many of the QCBT pioneers came from. That's surely wishful thinking though, especially in this economy.

The least impressive part of Omaha was Crossroads Mall, which we stopped at basically by accident. It made Southpark look like a bustling success story. I'm not the #1 fan of malls, but its better to have a thriving one like Northpark rather than a dying one like I saw at Crossroads.

I might put together a few more thoughts on Omaha later, but for now call this an open thread.

Blog changes (not mine) and a meeting

While we've gone months without much in the way of changes to the local politics blog scene, in the last week all kinds of stuff happened.

Pioneer98 decided to close it up over at Information Swimming.

Davenport Growing Paines is back open after months of inactivity.

Even "The Fly" had a post up about the Promise over on Daily Davenport Politics, but he took it down before hardly anyone could read it. It was fairly middle-of-the-road as usual, although it did discuss the fact that "Special Elections" aren't working out so well lately.

Now if only SnarkyChick would come back, it'd be a renaissance era of blogging.


In other news, the city website has this Media Release: (The meeting sounds kind of invitation only, but if they didn't want others there why do a press release?)

City of Davenport Launches “Campus to Campus Plan”

Following up on the soon-to-be completed Older Commercial Corridor Revitalization Plan, the City of Davenport is launching an effort to continue the revitalization of the corridor between St. Ambrose University and Palmer College of Chiropractic.

Representatives from various businesses and institutions within the area have been invited to begin the process by first defining the project area and sharing initial thoughts about how stronger connections can be created. Invited participants include the anchoring institutions of St. Ambrose University and Palmer College of Chiropractic, Davenport Schools, businesses and organizations of the Hilltop area.

The meeting will be held:
Thursday, March 5, 2009
4:00-5:30 p.m.
JB Young Junior High School Cafeteria,
1702 Main Street

Wider public participation will be sought once the project’s parameters are further defined through the input gathered at this initial meeting. If you have questions, please contact Matt Flynn; Senior Manager-Planning Division; Community Planning and Economic Development Department

This is one of the better ideas to come out of the corridor study. It would basically make the area between Ambrose and Palmer into somewhat of a campustown area that serves both colleges. I won't be able to make the meeting (not sure if its open to the public anyway) but I look forward to hearing more about this process.

Promise Loses badly

According to the Scott County Election Summary Report, it was 60.91% voting for No, and 39.09% voting Yes. The voters have spoken, and they didn't like the Promise.

In my opinion, a big part of this had to do with how the process was handled. Despite taking over a year, every detail wasn't hammered our. Special elections always rub people the wrong way, and this one was no exception. The commissioned UpJohn study was a piece of junk, which gave for more ammunition to the against side than the pro side. The pro-Promise side didn't do a good enough job of explaining how the concept would work, as evidenced by commenters on the QCTimes website that still didn't understand the concept as late as YESTERDAY.

Even if everything had been done perfectly, its impossible to say if this issue would have passed. One thing I do hope, is that it forces city leaders to reconsider the idea of special elections being a good way to pass things that they worry wouldn't fly during a general election.

How's this for a yard sign?!

Vote No on Mark Nelson for your appraising needs. Or any political office he runs for.

Blackhawk Hotel project threatened by critical report -QCTimes


To me, this has nothing to do with the Promise.


I understand that the timing of the QCTimes article is suspect.

That doesn't matter to me.

If this article is even halfway true, and I doubt the Times would risk lawsuits in this economy by lying about this just for the sake of the Promise, than it is a huge deal.

The Blackhawk Hotel renovation is probably the biggest single project for downtown Davenport Davenport since the MidAmerican building was built in 1995. The Figge may have cost more, but I truly believe the Blackhawk will make a bigger impact. Yet here we have this guy, who is closely tied to Alderman Lynn, apparently attempting to derail the project.

If some of you have evidence that the QCTimes is lying about this, and that the folks from Restoration St. Louis AND their bank are also risking their reputations by lying about this, lay it out for me. I find that unlikely.

I have tried to stop using the world Againster because it oversimplifies people's opinions. However, in this case I think its accurate. Why would someone try to stop this project from moving forward? Does Davenport have perfect politicians and government? Maybe not, but what city does. Are large scale residential projects possible downtown? Clearly they are, as we've had 4 in the last few years. Is there a demand for market rate residential downtown? As I stated on the 17th of February, overwhelmingly yes. People who get paid to study the feasibility of hotels say that one is feasible. So what in the hell is this guy talking about?

Anybody?

My last Pre-Promise, Pro-Promise Post

First, a few things that I didn't have room for in my first post. The second half of this post I'm going to lay out what I believe to be the Pros, Cons, and potential risks and rewards of the Promise.

