Not exactly what I meant...

A few weeks ago I posted my wish for CNN to do a story on Davenport's recovery from the 2001 flood, and the Quad Cities in general.

This isn't what I was hoping for:There we are as one of the top 10 headlines on CNN.com: Teen girl guilty of killing, cutting up friend

Definitely not the kind of publicity we need.

QCI's Tax Plan

Ok, I'm starting with the figure of 2.2 million cost to repeal the stormwater fee that has been thrown around. Yes, you read correctly, my plan includes zero stormwater fee. The first few of these are straight out of Alderman Dumas's plan, so a definite thanks to him.

The QCI Plan

#1. Cut the General Fund & Trust and Agency portion of the Public Works Department by 3.5%

Savings: $158,779

#2. Eliminate Stormwater Credits

Savings: $325,000

#3. Move the Capital Improvement dollars to the Debt Service Levy

Savings: $250,000

#4. Eliminate four code inspectors from the housing department

Savings: $263,848

Total Savings so far: $997,627 (No cuts to Public Safety)

Ok, that gets us to about a million bucks out of 2.2 mil. Where does crazy QCI come up with the other 1.2 million? A cell phone tax.

Over 57% of Americans have a cell phone.
Davenport has between 93,000 and 98,000 residents, and if we follow the national average that means we probably own around 55,000 cell phones. Here's a USA Today story about the introduction of local cell phone taxes across America.

I propose a $2 per month tax on owning a cell phone in Davenport. Two dollars, times 55,000 cell phone owners, times 12 months, should equal $1.32 million dollars. No one would be able to say that this tax (and we are calling it a tax) is making them choose between buying their medicine and buying food. If they are living so close to bankruptcy that $2 per month is going to finish them off, maybe they shouldn't be spending money on a non-necessity like a cell phone. Since there is a $120,000 surplus in this fee over the needed 1.2 million to balance the stormwater-free budget, I propose full credits for those that somehow show both financial hardship and the necessity of owning a cellular phone. An additional benefit is that the cell phone companies are the ones who administer the fee. Plus it taxes evil apartment dwellers like myself.

Cell Phone Fee: $1,200,000

Total $2,197,627

No Cuts to Public Safety, No Stormwater Fee

As Charlie Brown would say.... Argh

Anonymous said... (regarding the Freight House, on QCBackstage)

Cool. The deal is dead, Regency walked out on it. Kudos to the five that walked out. Your tactics worked, and you have saved the taxpayers a lot of cash.

This just doesn't make sense to me. Againsters are actually happy that we've scared away a developer. How about compromise and discussion or looking for alternate funding sources? Nope, we're just against it. Turns out some people are just against everything.

Publicity Stunt?

Isabel Production Stays

As many of you know, I don't much much stock in conspiracy theories, but this just makes you wonder. Seems a lot like when Ty said they were going to stop making Beanie Babies unless everyone went to their website to ask them not to, or Lifesavers threatening to get rid of Pineapple. Lets get everyone to rush out and buy the last non-Chinese sculptures and get a nice after-Christmas bumo in sales. Hard to say. Either way I'm glad they're staying, and hopefully the owners realize this would only work once.

Thanks to anonymous over on the other thread for pointing this article out to me.

Tuesday Morning News

Some really bad news...

Rocket Theater to close in downtown RI

and some good news... (especially if you're older than 55)

Bishops coming back to Iowa QC

and some news that has yet to be judged.

Budget deal cut

QCI Around Town

I noticed that I haven't posted any Quad City Images lately, so I took a quick drive/walk and got an assortment.

After a bit of spring, the river's frozen solid again.
Nash Finch Wholesale Grocers, as seen from Pershing
Construction crews are already going to town on the new PD
What's happening with the Linden? Nothing at the moment.
With the help of the new council, we'll probably be seeing this sign far into the forseeable future.

QCBloggers page

http://qconline.com/qcbloggers/

I'm know I'm late commenting on this, but I was trying to decide what I think about it. I'm sure most, if not all of you have already checked out QCOnline's page that essentially acts as a blog digest, with links to the newest articles. If not, I've added the link to my link bar over to the right. Basically I've decided its a good thing. I've been looking for a way to do something similar for my own use, possibly using the RSS feeds, so I could immediately see when new posts and comments appeared on the local blogs I read. Due to my general lack of RSS skills, that didn't happen. Now we have QCOnline providing us with an easy to use list of new blog posts. I still wish there were an easy way to see when new comments have been posted anywhere on the local blogs, but I'll just have to keep looking.

There are a few things, however, that bother me about this system. I would have a lot more objections to it if QCOnline didn't have any blogs of its own, but several of their reporters, especially John Beydler, are fairly avid bloggers. This at least means they're not just leeching off the independent blogs. I had a meeting with someone from QCOnline a few months ago, in November I believe, regarding blogs. I won't go into details because I'm not sure if this is their final answer, but I knew something like this was coming. I absolutely can't fault it from a business point of view, because they are providing a valuable service, and being compensated by the few AdSense dollars they'll get.

I'm not sure if anyone saw, but in the QCOnline article about the Blackhawk fire, there was a link at the bottom that said something to the tune of "More pictures at QuadCityImages" with a link to this blog. While I must admit I was tickled to see that on there, and it gave me my highest number of page views ever, I could see it as maybe becoming a slippery slope. Traditional media could ask themselves, "If local bloggers will supply the pictures, why bother sending our own photographers?" Obviously this is an unrealistic scenario, because myself and other local bloggers can't be at every event, and I'm far from a trained photographer. I don't really have much of a concrete conclusion from this, except that I want the folks at QCO to know that I have no problem with anything they've done so far, including linking to my blog for the photos. The QCBloggers page if anything will encourage more participation in the local blogs, so its definitely a good thing. Anyone have any thoughts about blogs, mainstream media, and cooperation therein?

Ward Meeting

I might end up posting a number of things today, I might not. I know there's a lot I want to say.

First of all though, is this.

MEETING IN 8TH WARD , Open to Public
Alderman Dumas, Alderman Frink
THUR. FEB. 23RD, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
ALEXIS - PERRY POINT (Community Room)
SHERIDAN ST. - JUST S. OF 53RD/W. OF WELCOME WAY

Hopefully more than the 20 folks that showed up to Hamerlinck's will attend. Its hard to argue how concerned you are about your city's government unless you participate.

#3 I believe in the notion that we can disagree and yet be able to sit down, share some beer, and enjoy each other's company. Try to act like you believe in the same notion, even if you don't.
-Fly

What the Freight House Market would be.

http://cityofdavenportiowa.com/images/latest /rv/Tab-F-Public-Market-Farmers-Market.pdf

Obviously this is still sort of a concept, which would probably be narrowed down by the study during the $15,000 studying time.

Edit: Also... why the hell is it up to bloggers to show off this concept and convince people its a good idea?

There's always the 00.0001% Sales Tax

This Freight House thing is just silly.

The City, D1, the future developer, or someone could have a "Save the Freighthouse Market" fundraiser and raise $15,000; its not worth getting the project derailed over. I'm completely in favor of the Freighthouse redevelopment, because that area of downtown is hugely important in expanding the "friendly" area of downtown to the west along the future Centennial Park. Anyone can look at various projects in downtown Davenport and Rock Island and see that there is a market for downtown living. This new proposed market district would nicely compliment the warehouse district sprouting up around 5th and Iowa, and bring more residents downtown. Let's stop arguing about progress and get it done. As soon as I see the Save the Freighthouse Market campaign, my $20's in the mail. Only 749 more.

