We’ve been quiet about local politics lately, so we thought we’d do
a post on the subject. We are sad to announce that the zoo is dead. It
has joined our good friend, Common Sense, who died of neglect here
several years ago.
The zoo is gone, to be replaced with a handicapped-accessable Ecopark
at a future date. Funny how when Credit Island first opened, it was a
nature park with walking trails and wildlife running all over. Then
came the needed amenities; the roads, the golf course, the clubhouse,
the tennis courts and restrooms. And the wildlife all but disappeared.
Then at Fejervary Park we had Monkey Island and a zoo. The monkeys
left first, we think they’re in a bar in Panama trying to figure out
Midwesterners. And now the zoo is going to close, and the wildlife is
going to disappear.
Since it passed our City Council, and the Mayor was all for it, we
have a question or two. The most obvious is; how much is it going to
cost us? Since the city claims it doesn’t have the couple-hundred-
thousand dollars to restore the zoo; is the Ecopark going to be less
money? We notice nobody was willing to put a price tag on this
wonderful destination of the future. Or do we wait until an exploritory
committee is formed and comes up with a total.
We’re not even sure what an Ecopark is, or why we need one to bring
people here. We figured we’d help the city out and give them a starting
figure. We’d guess the total to rehab will run $1.4 million.
we believe this to be an accurate, low end, figure. Depending on the
number, and quality of amenities, it could go higher.
We would suggest our City Leaders take care of other things first-
1. Look into how to bring our population back up to what it was 25
years ago. For those who wear rose-colored-glasses; population growth
measured in tenths of a percent is not growth, it is stagnation. We
would like to see Davenport with a bigger population than Cedar Rapids.
We did years ago.
2. Do damage control on the perception that crime is rampant in our
city. Just stating we have a ‘zero tolerance on crime’ is not enough.
We’d like to know what has been implimented to make it happen. Doesn’t
zero tolerance imply that if you commit a crime you will get some sort
of consequence for you actions?
3. Get busy and repair the potholes. It should be budgeted for some
streets to be repaved completely as opposed to patched. The streets
aren’t going to get better on their own.
4. Tighten up, or at least clarify some of your actions. Contract sales
of houses comes to mind. Are there people slipping through the cracks
and renting? When is a rent to own, a contract sale? And do we have
anyone who looks for fraud?
That’s our little extra rant of the day. Comments on our opinion, or
anything else are welcome.
June 6, 2008 at 9:16 am
Late in 2003, while walking in the neighborhood, I had a conversation with a Lutheran minister who had been working for five years in an outreach facility church on East Sixth in Davenport. The minister was set to leave the United States of America for England.
He shared with me that the real focus of this outreach ministry on East Sixth was to work with one particular large family in attempt to change their behavior through religion.
“Get them into church first and the needed behavior change will follow.” After a half a decade of trying he was leaving town.
Think about this conversation everytime I read about Kirk, Hill, Drew-Peoples and da Judge.
June 6, 2008 at 9:40 am
It is amazing how many cars going south on Division stay in the middle lane, as there is so many potholes in the right lane that it feels like driving on a washboard.
When you get down to 5 points, there are chunks of cement that have popped out, and public works hasn’t swept them up in weeks. The streets around the Imax are full of gravel and trash and don`t look like they’ve been swept yet this year.
June 6, 2008 at 1:04 pm
D-19,
Thanks for sharing. We still can’t figure out people who think that church is the answer for any problem. At least the minister had enough sense to move on.
anonymous,
We’ve seen that and more. Perhaps it’s our City Leaders way of helping us save gas. After all, you don’t use as much gas at 20mph as you do at 35mph.
June 8, 2008 at 5:24 pm
The roads are crappy all over the upper midwest. Some of you act like Davenport has way worse roads than other places. Um, you know that terrible winter that destroyed our roads? Um yeah, they got that in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, too.
The zoo was a tough situation. The one thing that was clear was that it could not continue in its current state. My feeling is that the eco park will have a higher initial investment than bringing the zoo up to better standards, but will cost less to maintain. It aint cheap to care for animals.
June 8, 2008 at 6:08 pm
pioneer98,
You make a point about the roads, but we were thinking along the lines of the pot holes should be fixed by June. Some of them that are bad are that way because they weren’t fixed right last year either. We think the eco park would be cheaper to maintain, we just don’t see it as a better destination than a small zoo. We’re probably just living in the 60’s again.