Leftover Meeting Stuff:

At one point, the moderator asked Mark Nelson what his idea for fixing Davenport's problems were, if not the Promise. He attempted to refuse, saying that wasn't the issue, but Ridolfi insisted. I'm glad he insisted, because the group's name isn't Opt4Nothing, its Opt4Better. That implies an idea of what "better" is. Finally he came out with the usual Libertarian answer of school vouchers, performance-based teacher pay, and lower taxes. If only we give everyone the chance to all go to privately run schools, everything will be fine! I'm sorry, but if you add 100 kids whose parents would rather shoot at each other than raise their kids, any public OR private school is going to have trouble. When parents are the problem, its tough for the all-powerful market to solve the issue. This is why its important to bring in parents and their children who are so focused on learning that they're willing to move somewhere focused on education.

Also towards the end of the meeting Nelson trotted out the usual conspiracy theory where the school district and the city are trying to influence the results by letting people know when the informational meetings are. If the city autodialer called people to say "Vote for Promise" that would be a real issue. Instead, they told people about meetings where both sides had a chance to present their argument. I don't see how that's bad. Nelson also claimed that the School District sent out pro-Promise postcards, while Ken Croken said that those had been sent out by the Pro-Promise folks. I didn't get one, so I don't know where the truth lies on that one.

And now, Pros, Cons, Risks and Rewards: (I tried to put facts in the Pros and Cons and possibilities in the Risks and Rewards)

Promise Pro's:
-It isn't a new tax
-Some existing residents will have an easier time sending their kids to college
-$7500 towards buying a home in Davenport for graduates who enlist in the military
-Property tax cap for low income seniors and disabled folks
-More money for public safety frees up operating budget money to keep tax rates stable, at least in the short term
-Cannot give way more than 30% of LOST revenue
-Many potential rewards (see below)

Promise Con's:
-Money is initially taken away from capital improvement projects (CIP), especially parks
-Doesn't inherently "fix" the school system (although potentially brings it more $)
-Every detail doesn't seem to be worked out yet
-30% of LOST revenue may not fully cover quickly-rising college tuitions for long
-Many potential risks (see below)

Potential Risks:
-Could fail completely, no new money for schools or the city, less CIP money than now
-Could be so successful that too many people move here, ruining Davenport's livability
-Property taxes could rise, increasing assessments, and therefore increasing taxes on people not covered by the cap
-It could only attract people looking for freebies
-More kids could go to college, and not return

Potential Rewards:
-The School district could receive far more state money, allowing them to stop raising taxes locally (or even lower them? ...maybe too much to hope for) and/or providing funding to "fix" the school system
-The influx of new residents could entice new companies to consider locating here
-Property taxes could rise, increasing resale value
-The incentive to go to SCC for free may keep more kids local for 2 extra years
-Good PR for the city, allowing us to be known for something other than failures of the '80s
-Feared city tax increases could potentially be offset by decreasing school taxes, allowing the overall tax bill to remain stable
-It could only attract people concerned about their kids' education.
-More kids go to college!

All of these issues bring me to the fact that if this isn't working, it can be ended. Whether ended gradually and expensively, or quickly and cheaply, it could be voted away. Mark Nelson said Tuesday though that if this passes, people won't vote this benefit away. That should tell you everything right there.

Either way, don't forget to VOTE TOMORROW.

Redstone Room Promise Meeting (Part 1)

I attended the QCTimes debate on the Davenport Promise last night, and came away fairly disappointed. I was disappointed in the format, which Mark Ridolfi admitted was more like an editorial board interview. I understand that they don't want it to turn into a screaming anti-Promise mob, but I would have liked to see more of the written-down-and-submitted questions read by the moderator. The other thing I was disappointed in was the quality of both sides' representatives. Ken Croken is a little too snarky, and Mark Nelson said some completely bizarre things. Unfortunately for the Pro-promise side, Croken didn't really capitalize on those. Another odd thing was how much Mark Nelson referred to the UpJohn study as a source despite frequently saying that it was junk. If you say something is worthless, don't constantly quote pieces of it that happen to support your side.

The main problem with the anti-Promise folks is that they're being led by a band of Libertarians. I have nothing against that party, but of course Libertarians would oppose an expansion of government! A lot of them, even possibly their hero Ron Paul, would like to see public schools go away altogether, so having them argue the against side put a spin on things that I don't think fits the population. The fact is Davenport does not elect a lot of Libertarians, so I would suspect that that isn't what the public wants right now. If we wanted to be Texas, and have lower taxes and fewer services, we'd vote in that direction. It doesn't seem that we do. I know I don't. At one point Mark Nelson said that if this was passed, the people would like it too much to ever vote to get rid of it. What??