Sometimes Illinois Just Bugs Me

Why is it that Illinois can scrape together $140 million dollars for a prison they don't even use, but not $13.8 million for the first phase of the WIU riverfront campus. Heck, why not spend $50 million and build the whole campus. If the single community of Davenport managed to spend 35 million bucks on an art museum, I would think the fifth biggest state in the US could find $14 million laying around. Unfortunately non-Illinois resident alumni like myself don't have much sway with IL politicians. I urge everyone who lives in the Illinois Quad Cities to contact your state representatives, US congressmen, and the Governor and ask why this pocket change can't get tossed Moline's way.

Obviously school construction contractors don't get to donate to IL governors.

1 Accused Blackhawk Meth Enthusiast Arrested

One of two Blackhawk Hotel arson suspects arrested -QCTimes

From the article it sounds like both of the suspects are pretty much career scumbags. The second suspect, who is still at large, apparently crashed a portable meth lab into a phone poll last summer in Kewanee. There seem to be a lot of meth-related incidents down there. The younger female accomplice was arrested this morning in Joplin on unrelated charges... another winner.

I am pretty curious to know how Blackhawk/IOC employees didn't smell a meth operation in their own building, but there could be reasons. Its possible they hadn't started cooking yet or they had some kind of high-powered exhaust system. I'm also curious about their statements about being booked full the night after the fire, which a number of people have questioned on the blogs. I don't see why it would be in their interest to lie about that, but it seemed strange to go from 14 rooms occupied to all of them in one night.

FINALLY...

1st Ward alderman charged with OWI

Talk about it here so we can get it out of our system.

Blogger's Block Open Thread

I can't think of much to say today. (and there was much rejoicing...yay) but Thursday I'm having lunch with Alderman Frink, and there are several ward meetings coming up, including Mr. Frink's, and possibly Alderman Lynn. I also emailed Craig Malin with a few questions about various issues, so there could be some posts about those forthcoming. What's on people's minds?

Meth, Streets, and a Head like a Hole

Meth could be a factor in Blackhawk fire -QCTimes

The first thing I thought when I saw the fire was that it was drug-related. I even said to my roommate something about wondering if it was a meth lab. Hopefully the people involved are caught and charged to the full extent of the law.

As far as all the people predicting gloom and doom and the city getting stuck with the cost of the fire, I'm pretty sure it'll be IOC's insurance on the hook for this one, since the city has no ownership of the building at this time. However, if the building is slated for a complete renovation in the next few years, it doesn't seem like they should bother completely repairing those rooms just so they can be gutted in a couple years. As long as they don't leave the windows covered by plywood...

Tax Hike vs Street Repairs -QCTimes

I'm undecided on this one, but my gut reaction is to cut back somewhat so as not to increase taxes so much, but not completely stop repairing streets. While I don't believe that perfect streets attract residents and companies like libraries, music venues, or a vibrant downtown scene, truly bad streets are definitely not helpful to that goal. One thing I was struck with was Craig Malin's quote: “What you would effectively be doing is taking a breather while you build the police building.” I like the guy, but I expected something that was slanted more to the idea that we should absolutely raise the tax levy. Something like "We could keep taxes lower by completly giving up on having good streets." Instead he said something that makes it sound like a decent idea to "take a breather" from extensive street repairs.

Cheney shoots hunter -CNN

My only reaction to this was, "what the heck." The final line of that article says "The nature of quail shooting ensures that this will happen. It goes with the turf." I'm not sure if I agree with that one. I doubt many gun safety classes say that hunting accidents "go with the turf."

Nine Inch Nails at the Mark -QCTimes

While Sean Moeller may use phrases like "Undiluted and phosphorescent, Trent Reznor’s primordial aggression and searing anger were sights to behold and marvel at," I will just say "They know how to put on a show." It was kind of sad to see only about 4,000 people there, but that's what they get for not putting out an album for 6 years.

Blackhawk Fire Pictures

From my living room

From the roof of the MidAmerican parking garage.

Not a good day for an auto show. The north side of the RiverCenter had to be evacuated, probably to protect against anything coming through the atrium ceiling.

A crowd gathered to watch from behind the police tape.

Apparently people capable of operating the QC's biggest ladder truck were on duty today.

Hoses were run all the way over to Pershing.

Hopefully all of the employees, guests, and firefighters are ok, and I truly hope that the building will also survive this. Isle of Capri, or their insurance, should still be the one who has to pay for repairs, since the building has not yet been given to the city.

Isabel Bloom comments w/ Loft Picture

This started out as a picture of the lofts' phase 2, but now its mostly a discussion of Isabel Bloom's move to outsource the making of their handmade sculptures to China. QCTimes Article (with 80 comments, mostly angry) and another Times article.

The second article has this quote:
However, the marketplace has changed dramatically, and “virtually the entire U.S. gift industry bases its production overseas while retaining creative control in the United States,” the company stated in a news release.“I’d challenge you to go into a gift shop … and find something that is not made overseas,” Gilfillan told the Times.

Right.... and that's why people were willing to pay $100+ bucks for a piece of cement. BECAUSE, unlike other things, they're made here.

Happy Birthday again

Well, I'd been planning a Happy Birthday Fly post for today, but John Beydler beat me to it. Guess I should have scooped him and posted it yesterday. In the last year we've gone from having no QC political blogs to having closer to half a dozen. Also, I'm pretty sure if you'd mentioned "SoLo" to anyone at City Hall in February 2005, you'd have gotten blank looks and people thinking you were starting a singing career. Now many of them would understand you're talking about the South of Locust area of Davenport. Too bad the power of blogs has been unable to determine what's up with VanFossen's test results.

Something that would prove QCI super wrong

Apparently there's already "An unidentified Fortune 500 financial services company" considering or thinking about considering building an $80 million office project out in the Bettendorf "hi-tech" park that doesn't even exist yet. There are still other sites and even other states in the running though, so lets all hope we can get these 1000+ non pork related jobs for the QC. Maybe the other "sorta might be happening" news about the WIU riverfront campus maybe getting funded will help lure this unidentified company.

Seems like a lot of maybes, ifs, and mights, but I hope both the riverfront campus and the office complex become realities.

Read the QCTimes article here

3 Things from the QC Business Journal

The QCTimes puts out this monthly paper they call the Quad City Business Journal, which is mostly made up of articles from the regular times, so I can usually skim through 2 months' worth in about half an hour.
Here are a few things I learned from it this time:

Quoted from Manufacturing Briefs:

Wonder facility stays open

Interstate Bakery Corp., parent company of the Wonder Bread facility in Davenport that closed in November, have announced plans to keep the facility indefinitely and use it for distribution and administrative operations.

The company initially planned to sell the facility and find a smaller location to run its limited operations.

Obviously this doesn't mean the bakery is staying, but just that they'll be using the building as a warehouse and distribution center instead of adding another vacant hulk to Davenport.

Arsenal to relocate 300 jobs

The Arsenal Island-based Defense Finance and Accounting Service will be sent to three undisclosed locations this month as part of a realignment approved by the nine-member Base Closure and Realignment Commission, or BRAC.

About 300 jobs are expected to be transferred to Columbus, Ohio; Rome, N.Y.; and Indianapolis.

Nothing but bad news there. The longer they had waited to move jobs the more people could have taken early retirement and maybe stayed in the QC.

Quoted from Economic Briefs:

Apartments built downtown

McDonnell & Associates Rental Properties, a Quad-City developer, soon will complete wall-to-wall renovations of the five-story apartment building at 321 E. 7th St. in downtown Davenport.

The City View building will have 36 apartments with views of the downtown and Mississippi River. Model units are expected to be open early this month.


