Saturday, November 8, 2008

Upcoming Meeting

I will be hosting a meeting on Thursday, November 13 at the Davenport Public Works building from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. The building is located on the corner of E. 46th St. and Tremont Ave.

All 6th Ward residents are welcome. Agenda items include the 46th Street traffic calming project, neighborhood safety, and the introduction of our new Parks Director, Seve Gohse. There will be time available for residents to ask questions on any city topic.

Sincerely,
Jeff Justin
6th Ward Alderman
City of Davenport

Friday, October 17, 2008

Upcoming Meeting

I will be hosting a meeting on Tuesday, October 21st at the Duck Creek Lodge for 6th Ward residents that were impacted by storm/sanitary sewer overflows. The target area is along Duck Creek, and includes E. 28th Ct., E. 29th Ct., George Washington Blvd., and Forest Road. Engineering staff from Public Works will be on hand to gather information from residents to use in planning infrastructure repairs and upgrades. The meeting begins at 6pm.

Sincerely,
Jeff Justin
Davenport City Council

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

6th Ward Meeting - April 30th

I will be hosting a meeting for Davenport's 6th Ward residents at 6:00p.m., Wednesday, April 30th at the Duck Creek Park Lodge. City staff and other elected officials will be on hand to answer questions. I hope you will be able to attend.

Sincerely,
Jeff Justin
Davenport 6th Ward Alderman

Monday, March 31, 2008

Military Appreciation Week and our Youth

The Quad Cities will be celebrating Military Appreciation Week to honor our military men and women the week of May 11 - 17. A proclamation will be signed by all Mayors on April 8th at a Quad City Chamber event.

Alderman Matson and I, along with the Rock Island Arsenal Task Force and area Chambers of Commerce are working on the details for the week. The Quad City River Bandits will kick off the week by offering 1/2 price tickets to the 1:00pm game on May 11th to military personnel and their families. The Military All-Star baseball team may play a 5-inning exhibition game following the River Bandits (possibly sponsored by Genesis Health Systems).

Military personnel will also receive free bus service and discounted golf in Davenport, and a proclamation will also be signed at an upcoming Davenport City Council Meeting. In addition, the area chambers are working on additional discounts with their members and other special events. You may see banners throughout the Quad Cities promoting the event. Please stay tuned and plan on supporting our military men and women the week of May 11-17, and always.

The Davenport City Council will also be honoring our youth at upcoming meetings. The Assumption girls state-champion basketball team will be honored on April 9th and the Davenport Central boys state-runnerup basketball team is tentatively scheduled to be honored on April 23rd. In addition, Council members have discussed having high school student council representatives take part in our meetings. The Mayor and Aldermen feel it's important to recognize our youth, the future of our great city.

Please stay tuned for upcoming news releases about these events.

Sincerely,

Jeff Justin
Davenport 6th Ward Alderman

Monday, February 18, 2008

Ward Meeting/Washington DC Lobbying Trip

Thanks to all who attended the ward meeting. I'd also like to thank Aldermen Frink, Meeker, Lynn, Barnhill, and the city staff who were available to answer questions. I've received many positive comments about the meeting.

Over 75 Quad City business and community leaders were in Washington DC last week to lobby for projects important to the area. In meetings with federal representatives, we discussed Amtrak Rail Service, the NW Sewer Diversion Tunnel, Centennial Park, the Arsenal, and others. It was my first trip to DC and I thought the trip was positive. Although federal funds are limited (as are ours) it is important that we stay in touch with our Senate and House representatives so we are considered for allocations.

Today we attempted to travel to Des Moines for the Iowa Great Places signing. We made it a few miles past Iowa City, however returned due to road conditions. We counted over 80 vehicles in the ditch between Davenport and the Oxford exit. Hopefully, there were no injuries. Please use caution on the roads.

Sincerely,
Jeff

Thursday, January 24, 2008

6th Ward Meeting

There will be a meeting to review the city budget on Thursday, February 7th at 6:00pm at the Genesis East Heart Institute on Rusholme. The city finance department will be on hand with a PowerPoint presentation and will be available to answer questions. Alderman Lynn, Frink, & Meeker will also be attending. Please plan on joining us.

Sincerely,
Jeff

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Ward Meetings-Other Activity

Yesterday I attended 1st Ward Alderman Nathan Brown's ward meeting. Good discussion on a variety of topics. Good attendance as well. Thanks Nate for allowing me to attend.

Ian Frink, Bill Lynn, and I will be hosting a budget meeting for the public (presented by our Finance Department) in early February at the Genesis Heart Institute. Details will be posted here, and published in the media. I also plan to hold a 6th ward meeting in the near future.

I met with Levee Commission Director Steve Ahrens on Thursday and received updates on riverfront activity. I also stopped by the Freighthouse on Saturday after Nate's meeting. Good to see some positive developments there. I think it's going to be a welcome change to that facility.

I also attended the Village of East Davenport Board meeting last week. Nice to see merchants in that area working together. I plan to stay actively involved with the group as they develop plans for their future.

On a side note, I attended the "First in the Nation Report" on workforce skills at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids on Friday. The Iowa City/Cedar Rapids community has done work-key assessments of a sample of the labor force in their area. They are using that information to help lure potential businesses. I asked the President of the college if they would be willing to share their study methodology with the eastern part of the state. He said "absolutely". This is a great example of business, education, and economic development officials working together to be proactive in addressing our workforce shortage. I have shared the study results with Eastern Iowa Community College, Davenport and Bettendorf Chamber and Economic Development leaders. I hope we can do something similar in our area.

Sincerely,
Jeff

Monday, January 7, 2008

Goal Setting & Meeting Change

The Council voted tonight to combine the 4 committee meetings and the Committee of the Whole meeting. The vote was taken during our goal setting meeting.

The combined meeting will be held on alternate Wednesdays @ 5:30. This will allow more public participation in the committee meetings (previously held on Thursday afternoon when many people are working). In addition, all alderman will now attend all committee meetings. As a result, alderman will be better informed earlier in the process, and city staff can attend one meeting instead of 5 leaving more time to serve our citizens. The City Council meeting will be held on the alternate Wednesday @ 5:30.

In discussing our present meeting structure with citizens, many were confused about the committee meetings and were unable to attend due to work schedules. This change will help. The Council voted during the goal setting process so we can start the new meeting structure immediately.

Proud to Serve

I appreciate the opportunity to serve the citizens of the 6th Ward and the City of Davenport. I look forward to great things during the next two years and will use this site for updates and communications. Feel free to share your ideas and vision for our great city.