Many times during the debate, Mark Nelson showed that he really could care less what happens to Davenport public schools. At one point he pointed out how nice our private and parochial schools are. That's great (actually I don't think they are) if you've got parents willing to send you to those, but many students do not. I guess in the market-based system that they're just out of luck.The absolute worst thing that Nelson said all night was that taking money from the "city pocket" to help the "school district pocket" doesn't make sense. He flat out said they never relate to each other. I'm sorry Mark, but they absolutely relate when the tax bill comes and they're both on there. Let's say the city passes this, and as he so often repeated, it never "breaks even" for the city. If the Promise brings in enough students that the school district stops raising their share of the property tax, that would more than even out the money that the city loses. The school district gets a much bigger share of our property taxes than the city, and will have to keep raising them if enrollment continues declining. Even if you send your kids to Assumption you have to pay for Davenport public schools.

There ARE reasons to oppose the Promise. I have serious concerns about the capital projects that will be delayed, even if it only affects Centennial Park and Prairie Heights Park. I don't like the idea that we're trading something that I believe in, city parks, for something that is a risk, the Promise. I'd honestly rather see an additional 0.3% sales tax used for the Promise than to have it taken away from the capital budget. Of course, considering how much resistance this has hit, I can only imagine the reaction to a new tax. The other thing that I could use against the Promise is their completely screwed up study that they had done. It ended up hurting the Promise's case more than helping it. Whether it was skewed towards the city's desires, or just badly done, the idea that the city is going to fail without the Promise is wrong. However, the idea that the Promise is going to ruin the city is also wrong. I would have preferred to see a non-Libertarian argue against the Promise based on the actual issues, rather than their ideological beliefs that the government shouldn't do anything. At the end of the night, I felt like, "If this is the best you guys can do to argue against it, this thing might pass after all."

Coming later: What happened when Opt4Better was asked what "better" is. Also, Bill Lynn the "expert economist", and the No folks conspiracy theories.

Monday Morning Open Thread

This is just a good ol' thread about whatever people want to talk about.

Just a few conversation starters from me:

I watched the Davenport city council committee meetings on TV last night, and they definitely made it sound like the Forrest Block building would be market rate units. That's great news. As far as the parking, it seems like a bigger deal is being out of it than needs be. The great thing about adding residents downtown is that they have the opposite hours of the thousands of people who work downtown. There's plenty of free parking downtown after 5, so when residents come home from work, there it is.

Don't forget the Promise meeting tomorrow night at 7PM in the Redstone Room, although I'm not sure who is left that hasn't picked a side. If I had to bet money, I'd suspect that it won't pass, but I wouldn't have guessed that River Renaissance would get 70% percent of Scott County's votes either. Its easy to underestimate the silent majority. I'll have a post about the Promise sometime in the next week here.

Also tomorrow night is a presentation about the Corridor Study drafts, that are now available here. There's some very interesting stuff, but I'm hoping to do a post about that later also. The presentation is at 5:30PM in the Police Station community room.

14th and Harrison Fire

What a night to not have my police scanner on. A coworker came in at 6 and asked what was up with this fire downtown, and I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. He said some big apartment building was on fire downtown, and I was pretty shocked and worried. I pulled up the news and saw where it was, and actually felt relieved. I was afraid it was one of the new developments downtown, or even the Blackhawk (again) or the Forrest Block building. Its a terrible thing for any building, especially a decently historic one, to burn down. However, if it had to happen, this wasn't a bad building for it to happen to. Over the years its been generally blighted and currently it was unoccupied. Its good to hear that no firefighters were injured either.

Hopefully this building doesn't sit in semi-demolished state for months on end like the Linden did downtown.

What should I wish for tomorrow?

Tuesday I bemoaned the lack of market rate apartments downtown. In the comment section, it was mentioned that Restoration St. Louis had an interest in the Forrest Block building, but I said I hadn't heard anything concrete yet. Fortunately, the commenter was correct, as this morning we have this news:

St. Louis-based developer aims to develop Forrest Block property -QCTimes

The article doesn't specify, but I would imagine these will be at least partly market rate, if not all. I'll try to find out if possible, or if someone knows, chime in.

The only question now: What should I wish for tomorrow?

What does a downtown have to do to get some market-rate apartments around here?