So the Courtland is reopening. I don't know if I consider it downtown, but I could see how they'd rather be associated with downtown progress rather than 10th and Iowa crime district. I had originally heard that these were going to be condos, so I'm curious what else they changed their minds on. I hope to stop in and tour and photograph these apartments when they get finished. I truly hope they succeed, because this could be something that reaches out from the warehouse district to tie into the surrounding community.

Oops...

http://www2.ci.davenport.ia.us/purch/bids/bid06-78.pdf

That's an invitation to bid on a project to replace one column and its cement base down at the compost center. For those of you that haven't been down there, the whole building is fairly wide open so end loaders and such can drive around inside moving compost and grass clippings.

It sounds to me like one of them drove into a column. I hope they don't let aldermen work down there...

Monday Open Thread

How about them Steelers?

I'm looking forward to the auto show this coming weekend at the RiverCenter and having some friends in town for a concert.

Anything else interesting going on this week?

2 Things

1. Thanks a lot to Blogspot for keeping my blog unavaible nearly all day. It seems like being owned by a huge company like Google would allow for 24/7 support. Or even a support email address...

2. Goodbye to All-Hit 98.9. While listening to some of the stuff on there makes even me feel old, I did occasionally still listen to it. I listened to the last night's broadcast while at work, and it was nice how many people seemed to have stories about it over the last 19 years. Not many other frequencies around here have stayed with one format that long. They ended their broadcast with "American Pie," as it was on February 3rd, the day Buddy Holly was killed. Now I have to find a different station to set my clock-radio to.

Holy Holes Batman

There's finally some visible progress on the second phase of the Davenport Lofts, aside from dumpsters and fencing. Today they began cutting holes for the windows on the east wall of the building. Before I know it there will be fellow downtown dwellers looking back at me when I look out my window.

Way to go Mainstream Media

As I said yesterday, I read several news websites every day. As I looked at CNN.com and saw that for the 2nd day one of their top stories is how a girl got kicked off her cheerleading team for working at Hooters, I wondered how things become national stories. Aside from the questions of how the national media decides to focus on particular missing child cases but not others, I want to know how they pick their random human interest stories. I have had friends from Arizona tell me that they saw various Dwyer and Michaels stunts on their local news, so maybe the Quad Cities do get some attention in this way.

What I would really like is for CNN to do a "5 Years Later" special about Davenport's downtown. From the reporting in 2001 of how we were "the largest city on the upper Mississippi without a floodwall, you'd think that the city was going to be swept clean and all of us silly Iowans would never be seen again. I know that when telling people from out of the area that I was from here, they pretty much always asked me if my house got flooded. I always tried to explain to them that if the area where I grew up near Garfield Park gets flooded by the Mississippi, the whole country would be in need of an ark. I'm sure many people saw the TV coverage and assumed Davenport's downtown was pretty much done for.

Instead its 2006 now and we have a new art museum, a Roots music museum, a baseball stadium, a skybridge, loft apartments, Bucktown Center for the Arts, the Mississippi Plaza office building, a renovated Federal Building and the New Ventures Center. In the next few years we'll add to that a new police station, a new hotel, a renovated hotel, a renovated and expanded jail, more loft apartments, a skatepark, and hopefully a new market district, chiropractic museum, another renovated hotel, and even more downtown housing.

And we still have a view of the river.

Morning Ritual & Where's Shawn?

Every morning when I get home from work, I have kind of a list of sites I go through. I check about 4 email accounts, read the news at Google News, CNN.com, QCOnline, and QCtimes, read all the blogs listed over on the right side of this site, read a few non-QC blogs such as Looper, and some of my friends' personal blogs. I also usually check to see how many pennies I made from my Google ads ($0.00 yesterday.) On Thursday mornings I read RCReader.com, and I check the Council Updates every other day or so. I'm sure many of you have similar rotations of sites. I'm just curious if any of you have any suggested sites that those of us interested in the Quad Cities should be checking frequently.

The second thing, which is semi-related, is that my daily check of Alderman Hamerlinck's blog is getting pretty boring. Why have a blog and not occasionally post what you've been up to lately? Unlike me, Aldermen actually have inside information about many of the things going on in Davenport. There are more people in the 2nd Ward and in Davenport than just the 20 of us that showed up to Shawn's ward meeting, and I think his blog would be an excellent way to keep the rest of the people up to speed. Even just a weekly "What I've been up to this week" kind of thing. Otherwise I might have to move davenport2ndward.blogspot.com way down by SmartRiverfront in what could only be called "below the fold."

Guest Post from the Fly

Shawn, Dee, process, and the council

DDP has turned away from city politics, so I didn't want to post this there. Besides, this is mostly just a few scattered thoughts, as my past posts have often been.

Interesting to see Hamerlinck grab the ball and run with it within the first 30 days of taking office. Kind of gives pause to the "accepted wisdom" that new alderfolk take a year or two to get their feet under them.

Dee. I'm inclined towards the point-of-view that city employees (from Malin all the way down) will take direction from council. Basically, none of them are nearly stupid enough to do otherwise. The real question is competency. There's little doubt that Dee's been competent enough to satisfy prior councils. If this council wants more/different, it's an open question whether Dee is competent to do that. And an open question is a far different matter than simply dumping the woman.

There's been some criticism of the make-up of this "get Dee committee". I'm fine with such criticism. But I've got to say that perhaps this is an improvement over the way things have worked in the past. Now we know who Shawn and the others are listening to. In the past, unless you were at the "meeting before the meeting" at Mac's, it was hard to know who was advising the council leadership.

But hey, good luck.

3 QCTimes articles that you should read

In order of importance:

1. Kraft to lay off 8,000- The article states that no one is saying whether Davenport's 1500 employees will be affected. I believe that if our former Oscar Mayer plant was to close, it would be a bigger blow to Davenport than even the BRAC result.

2. Hamerlinck's Un-Againster Activities Comission gets questioned by aldermen. - Unsurprisingly, Alderwoman Howard stated her opposition to Hamerlinck's idea, but surprisingly, Alderman Meyer seemed opposed to the committee having such a short time period before the budget is due. In what could be my favorite thing he has ever said, Meyer stated, “I don’t want this to be a witch hunt at public works.” I believe the commission is a good idea, but it shouldn't be hand picked by one alderman.

3. City tells county to go ahead and knock-em down - The so-called County Houses on 5th Street won't be with us much longer. While this is a sad end for them, there weren't many reasonable alternatives. The city could have tried to stop the county from tearing them down, but we couldn't force them to give someone hundreds of thousands of dollars to help fix them up, as the proposed project requested. Big-time shame on the county for years of demolition by neglect. Shame on the city of Davenport for not getting on their case about it all along. The article says 2 aldermen were voted against allowing demolition, but doesn't say which ones.

3½ Where are Alderman VanFossen's test results?

Why only in Davenport?

Doesn't Bettendorf have any fiesty council watchdogs?

Here's another article about them discussing spending money to develop an empty industrial/commercial park. It worked so well for Davenport, I guess they have to try. Yet there hasn't been a wave of outraged citizens like there would be here in Davenport. Bettendorf people don't mind their city dabbling in land development I guess.

I personally like the idea of nice office buildings out along I-80, so people driving past think the Quad Cities actually are different than Tipton. I just don't get why businesses will sprout up at Middle and I-80 when they haven't at other area developments.

Stop asking about VanFossen

I want to know how his blood alcohol test turned out also, but I'm pretty sure it'll be in the paper when it comes out. Stop asking about it in every single thread.

Coming soon: Museum of Empty Industrial Parks

How is this....The location of the proposed "High-Technology" park at I-80 and Middle Road in Bettendorf

Better than....


The Iowa Research Commerce and Technology Park at I-80 and Highway 61 in Davenport. (Click picture for full size image)

Or...

