Candidate Q&A: Bill Lynn
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By Times staff | Wednesday, September 26, 2007 |
Bill Lynn (FILE PHOTO) Buy this Photo
Office sought: Daveport, 5th Ward
What are the most significant challenges facing neighborhoods? How would you address them?
The greatest challenge facing neighborhoods is crime. There are other issues, but this is the biggest. I have provided leadership in pushing for community based policing (NETS), a police volunteer program (VIPS), and creating a chapter of the Guardian Angels. We need more police emphasis on central city neighborhoods. This means restructuring our police department and putting more police on the street.
Another issue is maintenance of infrastructure. We need to concentrate on rebuilding infrastructure in older neighborhoods and maintaining it in newer neighborhoods.
We also need to concentrate on creating more businesses in the core of the city to give residents employment options so they can maintain their homes.
Finally, we must keep taxes and fees down. This is creating flight from the city. With so many empty homes, we cannot fill them if people opt to leave the city.
What's most important, providing basic services or adding amenities for residents and visitors? What approach would you take?
Basic services are essential. Although adding amenities is helpful, they don't generate revenue needed to maintain the city. The problem with the amenities approach is that people can live outside Davenport and enjoy them. This means the taxpayers of Davenport pay for these for amenities, but there does not seem to be a payoff.
People will not want to live in Davenport unless we keep crime down and maintain our infrastructure. For instance, we continue to talk about the need for the west-side sewer tunnel, but we continue to push the project back so we can use tax money for amenities.
Another approach for amenities is to encourage the private sector to fund them.
What are the city's most important infrastructure needs?
The west-side diversion tunnel is the big one. We really need this project so that the west end can develop. We also need to concentrate on improving streets in the older part of the city. This means both streets and curbs. Another issue is our crumbling alleys, which are in poor condition in many neighborhoods. This has been ignored for many years.
How would you approach economic development?
We need to make our city more business friendly. Our major approach has been using TIF to promote development, but that misses the greater economic development tool, which is the development of small business. We do not provide a good climate for small business. We should develop a program where businesses work with a city employee. They would develop a plan, and the city employee would explain everything they need to do to open their business, and they would provide input on what should be done first. Too often we see investors invest money and then are stopped by an issue at the end. This leaves our credibility in tatters. They will never invest in our city again. I get too many complaints about misleading information provided by our city. I also receive complaints about poor treatment.
We also need to concentrate on developing a plan for work force development. We need to work with education organizations to train a workforce for the current time. Business has a difficult time hiring good employees, and they will go where the workers are.
Other issues include reducing crime and maintaining and improving infrastructure. These are important to businesses also.
Does the city have enough police officers? Are they deployed properly? What is the council's role in promoting public safety?
It is not clear whether we have enough police or not. Based on a study I did, I found that per capita we were average for cities in Iowa and Illinois. The issue may not be that we don't have enough, but that we don't have enough on the street. We have 164 sworn officers with only 62 on the street. This implies we are not using them properly. Also, how long it takes to get a police officer varies greatly between parts of the city. This indicates a mismatch of need and resources.
The council's role is to provide resources, but it must be sure we have proper management. That means we need to be sure we have good people at the top, and they are following best practices. They also need to be monitored, and they need to be given attainable goals. These should be monitored carefully. For instance, in the police department case, crime rate is the issue. We need to be sure our resources are being used as well as they can be and they are being directed toward the right outcomes.
How would you handle situations in which you disagree with another council member or members? Or does it matter?
The issue of disagreement needs to be defined. We often disagree. I work in the academic world where disagreement is part of our existence. We actually like it. In politics, the issue is not whether we disagree. It is how we handle it. Debating an issue is disagreement, but the discussion is important. The disagreement should be kept at a professional level. It should never turn into personal attacks.
If the issue is major, I would try to discuss that disagreement with them. We would see if we have a common ground or would we just agree that we don't see this issue the same.
Should the Isle of Capri take over the RiverCenter South? If not, what should the city encourage the Isle to do?
I do not believe the Isle of Capri is really interested in doing anything in the RiverCenter. That is a red herring, and that is why I moved to make the lease payment prohibitive. The problem we have with the Isle is that I do not feel they have much incentive to do anything in Davenport. I would like to see them move out to the freeway, but I don't want to provide them any tax incentives.
I am not optimistic that the Isle of Capri will do much. They may decide to maintain the current situation, so they will maintain the license. On the other hand, the real question may be what the future of Davenport is without gambling.
What is your vision for Davenport?
I would like to see a clean city that people want to live in, where our central city is populated by young professionals. I would also like to see a vibrant, growing small business community with many businesses run by young professionals. I would like to see a growing population and a city where the streets are safe all over the city.
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