Category: Of Interest To Our Community - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Davenport Rent Abatement Ordinance passes! - Of Interest to Our Community

11/30/2024

Davenport Rent Abatement Ordinance Passed!

Quad Cities Tenant Alliance and Quad Cities Interfaith

We are thrilled to announce the passage of the Rent Abatement Ordinance, a monumental step forward for housing justice in our community. This victory is a testament to the power of collective action and the unwavering support of our community, allies, and leaders.

To every community member who attended meetings, shared their stories, signed petitions, and stood with us, we owe you our deepest gratitude. Your voices were heard loud and clear, and your courage has inspired meaningful change.

Thanks to your help the Davenport City Council passed the Rent Abatement Ordinance unanimously.

What is the Rent Abatement Ordinance?
A Rent Abatement Ordinance can allow the inspections department to temporarily relieve tenants of the duty to pay rent when there is a threat to life and safety. The goals of implementing the Rent Abatement include incentivizing tenants to report building issues promptly for repair, incentivizing owners and property managers to complete repairs promptly, and to preserve Davenport housing stock in safe and decent condition.

No one should be paying rent for an unsafe building!

Read the Ordinance in full at City of Davenport's website here.

Dennis Platt and Gavin Grassman, Co-Chairs
QCTA
[email protected]

Sustainability Fest at St Ambrose University - Of Interest to Our Community

9/10/2024

4th Annual Sustainability Fest
Friday, September 27th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm

Rogalski Patio - Lower Level
St. Ambrose University
518 Locust ST
Davenport IA (map)

St. Ambrose University is hosting our 4th Annual Sustainability Fest on Friday, September 27th from 11:30 am-1:30 pm on the patio of the Rogalski Center! This event is designed to highlight local organizations who are actively pursuing sustainability initiatives. In addition to educational and vendor tables from 30+ community partners and campus organizations, we will have a food truck serving lunch and snacks for purchase. This event also serves as a fundraiser for our campus sustainability efforts, supporting our student club Green Life. The Wednesday film screening of Common Ground is co-sponsored by the PACG Environmental Forum. Read more about that in our PACG blog post here.

See the flyer for all of the other exciting offerings during Sustainability Week!

Amy Blair, Professor
Biology Department
St. Ambrose University

"How Pregnancy is Policed" - Of Interest to our Community

8/23/2024

How Pregnancy is Policed: Your Questions Answered

Gender Equity Forum

From Bolts: Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, the legal risks that come from merely being pregnant have shot up in the United States.

Alongside the new bans on abortion, laws have popped up to encourage people to snitch on their neighbors and empower prosecutors to file criminal charges. So-called personhood laws are exposing more people to heightened punishment, plus endangering access to other procedures like IVF. The Republican Party has proposed scaling that up further by codifying ‘personhood’ at the federal level.

But pregnancy was policed long before the Dobbs decision came down. Even under Roe, many women faced arrest and prosecution due to allegations over how they handled their pregnancy. Read this important article on the Bolts website here.

"The Children's Hour" film fundraiser - Of Interest to Our Comunity

7/21/2024

The Children's Hour film presentation
Sunday, July 28th at 3:00 pm

The Last Picture House
325 East 2nd ST
Davenport, IA (map)

One Human Family-QCA and Ken Croken

Iowa State Representative Ken Croken invites you to join him at the second annual film
fundraiser in support of access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
Proceeds will benefit Iowa families forced to seek this care in Illinois as a result of the Iowa ban on these health care and related services for children suffering gender dysphoria.

The benefit will be held on Sunday, July 28 at 3 pm at The Last Picture House, located
at 325 East Second Street in downtown Davenport. The private screening will feature
the Academy Award honored 1961 film masterwork, The Children’s Hour. Directed by William Wyler and based on the Lillian Hellman play, the film stars Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine, along with James Garner, Miriam Hopkins and Fay Bainter. The Children’s Hour is a groundbreaking classic based on the true story of two teachers whose reputations and lives were destroyed by the lies of a vicious student
accusing the women of a lesbian love affair in a time when such relationships were
considered immoral.

