Last Wednesday, June 1, Davenport's City Council voted 7 to 3 to approve a $43-million development agreement between the City of Davenport and the Isle of Capri Davenport (IOCD) for the construction of an 11-story casino hotel with an attached five-story parking ramp within downtown Davenport's riverfront floodway, adjacent to Lock & Dam 15.

Aldermen Bob McGivern, Tom Englemann, Roxanna Moritz, Jamie Howard, Steve Ahrens, Barney Barnhill, and Donna Bushek voted in favor of this project despite its alarming fast track, having less than 15 days for council/public review (the completed draft agreement was presented to the council and posted on the city's Web site Wednesday evening May 18), and with a host of critical questions left unanswered and open-ended. Adlermen Ray Ambrose, Bill Lynn, and Keith Meyer voted against the resolution.

Since May 18, the agreement went through two more revisions and updates with the final version of the 111-page document being given to the council at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 1, just hours before the vote. It was not made available to the public until Friday, June 3. Obviously there was no time for elected officials, or the public for that matter, to fully review the final document that committed at least $22 million of taxpayers' money to finance the project - via a $15-million bond (of which $12 million in revenues will be sourced by the city from ramp rents and RDA funding; $3 million has no revenue stream to service debt) and a $7-million, 20-year-plus IOCD property-tax rebate.

This gross negligence on the part of City Administrator Craig Malin, City Attorney Mary Thee, Mayor Charlie Brooke, and the seven above-mentioned aldermen has put Davenport residents at unprecedented financial risk and severely increased IOCD's leverage in all future development negotiations. Beyond committing political suicide with their vote to approve this inequitable agreement, there might very well be consequences for the council beyond just losing their seats next election.

The reprehensible lack of information forthcoming during the public hearing on May 31, and again the following day on June 1, by Malin, Thee, and representatives from IOCD exposed these city employees' incompetence, and emphasized their joint disrespect for the city council and Davenport's taxpayers.

Nothing could have prepared the public for the complete lack of due diligence on the part of Malin and Mayor Brooke, who consistently misinformed the public relative to the project, or the city council, all of whom who stubbornly refused to examine myriad facts that consistently refuted IOCD's and DavenportOne's exaggerated claims of proposed benefits and inflated revenue projections.

Throughout the week before the council vote, individual aldermen were asked very specific, fundamental questions pertaining to the agreement that not a single one could answer. Throughout the process the majority of aldermen professed confusion, even frustration with the lack of information forthcoming from IOCD and Administrator Malin. Several stated on June 1 that they were aware this "contract could be better," but as Alderman McGivern put it, the council needed to vote this up based on "a little bit of contract law and some faith and hope." Alderman Howard woefully misdefined this agreement as "a work in progress." No city staffers or legal counsel piped up to remind the voting body that the contract states it is the "sum total of all agreements" and that there is no more negotiating after the vote.

No less culpable for this unfortunate predicament Davenport taxpayers face is DavenportOne, whose lobbying efforts on behalf of IOCD left Davenport residents largely misinformed as to real financial benefits and risks associated with the casino hotel expansion. DavenportOne admitted this was a "judgment" call for the council and urged the council to make a judgment in their favor rather than the taxpayers'. D1 will receive an additional $180,000 per year from this deal and recently received a $250,000 grant from the RDA. At a minimum, downtown businesses should re-examine DavenportOne's control over SSMID taxes to determine if this entity is truly fit to govern these publicly levied and collected dollars.

Fortunately for Davenport residents, the hotel expansion might yet be defeated precisely because of the location on downtown Davenport's levee. Regulatory agencies must give approval via permits to build in a national floodway. No amount of spin can change the law or the rules relative to permit specifications.

But because we cannot count on our city staff to do the work, research, or due diligence, it will be up to citizens and groups such as SmartRiverfront.com, who are at least sleeping well at night because its members did everything possible to convey the truth in informing the public, the elected officials, and the city staff. There was not a single refutation, other than platitudes, with regard to the data presented by SmartRiverfront.com debunking most of IOCD's claims relative to the hotel project. By the time the vote was taken, everyone admitted that the rationale for moving forward with the project was not because of financial gain to the city ("There's no true windfall here to the city," said McGivern ) or that taxpayers were not at some risk, or that the improvements were not going to largely benefit only the casino and that most of the improvements relative to public access and greenspace were not even in the project cost of $43 million, leaving that additional cost to taxpayers, as well.

The final reasoning for moving forward lay ultimately at the feet of a fatalistic mindset among staff and seven council members that the only alternative to a Yes vote was the "status quo." IOCD deftly refused to divulge financials for any other available hotel sites, and this staff and council let them get away with it - choosing instead to vote in a new status quo that will ultimately be used against this community again when IOCD wants to expand or alter its business operations in the future. No backbone now means no leverage later.

For a full account of the myths and

misinformation visit (http://www.Smartriverfront.com).


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