Why do we need NOW now?

Davenport crafts housing stimulus -QCTimes

Short answer: We don't need NOW now.

Long answer: We're turning the tide without it. Our population has stopped the slide that was happening through the late 80's and 90's, young people are becoming more interested in the QC area, and downtown is being revitalized. Just because Bettendorf is out subdivision-ing us isn't reason to do something this drastic.

On one hand, the Davenport NOW program is what a lot of people have been asking for for a long time. Instead of only giving incentives to companies or residential developers that come in and build big projects, the NOW program would actually provide them to the little guy. Is 50 new business created 10 jobs any worse than 1 AT&T type place creating 500 jobs? If Alexander Company can get property tax incentives to renovate a huge blighted building, shouldn't an average homeowner get some for fixing up a run down single family home? So I guess I don't think the idea is crazy. I just don't think its necessary.

I think Davenport is turning itself around WITHOUT this, just like it is without the Promise. Maybe rather than try to come up with a new gimmick every few years, we should sit back and give what we're doing a chance. Improving city departments and making them more professional, increasing the capital improvemt budget for streets, sewers, and parks, and revitalizing downtown... these things are working. I don't know where all these abandoned buildings and businesses are that Cruiser talks about. Sure, there are some around, but any city of 100,000 has vacant commercial property. I definitely don't feel like there's more now than there was in the 80's. I also know quite a few young people who left after college who are now returning to the Quad Cities. Lets show those people how much has changed since the 1980's before start giving away the tax farm.

In the rumors department, I'm hearing that this project is the Mayor's baby. Apparently most Alderman were somewhat willing to go along with it, but many are now having their doubts. This kind of seems confirmed by the tabling by the council, but possibly not. There are questions about the legality of the program, and how the "up front" tax break could work. How can the city rebate property taxes up front for 10 years when they don't know what the property value or taxes will be 5 or 10 years down the line? Will folks who take the "up front" money sue later if it doesn't cover their actual tax bill? So there are a lot of questions, and little public input.

I'd like to see the city skip the NOW program and at least wait to see the results of the 2010 Census. I feel like Davenport is going to end up with a surprising amount of growth. If the sad state of Illinois can ever make the new WIU riverfront campus and Chicago rail line happen, those projects could easily be the final piece that puts the QC area on the road to success. Davenport needs to sell itself and its amenities rather than just try to underbid the suburbs on tax prices.

Where in the QC is this #23 Answer

Anonymous at 8:22 was correct. The image is of Lincoln School, or "Lincoln Academy" along Pershing in Davenport. I was going to get a shot of the deer with downtown in the background, as I wasn't originally intending to do a Where in the QC with it. The deer wasn't much for posing the way I wanted it to though.

Where in the QC is this #23

Where in the Quad Cities is this deer wandering?

Coming soon: My take on the Davenport NOW idea.

Summer Events Suggestion Thread

I'm putting together a list of summer events worth traveling 2 and a half hours for, which I plan to post on the AbsoluteDSM website. Obviously this is a subjective thing, because while I may feel that its absolutely worth driving 2.5 hours to see the Quad City Air Show, others may not. Especially those without interests in planes or sunburn.

Here's a quick list of possiblities, which is certainly missing things, in order by date. This mostly comes from the QC CVB website.

Gumbo Ya Ya
Ride the River
QC Air Show
Sturgis on the River (off the river until Centennial Park is done)
QC Pridefest
Blues Fest
John Deere Classic
Bix7
Bix Jazz Fest
Mississippi Valley Fair (although Des Moines folks have their own fair, I hear)
Tugfest
Ya Maka My Weekend
River Roots Live
Rock Island Grand Prix
QC Symphony Pops Concert
QC Marathon

Some of these may not be worth driving 2+ hours for. Others, like the fair or the marathon, are probably worth driving over for, but Des Moines has their own (bigger) version. I don't have any car shows on the list, but many could argue that some of those are regional events. What do you folks think belongs on the list vs what doesn't? If I were directing this towards Chicago folks rather than Des Moines residents, I'd expect it to be a different list.

Weekly Post?

Well, I took a week off from blogging for no particular reason. Here are a couple of websites I ran across during that time.

After reading this QCTimes article about Fejervary Park's progress, or lack thereof, I was doing some surfing around the internet. I found this page, possibly run by someone from long before my time called Captain Ernie. There also seem to be some things from former Alderman and Fejervary Park defender George Nikolas. If you look around that website there are a lot of neat old postcards and pictures. In the section about Fejervary, there are many images of Mother Goose Land. My parents always told me about going there as kids, and I always thought it would have been great to pan for "gold" right here in Davenport. Somehow I don't think whatever the city comes up with will be as fun.

The other website I found over the last week is called ScanAmerica.us, and it has the audio from police radio frequencies from around the US, including some in the QC area. Check out the Iowa and Illinois pages, or almost any other state. They stream in Windows Media Player, which almost everyone should have. They can be kind of tough to follow, but its definitely cheaper than buying a police scanner. It also may include random frequencies like Bettendorf garbage collectors. I actually haven't listened to it enough to know just how good it is or isn't, but its definitely not perfect. Edit: I just discovered this site archives radio traffic, so you can listen to what went over the police radio on a certain day and time. I'll have to mess with this feature later.

