Trees for the Figge, and other provocative downtown ideas

By Times Staff | Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Inside the Figge Art Museum’s magnificent auditorium, urban planner Jeff Speck displayed image after image of downtown Davenport scenes quite familiar to everyone in the room. Third and Brady streets. The RiverCenter. The Figge itself.

But he described them in ways wholly unfamiliar to Mayor Bill Gluba, Third Ward Alderman Bill Boom and many other civic leaders gathered to hear the planner hired by the city and DavenportOne. They got an earful:

Downtown’s one-ways have lanes wide enough for 70 mph interstate traffic. It’s no wonder traffic zips through well over the posted speed limit. Narrow those lanes to urban standards and you’ll have room for plenty of curbside parking.

All of those new parking garages need first-floor retail space. No problem giving up the spaces. Downtown will gain hundreds of new parking spaces by narrowing lanes and returning the one-ways to two-way traffic.

Add a green median down the middle of River Drive and make it a boulevard.

Add a forest of trees downtown beginning with the Figge plaza and along every main

thoroughfare.

Put a big, upscale grocery market at the foot of the Centennial Bridge.

Speck unloaded his observations and ideas by the bucketload and asked questions only an outsider dare:

Why is there parking all along 3rd Street, except next to the Wells Fargo Bank?

In this age of ATMs and Internet banking, why are bank drive-up lanes the focal point of the Figge Art Museum and the city’s main library?

And why in the world, he asked, displaying a slide of The Dock, is the only downtown riverfront restaurant closed and boarded up?

Speck delivered what he was hired for, an informed, open-minded assessment of downtown. He interspersed Davenport images with those from cities around the world where he has visited or consulted. Some Davenport attractions, like the skybridge and Bucktown Center for the Arts, fared quite well in this global comparison. Others?

Not so much.

The farmers market needs to be tucked along 2nd Street, bringing the crowds into downtown, not on the open Modern Woodmen Park lot.

Those ever-present, rusty railroad bridges need to be showcased, not hidden. Don’t cut back the tree growth. Let it flourish, then light it dramatically.

The Figge seemed unapproachable to Speck, with a plaza that looks like a parking lot. Recall that he delivered his criticism in the Figge, with executive director Sean O’Harrow hosting the event. The only thing more surprising than Speck’s candid assessment was the attentive audience. In a little over an hour, those who have worked hard to develop the Riverfront Renaissance and the RiverVision plan considered some new ideas, perhaps the next stage for downtown.

Not all of Speck’s ideas will work in Davenport. Rather, his review, initiated by Davenport’s Design Center planners, emphasizes that downtown is never done. It’s a work constantly in progress.

Thanks to Jeff Speck, and Davenport’s Design Center staff, for this eye-opening event emphasizing progress for downtown.

The tree man says...

Davenport’s own tree champion, Dr. Michael Giudici, didn’t attend the urban planning presentation at the Figge Art Museum last Thursday, but his phone lit up afterward. Many of those who attended, including us, called Giudici to hear his response to a recommendation for trees, trees, everywhere downtown.

“Best idea I’ve heard,” Giudici responded understatedly. He founded the Greenway Habitat Project responsible for planting 10,000 trees in Davenport. Expanding that effort downtown makes sense for development and the environment, he said.

So how might the Figge look behind a small urban forest?

“Perfect. Look at the front of John Deere Commons if you want an idea of how it might look,” he said. Without shade, “what are you going to do, sit out there on that Figge plaza and fry?”