The Floods of 2008

With the flood waters receeding, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of those who helped with the flood. There have been those saying that it is the city's workers job and they don't need thanks. The way I see it is, yes it is their job, but they were not "just doing their job." They went above and beyond what is expected of them and seeing the numbers of volunteers out of a city of 100,000, had they "just done their job" we all would be a lot worse off. At the same time had the volunteers not helped, we very well might be in the same predicament. It is when residents and city employees work together that we can accomplish great things. Was everything done perfectly? No. I do feel though that we were successful in fighting back the fifth largest flood in recorded history and the largest rainfall in 4 hours. What we need to do now is objectively look at what could have been done better and what was done just right.

A couple of things.....

Fejervary Zoo, Here is what we as a council saw in terms of budget decisions, which is where it was presented. Current annual cost $146,000, attendance 23,000+, annual intake approx. $30,000, final cost $116,000 to keep it running as is. The question was put to us do we hire a full time curator at an additional $35,000(I believe). Now I have taken my kids there and they enjoyed it in the past, personally I felt that it could be done better. Where is our niche? Are exotic animals a niche when Niabi has more and is still fairly close? I feel that we can concentrate our efforts on a different niche, revitalize that area, and bring more people in without having alter the character of Mother Goose land. Some thoughts that were tossed out were a better petting zoo, a dog park area, an environmental learning center, and more. How do we get the most for our money? 2101 Main St. / Henry Duetsch House There has been a lot of discussion on this topic and I just want to express my thought process. Here is an old building that may or may not be historic depending on who you ask. The owner doesn't want it. The HPC won't let them tear it down. The one thing I don't want to see is demoliton by neglect. There is too much of that now. It should not matter who is proposing what and past history when it comes to make the decision. The council has made the decision to permit demoltion after a stay of 60 days to allow Ald. Boom to work with St. Paul's to try and find an alternative to demolition. It is my hope that Ald. Boom is able to find a benefactor willing to pony up the cash to move and restore the house. What if the city took the house and moved it? Would you as taxpayers want the city to save this house? I hope a couple of things happen. If the building cannot be saved, that the church works with the HPC to salvage as much from the building to be used in restoring other houses. That the council looks at the HPC and tries to see if there is a better way to work with owners of historic homes in helping them to restore old homes to avoid demolition by neglect and or machine. Right now it feels that (and maybe I am wrong, correct me please if so) the HPC just passes judgement and lets the owner try and make the lemonade out of lemons. I understand their charge of preservation, but I feel the city should be taking a more active role. Finally, the budget, we are taking at least half a dozen opportunities (which I believe is three times more than last year) to discuss various issues and the thing I like to see the most is the amount of questions being asked. I feel the council as a whole has no problem with asking the tough questions and making sure we are getting our moneys worth in decisions being made.

Davenport Promise...

I do believe the Davenport Promise is a great idea THEORETICALLY. I don't agree with the funding proposal at this time however. There are some questions that I need to see answered. Questions like: What are they showing as the projections for the increasing cost of education? Would the L.O.S.T. even be enough to make sure this is a long term program? Is there a way, like the U promise company, that we can obtain funds from companies not from the QCA? If the Davenport School system does get the influx of students they are expecting, then there is an increase in funding provided from the state. What is their long term goal for this money? What happens if the current L.O.S.T. is not enough? Is it possible to make it a forgivable loan instead? Say after graduation, being asked to live in Davenport for five years, upon which the loan is forgiven. Iowa currently has something similar with interest rates being fixed at a favorable rate for first time homebuyers. I think this might help prevent the brain drain that Iowa is currently experiencing. These and other questions are why I am in support of putting together a commision to iron out details to make this a success. What questions do you have?