I'm hoping to do a post one of these days on Bettendorf's "downtown" plans, but whenever I start writing about that particular town I seem to end up in a giant rant that I don't post. Maybe I can do better this time.

Friday Morning Assortment

Old News Department

-Last Sunday night, or really Monday morning, at about 1:30AM I went out to pick up a healthy meal at Hardees. As I was going out Brady I got passed by 2 squad cars at a high rate of speed, and then a police SUV. They all headed east on Kimberly, and then I saw another squad car go through Brady and Kimberly at a high rate of speed. I decided to take a small detour to see where they were off to. Over half a dozen police vehicles were at Las Bananas, so obviously that bar isn't totally cleaned up yet. Four or 5 years ago, half a dozen squad cars were there every week, so I suppose you could call that progress. Its too bad that the place hasn't been shut down.

-Back on May 17th, in Ask the Times, there was this blurb about some development on East 29th Street in Davenport: "Rita Pribyl, senior manager for the city’s community planning and economic development department, said plans are for the building to be demolished and replaced with 26 condominium-style, high-end apartments with rents ranging from $1,100 to $1,200 per month." This refers to the old nursing home just east of Brady. I'm pretty sure that I'm one of the few guys my age that never broke into that place at some point during my childhood. I don't think I missed anything, and its great to see this longtime eyesore going away. Its too bad they couldn't have rehabbed the building though.

Wind Turbine Update, or not
According to a more recent addition of Ask The Times, no one seems willing to say whose windmills are sitting in Mt. Joy. However, a commenter posted this in my photo thread:

The wind turbines are being stored and electronic components added by DH Blattner Energy Systems. http://www.blattnerenergy.com/ They have a temporary location in Mt. Joy. I don't know if they plan on looking for a permanent site or not.

Hope they can join the QC Business community permanently!

So maybe that answers it? Or maybe its as inaccurate as many blog comments? Who knows.

Sad News
A longtime institution of the Hilltop neighborhood passed away last Sunday. Don Saforek, of Don's Barbershop, took some time off to have heart surgery a few weeks ago. He posted a sign that said "Back in 2 weeks (I hope!)." I had noticed he hadn't come back, and then I saw a sign that said he was still in the hospital and it would be a while longer. Then I was sad to see in the paper that he passed away. I think Don probably new every past and present politician in Davenport, and had thousands of stories ranging from the Cardinals to the Air Force to the history of the Hilltop area. There just aren't many barbers like Don anymore. He'll be missed by many.

Somebody order a wind farm?

The answer to this morning's "Where in the QC is this?" was answered by Anonymous at 7:11AM. The image was wind turbine blades stored at the former Caterpillar plant in Mt. Joy. I haven't seen a news story about this, so does anyone know any more about why these are being stored there? According to my source, they've been seen coming in from the north on Highway 61. I can't figure why they would bother unloading them in a parking lot just to have to reload them later. Apparently the manufacturers of the various parts must not have enough on-site storage. The only other possibility I can think of is that they're part of the shipment that Alter barge lines helped move last year. That only involved the blades though, whereas the blades, nacelles, and tower segments are all stored at Mt. Joy. I guess I should "Ask the Times." Here are some more images.

As a commenter said in the previous post, these the turbine nacelles look a lot bigger on the ground than they do at the top of a 200 foot tower.


For those who don't know where this is located, it is across from the Davenport Municipal Airport north of town. They are best seen from North Harrison, which is also 1st Street in Eldridge. To get there, take Brady/Highway 61 to the Mount Joy exit, and go west. When that road comes to a T at the airport, go right and start looking to your right. Unless they move these all out within days, you'll see the windmill parts.

Where in the QC is this #22

This should be an easy one, but I can give hints if people don't get it.

Lindsay Park Meeting

Lindsay Park patrons wary of changes -QCTimes

We were wary alright. Most even more wary than I was. Despite lots of people taking a turn at the microphone, no one said they were in favor of more surface parking being added to Lindsay Park. Only one business owner spoke, and he said his business does fine with the current parking situation. Several Aldermen were there, including Alderman Frink, Boom, Justin, Lynn, and Meeker. Alderman Justin went up to the mic to tell everyone that the elected officials were hearing us loud and clear.

Most of the meeting was actually about other issues than the rumored parking changes. With the large turnout relative to how little the city seemed to be pushing for the parking change, I almost wondered if it was a trick to get dozens of people to the meeting. Leak the idea that the city wants to get rid of the basketball courts, get 50 or 60 people to show up, and then try to get them to help design a new master plan for Lindsay Park. I don't think that's what happened, but it wouldn't have been the worst idea. There were several new processes for neighborhoods around the city that were discussed, but I'd suggest watching the meeting online or on the city channel rather than me trying to paraphrase it all.

