It never ceases to amaze and inspire me that Davenport, for all its troubles, has real civic heroes living among us. This time it is Bill Ashton of Ashton Engineering with his well-established experience in riverfront development to caution the City of Davenport against the Isle of Capri's proposed 11-story casino hotel on downtown Davenport's riverfront, between Brady and Perry Streets, south of River Drive.
What does it say about Davenport's city council when three senior citizens, who have been active participants at its bi-weekly meetings for many years, are compelled to file a lawsuit in protest of the council's runaway spending, asking the court to intervene, barring any further action until the new council was seated on January 2? On December 9, plaintiffs I.
It was disheartening last week to see the East Moline city council so eager for jobs that it lost all common sense and self-respect. On December 19 - just six days before Christmas and after less than three weeks of public deliberation - the council voted unanimously to approve a development agreement with Triumph Foods, which plans to build a $135-million hog-processing facility in the city.
The City of Davenport's Vision Statement reads, in part, that the city aims to provide "the best possible services through open communication and mutual support." The assumption is that this applies to the city council, staff, and the public.
Once again, residents of Davenport demonstrated their disgraceful lack of patriotism with a pathetic 18-percent voter turnout for the November 8 city-council election. For those who did not bother to vote this time, keep your complaints to yourself from here on out.
I'll say it again: By casting your vote in next Tuesday's election (November 8), you contribute to enlarging the political playing field for future elections. What this does is force the candidates to deal with a broader range of issues that more accurately reflects the public's concerns.
Navigating the City of Davenport's Web site (http://www.cityofdavenportiowa.com) for basic information is not without its challenges. It appears to be selectively filtered and purposely obscure.
As we compiled the calendar listings and stories relating to what lies ahead this fall for the arts in our communities, we couldn't help but pause to comment on how stellar the summer has been for the arts in the Quad Cities.
River Vision, the joint study conducted and adopted by leaders of Rock Island and Davenport, calls for a multi-year, multi-million-dollar, bi-state effort to continue revitalizing and enhancing our respective riverfronts.
I recently invested in a comprehensive Oxford English Dictionary and have been reacquainting myself with words whose traditional meanings and usage might have been lost, or at least grossly distorted within modern-day politics.

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