We currently have a huge shortage of market-rate apartments downtown. Market-rate units are those that rent for whatever the market will support, as opposed to units limited to certain income levels. The Crescent Lofts, Mississippi Lofts, and now Riverwalk Lofts are turning away dozens of potential downtown citizens because they don't fit the tax credit requirements. What about market rate units downtown? They're nearly all full, especially in newer developments. Even the all market-rate CityView Apartments (former Courtland) have at times had a waiting list. I've seen this shortage firsthand, and I had it confirmed yet again when I toured the Riverwalk Lofts a couple weeks ago. People who make good money are calling to inquire about getting a place downtown, and being told there aren't enough market-rate units for them. How many of these people might be finding a place in downtown Rock Island instead? Downtown Davenport needs more residents, and we're turning them away.

The tax credits that come with Section 42 housing are important to developers, but there are also ways to make market-rate apartments work. As I'll give examples for later, its working other places in Davenport. Other than that, I believe this is a case of the local developers still clinging to their 1980's view of downtown Davenport as an empty wasteland. If you notice, all of the big residential projects happening downtown are out of state folks. Alexander Company (Crescent Lofts) is out of Madison, J&T Development (Mississippi Lofts) are out of Chicago, and MetroPlains (Riverwalk Lofts) are out of the Twin Cities area. The one bright spot currently on the horizon is the Blackhawk Hotel redevelopment, which will include 30 high end lofts. The company doing that, Restoration St. Louis, is of course out of St. Louis. This is a fantastic project, but I believe there is demand for far more than 30 high-end apartments downtown. Unfortunately it seems to take an outside perspective to see it.

Another problem may be the banks, especially when it comes to condos. I've heard from multiple sources that none of the local banks (again, old money with old views of downtown and housing choices) will loan money to developers for owner-occupied developments downtown. I think there's a market for it, but they apparently don't. Jeff Speck even mentioned it while he was here. Unlike apartments, there's no real proof of the demand for condos. With apartments, there is absolute, concrete proof that there are lots of people who WANT to live downtown but aren't being provided the option to.

This isn't how capitalism is supposed to work! If there is a demand for a product, someone is supposed to see that demand and cash in on it. Middle-to-upper income people are willing to pay literally $1000 a month to live downtown, and we're turning them away. Where is the new condo or apartment building construction? I don't believe that it is financially impossible. Look around town, and you will see multiple examples of condo buildings and apartments succeeding. The examples I always use are the condos behind HyVee on Eastern, and the apartments on Washington just north of Locust. Neither of these are out in the 53rd Street "hot" area, and neither of them are low income, or cheap, yet they seem to succeed. Or even look just up the hill to the CityView. Its barely downtown, but has great views of both downtown and the river. It happened when local landlord Matt McDonnell rehabbed the Courtland, charged $600, $700 and up per month, and has had TONS of interest. If someone built or rehabbed a building similar to any of these downtown, I truly believe it would be full within a month of completion, if not before. Between the 1st Army coming to the Arsenal, and a lot of former home-owners becoming renters again, now is the time to build apartments.

So why isn't it happening?

Survey and the Farmer's Market

Survey: Jobs top priority for Davenport residents -QCTimes

“I think, clearly, the city is moving in the right direction,” he said, noting that Davenport residents’ overall satisfaction score for their city as a place to live — at 82 percent good or very good — is 13 points higher than the national average.

Anyone think that 82% of the blog commenters or QCTimes commenters would call Davenport a good or very good place to live? So basically what this tells us is that blog and QCTimes commenters do not accurately represent the citizens of Davenport. Of course, I knew that ever since 2005 when blog commenters were all atwitter about how Niky Bowles would be the next Mayor of Davenport. There's a vocal minority that does a lot of talking, and a silent majority that doesn't necessarily agree.



And, in completely unrelated news, this message was sent to me by some folks involved in the Farmer's Market:

SHARE THE LOVE FOOD DRIVE

THIS SATURDAY AT THE FREIGHT HOUSE
Valentine's Day is no longer just for lovers! Join the Freight House Farmers' Market in our efforts to "Share the Love" by helping the Central Community Circle Food Pantry THIS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14! Bring in grocery items, purchase from your favorite FHFM vendors and donate the purchase, or consider buying a Freight House Farmers' Market gift certificate and donating it. The gift certificates make an excellent alternative to fresh foods because the pantry can come in and shop for what they need when they need it! Nothing will go to waste! The certificates come in $10 increments and can be purchased at Full Circle Soap's booth.

Cathy Lafrenz, Miss Effie's Flower Farm and our very special Buy Fresh, Buy Local connection will be on hand to help collect the donations and get them to where they are needed most. Our generous vendors will be donating as well on this day to ensure their healthy fruits and vegetables, meats, cheeses, and the rest may warm someone's heart and provide sustenance during this long, harsh, winter season. Our newly formed "Friends of Market", a consumer-based volunteer committee, will be on hand as well to help your children design and create one of a kind Valentine's Day Cards. The cards can be taken home to share with friends or family, or even sent along with the food donations to brighten someone's day!

