The debate will continue over the casino and its hotel. Hopefully, our elected officials will listen to the citizens who express their visions for our riverfronts, and the debate will result in the correct answers.
I have been involved in most of the riverfront developments. My firm designed the fishing access between the Dock and Dam 15. We designed the Marquette Street Boat Ramp that provides river access for sportsmen. We have assisted in the design of the shelters in Centennial Park and will perform civil and structural design for the skate park. We moored the President Riverboat, converted the old levee parking to modern casino parking, designed the parking where the Natatorium used to be, and assisted in re-aligning Biederbecke Drive. We designed the porte-cochère. We did not select the colors. Some day this porte-cochère could make a nice shelter or an access landing and welcome center for riverboats, and a place where tourists could easily access the sky bridge and see our beautiful riverfront from above. I think we understand the river and understand the technical issues.
Most people have already forgotten the River Club Restaurant that Connelly brought from Cincinnati and moored upstream of the present guest-services barge and downstream of the Dock. I helped Connelly carefully negotiate the Corps of Engineers' permit to mechanically excavate a channel through sensitive walleye habitat so the riverfront restaurant could be put into position. Connelly promised U.S. Fish & Wildlife that he would never ask to excavate more of the sensitive walleye habitat, and he would not move further upstream. The permit is in the name of the City of Davenport, so the understandings still apply.
All the parameters have not been studied. Numerous environmental questions need to be answered. It is time all decisions cease until proper environmental-impact statements are provided. Does a hotel affect our eagles? Does mooring the boat upstream impact this critical walleye spawning area? Should a boat be permanently moored within the restricted zone below the lock and dam? Are there acceptable alternatives? The law requires these answers to be provided by environmental-impact statements.
There are other complex hydraulic engineering questions that need to be answered. Does the proposed construction in the floodplain raise the 100-year-flood profile more than the 0.1-foot maximum stipulated by FEMA? Some of us remember back in 1990, when Connelly proposed an architect's dream. That project died when the flood questions were finally addressed.
I was asked to provide consultation to Hargreaves & Associates in their first study. They provided me concepts, and I critiqued them. The last concepts I saw did not show a hotel, yet at the public hearing in the Sheraton, a hotel magically appeared on the slide the public saw. It was the first time I saw it. The political pressure apparently was overwhelming.
I know if the normal permit process is followed, the river questions being asked will be answered. It is time to put a hold on the hotel until decisions based on professionally prepared environmental statements are provided.
I have worked with regulatory officials all over the United States. The best regulatory section in the country is located right in the Clock Tower. I am confident that their professionalism will demand the normal process is followed, and all the river answers needed will be obtained.
If the casino/hotel clears all the river issues, there still remain all the building- and life-safety codes. Numerous exceptions will be required. Is there adequate access for emergencies? Bettendorf built a bridge over the railroad. How do you fight a fire during a flood? Bettendorf's hotel is protected by a levee. What special requirements are needed for utilities, garbage collection, etc., during floods? The building-permit process will need professionalism and not political pressure to make correct decisions. A red dot appearing on a slide in a public hearing is one thing; a $43.1-million project on the riverfront is another!
It is my personal opinion that my city government has the cart before the horse. They are rushing forward with an agreement with the casino when site-specific parameters, environmental, and building-code concerns required by law have not even been addressed. No project is perfect. Most concerns can be resolved or mitigated. Please get some answers before you sign any agreement, and if you sign, make sure it's right, because this 10-story hotel will be here forever.
William D. Ashton
Professional Engineer
Davenport
Harkin Should Support Vet Legislation
Before the dangers were understood, asbestos was widely used in military construction from World War II through the Vietnam War. Since veterans were employed by the federal government, we have limited options for getting compensated for asbestos illnesses. Companies that produced and supplied asbestos to the military have gone bankrupt - paying only pennies on the dollar to victims.
