16
Aug
2005
River Vision, the joint study conducted and adopted by leaders of Rock Island and Davenport, calls for a multi-year, multi-million-dollar, bi-state effort to continue revitalizing and enhancing our respective riverfronts. Developing expanded parks, flood-friendly green space, water features, public docks, and mixed-use amenities such as housing and commercial activity will require as much as an additional $125 million, according to early estimates.
While Rock Island has taken a considerably more methodical approach (see "What's the River Vision Rush?" River Cities' Reader Issue 481, June 16-22, 2004), Davenport has tried to push some components through quickly to meet one deadline or another - Vision Iowa, Great Places, the casino hotel.
During the whole casino-hotel debacle, Mayor Charlie Brooke and Alderman Bob McGivern started a whisper campaign to build support for a proposed new private levee-development corporation that would be independent of city hall. Ostensibly that body would eliminate the need for the existing Levee Improvement Commission (which controls most of the riverfront discussed in River Vision) and in theory be able to operate leaner, meaner, and more fully funded, devoid of the "politics" that bog down big-time development projects. Fresh from a victory of giving the Isle of Capri our prime riverfront, Brooke and McGivern have since floated several variations of articles of incorporation for this new levee-development corporation that would eliminate the public process altogether, giving carte blanche authority for all development on Davenport's nine miles of publicly owned riverfront to a select few, typically composed of recycled DavenportOne officers, appointed former aldermen, and some city staff.
Thankfully there is an alternative proposal with extreme merit, one Davenport taxpayers ought to consider very closely before signing over even more keys to our riverfront to the same special interests.
Kudos to Davenport City Planner Charles Heston for the thoughtful, sensible, and public-friendly August 11 memo "Riverfront Organization." Heston, who has been a city employee since 1974 and staffed the Levee Improvement Comission and Davenport Riverfront Task Force for a combined 37 years, points out that no less than eight organizations currently exist for governance of Davenport's riverfront: the Davenport City Council (established 1836), Davenport Park (& Recreation Advisory) Board (1898), the Levee Improvement Commission (1911), River Action (1983), Davenport Riverfront Task Force (1984), Quad City Riverfront Council (1986), Riverboat Development Authority (1989), and the River Vision Coordinating Committee (2005).
Heston proposes that there is no need for yet another entity, but a reassignment of tasks among existing organizations, specifically a partnership between the city council, Levee Improvement Commission, and Davenport Riverfront Task Force (DRTF). The proposed structure of this partnership would preserve accountability and maintain transparency. It promotes the benefits of the DRTF becoming a 501(c)3 to establish privately funded partnerships and drive real development decisions, but ultimately this plan maintains the public's oversight and control of Davenport's riverfront. This is a far more desirable position for taxpayers than being feckless onlookers with no relevant representation regarding how Davenport's riverfront is developed, as Brooke and McGivern would have it, according to the proposed Davenport Levee Development Corporation articles of incorporation.
These kinds of power plays by various elected officials before the next election are getting out-of-hand. Davenport citizens allowed them to give our downtown riverfront to the bottom-feeders of economic development, casino hotels and their license holders, who arguably use their granting authority (required by law) as political juice when it suits them. It would be interesting to know how many Riverboat Development Authority grantees were solicited for support of the casino's hotel expansion, and compare current and future grants to the responses. Can you imagine how the rest of our riverfront will be developed should these same lobbyists be appointed to positions of authority and influence without public oversight?
The public had better plug the dam while it still can. We cannot in good faith claim to support our efforts abroad to secure democracies for other countries when we are unwilling to do what it takes to sustain our own rights and interests here in our own backyard. What it takes is simple: Show your support or opposition on issues by showing up at meetings, and share your beliefs with elected officials via letters, comments at public meetings, phone calls, e-mails, and one-on-one meetings. Whatever your preference or comfort level will allow, communicate with aldermen and city staff, as well as your family, neighbors, and friends about the issues. Stay informed by asking questions, especially if you are unsure of the components of an issue. And no matter what, vote.
The days of apathetic disconnect must now end. Individually, we absolutely can make a difference. It is never a done deal if you don't want it to be and feel strongly enough to stand up. This attitude of political helplessness is precisely what those who would silence debate are striving for. Making riverfront development "not so political" is really code for "reducing public process." It is healthy to demand debate on issues, and to insist on facts and representative government that reflects your values and civic vision. We are bystanders not by accident but by permission.
Both levee-related documents are online: Heston's memo here and the proposed articles of incorporation here. Supposedly DavenportOne is preparing yet another proposal to counter Heston's concepts, and we are hopeful such a document will be forthcoming to the public when it is completed.
