Candidate Q&A: Bill Boom

By Times staff | Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Office sought: Davenport, 3rd Ward

What are the most significant challenges facing neighborhoods?

The 3rd Ward contains the city’s oldest, and therefore, some of the most challenged neighborhoods. This means we face the oldest sewers, streets, curbs and alleys to be found in the city. Our housing stock is some of the oldest and poorest, with many of them rental units. Our neighborhoods are full of abandoned homes and holes that are left when they are torn down.

All of these elements combine to act as an attractor for grime and crime. City service providers struggle to keep up with inspecting rental properties, responding to calls of fights and shootings, and picking up the trash while the residents often feel no one cares. As alderman, I see my job as the person who cares and can make the connection between our citizens and city services.

How would you address them?

A) While knocking the ward, I am constantly greeted by residents who care and want to make a difference. As a volunteer leader, I plan to organize the ward by establishing a 3rd Ward Council. This ward council will serve as a sounding board for citizen input and work to uncover and document the needs of the ward. One of the first tasks of this council will be to conduct a livability study of the ward. We will begin by tackling the neighborhood recommendations established by the 2005 Davenport Comprehensive Plan. This will establish a benchmark of existing conditions in the ward as well as a prioritized list of projects required to improve the living standards of our neighborhoods.

B) To be successful, we also need to improve the operating efficiencies of our city departments. For the past year-and-a-half, I have worked through the Davenport Action Initiative to bring our city a comprehensive Rental Properties Program. We have done that, but I continue to work on the programs that will provide connectivity between the computer systems of the departments providing service to our neighborhoods. Allowing employees to put more city eyes on these problems and shortening the time it takes to resolve them.

C) I am very pleased with the results our police department has produced with the NETS program. I favor more of this style of policing for distressed neighborhoods, especially in the 3rd Ward, and plan to discuss this need with the candidates applying for chief of police.

D) I am encouraged by new programs like the 100 Homes Program and hope we will be able to secure the funds necessary to expand this to include renovation assistance for owner-occupied properties.

What’s most important, providing basic services or adding amenities for residents and visitors?

The 3rd Ward has many seniors and citizens on fixed or low incomes. Increased taxes, even small fees,  hit these people extremely hard. We have spent a lot of tax money to develop attractions designed to revitalize our downtown, and still they do not come in the numbers hoped for. A comment often heard is they fear it is not safe to venture downtown. The perception is that the neighborhoods surrounding downtown are not safe. It’s another case of perception equaling reality.

The problem remains that we have maxed out our taxing base. Without growth, that tax base will be required to carry more and more of the load for basic services. I see this personally in annual increased assessment on my home and increased fees for services I thought I already paid for.

The new council will need to reevaluate our spending priorities with an eye toward basic services until we can begin to make the improvements necessary to make our neighborhoods a safer place to live. At the same time, we need to be on the lookout for key, need-to-do amenities that will directly impact opportunities to grow our tax base and lessen the pressure to increase assessments and fees.

What approach would you take?

I will be working with our Ward Council to document the needs and partner with the city to make improvements happen in the ward. I believe we change hearts and minds when we are proactive in our approach. Citizen involvement, having a plan, documenting our starting point, and showing improvement in our neighborhoods will have a positive impact on how we view safety in our downtown.

When pressed to provide amenities, we need to slow the process enough to allow for increased citizen input and a voice in how we spend their tax dollars. When given the facts, most will understand the math and agree to do what is necessary to grow our city and its tax base to keep taxes low for the long haul.

What are the city’s most important infrastructure needs?

The west-side sewer diversion tunnel, which will cut across our ward, is an important tool to allow for the expansion and development of the west end of our city beyond the current service boundaries. As I have stated above, we will need to make investments that will enable us to grow our tax base and allow us to keep taxes and fees low for all.

How would you approach economic development?

To me, this is a leadership issue. It begins by governing in a professional manner, working with the members of the new city council to build consensus and to eliminate the conflict that makes us less desirable to potential developers. It continues by being proactive when addressing our needs, and looking at the glass as at least half full, rather than always empty. Just like the negative perceptions we unfortunately maintain about our downtown, we need to send a more positive image of our city to those with the money to invest in our future.

I am intrigued by the concept of Davenport Promise and its potential to spur economic development, but I have concerns with proceeding to reprogram money earmarked for property tax reduction and the capital projects before a sincere attempt is made to secure more private funding.

Does the city have enough police officers? Are they deployed properly?

I have already stated my desire to see more community policing utilized in the 3rd Ward. I am aware that the current council has budgeted for five new officers before the end of the year, and that we will see five to seven additional uniformed officers available for the streets as we move to a common dispatching capability, but, at this juncture, I am not sure the number of officers we need to make our city a safer place to live.

I plan to investigate a new policing policy for our city with the new council and the new police chief. After we have established the policy, I would expect our new chief to present us a plan to support that policy, along with the projected number of officers to make the plan work.

What is the council’s role in promoting public safety?

An alderman should take an active role in promoting public safety. That role includes listening to ward residents to determine their impression of the effectiveness of our departments’ efforts, representing the interests of residents whose needs have fallen through the cracks, and working with our departments to provide feedback on their efforts and the support for necessary resources to raise those service levels.

How would you handle situations in which you disagree with another council member or members? Or does it matter?

I have spent years providing volunteers training in leadership and conflict resolution, as well as administrating a national diversity program. My volunteer experience has taught me how to deal with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations. I am very comfortable handling conflict with respect and look forward to building consensus with the other members of the council.

It matters very much. Conflict is a direct drain on the energy of any organization. It destroys efficiency by stealing time from more important concerns, wasting money chasing unproductive issues, and destroys the communications necessary to hear and be heard by the public.

Should the Isle of Capri take over the RiverCenter South? If not, what should the city encourage the Isle to do?

The monies we receive from the Isle of Capri operation are very valuable to the city’s budget, but I agree with the concerns I heard from citizens at the public input meetings the city held on this issue. With the information I have, I am currently not in favor of the Isle of Capri moving into this building. I am also very concerned by the lack of Isle of Capri participation in these sessions.

I question the commitment the Isle of Capri has for its venue in Davenport, considering the hundreds of millions of dollars they have invested in Bettendorf and Waterloo. Davenport has not seen a fraction of the investment the Isle of Capri promised in 2005 when we signed away our riverfront. I am not sure I want them tying up our city’s events center while they break ground on their own events center in Bettendorf next to the two hotels they also own.

These negotiations bear close scrutiny as we determine our city’s future relationship with the Isle of Capri and be prepared to market the gambling license to a more interested and committed partner should that need arise.

The Isle of Capri should explore sites along the Interstate 80 and 280 corridors that have also been rezoned by P&Z Commission for their specific use. This move to a closer connection with an interstate highway has been the trend seen at numerous gambling sites, including Casino Rock Island. I do not see why it would not hold true for the Isle of Capri as well.

What is your vision for Davenport?

I envision a 3rd Ward where the interests of the downtown are not played against those of the neighborhoods surrounding it. Where we can find common ground as we address the problems facing our city as well as the opportunities that will come our way. I do not expect giant leaps, but I do believe we can establish a pace of constant improvement that will be visible to our residents as well as those who wish to invest in our community.