After the meeting, I was talking to someone who hadn't been involved in this kind of thing in Davenport for very long. He seemed surprised that people would think the city would spring something like this on them. I told him the story of the River Vision meetings, which drew hundreds of people with hundreds of great ideas for Davenport's riverfront. Then at the final meeting, a little red box labeled "casino hotel" appeared on the map, which hadn't been talked about at any of the previous meetings. Davenport has actually been doing much better than that since, but the problem is that the city has a long way to go to regain people's trust.

I believe Lindsay Park is safe from parking lot expansion, but try getting some folks to believe that.

City does one thing right, figures they should screw up something else instead

So, the City of Davenport resolved their problem with handicapped signs. They took the good ideas, like checking occasionally to see if the signs were still in use and needed, and dropped the bad idea of charging $40 to have them installed. It was almost like a logical compromise.

Now that one issue was solved, apparently they felt the need to fix something that's certainly not broken, which is Lindsay Park.

Changes slated for Lindsay Park -QCTimes

Basically, some of the business owners down there want to move the basketball courts, thereby paving over an area of grass near River Drive, and replace them with a larger amount of concrete, in the form of a parking lot along 11th Street. Here's an overhead image, courtesy of Live Search, of the area. Incidentally, at whatever point during the winter this was taken, there was plenty of parking available. The basketball courts are located just to the west (left) of the baseball diamond. Their new location, from what I can tell, would be just to the east (right) of the city parking lot along Mound. So they'd like to trade in some park for some parking, to save people from having to walk a block or two from a city lot, or an on street parking spot. I personally have rarely had to park more than a block from anywhere in the Village. However, unlike visitors, I know that there's parking behind some of the businesses, such as Rudys. So maybe, as Barb Ickes mentions in her take on it, all the Village needs is more signage directing people to where parking already exists.

[Edit: Colonel Davenport, making a brief appearance in the comments of the previous post, suggests somewhat of a compromise. Remove the basketball courts (entirely?) and replace them with a path leading directly from 11th street to the city parking lot along Mound.]

If you want to tell those in charge where they can stick their parking lot idea, please attend the input meeting tonight (Tuesday) at 6:30 in the Park and Rec building. This was formerly the Art Museum, and is located next to the Putnam. I'm hoping to be able to make it.

4 Years

On May 9th, 2005, I introduced myself as a guest blogger on Daily Davenport Politics, hosted by Fly on the Wall. Here I've linked to a reprint of that first post, since DDP is no more. Four years of QCI. In some ways I can't believe that I've been doing this for that long, but in other ways it feels like its been longer.

When I started, the big issue of the day was whether the casino would build a new 10 story hotel in the riverfront. If you'd asked me back then what the status of that project would be in 2009, I would have guessed it would already be open by now. Instead we have a casino that treats us like 2nd class citizens to its "main" property in Bettendorf. Coincidentally, I've evolved from an IOC-defender to someone who believes the first step to getting the most out of our gambling license is getting it away from the Isle. People really do change their opinions.

On the other hand, 4 years ago people were complaining about the skybridge and the Figge and D1, etc. Four years later they still are. My feelings on downtown Davenport haven't changed a bit in the passing years. It is the heart of Davenport, and the rest of the city won't succeed without a healthy heart. Its time for some other people to change their opinions on that.

I got in around the peak of Davenport political blogging. Fly loved getting into the nitty gritty of campaign fundraising and politics, and people loved to send him juicy tidbits. Colonel Davenport had all the inside gossip, and I was there to stir up people and invite dozens of insults. It was rowdy but productive. Aldermen, activists, and other movers and shakers of Davenport were frequent commenters. Much of that seems to have died down. I do miss seeing debates play out between rivals like Bob McGivern and Niky Bowles.

Do I ever want to hang it up and retire from the world of blogging? Sometimes. While I'm always glad that the people who have nothing to bring to a debate except insults seem to disagree with me the most, sometimes the insults and lies get old. See Cruiser's recent post for the kind of garbage rumors that people start. However, I'm a fighter, and I don't like to give in to those kind of tactics. So I stay at it because I'm stubborn, but the bigger reason I stay at this is the comments, emails, and personal contacts that have come from writing this blog. A lot of people read but don't comment, and that's ok. The words of encouragement, the occasional great debate or discussion, and the frequent emails from people outside the QC interested in visiting this great community... those are the reasons I keep writing. So thanks to all my readers. And to those who just like to start rumors or espouse negativity, I'll still be here fighting the good fight.

Drunken antics

Its always interesting what comes across the police radio in the middle of the night.

Last night, or this morning really, a car crashed into a tree near Central Park and Farnam, and then somehow managed to drive off, leaving a trail of fluids and debris. It ended up parked on Central Park near Grand. From what I could tell from the radio, the driver then got out, started walking away, and then came back and retrieved something and locked the doors before running off again.

According to the dispatcher, around this time the owner of the car called in to report his car stolen. This is pretty much standard procedure when the police have captured a car but not the criminal that drove it. Then it becomes the police who have to prove that it wasn't stolen. The officers figured they'd like to talk to the owner, who then changed his story to say that he was out of town. It sounded like they ended up getting the guy anyway though. If he was as drunk as it would seem, hopefully they lock him up for a while. He's just lucky it was just a tree that he ran over and not a kid or someone's grandmother.

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.