The next joint city-council/Levee Improvement Commission meeting will be held on Monday, August 22, at 5 p.m. in council chambers.
While Rock Island has taken a considerably more methodical approach (see "What's the River Vision Rush?" River Cities' Reader Issue 481, June 16-22, 2004), Davenport has tried to push some components through quickly to meet one deadline or another - Vision Iowa, Great Places, the casino hotel.
During the whole casino-hotel debacle, Mayor Charlie Brooke and Alderman Bob McGivern started a whisper campaign to build support for a proposed new private levee-development corporation that would be independent of city hall. Ostensibly that body would eliminate the need for the existing Levee Improvement Commission (which controls most of the riverfront discussed in River Vision) and in theory be able to operate leaner, meaner, and more fully funded, devoid of the "politics" that bog down big-time development projects. Fresh from a victory of giving the Isle of Capri our prime riverfront, Brooke and McGivern have since floated several variations of articles of incorporation for this new levee-development corporation that would eliminate the public process altogether, giving carte blanche authority for all development on Davenport's nine miles of publicly owned riverfront to a select few, typically composed of recycled DavenportOne officers, appointed former aldermen, and some city staff.
Thankfully there is an alternative proposal with extreme merit, one Davenport taxpayers ought to consider very closely before signing over even more keys to our riverfront to the same special interests.
Kudos to Davenport City Planner Charles Heston for the thoughtful, sensible, and public-friendly August 11 memo "Riverfront Organization." Heston, who has been a city employee since 1974 and staffed the Levee Improvement Comission and Davenport Riverfront Task Force for a combined 37 years, points out that no less than eight organizations currently exist for governance of Davenport's riverfront: the Davenport City Council (established 1836), Davenport Park (& Recreation Advisory) Board (1898), the Levee Improvement Commission (1911), River Action (1983), Davenport Riverfront Task Force (1984), Quad City Riverfront Council (1986), Riverboat Development Authority (1989), and the River Vision Coordinating Committee (2005).
Heston proposes that there is no need for yet another entity, but a reassignment of tasks among existing organizations, specifically a partnership between the city council, Levee Improvement Commission, and Davenport Riverfront Task Force (DRTF). The proposed structure of this partnership would preserve accountability and maintain transparency. It promotes the benefits of the DRTF becoming a 501(c)3 to establish privately funded partnerships and drive real development decisions, but ultimately this plan maintains the public's oversight and control of Davenport's riverfront. This is a far more desirable position for taxpayers than being feckless onlookers with no relevant representation regarding how Davenport's riverfront is developed, as Brooke and McGivern would have it, according to the proposed Davenport Levee Development Corporation articles of incorporation.
These kinds of power plays by various elected officials before the next election are getting out-of-hand. Davenport citizens allowed them to give our downtown riverfront to the bottom-feeders of economic development, casino hotels and their license holders, who arguably use their granting authority (required by law) as political juice when it suits them. It would be interesting to know how many Riverboat Development Authority grantees were solicited for support of the casino's hotel expansion, and compare current and future grants to the responses. Can you imagine how the rest of our riverfront will be developed should these same lobbyists be appointed to positions of authority and influence without public oversight?
The public had better plug the dam while it still can. We cannot in good faith claim to support our efforts abroad to secure democracies for other countries when we are unwilling to do what it takes to sustain our own rights and interests here in our own backyard. What it takes is simple: Show your support or opposition on issues by showing up at meetings, and share your beliefs with elected officials via letters, comments at public meetings, phone calls, e-mails, and one-on-one meetings. Whatever your preference or comfort level will allow, communicate with aldermen and city staff, as well as your family, neighbors, and friends about the issues. Stay informed by asking questions, especially if you are unsure of the components of an issue. And no matter what, vote.
The days of apathetic disconnect must now end. Individually, we absolutely can make a difference. It is never a done deal if you don't want it to be and feel strongly enough to stand up. This attitude of political helplessness is precisely what those who would silence debate are striving for. Making riverfront development "not so political" is really code for "reducing public process." It is healthy to demand debate on issues, and to insist on facts and representative government that reflects your values and civic vision. We are bystanders not by accident but by permission.
Both levee-related documents are online: Heston's memo here and the proposed articles of incorporation here. Supposedly DavenportOne is preparing yet another proposal to counter Heston's concepts, and we are hopeful such a document will be forthcoming to the public when it is completed.
The next joint city-council/Levee Improvement Commission meeting will be held on Monday, August 22, at 5 p.m. in council chambers.
