The e-mail query was direct, but the phrasing was careless: "I'm working on an article on making a living as an artist ... ," it began.

The response from writer Maureen Wallner came within half an hour: "Making a living," she wrote. "That's funny. If we count fulfillment, I'm a wealthy lady."

Less sarcastically, photographer Jack Wilhoit said: "I don't know any artist ... who is making a living selling their own art."

The grand opening of the Fourth Street Lofts at 320 East Fourth Street in Davenport on Tuesday, January 23, marked the latest addition to central-city housing in the Historic Crescent Warehouse District. Developed by the Alexander Company of Madison, Wisconsin, the Fourth Street Lofts feature amenities - such as polished concrete floors, exposed brick walls, expansive, open floor plans, and large windows - that provide an urban housing experience in downtown Davenport. The first phase of Crescent Lofts Master Development, the Davenport Lofts, was completed in 2005 at a cost of $12.3 million and features 73 apartments. The total cost for the rehabilitation of the Fourth Street Lofts was $10.5 million. For more information, look at (http://www.crescentlofts.com) or call (563) 323-1871.

For the new Davenport police headquarters, building green is a simple matter of economics. "Saving money was the main motivation," said Charles Heston, a project manager in the city's Community & Economic Development Department.

Among its features, the under-construction building will be heated with geothermal energy; some lighting will be automatically adjusted based on daylight; other lighting will be controlled by occupancy censors; and a "green roof" with soil and plants will prevent rainwater from running off into storm sewers and provide additional insulation.

There are three significant positions to be filled in Davenport's economic development in the near-future: City Director for Economic and Community Director, Director for DavenportOne, and Director for Quad Cities Development Group.

Talk about the opportunity of a lifetime! Here is a chance to enact real change in Davenport, considered by some to be the flagship of the Quad Cities. Those who will influence our new hires will either see the path or they won't - the path being to hire individuals with genuine leadership skills that are foundationally inclusive, versus the exclusive policy that has dominated economic development in Davenport for so long.