Category: After Action Report - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

"Common Ground" fill screening - After Action Report

10/10/2024

Common Ground film screening with panel presentation - After Action Report

Environmental Forum
The Environmental Forum, along with the St. Ambrose Sustainability Committee, Citizens Climate Lobby, and ROCO films presented Common Ground to the community at the Rogalski Center on September 25th. This event was well attended with over 70 participants. The moderator was the President of the Green Life student group, Paige Magistrelli. The panel was comprised of Ann Wolf, Monte Bottoms and Robb Ewoldt, although Mr. Bottoms was only able to send a written message due to a family emergency. They discussed how they viewed the content of the film, how regenerative ag practices impact their own farming, and the issues they have encountered that make it difficult to be completely engaged in those practices. Thank you to the co-sponsors of this event.

Lori McCollum

12th Annual Picnic and Pie Auction - After Action Report

9/9/2024

12th Annual Picnic (Potluck) and Pie Auction - After Action Report

PACG Picnic Committee

Sunday, September 8th, was a beautiful day for a picnic! Sixty-five people attended the 12th annual PACG Picnic and Pie auction this year. Instead of having the event catered, people brought dishes to share ranging from delicious casseroles to interesting salads and deserts.

After everyone had a chance to eat, the Issue Forum leaders gave descriptions of what they had been doing during the past year. Although their presentations were brief, they described the wide range of endeavors that the PACG Issue Forums undertake. It's really quite amazing what a group of dedicated people can accomplish!

Many delicious pies, along with a very good looking quiche, some over-the-moon caramel apples, a couple of beautiful bouquets of flowers, and Julie Ross's famous homemade caramels were all donated to be auctioned off! And Jen Broders ran the pie auction like the professional that she is!

We were delighted to have several newcomers this year, and they were made to feel welcome by everyone. Overall, we had a lot of fun, shared a lot of information and stories, and we consider the picnic to have been quite a success! We will continue to add more pictures to this blog post.

We hope to see all those who couldn't attend this year at our 13th Annual Picnic & Pie Auction in 2025.

Caryn Unsicker
PACG President

Bridge Builder Training - After Action Report

7/20/2024

Bridge Builder Training - After Action Report

Board of Directors

We were very pleased with the Community Connect Bridge Builders training offered by Vision Leads on Sunday, July 14th. This training was geared toward volunteers who want to interact directly with residents during our efforts to increase voter turn out. The training had great attendance from PACG as well as other organizations in our community that have adopted different precincts. The presentation was helpful and informative.

We now understand what resources will be offered to us and are excited to be working with Vision Leads. Our experienced door-knockers expressed great satisfaction with how we are being led to turn out the vote in our adopted precinct, D44 in Davenport.

If you missed the in-person training and want to work face-to-face with voters in our precinct, there will be another virtual training on Wednesday, July 24th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. Please register here for the training. If you would like to work with voters but cannot attend that training either, please email us to let us know. You can still help in this effort!

If you have not already joined one of our Volunteer Teams, you can still do it! Sign up from this PACG blog post by contacting the respective Team Leader. You can join more than one team.

Democracy in the Balance - After Action Report

7/6/2024

Democracy in the Balance Community Gatherings - After Action Report

Board of Directors

We were very pleased with the great turn out we had the last week in June for our three Democracy in the Balance Gatherings! If you attended, you were able to see the amount of work that went into these Zooms. And we appreciate your willingness to try to figure out a way to channel your feelings about the November election into action!

We were encouraged by the great questions that attendees asked and their desire to help out with our Adopt a Precinct efforts. If you have not already joined one of our volunteer Teams, you can still do it! Sign up from this PACG blog post by contacting the respective Team Leader. You can join more than one team.

Vision Leads will conduct Bridge Builder training for Voter Contact and Voter Education/Registration Teams on Sunday, July 14th from 3:00 to 5:30 pm at the MLK Interpretive Center in Davenport. Please register here for the training. If you would like to work with voters but cannot attend that training, please email us to let us know.

Thanks again for a fun turnout!

4th Anniversary of the Racial Equality Rally - After Action Report

6/11/2024

Celebrating Four Years of Standing for Racial Equality! - After Action Report Update Update

Civil Rights Forum

Members of the PACG Civil Rights Forum were grateful that all three local television stations as well as The Quad City Times covered the fourth anniversary of our Racial Equality Rally on June 8th, 2024. Glenda Guster remarked that "Letting people know about the rally may encourage more folks to join us. We always have extra signs and flags, and all are welcome."

Glenda Guster and Caryn Unsicker, along with a handful of other PACG members, began standing for racial equality and justice after George Floyd's murder in 2020 because they knew the press coverage would die down and they wanted to keep the conversation about racial equality alive. They have stood on the Slumberland/Party City corner of John Deere Road and 16th Street, Moline from noon to 12:30 just about every Saturday since then. Unsicker said they are encouraged each week by the large number of passersby of all racial and ethnic backgrounds who honk, wave and give them a thumbs up. They have vowed to continue their weekly rallies for as long as they are able in order to achieve racial healing and equality in this country.

