Category: Iowa State Government - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Civil Rights Legislative Forum - After Action Report

3/30/2025

Civil Rights Legislative Forum - After Action Report

About 70 people attended the Civil Rights Legislative Forum at the TMBC Lincoln Resource Center on Saturday morning, March 29th. The event was sponsored by the Davenport NAACP, One Human Family, the Civil Rights forum of PACG and the Quad Cities Ministers Association.

In attendance to discuss the impact of civil rights legislation in the Iowa legislature were Representatives Cindy Winckler, Ken Croken and Dan Gosa of Davenport and Senator Mike Zimmer of DeWitt. Representative Ross Wilburn of Ames, a Democrat and member of the Iowa Legislative Black Caucus, joined us and shared his insights. The local Republican members of the Iowa legislature were invited as well but did not attend.

Rep. Wilburn said that the Republicans, having "opened" the civil rights code to remove gender identity, intend to remove sexual orientation in the upcoming session. Rabbi Karp of One Human Family QCA urged us to all come together to protect vulnerable groups, even if we are not a member of that group. We need to stand together if we want to protect LGBT+ civil rights in Iowa!

If you subscribe to the Quad City Times, read their coverage here.

Alta Price

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

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

Iowa ACLU September Challenge: Sign the Reproductive Freedom for All Statement

9/2/2023

Iowa ACLU September Challenge: Get twice as many people to sign the Reproductive Freedom for All statement!

iowa_aclu_reproductive_freedom_statement_sign-up.pdf
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The Gender Equity Forum needs you to participate in this September Challenge from the Iowa American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This is a statewide effort to double the signatures they have collected so far from 2,000 to 4,000. The Iowa Quad Cities needs to do its part to meet this challenge!

The statement is:

I believe all Iowans have the right to make our own decisions about our bodies, lives and futures - free from government control. Therefore, I expect my elected officials to do everything in their power to protect & defend reproductive freedom in our state, including access to safe and legal abortion.

If you live in Iowa and agree with this statement, go here to sign. The signatures will be collected by the Iowa ACLU to share with your state legislators.

Share this blog post with your friends and family and get them to sign, too. You can also download a sign-up sheet (above) with the Reproductive Freedom Statement to collect signatures that way. Please scan or photograph the sheet when you are done and send it to me to forward to ACLU Iowa.

Alta Price

Sioux City valedictorian on gender equity - No Hate In Our States

5/31/2023

The Class of 2023 will not be bullied!

Sioux City Journal on Twitter

Patrick Baughman, valedictorian of Sioux City West High School’s class of 2023, ends his speech with a declaration for trans rights and against "banned books" during graduation. Click here to see his speech.

PACG Webmaster

Iowa students suffer from 2023 legislative session - No Hate In Our States

5/31/2023

Iowa schools may never recover from 2023 legislative session

From Bleeding Heartland

Two Republican trifectas, 50 years apart, reshaped Iowa's K-12 schools. But whereas the legislature and Governor Robert Ray put public education on a more equitable, better funded path during the early 1970s, this year's legislative session left public schools underfunded and unable to meet the needs of many marginalized students.

Governor Kim Reynolds capped a devastating year for Iowa's schools on May 26, when she signed seven education-related bills, including two that will impose many new restrictions while lowering standards for educators and curriculum.

...The governor claimed Iowa's new education landscape "puts parents in the driver's seat." But the majority of parents won't benefit from the new laws.

...More than 90 percent of Iowa students attend public schools. Even if all of their parents wanted to switch to a private school, there would not be enough openings—especially for students with disabilities or those who need individualized education plans. Dozens of Iowa counties don't contain a single private school, making education savings accounts useless for most residents, unless they want to select a 100 percent virtual option.

...In addition, many private schools have jacked up tuition since Reynolds signed the voucher bill. So private school will remain unattainable for many low-income families who may genuinely need state assistance. The majority of the education savings account money would need to be spent on tuition, leaving little left over for other qualifying expenses like textbooks or tutoring. (Families must foot the whole bill for transportation to and from school, which is not a qualifying expense.)

...Advocates for LGBTQ Iowans condemned the new laws in statements published in full below. One Iowa's executive director Courtney Reyes said of Senate File 496, "Like many other centerpieces of the Governor’s agenda, this legislation will harm an already vulnerable group of children and will benefit no one..."

Read the full article here.