Davenport's controversial Eastern Iowa Industrial Center at I-80 and Northwest Blvd in Davenport. (Click picture for full size image)


Answer... it's High-Tech!

Actually I don't know why its supposed to be better. From what I've read it's going to be very attractive, so I assume it will have a lake with fountains and such, and possibly more ugly sculptures than the IRCT.

The EIIC has 2 main tenants: a John Deere parts warehouse and the Scott Community College Blong Technology Center. It isn't exactly sporting a No Vacancy sign, but that is supposed to change when it gets its new federal pork-sponsored rail spur.

The IRCT has a baby-Hummer dealership, the corporate headquarters of a dairy, and one other non-descript industry. Plenty of room to grow.

Both existing industrial parks make use of pointless boulevards, and both are literally within yards of Interstate 80. Both sites are also conveniently located near strip clubs, although I didn't know that was that attractive to businesses. The proposed Bettendorf development will also be near I-80, and closer to Illinois, but arguably farther away from everything else. Is Bettendorf that much more business-friendly that corporate headquarters are going to leave dust clouds in their haste to move there if only they had a High-Technology Park to move into? Even without a rail spur or a strip club?

Thursday/Friday Open Thread

The skybridge thing surprisingly didn't generate much discussion, so what would people rather talk about?

Updated Friday:
Check out this link
Its the city's CAT grant application, with tons of awesome renderings and maps and stuff of what Centennial Park and the Market District could look like. Why the city doesn't publicize this stuff more I'll never know. These are the kind of things that get young people excited about their city.

QCI Hates Jerks: Part 2

Read Part 1 for Images and a description of the Skybridge vandalism

The Fix

Whatever you say about Alderwoman Howard, I believe she sometimes has some very good ideas. She was quoted in a QCTimes article about the Skybridge vandalism as saying " After the last vandalism, it was my understanding that the casino was suppose to use its security personnel to patrol the skybridge. We need to have another conversation to see how they are addressing that. "

IOC basically replied: Who, us? We don't have nothin to do with that thing. (Paraphrased... heavily)

Exhibit A.

All Systems Normal indeed... daily vandalism.

IOC might say that they have no reason to send their security folks across the skybridge into the north tower, after all, there's no IOC offices over there....

Exhibit B.

Rhythm City offices directly to the north of the Skybridge, nearly within sight of the vandalism.

Despite yesterday's daylight vandalism, I would suggest that the lion's share of Skybridge security is needed for night time. Even detailing one of their security guards to spend half his time from 9pm-5am patrolling the skybridge would only cost about $30 a day. Ten or twelve grand a year to prevent more $3000 window breakings, graffiti, nudity or bizarre middle age propositioners seems like a bargain to me. Or the city could hire someone full time to patrol the Skybridge, and the areas around the Figge, RME, River Center, etc. Or someone could cough up money for some decent cameras to keep an eye on the bridge.

There are plenty of solutions, but Rhythm City should be a part of it.

After all, its got their name on it.

QCI Hates Jerks: Part 1

I went down to check out the skybridge damage today, after reading that another pane had been broken/shot out today. There might have to be a QCI stakeout this weekend, or maybe the DPD could use some of its new VIPS folks. The important thing, unless we plan on tearing the whole bridge down, is to fix the damage quickly every time it happens. This is the only way to fight vandalism, as one broken window left alone is contagious.
As you can see from the picture, the damage is on the backside of the North tower, where there's a pedestrian alley between the RME, Savitris, and the River Drive parking garage. This way the idiots were able to shoot out the windows without being seen from either River Drive or Second Street.
This shot shows the second area that was hit, which is on the 2nd floor. This alley seems like a perfect place to put some high resolution security cameras.

This part was kind of scary to me, mostly because I'd always assumed these inserts were plastic. For those of you that haven't been in the Skybridge, these are opaque glass inserts in the floor, that allow the LED lights to be seem from below the bridge, and also allow even more light in during the day. I haven't read if they think this damage is from vandals or something else. It could just be one of the dozens of these inserts was bad. This is located about at the midpoint of the bridge.
A shot of this was shown on QCOnline as though it were vandalism damage. Aside from the tiny gang sign done in marker on the railing, the rest of this "vandalism" was done by birds. Normally birds aren't an issue because there is some sort of sonic bird repeller located in the roof of the outside overlook at the south end of the Skybridge. Either its broken, or the birds got used to the sound, and decided to roost there anyway.

For whatever reason, the outdoor overlook was closed by locked doors. Hopefully it is reopened soon. No matter what your opinion is on the Skybridge, vandalism is just stupid. The bridge is here, and its not going to be torn down, so we have to do whatever it takes to protect it. Later I'm going to post another topic on what should be done to protect the Skybridge, along with some additional pictures.

Upcoming posts

I spent 90 minutes this afternoon driving around the Iowa QC getting some pictures for some posts. Tonight I'll put up some of them, including the requested Skybridge damage pictures. Despite putting at least 25 miles on my car, I don't believe I got any camera speeding tickets.

More stuff happening downtown

Here's a nice QCTimes piece about the Midwest Writing Center moving into the Bucktown Center for the Arts.

Anyone who hasn't been to Bucktown should stop in and see it. When I first walked through it during last summer's Bix street fest I was amazed. It got relatively little publicity, but it should be getting tons. It should be on anyone's list for showing out of town visitors. You can walk from studio to studio, meeting the artists, looking at their works. Its like a Beaux Arts Fair year round, only better.

Now if only Todd will get to work on his building across the street.

2nd Ward Meeting

Alderman Shawn Hamerlinck held a meeting Saturday morning for people from his ward or other wards to come hear him speak and speak with him. It took place in the community room of the new Fairmount Street library, and LaWanda Roudebush attended and made sure the logistics went smoothly, which they did. I would say there were about 15 people there at the beginning, and 20 eventually as more drifted in. At least a quarter of the people, including myself, were from other wards. Many of them had either been impressed by Mr. Hamerlinck's actions so far, or just were interested to see his constituent meeting, which not all aldermen offer. Shawn handed out a lot of documentation for people to pass around and look at, such as the city budget, the 2025 comprehensive plan book, and Mr. Ashton's documentation regarding his opposition to the casino hotel proposal. He seemed to be a big fan of transparency, (Fly would be proud) and Ms. Roudebush pointed out that a number of these things are available at the libraries.

The meeting basically boiled down to a gripe-fest, which is to be expected, and there's nothing wrong with that. Its important for citizens to let their representatives on the city council know what's going on, and what problems they are facing. Shawn made it clear that he is doing everything he can to repeal the stormwater fee, and would not touch public safety in order to pay for it. He mentioned a few ideas, and many of the attendees had their own suggestions for places to cut fat from the city budget. If there was anyone there in support of the stormwater fee they were very quiet, because it seemed like the people there were nearly 100% opposed to it. JoAnna Graller-Hintz was there to voice her opinions and suggestions, some of which unfortunately involved physical harm to various city officials. I'm sure she was joking, so I won't elaborate on that. Others had specific issues with how the stormwater fee was being calculated on their rural property, upcoming zoning issues, or corruption on city committees. The meeting was wide open for anyone to talk, and it lasted over 3 hours.

While I disagree with many of Shawn's opinions and politics, I do believe he is honest about what he thinks and what he wants to do. He could be a leader on the new council, although I am concerned he could come off as acting like he has all the answers so early in his political career. I do believe I can trust him not to pass a "fix the budget" fee and call it a stormwater fee, or hold "Riverfront Input Meetings" where input is the last thing they want. This is similar to the praise I gave to Bill Boom before the election. Even if I disagree with someone's politics, I'm glad to have people that are truthful and transparent on the council.

One way for Davenport to balance the budget

Apparently we need a miniature train.