Making matters worse, the law prevents veterans from seeking compensation from our former employer, the U.S. government, in the courts. Going after the companies that supplied the government with this deadly material is not worth it, because most of those companies don't exist any more. Even if there is a company left to sue, many veterans won't live to see any kind of compensation, because the line at the courthouse for asbestos cases is just too long.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter has proposed the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act, or the FAIR Act, which would create a national asbestos victims' compensation fund to solve the crisis. The government wouldn't have to pay a penny under this plan. Businesses and insurance companies will pay into the fund. Truly sick veterans with asbestos-related illnesses will get paid quickly, without having to hire a trial lawyer or face the uncertainty in the court system.
As an Iowa veteran, I'd like to thank Senator Grassley for his work as one of the original co-sponsors of the FAIR Act. I urge Senator Harkin to join Senator Grassley in supporting the FAIR Act when this vital legislation for vets comes to the Senate floor.
Ward Ransford, State Commander
Iowa Department of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars
Eddyville, Iowa
Corrections
· In last week's Food Bites column, the listed author was incorrect. Rick Martin wrote the story, not that byline-hogging Jeff Ignatius.
· In printing the winners of our fiction contest last week, a word in one entry was incorrect. In the first sentence of Michael Cotton's "Buying in," we printed "excitable" instead of the intended "excited."
Here we present the corrected story:
Buying In
The crowds were eager and excited as we faced off. Tension and heat connected us. Two crowds became one. The effect was deafening. Our voices and signs fought for the air. The crowd was everything.
Everything faded when I saw Protest Girl. She stood out amid chaos. She danced with friends. She sang dissent. Her sign, wittier than my own, bounced to the beat. Her face glowed under a blue bandanna. Everything revolved around her.
I imagined being her friend; her smile directed at me. Holding hands. Dancing ... . As I daydreamed, the crowds began to shift.
Protest Girl's dance moved. My mind buzzed as she neared. I put myself into her path. The noise of the crowd returned. The roar was everything. I was together with Protest Girl.
Spit landed on her cheek. Her eyes widened in horror. Shock took her voice. Her sign dropped. Her feet stopped. She no longer stood out.
The crowd enveloped me. It was just a crowd. The crowd was everything.
I have been involved in most of the riverfront developments. My firm designed the fishing access between the Dock and Dam 15. We designed the Marquette Street Boat Ramp that provides river access for sportsmen. We have assisted in the design of the shelters in Centennial Park and will perform civil and structural design for the skate park. We moored the President Riverboat, converted the old levee parking to modern casino parking, designed the parking where the Natatorium used to be, and assisted in re-aligning Biederbecke Drive. We designed the porte-cochère. We did not select the colors. Some day this porte-cochère could make a nice shelter or an access landing and welcome center for riverboats, and a place where tourists could easily access the sky bridge and see our beautiful riverfront from above. I think we understand the river and understand the technical issues.
Most people have already forgotten the River Club Restaurant that Connelly brought from Cincinnati and moored upstream of the present guest-services barge and downstream of the Dock. I helped Connelly carefully negotiate the Corps of Engineers' permit to mechanically excavate a channel through sensitive walleye habitat so the riverfront restaurant could be put into position. Connelly promised U.S. Fish & Wildlife that he would never ask to excavate more of the sensitive walleye habitat, and he would not move further upstream. The permit is in the name of the City of Davenport, so the understandings still apply.
All the parameters have not been studied. Numerous environmental questions need to be answered. It is time all decisions cease until proper environmental-impact statements are provided. Does a hotel affect our eagles? Does mooring the boat upstream impact this critical walleye spawning area? Should a boat be permanently moored within the restricted zone below the lock and dam? Are there acceptable alternatives? The law requires these answers to be provided by environmental-impact statements.
There are other complex hydraulic engineering questions that need to be answered. Does the proposed construction in the floodplain raise the 100-year-flood profile more than the 0.1-foot maximum stipulated by FEMA? Some of us remember back in 1990, when Connelly proposed an architect's dream. That project died when the flood questions were finally addressed.