Riverwalk Lofts Tour

Last week I got a chance to check out the newest downtown Davenport residential project, the Riverwalk Lofts. This is the former Salvation Army building on River Drive across from the Freight House. I wasn't sure whether they'd be showing apartments yet, but I found out that not only have they been showing them for a few weeks, but that well over half of them are already spoken-for. Its clear that the rental market is healthy. Reading back through some of the old threads about this where people complain that everyone should be able to buy a house seems kind of funny now that we've had a few changes to the economy. I hope we can also avoid the usual junk about limited income, as not everyone is going to make $40k+ a year, and those making $24k still deserve somewhere decent to live. With the right management, these moderate-income buildings can work. I wish there was more market-rate residential downtown, but rather than rant about that here I'm saving it for another post.

Moving on to the actual tour, here's a pretty great Before/After shot of the building:
This corridor will improve even more with the hopefully-upcoming streetscaping along the north side of the Freight House. I believe that may even be coming this summer.


Here are a couple shots of the views. The one looking east towards downtown is from the 2nd or 3rd floor, and the one looking towards the River is taken from the 4th floor, if I remember correctly. There are quite a few units with river views, which is always a selling point. There is also a rooftop deck that I'm sure will be amazing for watching the riverfront fireworks, but I was unable to get up there last week.


Here are a couple of the more finished units. Its interesting to see the developer going with darker wood cabinets, which is unlike any of the other downtown loft projects. The decorating style in the hallways is also more contemporary than the Mississippi or CityView apartments but less industrial/minimalist than the Crescent Loft district. For example, the Riverwalk Lofts has colors in the hallways other than the white, black, gray, metal, and brick that my former building has. Not that there's anything wrong with that; its good that all the new downtown apartment buildings have their unique characteristics. While some of the floors are polished concrete, other areas have carpet or laminate flooring. There are also some apartments with lofted upper level areas.

All of the units have washer/dryers, which is becoming increasingly common in apartment construction. Another new feature of these lofts is the availability of 3 bedroom units, which the other recent developments lack. There are the usual computer, exercise, and community rooms, and the community room may be available to the community for ward meetings, etc, although I got the feeling that was still being worked out. While some of the apartments on the first and 2nd floor seemed very close to being done, some of the upper units are still under construction. They hope to have people moving in sometime during March, which is only a few weeks away. The units range from 550-770 square feet, and the rents range from $520-$770 a month. There will also be some underground heated parking available, which I always regretted not taking advantage of when I lived downtown.

So, if you or someone you know is looking to move downtown, and they fit the income restrictions, take advantage of this new building before its entirely full. These are great brand-new apartments with fantastic downtown views. If the building does fill up as fast as it seems like it will, hopefully we'll be seeing another new downtown residential building announced soon. Thanks to Robin, the site manager, for giving me an informative tour and explanation of the Riverwalk Lofts.

Edit: I almost forgot. Here's the link to the website for the building.

2009 Iowa-Illinois Regional Auto Show

Here are some images from this weekend's Auto Show at the RiverCenter in downtown Davenport. Its always a fun event to dream about what cars you would like to buy, and also check out cars that you actually have a chance of buying without sales people hounding you.
The slightly changed 2010 Ford Mustang.

The 2009 Dodge Challenger. They have a couple of these and they are pretty nice.

The long-awaited 2010 Chevy Camaro.


A Dodge Charger and a Porshe 911 Carrera.

Movies of the QC

Sugar, the movie that was shot here last year, will be premiering in New York and LA on April 3rd, with a possible larger theatrical release coming later. Here's the website, and here's the trailer:

(I had the trailer on YouTube embedded here, but it broke the blog. Just click here to watch it.)

I would think it looks pretty good, but I'm still worried that its going to portray Iowa as some "white's only" hick state from the 1950's. At least it appears to portray Modern Woodmen Park as the beautiful ballpark that it is. Hopefully it will show in theaters here so we can find out before it goes to video.


Speaking of movies filmed here, remember The Hideout? Whatever happened to that? The Avatis' movie that was filmed here a few years ago never seems to have gone anywhere. There's a website for it, and it can be found on DVD in Italian, but it never seems to have made it out in English. I know the plan was for the American actors to do their parts in English, and the Italian actors to do theirs in Italian, and they'd dub half of them for each release. I emailed some public relations firm in Italy to ask about the movie's status, but got no response. I probably should have emailed the QCTimes's David Burke. Any readers know what happened? I know a lot of locals got small parts and worked as extras.