Niabi train nearing its last tour -QCOnline (Look quick, their articles don't stay free)

According to the article, Niabi Zoo's miniature railroad took in $157,122 in 2005 alone. The article states that they are looking into to buying a new locomotive, because theirs is starting to show its age. It seems a brand new miniature locomotive costs about $130,000.

So, throw some miniature tracks down snaking through Vander Veer, Duck Creek Park, along the riverfront, or 14th and Gaines if you want more of a thrill ride, and charge $1.50 a ticket like Niabi does. The locomotive will be paid off in a year, and from then on we're raking in money like robber barons.

Clearly I'm in the wrong business.

A Late Reminder

Alderman Hamerlinck is having his first 2nd Ward meeting Saturday morning at 9, in the community room of the new library on Fairmount.

Here's a link to his post about it on his blog.

A Couple More Things From the QCTimes

Davenport Historic Preservation Commission
to Scott County: Nuts to You

Maybe they shouldn't be in such a hurry for parking lots.


More Downtown "Momentum" in the form of a Jazz/Martini Bar

Even though I'm not a fan of martinis, I might have to check this one out

How are you going to PAY for it???

Stormwater fee repeal gets 1st OK

Someone just tell me where the money's coming from. The new council makes it seem like this is easy as pie, but the way I figure it there's 2+ million bucks that are going to be missing from the budget.

I may be just a young fool, as many people say, but it seems to me that this will either require cuts or additional sources of income. I'm not sure what happens if a council votes to run a deficit, which is illegal, but I assume it would mean the state wouldn't certify the budget.

So come on Keith, Shawn, or Bill... let us in on how this is going to work. Keeping in mind that some of you have said that public safety won't be cut.

Speed Cameras Are Watching

I'm actually somewhat worried, but not as much as I will be when they drop the leeway to 8 or 10mph. I predict that the River Drive camera will catch a ton of people, because I don't think the locations have been as well-publicized as the red light cameras were. Plus a lot more people speed than run red lights.

The QCTimes has a Map of where the cameras are located.

Tuesday Night Open Thread

Remember Summer? It'll be back before we know it. This shot from last summer of Vander Veer's Grand Allée should remind us all of green grass and warm weather.
Anything interesting going on that's not making it on QCTimes or QCOnline?

Some Old Christmas News

Here's an article in the QCTimes about the new, living Remembrance Tree in the former site of Judy's Antiques at River Drive and Iowa Street.

Here's another article from Genesis's website about where the tree came from and what it stands for.

It sounds like Bechtel Trust is taking the lead on turning this gateway to downtown into a small park, with a living Christmas tree as its centerpiece. The article reveals the Bechtel was behind the repainting of the pawn shop across the street, and is working with them to find a new location. This could mean a better welcome to downtown than an abandoned lot and a pawn shop, so I'm all for it. If it turns out that Bechtel Trust is paying the lion's share of the costs, I'm even more for it.

If anyone has seen any plans or designs for the park I'd be interested to see them.

Chalk one up for the west side

I have to agree with Bill Wundram on this one and say wow. Only my "wow" isn't just at the facility, but at the public reaction. I got to the area of the library about 10 minutes before the ribbon cutting was scheduled, and figured I'd park in this huge 160-space lot I'd read about. Instead I see a traffic jam like there was a folk concert or something going on. People were walking from every direction and cars were parked everywhere. People were even parking on Heatherton Drive, where I wouldn't park even in daylight hours.

When I got inside I saw where the people from the hundreds of cars were at. The place was packed, and not just with the usual D1 and Library dignitaries, but with a broad cross section of Davenport. There were neighborhood kids signing up for library cards, little old ladies, Craig Malin, families, and librarians in cowboy hats. There were also people there who you could tell had been using the library on a daily basis before the ribbon cutting, and probably viewed all of us with annoyance. I took the behind-the-scenes tour given by one of the library staff. There's a computerized system that keeps track of your daily 10 free pages you can print, and even lets you put credit for the printer/copier on your library card. Twenty computers are given prime real estate right inside the entryway, and the computers in the kids section even have educational games.

The community rooms were open for the public to see, as was the store for discarded and donated books. The coffee shop/cafe is supposed to open in early spring, which should be nice for folks riding past on the bike path. There's a spur right from the bike path to the library bike racks, so people won't even need to drive. If they do drive, there's a drive-up window where you can pick up books you've reserved online, and the usual 24-hour drop boxes.

There were speeches (way too many) from various folks, including both the current and former mayors. Nearly all of the speakers had similar things to say, which boiled down to thanking people for allowing such a wonderful project to happen. I suspect most if not all of the people in attendance had voted for the library levy, so there were many thanks given to the voters also. Most of the current and former aldermen were there, although I was surprised to see that Alderwoman Howard wasn't in attendance.

The facility itself is great, but even greater was seeing so many people there who I would never describe as "againsters." The library was made possible by people willing to pay a bit extra to have a better city for us and our children, who seemed to be enjoying themselves greatly. I can't wait to see the upcoming east-side branch. I left smiling... at least until the mud.

Library/Mud

The west side of Fairmount is in dire need of a sidewalk. When I walked from my car at 9:45 the ground was still frozen, but after an hour of speeches the ground had thawed into mud.
I just spent 15 minutes scraping mud off my shoes, so I think I'll wait until this evening to post the rest of my library opening pictures. I will say that it was quite an event with hundreds of people there.

New Library Opens Today

Today the Fairmount Street branch is officially opening.
The ribbon cutting is schedule for 10am.

I hope to see lots of folks there, and I should have pictures posted tonight.

McGivern heads to the slammer (sorta)

According to QCOnline, Alderman McGivern pleaded guilty to the drunk driving charge in exchange for the open container violation being dropped. His blood-alcohol content was 0.171, and you have to keep in mind that it was only measured after he was arrested and taken to jail. His lawyer probably recommended he delay the breathalyzer test as long as possible to allow for a lower score. Apparently he was plenty drunk. I'll link to the article, here, but it will probably be unavailable by the time anyone clicks it.

According to the article, he was sentenced to 120 days in jail, which he will have to serve 2 of. Two days in jail may seem easy, but if you've ever had a tour of our jail you'll know that its not. However, the article also says, "Mr. McGivern will have to arrange with the jail when he will serve his time, but he also could serve his sentence at his home." So nevermind the 2 days in jail thing, I guess. He'll also get a year of unsupervised probation and have to take some alcohol classes. Judging from others I've seen go through this, the whole process will end up costing him quite a few thousand dollars for a first time offense.

Now I guess we just wait to see if Alderman VanFossen's score is higher or lower! Maybe we should start doing breathalyzer tests on anyone walking in to turn in their petition to run for office.

What happened to 12mph?

The speed cameras will be starting soon, as seen in today's QCTimes article about them.

Apparently after only 90 days the 12mph buffer zone will decrease to only 10mph in "residential areas" and 8mph in schools zones.

I disagree with having the speed cameras send out tickets for anything that the average police officer wouldn't stop someone for, and 8 or 10mph is pretty iffy. I'm also curious what counts as a residential area. Is 2700 Brady residential? The 2900 block of Harrison? There are houses along those streets, but they're more like cross-town arteries than residential streets.

I wish they'd just set them to only ticket people going 15 or more over. I think they'd catch plenty of people.

Library now has a nice website

I can't say that I've been to the Davenport Public Library website lately... probably not in the last 6 months or a year. However, I am pretty sure their layout is newly updated. I know I don't remember it being so snazzy before. There is lots of information about the new branch opening Saturday, including pictures and floorplans.

