At Thursday's meeting of the Davenport Community & Economic Development Committee, developer THF Realty of St. Louis provided the city council with documents that should allow the construction of a Super Wal-Mart at Elmore Avenue and 53rd Street to proceed.
As the Davenport City Council nears its final consideration of a financing mechanism to pay for road improvements for a Super Wal-Mart store at 53rd Street and Elmore Avenue, there are plenty of reasons to take a hard look at the issues.
East Moline • About 70 percent of the Quarter re-development project in East Moline is cleaned up and ready, but East Moline Mayor Bill Ward said it needs money and building-specifications to continue.
Since losing the contract to run Davenport's bus system at the end of 2000, MetroLINK has begun to aggressively expand its services, and planned bus routes to rural areas and nearby college towns could be just the first step.
Moline • After a judge struck down the city's truancy ordinance in February, Moline has been unable to prosecute people who skip school. A new truancy ordinance - one that capped at 18 the age at which one could be prosecuted for being absent from school - was offered for consideration on first reading at the city council's April 10 meeting.
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.

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