PACG Webmaster

Lobby Day for Abortion - After Action Report

4/10/2023

Lobby Day in Des Moines for Abortion Rights -
After Action Report
Tuesday, March 21st

PAG Gender Equity Forum

Two Gender Equity Forum facilitators, Dr. Alta Price (me) and Dr. Carolyn Martin, traveled to Des Moines for the Planned Parenthood Lobby Day on March 21st. A van of folks came from the Iowa Quad Cities as well. There were well over a hundred activists talking with their legislators.

Although none of the anti-abortion restrictions proposed so far this year has a chance of passing, this is only because Republican leadership is waiting on a case before the Iowa Supreme Court that could reinstate a 6 week abortion ban passed in 2018 that was enjoined by the Iowa Supreme Court. Governor Reynolds has asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its injunction. So we lobbied our legislators to support “over-the-counter birth control pills” (actually pharmacist-prescribed oral contraceptives) and expanding Medicaid coverage for pregnant people to extend for 12 months after delivery. There were two other legislative proposals we asked them to oppose.

For me the most interesting part was meeting the other activists. I was especially impressed by the medical students from the University of Iowa.

It was also great to meet and talk with my new Iowa State Senator, Scott Webster. He was very friendly and receptive. He was in support of the over-the-counter birth control pills; in fact, he had already voted in favor of that proposal. Carolyn did a great job of explaining that people need insurance coverage for at least 12 months after delivery to deal with any pregnancy complications. He seemed to appreciate the information she gave him.

Here is some WHO 13 television coverage of the event.

Alta Price

Iowa Is Better Than This! - After Action Report

6/7/2022

Iowa Is Better Than This! - After Action Report

On February 16th PACG was one of the sponsors of the "Iowa Is Better Than This!" event, lamenting the state's recent discriminatory legislation. Initiated by One Human Family - QCA, other sponsors included the American Association of University Women (AAUW) of Iowa, the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa & Action Fund, and the League of Women Voters of Iowa.

As a reminder on the details of the event, here is our original After Action Report on "Iowa Is Better Than This!"

The hybrid event - online and Zoom - produced a 30-minute recording that has now been edited by One Human Family into just over six minutes. View the video here.

Allison Ambrose

"Iowa Is Better Than This!" After Action Report

2/18/2022

Iowa Is Better Than This! After Action Report

One Human Family - QCA, PACG and other organizations

On February 16th, hundreds of people from across the state of Iowa participated in the "Iowa is Better than This" public lamentation over some of the discriminatory legislation that has been introduced or signed into law during the 2021 Iowa legislative session.

PACG was a proud co-sponsor of this event which allowed various progressive groups from across the state to connect in this effort.

Participants read paragraphs of lament (see attachment below) over various issues such as voting rights, gun accessibility and LGBTQ+ discrimination from various locations across the state, including Davenport, Iowa City, Dubuque, Sioux City, Waterloo and Des Moines. Attendees watched virtually. After each paragraph was read, participants and attendees were asked to recite the response: "Iowa is Better than This!"

Attendees flooded the Zoom webinar with comments in Chat. About halfway through the event we saw this very typical comment: "I feel so much better than I did thirty minutes ago! Thank you for doing this!"

We have received some good press about this event. Check out this article from the Courier in Waterloo.

Other actions that you might consider in support of this work include:

1) Search Facebook (if you have an account) to see if there are like-minded advocacy organizations in your community and subscribe to their page(s) and groups.

2) Subscribe to the Iowa Legislature's Bills & Rules Watch Email Alerts to monitor new and current proposed bills by registering your email at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/portal/subscriptions

3) Most importantly, share your opinions and experiences with others. Your passion is needed to ignite the actions that must take place in order for us to return to “Iowa Nice”.

A famous rabbi once said, “It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” Thank you for being an important part of this effort!

Allison Ambrose

iowa_is_better_than_this_program.pdf
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Contact Iowa State Legislators Regarding Progressive Values - What You Can Do Now

2/23/2021

Contact your Iowa State Legislators
Iowa State House

Voting Rights and Civil Rights

Legislation has been introduced in the Iowa Legislature that affects progressive values.

House File 590 impacts the ability of Iowans to vote:
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/publications/search/document?fq=id:1213531&q=HF+590

House File 222 proposes that information found in the “1619 Project” regarding the history of slavery in America be banished from public school's curriculum:
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/publications/search/document?fq=id:1210570&q=HF+222

Contact your Iowa State Legislators to express your views on both of these bills by visiting the links above. Legislators have indicated that contact by email is the most effective way to reach them.

Allison Ambrose