Check it out over at www.davenportlibrary.com

WIU gets some $$, or maybe just one $

Western gets $2.4 Million for its Riverfront Campus
I am, of course, biased. I went to WIU at Macomb. I loved the campus and the quality of professors I had, but I was not a very big fan of living in a town with a total population of 20,000, with 12,000 of that being WIU students. Having KMart or Walmart as my 2 shopping choices isn't my ideal situation. I considered going to the QC campus, but I wanted the real college experience, and currently the Quad City campus is essentially a community college that gives Bachelor's degrees.

We're one of the largest communities in the country without a full 4 year public university. Deere came along and gave WIU the land to build a beautiful riverfront campus, and room for expansion, but now we're stuck waiting for IL politics to throw some spare change our way. Its happening, but far too slowly. With the deal that allows students from border counties to get in-state tuition, I think WIU could build a QC campus for at least 5,000 students. Hopefully once construction gets started, things will snowball quickly.

I have returned from the desert

I'll try to start posting the usual commentary again immediately. I also hope to attend Alderman Hammerlinck's first meeting over at the new library.

Arizona Images

Its hard to be away from Davenport while the new council is coming in, but everyone needs a vacation. I haven't been following the weather back in the QC, but its too HOT here; it must have gotten to 80 degrees Monday. I'm sure all of you are sympathetic.

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Block Party doesn't mess around when it comes to security. Or horses. Unfortunately, my picture of SWAT team members standing around holding MP5s didn't turn out.

The 10pm fireworks can be seen over the Motocross demonstration ramp.


Aaron risks his life juggling flaming objects for the benefit of maybe 12 spectators. Aaron wishes he had a better spot for his show.

The year 2006 arrives, and is welcomed by Blues Traveler. It will take until February for me to stop writing /05 at the end of my dates.

QCI's Top 5 New Year's Wishes

Instead of sleeping, which I should be doing, I'm writing down my 5 biggest wishes for Davenport in 2006. I'd post this closer to New Years, but my flight for sunny Arizona leaves in a mere 4 hours. I'm not sure how many posts I'll be able to make in the coming days.
Anyway...

I hope that in 2006 Davenport can:

5. Reduce crime. Somehow, some way, make Davenport safer. Enough said.

4. Help prairie Heights succeed. I'm a big fan of new urbanism, mostly because it reminds me of the way I grew up. I spent my childhood in a neighborhood where I could walk to the park for baseball, stop in at a corner store and buy some Laffy Taffy or baseball cards, and where the front of our house was dominated by a door for people, not cars. We can create new neighborhoods like this.

3.Continue the downtown "momentum." As much as people would like to pretend that all the downtown progress isn't working, it really is. The Crescent Loft district is sprouting new downtown living, new businesses are moving downtown, and PEOPLE can actually be seen walking around on downtown streets. Continuing this will help keep the 20-somethings (my generation) from going elsewhere.

2. Redevelop the former Showcase Cinema and Ramada/Wickliffe Inn on North Brady. These 2 parcels add up to over 25 acres, and don't provide the best welcome to Davenport to visitors coming off of I-80. Surely something could be done with the property.

1. That all of us could honor and respect Fly's Rule #3, and honor and respect each other, no matter what their personal politics or views are. No one deserves personal attacks just because they are passionate about their views, whichever side they're on. We're all doing what we think is best for Davenport.

A New Blog about the QC

As Fly used to say, I get email. I got this one the other day from a QC resident who has quietly started his or her own blog about the Quad Cities. Its located at http://bridgetosomewhere.blogspot.com/. Obviously, this is a play on the infamous "bridge to nowhere," although I haven't heard quite as much complaining about that lately. In the email which I've posted below, Pioneer asks some good questions, such as how the area can get a good perception to outsiders. I've experienced some similar things with people who last visited Davenport in the 80's when the only thing that was happening downtown was historic buildings being demolished. They tend to say something like "Davenport? There's nothing to do there" and go to places like Peoria that have similar or even fewer attractions than the Quad Cities. I was amazed at how many people at WIU in Macomb didn't even know where the QC is located. Hopefully we can change that over the next few years.

Hello,

I've been following the various blogs related to Davenport and the Quad
Cities that you guys have been running, and I've enjoyed reading them. I
just wanted to pose a question that you may consider as a subject for one of
your blogs, or maybe just for general discussion: How much of Davenport's
problems are purely perception?

To put it another way, it's the classic chicken-and-the-egg:
Do positive impressions about an area develop because it actually is a nice
area?
OR
Does an area become nice because people have positive impressions about it?

I think perception is a huge problem, but I may be biased. I grew up in
Davenport, went away for college and lived in other places around the
Midwest for about 8 years, before landing back here (a story for a different
time). I got to see firsthand how Davenport and the Quad Cities are
perceived around the Midwest. My first stop was in Southern rural
Wisconsin. Most people there assumed how glad I must be to be out of Iowa.
I usually told them I didn't see much difference between rural Wisconsin and
Iowa, and that, actually, I preferred Davenport because there was more to
do. My brother recently moved to Madison from Des Moines, and suffers
similar conversations frequently. He likes both Des Moines and Madison.

I experienced similar things elsewhere. The people who had heard of
Davenport or the Quad Cities usually had negative impressions. I think this
area does a very poor job about getting the word out about the good things
we have. So, most people assume we have nothing. All they hear is the news
reports about a plant closing, a crime, or the river flooding. The Figge
made a splash, but that good press is already fading.

Not sure if you've seen my blog (bridgetosomewhere.blogspot.com). I try to
stress the positive things happening in the area, because, quite frankly,
someone has to. I'm not trying to pretend that there aren't problems, or
that they shouldn't be discussed. I'm just trying to make a point that we
have GOOD things in this area, along with the bad that seem to get more
attention. I'm a big believer that changing perceptions goes a very long
way to changing reality.

I could talk for hours on this subject. What do you guys think?

Happy Holidays,

pioneer98

Christmas is Over Open Thread

I'll be busy preparing for my trip these next few days, but I've got a few posts planned. What else is on people's minds?

Merry Christmas from QCI

Have a wonderful Christmas, and enjoy the best time of the year.

Sears Joins the Silliness

If ever there was a media-created story it would be the so-called "war on Christmas." John Beydler had a pretty good post about it on his blog, Passing Parade.




Sears, however, seems to think its a real issue, as suddenly every one if their doors had a white paper with plain black text wishing people a Merry Christmas. I guess Sears goes whichever way the wind blows. It was clearly sent out by the high-ups with orders to post it everywhere.

Might as well open a discussion on it

D-port alderman-elect under investigation after train mishap

As Fly said when McGivern's thing came out, "people will want to discuss this."

Mr. VanFossen did email the Colonel, Ambrose Fulton and myself a written statement, which they have both posted at their sites. I find it strange that while he appeared to be unaware of DDP and the Rule #3 Party, he seems quite aware of who runs the 3 Davenport politics blogs now. However, I have to compliment him on getting a statement out, and including bloggers in his media release. I won't repost the statement here, as I bet anyone that reads this blog probably reads SoLo.

I suspect this will be a bit different than McGivern's DUI, coming at the beginning of Alderman VanFossen's service instead of the end. It will be interesting to see what happens here. Obviously he's innocent until proven guilty, but I don't think that proof will take long. Maybe he'll plead guilty right away like Fly always wanted Bob to do. I'm not sure what will happen if Mr. VanFossen is unable to keep his seat on the city council, and whether there would be a special election or not. It seems somewhat logical to me to just give the seat to Gibbs. Since it seems logical to me, I'm sure that's not what will happen.

It serves to remind me that my 3 drink maximum is a good policy.

Dismissed or not Dismissed??

One of our lead againsters has been anonymously posting all over the place about how the judge didn't throw out the Susie Bell lawsuit, yet I read this morning in the Times article about the police station groundbreaking that the lawsuit was dismissed.

