The Beaux Arts Fair will be held at its new location on the Figge plaza on Saturday, September 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, September 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fair features 73 exhibitors from several states working in painting, drawing, printmaking, weaving, jewelry, and crafts. Admission is free to the fair and to the Figge during that weekend. There will be a children's activities tent, and concessions will be sold. For more information, visit BeauxArtsFair.com.

 

On Wednesday, August 27, the LST-325, a World War II amphibious vessel, will dock in the Quad Cities around 10 a.m. Forty-five-minute self-guided tours of the ship will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Thursday, August 28, to Tuesday, September 2. The ship will dock on the Mississippi River along Ben Butterworth Parkway at River Drive and 25th Street in Moline. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children six to 18, $20 for families, and free for children under six. For more information on the Ship, visit LSTMemorial.org.

 

Noted urban planner Jeff Speck - the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl & the Decline of the American Dream - will be visiting Davenport through August 14 and will present his ideas for revitalizing downtown Davenport on Thursday in the Deere Auditorium of the Figge Art Museum. The one-hour presentation will begin at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a meet-and-greet. There is no charge to attend, and the Figge galleries will be open to lecture attendees. "In Thrall of Sprawl," an article about Speck, was published in the River Cities' Reader on July 3, 2007.

 

Due to a production error, page 25 in the August 6, 2008, edition of the Reader was reprinted from a previous issue. As a result, the published calendar, Red Meat cartoon, crossword answers, and City Shorts column were incorrect.

The correct page 25 can be downloaded or viewed here.

Reader #697 In title and in summary, the Clean Water Restoration Act sounds benign enough.

But Dan Parmeter, executive director of the Minnesota-based American Property Coalition, calls it "the biggest federal power grab probably in the history of the country."

The Davenport Public Library is moving forward with plans for an Eastern Avenue Library, to be located at 60th Street and Eastern Avenue in the northeast section of the city. If you would like to share your thoughts, contact Library Director LaWanda Roudebush at (563) 326-7837 or email at (lroudebush@davenportlibrary.com).

 

Davenport has been awarded $2.3 million under the Department of Housing & Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships programs. The $1.7 million awarded to HOME will provide formula grants to fund a wide range of activities that build, buy, and rehabilitate affordable housing for rent or ownership or provide direct assistance to low-income people. The $644,670 awarded to CDBG will be used develop viable communities by providing housing and a suitable living environment and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income.

 

The State Library of Iowa has announced that the Davenport Public Library has met the conditions for state accreditation. Of Iowa's 543 public libraries, 331 - including the Davenport Public Library - are accredited. The Davenport library has been recognized for its efforts in all areas of library administration, including governance and funding; staffing; library collection; services; public relations; and access and facilities. The accreditation is valid through June 30, 2011. Accredited libraries receive a higher rate of compensation through the State Library of Iowa's Enrich Iowa/Direct State Aid program.

 

Reader issue #693 After voters cast their ballots, they think they've voted for the candidates of their choice; they take their "I voted" stickers and await the outcome.

But not all votes get counted. In a 2006 election in Sarasota, Florida, the votes of more than 18,000 people who went to the polls never made it into the final tallies.

On Wednesday, July 23, a team of cyclists participating in the "Journey of Hope" will arrive in Davenport as part of a nine-week, 4,000-mile cycling event across the country to raise funds and awareness for people with disabilities. The team expects to arrive in the afternoon and then have dinner and a friendship visit, with details to be determined, at 4:30 p.m. The Journey of Hope is a program of Push America, the national philanthropy of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, which raises funds and awareness for people with disabilities. The Journey of Hope team consists of men from Pi Kappa Phi chapters across the country. The team will cycle an average of 75 miles per day, beginning in San Francisco and ending in Washington, DC, on August 16. For more information about this event or more on Push America's summer programs, contact Adam Phillips at (704) 504-2400 extension 160 or visit (http://www.pushamerica.org).

 

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