Part two of two The press conference last month announcing Davenport's completion of an application to the Vision Iowa program was filled with bold statements. In explaining the name River Renaissance, Davenport Community and Economic Development Director Clayton Lloyd invoked the Renaissance of the 14th and 15th centuries.
Davenport • County Attorney Bill Davis, legal counsel for Mike Meloy, has asked the city council to consider a settlement agreement in executive session after the regular council meeting (4/4) to avoid litigation over the untimely, unprofessional, and highly controversial dismissal of Mike Meloy as city attorney.
If you believe the hype, the futures of entire communities hinge on decisions that will be made in the coming months. For the past year, the board of the state's Vision Iowa program has set rules and procedures and reviewed applications for a big pile of state money that was set aside last year for projects to boost tourism and improve quality of life.
Rock Island • At a study session on March 26, the Rock Island City Council received a report from the Sylvan Slough Task Force, which is charged with updating a 1989 plan for the area. The new report recommends, among other things, expansion of the Quad City Botanical Center to the area just east of Government Bridge for a children's garden; development of the Sylvan Slough as a "naturalized exhibit (river and woods) and an extension of the Botanical Center"; creation of a "railroad museum" along the Iowa Interstate and Burlington Northern railroad yards; development of a "public access site to the river" in the industrial area behind and to the east of the QCIC plant; and creation of a baseball stadium for Augustana College between 5th and 6th avenues and 39th and 40th streets.
In the last decade, arguments have come forward in support of living wages versus minimum wages. In unprecedented economic growth, wage earners are not realizing personal economic growth as they should. Many things contribute to this, including government subsidies, global competition, and foreign-trade policies, to name only a few of the things that cause the equation to become unbalanced.
Over the last decade our economy has grown dramatically. In the face of such prosperity, we have a just and reasonable duty to ask how well our nation's wealth reaches the working families who have helped build this robust economy.
In Davenport: Community Development Committee (Thursday, March 1, 4pm): • First Consideration of two petitions on the Consent Agenda being considered from THF Reality for rezoning of 37.
At a public hearing on February 5, three people pleaded with the members of the Davenport City Council to grant funding to the Youth Alternative Program. "We keep young people off the streets, out of trouble," said Ida Johnson of Family Services' Youth Alternative Program.
During last week's council cycle, Davenport Adlermen Wayne Hean and Roland Caldwell introduced amendments to the city's two ordinances that govern business licensing and zoning for adult entertainment. According to Alderman Hean, "The motivation behind these amendments has been to eradicate the ancillary criminal activities that tend to proliferate in neighborhoods where adult entertainment businesses are located, such as drug dealing and prostitution.
A $25 million class-action civil-rights lawsuit filed by three African Americans against the City of Rock Island faces an uphill battle in court, according to people familiar with similar challenges. On January 18, three men filed a class-action lawsuit seeking $25 million in damages and asking the federal district court to overturn a Rock Island city ordinance forbidding drivers from playing their car stereos loudly.

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