The exact quote is:
In another court action, a judge Wednesday dismissed an action sought by citizen Susie Bell to block the current council from doing any more spending before new aldermen take office on Jan. 3.

So which is it?

I find it strange that the Times doesn't have an article about the hearing.

Crazy QC Hotel Scene

Davenport Holiday Inn now a Clarion

I must say that it fits the Clarion brand (supposedly the ritziest of the Choice Hotel chain) a lot more than the former downtown Clarion, now a Howard Johnson.

Too bad someone doesn't come along and rehab or demolish the former Ramada out there on Brady, with the old movie theater next door that's a big chunk of land close to I-80.

Happy Birthday Bill

Bill Wundram

One thing Davenport has that no other city can claim.

Triumph's Triumph Confirmed

As I predicted exactly 2 weeks ago, it looks like East Moline is moving forward with the hog processing plant. I wish it could have been a more thorough, more public process, and I hope there is some recourse if the plant isn't everything they claimed it wouldn't be.

Apparently pigs are in such a hurry to be slaughtered we couldn't wait another month.

Busy Week Open Thread

Sorry about the lack of posts, but I had a family Christmas get together here Saturday night, so there was some apartment cleaning to be done. I suspect most of my loyal readers are pretty darn busy themselves preparing for the big day.

Its only going to get worse around New Year's, because I'll be in Phoenix from December 29th-January 7th. I'll hopefully throw up a couple threads during that time, but no promises.

Some of you may want to discuss the impending EM approval of the pork processing plant, which I think is showing Davenport that IL folks know how to rush projects through even better than us.
Update 8:50pm: It appears they've approved it.

I'd also like to know some kind of timeline on the 3 lady lawsuit, as far as when the hearing or dismissal or whatever is supposed to be. I wish it would be settled, because surely there's some other contentious issue everyone could argue about.

Chicago City Images

I was checking out one of the blogs linked to on the Inside Dope blog, and that blog had a link to this blog. Its not a place you're going to find any in depth discussion, or political debate, but this guy takes some amazing pictures of mostly downtown Chicago. Kind of a 6 degrees of seperation type thing, but that's how the internet works.

http://www.iconeon.blogspot.com/

Linden may get torn down after all

Linden owner given 90 days to repair or raze apartments

It was originally reported that the Linden Apartments would have to be torn down because of structural damage after the fire that happened there in October. Then it was reported that they wouldn't be ordered demolished by the city, as the structural damage wasn't fatal. That's still true, but apparently the owner's insurance money won't cover renovations and repairs, so it will probably be torn down anyway. Its a bad situation, but you can't expect the owner who was basically running a tenement house to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on fixing up his building. Its too bad the building will probably be torn down instead of renovated, especially since it has a fairly small footprint on which to build anything new. Maybe a Davenport version of Rock Island's Clipper Condos can be built there.

Ok, this is just a cool picture

QCI pretending to be a real photographer

A Couple Things From the QCTimes

County frustrated by preservation action

The Davenport Historic Preservation Commission gave the county a taste of their own medicine in tabling their request to demolish the 5th street houses. The county folks seemed surprised by this, but when you slap down a plan to renovate historic houses instead of demolish them, and then go to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION Commission, how can they be surprised that the board isn't overjoyed with the demolition plan? Apparently the county didn't have drawings of artists renderings of what the property will look like after the demolition, or with any potential office buildings. The office building idea is a new one for me, and I kind of think that the 4th street government corridor has no need to jump across the railroad tracks and start moving up the hill.


Here's a letter to the editor from someone suggesting we return to partisan elections to "keep the mayor in line." You know... so nobody steps out of the lockstep party line, and for example, says things that people don't want to hear.

Somehow I don't think that's the answer. If there's one thing more screwed up and adversarial than Davenport politics, its partisan Democrat vs Republican politics.

If I wasn't sure before...

A copy of the 3 ladies' lawsuit is included in this week's Council Update.

Reading it further convinces me that it doesn't stand a chance. The IOC proposal is indeed mentioned, even though it has nothing to do with the bond issue.

Reading this, it becomes clear the lawsuit is basically 3 citizens suing a city for doing things that they personally don't agree with. Its filled with opinions and hearsay, and I didn't see anything in there that would make a judge mandate what Davenport elected officials can do during the term they were elected for.

EVERYONE should read it, if they haven't already.

Maybe I'm missing something

Several people have mentioned that the recent lawsuit to stop the city from accomplishing things is partly based on the city spending money on something they're not sure of yet, namely the IOC realignment. Maybe I'm missing it, but I don't see anything about that on the list of items.

Here's a file that list where all the money goes.

Someone show me where any of that relies on anything to do with the IOC hotel project?
I really could just be overlooking it.

Continuing Our Tradition of Crazy Lawsuits

Court action seeks to stop city spending

One of their complaints is apparently that the current council can't do this because its close to the end of their term. Here's a newsflash ladies: yes they can. They were elected to serve until January, not until November. Somehow I think if the roles were reversed, and the incoming council was the one going out, and they tried to limit city spending for the next council, the ladies wouldn't have any problem with that particular "tying up" of newly elected council folks.

Apparently this 50 cents per $1,000 of property value is just going to break the bank for these ladies. If they are living in $100,000 homes, that's $50 a year. I'd be more than willing to bet they spend that much money in a year driving to City Hall twice a week. Yet this weekly expenditure doesn't force them to move away. Better give the Today show a call and tell them their story about how affordable Davenport is must have been wrong. Or wait until you move to Seattle or Phoenix or even Des Moines and see what you can get for your $100,000, and what their taxes are.

Lets face the facts people: Federal taxes have decreased. This has put more of the burden for paying for services onto local and state governments. The state then turns around and passes their burden to the cities. Unfortunately, the cities don't have anyone to pass the buck to except us, the citizens. Fortunately, the lower federal taxes supposedly put more money in our pockets... to give to the city. People continue wanting the same, or even more services, but without an increase in taxes or fees. I believe the insurance of every person reading this costs more this year than it did 2 or 3 years ago, but the city is expected to pay for health care of its employees on a stagnant income? That's impossible, so our current council has tried to be proactive and do things that might cause Davenport's population and tax base to grow. The building I'm living in is an example, and driving through downtown last night I saw several more examples of increased tax base directly tied to River Renaissance and other proactive things Davenport is doing. When city costs still rise with a stable or even decreasing number of employees, staying the same is falling behind.

After watching this election, if I ever run for council in Davenport I'll just tell people I can quickly eliminate taxes and fees altogether, yet somehow increase services and pave all the streets with gold. Logic just doesn't work on some people. Quite possibly enough people to get elected.

It feels good to rant once in a while.

Continuing Our Tradition of Crazy Rich Guys

A few weeks ago when some friends of mine were in town, we visited the Figge and later the IMAX at the Putnam. The IMAX tickets now include admission into the museum, so we walked around in there a bit.

Between the two museums we saw a lot of stuff from V.O. Figge and the various Palmers, and I had to explain to my out-of-towners how we once had a surplus of world-traveling rich folks to fill our museums and galleries with random stuff.

Demonstrating that the Figges haven't lost their way, here's an article in Forbes about people who collect wooden duck decoys, some of which sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. One of the featured collectors is Thomas K. Figge, V.O.'s son. He apparently used to dress in jeans and drive junk cars to help in his bargaining efforts with decoy owners. The article estimates his collection of wooden duck decoys is valued at between 5 and 10 million dollars. Maybe in 30 years Davenport will have the World Museum of Wooden Ducks.

The article is here, but you do have to register with Forbes.com, which is free and may not even require a real email address.

What surprise?

