Local theatre organization

1. Circa '21

2. Quad City Music Guild

3. Comedy Sportz

 

Local theatre production

1. Cats (Circa '21)

2. White Christmas (Circa '21)

3. Grease (Circa '21)

3. It's a Wonderful Life (Quad City Music Guild)

3. The Nutcracker (Ballet Quad Cities)

 

Annual family event/festival

1. Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Fest

On Tuesday, February 13, the Illinois Housing Development Authority awarded $1.08 million to Rock Island Economic Growth Corporation for the HOME program. The award was scheduled to be presented at 1224 26th Avenue in Rock Island, the home of Dan Cibulka - a previous participant in the organization's home-buyer program. This is the largest single amount of HOME funding for the home-buyers' purchase and renovation program ever awarded to a sponsor in the state of Illinois. This is the seventh phase of funding for Rock Island Economic Growth Corporation.

 

Reader issue #619 The history of passenger rail in the Quad Cities illustrates just how capricious - and divorced from rational decision-making - business and politics can be.

The Quad Cities lack rail service not necessarily because of a lack of demand, but because of a long-forgotten business decision.

proposed railway map Passenger rail to the Quad Cities is part of a larger discussion about how a community moves its people. While our transportation policy most often focuses on how to move automobiles from one place to another, alternative transportation has frequently been ignored.

That's shifting. An aging population, traffic congestion, air-travel hassles, high fuel prices, and concern about global warming have all sparked renewed interest in mass-transit options such as passenger rail (getting from city to city) and commuter rail (transportation within a city).

After hearing a presentation by Superintendent Jim Spelhaug at its monthly board meeting, the Bettendorf Chamber of Commerce voted to support the proposed renewal of the Pleasant Valley Community School District Physical Plant & Equipment Levy (PPEL). The vote on renewal takes place on February 13. The Bettendorf Chamber's support was based on trends showing substantial residential growth within the district over the long-term, resulting in increasing enrollment. Such trends increase the need for the PPEL fund. PPEL is used to maintain buildings and grounds; to complete remodeling projects; to purchase or lease technology, vehicles, and equipment; and to support major capital-improvement projects such as building additions or new facilities.

 

Reader issue #618 Traditional campaign-finance reform involves contribution limits, but nobody thinks they've made a dent in the role of money in politics. Candidates who must comply with contribution limits don't seem any less beholden to special interests than other politicians.

But a new type of election reform is gaining popularity around the country, and it's likely to make some headway in Iowa during this year's legislative session. While "clean elections" - publicly financed political campaigns - probably won't pass the state legislature this year, there's a good chance they'll make it farther than ever.

At a community meeting on Friday hosted by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, an official from the Illinois Department of Transportation said that the state will soon make a formal request to Amtrak to study the possibility of bringing commuter train service to the Quad Cities. At the meeting at Rock Island's Abbey Station, Ray Lang (Amtrak's senior director of government affairs) said that Amtrak is aiming to double its ridership by 2020. Lang further said that commuter train service could start in the Quad Cities in as little as two years if Amtrak approves it.

 

The grand opening of the Fourth Street Lofts at 320 East Fourth Street in Davenport on Tuesday, January 23, marked the latest addition to central-city housing in the Historic Crescent Warehouse District. Developed by the Alexander Company of Madison, Wisconsin, the Fourth Street Lofts feature amenities - such as polished concrete floors, exposed brick walls, expansive, open floor plans, and large windows - that provide an urban housing experience in downtown Davenport. The first phase of Crescent Lofts Master Development, the Davenport Lofts, was completed in 2005 at a cost of $12.3 million and features 73 apartments. The total cost for the rehabilitation of the Fourth Street Lofts was $10.5 million. For more information, look at (http://www.crescentlofts.com) or call (563) 323-1871.

 

Reader issue #616Buildings are definitely energy hogs. The SUV is the environmental bad-boy symbol, but buildings consume more energy than cars and trucks. It's estimated that commercial and residential buildings in the U.S. consume 65 percent of all electricity, as well as 12 percent of drinkable water and 40 percent of all raw materials, according to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an international organization that is expected in early 2008 to release a report evaluating green building in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

For the new Davenport police headquarters, building green is a simple matter of economics. "Saving money was the main motivation," said Charles Heston, a project manager in the city's Community & Economic Development Department.

Among its features, the under-construction building will be heated with geothermal energy; some lighting will be automatically adjusted based on daylight; other lighting will be controlled by occupancy censors; and a "green roof" with soil and plants will prevent rainwater from running off into storm sewers and provide additional insulation.

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