Watch our network coverage here: 6 KWQC and WQAD 8 ABC

Caryn Unsicker

Skip the Plastic - After Action Report

6/8/2024

Skip the Plastic - After Action Report

LeClaire Public Library

Nicolina's Turtle Company - Skip the Plastic!

PACG's Environmental Forum participated in this event at the LeClaire Public Library to help support Nicolina Pappas in her efforts to reduce plastic waste in the Quad Cities. She and a friend presented information about plastic waste and had activities for the children in attendance. Lori McCollum provided a table of information on plastic reduction strategies in representing PACG's Environmental Forum. PACG has been following Nicolina's efforts for over three years! Read our PACG blog post about her here.

Lori McCollum

Earth Day Every Day Fair 2024 - After Action Report

6/7/2024

Earth Day Every Day - After Action Report

Freight House Farmers Market

Environmental Forum

We hosted our sixth annual Earth Day Fair in collaboration with the Freight House Farmers Market on Saturday, May 18th. Our sponsors also included WVIK and Living Lands and Waters. The theme for Earth Day this year was Planet vs. Plastics, which we highlighted with buttons, flyers, and stickers. We had three musical performances throughout the day, including the Native American Coalition of the Quad Cities, Richard Roberts and Rob Dahm, as well as Totes McGotes, a 6 person rock band. Twenty-five organizations provided interactive tables for market attendees, including the Metrolink Electric Bus and the Living Lands and Waters Barge, who gave away trees. Thanks to all of our partners in this annual endeavor!

Lori McCollum

Davenport emergency evictions - After Action Report

3/30/2024

Davenport residents face emergency evictions! - After Action Report

Quad Cities Interfaith (QCI) and QC Tenant Alliance (QCTA)

From the QCTimes

TOM LOEWY, SARAH WATSON, AND GRETCHEN TESKE
Mar 28, 2024

DAVENPORT APARTMENT VACATED

Lamond Lathan-Burge is happy to have a roof over his head. But the 23-year-old isn't sure where he'll go after the city of Davenport vacated his apartment building on West 4th Street on Tuesday on advice of Shive-Hattery structural engineers. He spent Tuesday night in the Relax Inn on North Brady Street. Scott County made rooms available at the extended-stay hotel. The city notified tenants of the evacuation of Schricker Apartments at 401 W. 4th St. and "has secured available resources to assist in displacement," according to a Tuesday news release from the city's Development and Neighborhood Services Department. Per the apartment building owner, the current expected number of units vacated is 18, according to the city.

Notices taped to the building's doors told residents the building was being evacuated immediately and that with proof of residency, rooms are available at the Relax Inn from March 26 to March 31 at no cost. Pets are allowed.

An unexpected notice
Shive-Hattery was hired by the city of Davenport, and its report recommended the immediate vacate order based on the conditions of a wooden wall believed to be a structural wall. Nicole Gleason, Davenport's public works director and assistant city administrator, told the City Council on Wednesday night that recommendations from Shive-Hattery were that the building should be immediately evacuated because of the building's potentially unsafe structural conditions and could "fully or partially collapse with little or no warning." Lathan-Burge said he wasn't surprised the building was vacated. "A couple of days after I moved in, I was hanging out and playing some video games and mice ran through my living room," he said. "I didn't have a stove for two months, and then they installed a gas stove. Turns out I had a gas leak, and I had to have MidAmerican Energy come and fix it. "And it just felt like the maybe the floor was sagging. It was weird."

Displaced residents find temporary home
Lathan-Burge said he didn't fault the city, but he was taken aback by the lack of notice. "I came home and the stuff taped to the door said we had to be out by 4:30 (p.m.)," Lathan Burge said Wednesday while he stood outside the Relax Inn. "That wasn't a lot of notice. I just put together what I could, put it all in my car and came here." Lathan-Burge said he felt "really bad for some of the people living in the apartment building who might not be physically able to move stuff." Courtney Jones, senior operations and partnerships manager for the city of Davenport's office of administration and finance, said, "Tenants will be allowed to retrieve belongings so long as admittance into the building is coordinated with the property owner." "This really just puts a lot of stress on everyone," Lathan-Burge said. "So when I got here, I was told I only had one day (at the Relax Inn). Then we had to work out how long I could stay. I'll be staying at the Relax Inn through Sunday. "After that, I'm not sure. I either have to move back in with my mom, or I have to find a shelter that will take me." Lathan-Burge paid $800 a month for his one-bedroom apartment at Schricker Apartments. "I paid my rent early, so now I'm really low on cash," he said. "Things are going to get hard for me and the other people who lived in that apartment. “I’m just not sure what I'll be able to do."

The Quad Cities Tenant Alliance, a part of nonprofit Quad Cities Interfaith, hosted a rally on Wednesday ahead of Wednesday evening's City Council meeting, calling on leaders to provide the tenants with security deposit and two months of rent by Monday to find somewhere else to live. "This is another example of landlords' complete abdication of responsibility for the health and safety of their tenants," said Beth Longlett, a member of QCTA and Zion Lutheran Church. "The tenants are forced to find new housing — in an already tight market — without the means to do so." "We've seen this over and over. Landlords rarely return security deposits in these situations. When tenants are displaced because of landlord neglect, the city should require landlords to pay tenants immediately. It should be a condition of having a rental license in Davenport," said Dennis Platt, a member of QCTA.