Apparently, the QCTimes or Tom Saul didn't see the tax hike to pay for the $35million+ bond coming.

How did they think it was going to be paid for?

The Stars and Bananas Factory

Pick up a River City Reader this week, or head over to www.rcreader.com, because their cover story on the proposed nightclub for the East Village is the best article I've read about it anywhere. It discusses good and bad points of each side of the disagreement, to the point where I'm not sure which side Kathleen McCarthy is even on. I often disagree with the Reader's seemingly rabid dislike of the Davenport council, but they certainly provide a different perspective from Tom Saul.

Personally, I'm undecided on the issue. Parking is an issue, but I have to confess I don't know how full that lot to the south is at night. If the owners are just misleading people and the club will really be Los Bananas South, it clearly shouldn't be allowed. I remember watching 4-8 squad cars lining up next to Dahl Ford at closing time on certain nights of the week when the club would be extra busy. They weren't there in case something happened, they were there because they knew something would.

On the other hand, I would like to think that we don't operating on a 1-strike and your out rule. Its possible that Mr. Orozco got involved with the wrong kind of club, and now wants to open a better one. I do disagree with the Village folks portraying the East Village as some kind of crime-free family zone. There are bars down there now, and there are crimes. The real question is do we assume that the club will be another Bananas, or do we assume that it won't be? It seems like a tough decision to make before it even opens.

Holiday Slowdown

Since we're all new to this whole QC blog thing (seems like its been more than a year though), I'm not sure what normally happens to political type blogs over the holidays. Just in the last few days I've seen a definite decline in comments on here. It could just mean I've gotten boring-er, but that can't be! Actually, its probably partly that, and partly the fact that everyone's busy at the mall, stuck in traffic on Elmore, or at various holiday functions. I would think many people would be less interested in politics for the next month, including politicians, but that's not true. The local city councils don't take a break for December, so I'll keep posting what they're up to. Unless my 12' tree tips over sitcom-style and demolishes my computers.

P.S. Fly's site has quietly started disappearing

Triumph Triumphs

Its a done deal.

That's my prediction after reading that the EM council voted unanimously to continue negotiations about the pork plant. I'd even say its more of a done deal than Davenport's IOC riverfront hotel was, which is saying quite a bit. There are a number of similarities, even down to the somewhat well-organized groups in opposition: SmartRiverfront for Davenport and Progressive Action for the Common Good in East Moline. Both of the opposition groups even have vague names that disguise the fact that their sole purpose is to oppose their particular enemy project. There are also differences though. Davenport's political scene is rowdier, and the EM city council doesn't have any Keith Meyers on it. The pork plant is also not in the middle of their downtown.

Some folks would assume that I think the open-shut/done deal strategy that both these projects used is a good thing, just because I supported each of the proposed projects. This couldn't be further from the truth. SmartRiverfront.com saved Davenport money by questioning the agreement with IOC. If there had been little opposition to the hotel, think how few concessions Davenport would have been able to get in the bargaining process. Hopefully PACG can accomplish something similar in East Moline, and get their city a better deal with Triumph.

What I wish both groups could have done is run an honest campaign. SmartRiverfront did some stuff on their site that I thought bordered on propaganda, such as showing "what the hotel will block" by inserting a giant grey box into current pictures representing the hotel. Any building would be opposed if its artist's conception was a giant grey box, but fortunately that's not what IOC is going to build. Now PACG is adamant that new Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) will start springing up everywhere around here, but ignores the fact that the hogs could be trucked in from longer distances, or that our local counties might have something to say about a sudden influx of CAFOs. I don't believe in scare tactics when there are real issues to debate. Smell is a huge one. If all of EM smells like a pig farm when the plant opens, that won't be worth 1000 jobs. Pollution is another, and the quality of the new jobs is yet another good topic that EM citizens need to ask hard questions about.

East Moline's dealings with the public started out even worse than Davenport's were during the casino hotel "debate." The River Vision proposal didn't have a red box that said "We don't know anything about a proposed hotel," because our city leaders at least managed to avoid flat out lying to us. Unfortunately that can't be said for our Illinois brethren. Its not too late for EM to make this a more public, more inclusive process.

Brits are reading about us

This article in the Guardian, a British paper, is about Figge Architect David Chipperfield. It mentions Davenport and the Figge a number of times, in a completely positive light.

People in the UK are reading about OUR art museum here in Davenport.

Once again, this would not be happening without River Renaissance.

Open thread = Failure

My favorite comic lately is Pearls Before Swine.

Besides all the silly stuff with the police station, pork plant, and stormwater fee, what else is on people's minds?

Update: Quiet day Sunday... I'll leave this up here today in case there's some big D-port story waiting for a blog commenter to break it.

No idea...

As far as the police union delaying the new police station they've been waiting decades for over parking? I really hope there's more to it than having to park too far away during construction.

QCTimes & Keith Meyer Possibly Blind

Sometimes reading the paper just makes me shake my head.

Earlier this week, the QCTimes had an article praising the collaboration between the Scott County Family Y and local schools, hospitals, and organizations. Towards the end of the article they said this:

This wonderful collaboration sends a powerful, can-do message. It’s not necessarily a new message. We heard it before with Rock Island and Davenport RiverVision planning; and Scott County, Davenport and Bettendorf’s support of River Renaissance. But in a community where a new Davenport police station is being built independently right next door to a new Scott County jail and sheriff’s headquarters, these collaborative lessons still are needed.

Then today the Times says this about the planned skywalk between the jail/courthouse complex and the new police station:

Alderman Keith Meyer, 3rd Ward, questioned the need for a skywalk that will connect the police station to the Scott County jail and courthouse complex. Now, he said, he sees very little foot traffic crossing Ripley between the police department and the jail.

What??

Ok... first of all, later in today's article they say this, pointing out how wrong they were in the previous article.

But the new station will share a number of functions with the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, such as evidence storage and processing, training, record keeping, fingerprinting and, potentially, dispatch services, said Police Chief Mike Bladel. Davenport detectives also routinely bring inmates over from the jail for questioning. (Emphasis added)

So... they need lessons in collaboration, yet they're going to share multiple services.

Then we have Alderman Meyer saying that people rarely walk between the police station and jail/courthouse. During short involvement with the DPD, I made that walk at least 50 or 100 times. During a murder trial myself, officer witnesses, and detectives each made the walk across Ripley many times. Also, if someone is arrested in the police department, which happens fairly often, they don't typically get driven half a block to the jail. Officers "walk them over" to get booked in the jail. A big reason for having the jail downtown is its proximity to the courthouse, so why shouldn't they be physically connected?

Hogs, NIMBYs, Dopes

The Inside Dope blog has been the site of an ongoing debate about the proposed pork processing plant being vaguely discussed for East Moline. There's a group trying to convince people that having one of these will cause an influx of concentrated animal feed operations (CAFOs), or basically commercial hog lots. I haven't seen a great increase in cattle farms in response to meat packing plants, but maybe they're right.

The secretive process taking place for the last few months over there would incite a riot among blog-readers if it happened in Davenport, but as usual, things are different in Illinois. Annexing land to the city without telling the citizens what its really for makes the Davenport IOC hotel ordeal look like a public process.

My big question with the processing plant is the smell. If that can be negated, its just another heavy industry with its associated traffic problems. The smaller question is whether locals will work there, or if it will bring in mostly immigrants, who then become locals. Hopefully a mixture of both, and I would think some of the folks that stand around Labor Ready would be happy to do a nasty, but decent-paying job like that. The temp jobs they end up doing for $7 or $8 an hour aren't exactly glamorous.

If these concerns could be answered, my next question is "If they don't want it, can we put it in our failing Eastern Iowa Industrial Center?"