Sadly, there are many in government who still feel this way. Governor Reynolds signed a ban into Iowa law on March 22, 2023 amid GOP claims that the use of puberty blockers and hormones is “inappropriate” and based on faulty science. Nonetheless, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics all recommend providing transgender youth with precisely such medical care. Children will suffer unimaginable and unnecessary depression and anxiety as a result of the Republican misguided beliefs about gender identity. Indeed, some will even die by their own hands. We must do what we can now until such time as we remove from office those who would dictate personal decisions for the children of others.

There is no set ticket price to attend the July 28 event. But a “free will” offering of any
amount will be gratefully received at the door. Checks and credit card gifts payable to
“The Project of the Quad Cities” and cash are all welcome. The theater will have its
usual food and beverage concessions for sale. Seating is limited and reservations are
strongly recommended. Please reserve your seats ASAP by email (preferred) to
[email protected] or by phone/text at 563/940-8439.

All proceeds will be divided between Moline-based The Project of the Quad Cities and
Rock Island-based Clock, Inc. LGBT+ Community Center. Since 1986 The Project has
served the local LGBTQIA+ community with remarkable health care services and the
mission of Clock, Inc. is to provide a non-judgmental, safe and reliable gathering space
for queer youth and others to reduce feelings of discrimination or isolation.
Please join us on July 28!

We love Rich Hendricks! - Of Interest to Our Community

7/3/2024

We love Rich Hendricks!

Civil Rights Forum

If you have not signed up for Alison McGaughey's Inquisitive Quad Citizen substack newsletter, we highly encourage you to do so. She's a talented writer with a great sense of humor. This week she interviewed founder of One Human Family-QCA QC Pride, Inc and QC Pride In Memory, Rich Hendricks. We at PACG know him as someone with whom we partner on many of our initiatives and actions!

Today’s column starts out with a bit of a blunder I made back in 2017 on a cold day in downtown Rock Island. That Saturday morning, I’d bundled up and gathered with other QC citizens who were upset by a certain vile person’s executive order on immigration. Read the article here.

Women's March Day of Action - What You Can Do Now

6/18/2024

Women's March National Day of Action in Davenport
Saturday, June 22nd at 11:00 am

Vander Veer Botanical Park
215 W Central Park Ave
Davenport, IA (map)

Women's March, Gender Equity Forum

The Women's March is promoting events across the nation this June to support women's reproductive healthcare and freedoms. The Davenport event will be Saturday, June 22nd at Vander Veer Park in Davenport (Note: the Women's March has declared June 24th the National Day of Action but in Davenport we will rally on June 22nd). Given that women in Iowa are on the brink of losing their reproductive rights, the Gender Equity Forum urges you to attend this rally! Please sign up in advance to let the organizer know you are coming, in case there are weather-related changes.

Alta Price

SPLC report on Anti-Abortion Extremism - Of Interest to our Community

6/18/2024

Southern Poverty Law Center report on Anti-Abortion Extremism

Gender Equity Forum

The Gender Equity Forum recommends this report from the Southern Poverty Law Center - Anti-Abortion Extremism: Inside the Movement Dismantling Our Reproductive Rights. The report contains a wealth of useful information, including The Movement's Extremist Playbook, The Violent History of the Anti-Abortion Movement, Increasingly, Clinics are Targets, The Community Cost of Abortion Bans, and much more.

Alta Price

Celebrate Juneteenth - Of Interest to Our Community

6/8/2024

Juneteenth Celebration
Saturday, June 15th from 11 am to 4 pm

LeClaire Park
400 Beiderbecke DR
Davenport, IA (map)

Friends of MLK

The Friends of MLK (FoMLK) are proud to host the Quad City Juneteenth Festival on Saturday, June 15th at LeClaire Park located at 400 Biederbecke DR in Davenport, from 11 am to 4 pm.

This festival is complete with food and retail vendors; local and national history information; community and resource booths; and fun-filled games and live entertainment for the whole family. This is sure to be an event you will not want to miss! Now that Juneteenth is a federal holiday, we are looking to make this year’s event our largest ever. Read more on our FoMLK website here.

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

Thank you to UUCQC for your generosity! - Of Interest to Our Members

2/20/2024

Thank you to UUCQC!

Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Quad Cities (UUCQC)

PACG would like to thank our friends at UUCQC for suggesting that congregants "Share the Plate" with us during the month of February. What a kind, and literal, offering for us! It's also an acknowledgment that they appreciate the work that we do.

Alta Price