A last resort
One long-term resident of the Relax Inn described it as a "last resort" for people who cannot find permanent housing. That same resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said the hotel's owners "try to help people" and "there are good people living here." She also said some of the residents scare her. Lathan-Burge said he received a scare early Wednesday morning.

"I woke up to a man and woman screaming at each other," he said. "It was right outside the door. Then he started hitting her. "It was disturbing. “The Relax Inn has seen some violence and drug activity. Joseph Fitzgerald Dodd was arrested in October 2023 for a Sept. 17, 2023, shooting at the motel that left a man injured. Also in September, a man was arrested for allegedly peddling multiple drugs — including "crack" cocaine, heroin and meth — out of a room he rented. Local law enforcement agencies served eight search warrants on rooms in the Relax Inn in 2023. All of those search warrants were related to the people staying in the rooms, not the owners, managers or employees of the motel. The manager working Tuesday at the Relax Inn said the owners "work very hard to keep people safe." He added that the management "can't turn away people based on how they look" and it is "very hard to tell what people will do in their rooms." Multiple complaints about the hotel last year led to some inspections in 2023. The complaints ranged from trash left in rooms to dirty sheets to cockroaches. These inspections fall under the jurisdiction of the Scott County Health Department, according to the state department's website.

'A stopgap'
The county, through its general assistance fund, is paying for residents displaced from 401 W. 4th St. to stay at the Relax Inn until Monday. "We're a stopgap," said Lori Elam, the Scott County Community Services director. Elam said the city of Davenport reached out to the county and nonprofits for help with relocation assistance for tenants Every county has a general assistance fund, Elam said, which can be used for assistance with rent, utilities, transportation, and even cremation and burial services for people who need it. Elam said the hotel accepted payment from the county. Vendors must go through a process to determine eligibility. "This is an emergency situation," Elam said. "We were just trying to help folks get off the street quickly, and we were able to use general assistance to do that." Elam said she was not aware of recent inspections nor had heard concerns about the hotel.

COMMENTS AT THE DAVENPORT CITY COUNCIL OPEN FORUM:

It has been 304 days since the building at 324 Main Street in Davenport, Iowa, collapsed and nothing has been settled for those who died, were injured or lost their homes.

PACG and QCI member Loxi Hopkins said, “The city needs to show responsibility for those displaced and in need.”

Paul Vasquez, 3rd Ward Alderman, Davenport said, “The Council is more reactive than active. Resolutions approving City Home funding applications for Davenport Projects are given to out-of-state landlords. The city needs to adopt basic housing and rental housing inspections and enforcement.”

Dennis Platt, 6th Ward resident and a member of the QC Tenant Alliance, listed a number of properties where tenants have been evicted. The city should push landlords to take care of their properties in substandard status and allow housing choice vouchers to tenants who are displaced from those properties.

Susan Meenan, 7th Ward resident and a member of QCI, said, “Landlords should refund deposits and rents and provide moving costs.”

LaShanna Dixon, QC Tenants Alliance, said, “People deserve much better.” Her sister, LaCanna Dixon, said, “That she doesn’t see any compassion from the city when these buildings are condemned.”

According to one resident, he received ½ hour to vacate because Shive-Hattery, a Quad Cities Architecture and Engineering Firm, found structural issues that made the building unsafe. An eviction notice was never posted. The police knocked on doors to make sure that everyone was out.

Tenants’ immediate needs are laundry soap, toilet paper, bath towels, toilet plungers, and hygiene products. Check the QC Tenant Alliance or the Quad Cities Interfaith websites for updates on where to bring these important items! Once drop off information is available we will post it.

Ann McCluskey

Renewable Energy Forum for Homeowners - After Action Report

3/19/2024

Renewable Energy Forum for Homeowners - After Action Report

Environmental Forum

The PACG Environmental Forum hosted the Renewable Energy Forum for Homeowners on Saturday, March 9th in the auditorium of Riverfront Hall on Western Illinois University campus. Speakers from the Illinois Citizens Utility Board and the Geothermal Alliance of Illinois talked about best practices and financial incentives that are available from federal and state agencies to help homeowners transition to renewable energy. Over 60 Quad Citians attended the event; many of them took the first step and signed up with the vendor present to conduct a site assessment.

If you would like to view the video of our event, click here. The slide presentations and resources from this event are attached below.

Susan Leuthauser

cub_-_navigating_solar.pdf
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geothermal_alliance_of_illinois_-_geothermal_heat_pumps.pdf
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ira_incentives_joey_lee.pdf
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renewable_energy_references.pdf
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Postcard writing - After Action Report

3/12/2024

Postcard Writing - After Action Report

Civil Rights Forum

The Brewed Book in Davenport

The Civil Rights Forum hosted a Postcard Writing event on February 24th. Attendees were encouraged to write to their Iowa Legislators about the proposed legislation in both the House and Senate that would negatively impact immigrants in Iowa. We sent out close to 50 postcards!

Allison Ambrose