Business owner announces candidacy for RI mayor
David Heitz
The owner of a sporting goods business says he wants to be the choice for change in the Rock Island mayoral race.
David Kimbell, 44, will challenge incumbent Mark Schwiebert, who is running for a fifth term as mayor in the upcoming April elections. Schwiebert has been mayor since 1989.
Kimbell, a Hilltop area resident, has some dramatic ideas for change.
"I am calling to do away with the property tax for the funding of the schools and doing what they did in Michigan, replacing it with a sales tax," he said. "Now they have more choice for the schools. There are no more school boards, and it's not funded through the property tax."
Kimbell said Rock Island needs to be friendlier to retailers.
"We've had the most regulations on business. We need to bring tax relief to business." He pointed to the city's 1 percent food tax and updated sign ordinance as recent examples of anti-business sentiment.
"I am calling for a repeal of the food tax," he said. "I want the proper funding for schools. I would like to see the taxes lowered. I would like to see the city cut jobs instead of raising taxes."
Kimbell also is calling for a ban on leaf burning.
In addition, he is opposed to the city taking the former Lincoln School on 7th Avenue by eminent domain and is against the relocation of the Casino Rock Island. He does not want to see the school turned into condominiums, and he believes the casino relocation could cause environmental problems for people living on Big Island.
He also believes more attention needs to be paid to the city's west side.
"I think we need business in the west end," he said. "There is no grocery store below the hill in Rock Island. They have no skateboard park, no swimming pool. They've just been left down there."
Kimbell, who said he watches City Council meetings on television, believes the current council "gets along too good together. I actually like how the City of Davenport works. I think all of the fighting brings a better form of government because all the ideas are addressed. That's why, in Davenport, you see the cutting of jobs before the raising of taxes."
He added that public servants need to be held accountable. "In Rock Island, you see rubber-stamp votes. You don't see any dissension from the aldermen," he added.
Kimbell said he is a member of the Community Caring Conference, which he believes is one of the best things about Rock Island in addition to Neighborhood Watch groups and other community programs. His other memberships include the Rock Island Conservation Club, Q-C Cruisers and Cornbelt Running Club.
He previously has run unsuccessfully for City Council and the Rock Island County Board of Supervisors.
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