I was asked to provide consultation to Hargreaves & Associates in their first study. They provided me concepts, and I critiqued them. The last concepts I saw did not show a hotel, yet at the public hearing in the Sheraton, a hotel magically appeared on the slide the public saw. It was the first time I saw it. The political pressure apparently was overwhelming.
I know if the normal permit process is followed, the river questions being asked will be answered. It is time to put a hold on the hotel until decisions based on professionally prepared environmental statements are provided.
I have worked with regulatory officials all over the United States. The best regulatory section in the country is located right in the Clock Tower. I am confident that their professionalism will demand the normal process is followed, and all the river answers needed will be obtained.
If the casino/hotel clears all the river issues, there still remain all the building- and life-safety codes. Numerous exceptions will be required. Is there adequate access for emergencies? Bettendorf built a bridge over the railroad. How do you fight a fire during a flood? Bettendorf's hotel is protected by a levee. What special requirements are needed for utilities, garbage collection, etc., during floods? The building-permit process will need professionalism and not political pressure to make correct decisions. A red dot appearing on a slide in a public hearing is one thing; a $43.1-million project on the riverfront is another!
It is my personal opinion that my city government has the cart before the horse. They are rushing forward with an agreement with the casino when site-specific parameters, environmental, and building-code concerns required by law have not even been addressed. No project is perfect. Most concerns can be resolved or mitigated. Please get some answers before you sign any agreement, and if you sign, make sure it's right, because this 10-story hotel will be here forever.
William D. Ashton
Professional Engineer
Davenport
Harkin Should Support Vet Legislation
Before the dangers were understood, asbestos was widely used in military construction from World War II through the Vietnam War. Since veterans were employed by the federal government, we have limited options for getting compensated for asbestos illnesses. Companies that produced and supplied asbestos to the military have gone bankrupt - paying only pennies on the dollar to victims.
Making matters worse, the law prevents veterans from seeking compensation from our former employer, the U.S. government, in the courts. Going after the companies that supplied the government with this deadly material is not worth it, because most of those companies don't exist any more. Even if there is a company left to sue, many veterans won't live to see any kind of compensation, because the line at the courthouse for asbestos cases is just too long.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter has proposed the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act, or the FAIR Act, which would create a national asbestos victims' compensation fund to solve the crisis. The government wouldn't have to pay a penny under this plan. Businesses and insurance companies will pay into the fund. Truly sick veterans with asbestos-related illnesses will get paid quickly, without having to hire a trial lawyer or face the uncertainty in the court system.
As an Iowa veteran, I'd like to thank Senator Grassley for his work as one of the original co-sponsors of the FAIR Act. I urge Senator Harkin to join Senator Grassley in supporting the FAIR Act when this vital legislation for vets comes to the Senate floor.
Ward Ransford, State Commander
Iowa Department of the Veterans of
Foreign Wars
Eddyville, Iowa
Corrections
· In last week's Food Bites column, the listed author was incorrect. Rick Martin wrote the story, not that byline-hogging Jeff Ignatius.
· In printing the winners of our fiction contest last week, a word in one entry was incorrect. In the first sentence of Michael Cotton's "Buying in," we printed "excitable" instead of the intended "excited."
Here we present the corrected story:
Buying In
The crowds were eager and excited as we faced off. Tension and heat connected us. Two crowds became one. The effect was deafening. Our voices and signs fought for the air. The crowd was everything.
Everything faded when I saw Protest Girl. She stood out amid chaos. She danced with friends. She sang dissent. Her sign, wittier than my own, bounced to the beat. Her face glowed under a blue bandanna. Everything revolved around her.
I imagined being her friend; her smile directed at me. Holding hands. Dancing ... . As I daydreamed, the crowds began to shift.
Protest Girl's dance moved. My mind buzzed as she neared. I put myself into her path. The noise of the crowd returned. The roar was everything. I was together with Protest Girl.
Spit landed on her cheek. Her eyes widened in horror. Shock took her voice. Her sign dropped. Her feet stopped. She no longer stood out.
The crowd enveloped me. It was just a crowd. The crowd was everything.
