Davenport mayoral candidates gave audiences a taste of who they are and their visions for the city during a forum Saturday hosted by the Davenport Metrocom NAACP.
In the Davenport primary elections in October, voters will winnow the current field of four candidates down to two to move on to the November city-school election.
The candidates are Jason Gordon, Jim Huiskamp, Judith L. Lee and Todd Pirck.
Candidates introduce themselves
Gordon was an alderman from 2009 to 2017. On Saturday, he highlighted his experience as the chair of the Greater Davenport Redevelopment Corporation board, which has been charged with attracting businesses to the now nearly full northern Davenport industrial park.
Gordon painted himself as the candidate with the most economic development experience, having been involved with every major site selection in Davenport since Kraft Heinz, and said his top priority is to grow the city. Gordon praised the steps the city took to install sewer lines to the west to open up land for development. That project is currently under construction.
Gordon said he would bring to the job skills as a collaborator and constituent servant, noting he worked in constituent services for former congressmen Jim Leach and Jim Nussle and later worked in government relations for the Quad-City Chamber of Commerce.
Huiskamp, the recently retired Blackhawk Bank & Trust CEO and former teacher, highlighted his wide range of experiences in education, finance and working with homeless people in Chicago.
Huiskamp pitched himself as focused on customer service, with taxpayers being the customers. Huiskamp said he brings fresh eyes as someone who hasn’t served in government before, but has business experience. He pledged that the public would get answers if he’s elected mayor.
Lee, an environmental consultant who voters elected to represent the city’s 8th Ward in 2019 and 2021, emphasized her experience in the details of issues facing the city in recent years, having been on the city council most recently out of the candidates and continuing to attend meetings. In Lee’s view, city council should play a more active role in more decisions and city staff should supply more information online about agenda items the council votes on.
Lee said the most pressing challenges facing Davenport were looming litigation around matters such as the building collapse and the city’s bond debt. She said she would press for an end to what she called “back-room meetings” and open meetings law would be strictly followed if she’s elected mayor.
Todd Pirck, who retired from MA Ford manufacturing last year, emphasized that he was born and raised in Davenport and said the city needed to stiffen penalties against unhoused people downtown, whom he called “transient drug addicts.”
“I’m concerned with the transient drug problem in Davenport,” Pirck said. “You call it homelessness and mostly, it’s about drugs. They’re destroying our town and it’s very sad.”
Addressing homelessness and affordable housing
Pirck said the city needed to give “tough love” to homeless people, and police should “cut off the pipeline” from other communities.
Other candidates for mayor said they would take a more empathetic approach to homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing.
Huiskamp, Gordon and Lee said they would push for the creation of more affordable housing and would want to work across city and state lines to address homelessness.
Huiskamp said housing affordable and rises in homelessness are impacting everyone across the country. Davenport can’t be the only city pushing for affordable housing and that homelessness is a very challenging issue to try to solve.
Gordon said he would be a “real stickler” for making sure property managers are taking care of the properties and code violations in a timely manner, noting his belief that addressing negligent property managers is among the challenges the city faces.
The city should lean in “with compassion and empathy,” he said.
Lee said the city should stringently enforce housing code and should vet property managers and developers to ensure that they can make returns on their promises when city incentives are involved.
Developers “make big promises,” Lee said. “They had better keep their promises, build the housing they say they’re going to. Build it when they say they’re going to. If they don’t, we take back any incentives that we have given them.”
Pirck said people must be willing to help themselves and said the city has “nonprofits that make millions of dollars off of these people” and that the city has thrown money at the problem without seeing an improvement. He would like to see a program where low-income people have the opportunity to buy property.
Candidates speak on business development
Answering questions on business, Lee said the small business is at the heart of the Quad-Cities economy and said the city should promote infill development by promoting empty lots to businesses.
To promote creatives in the Quad-Cities, Gordon suggested the Quad-Cities could look at copying an Austin, Texas-plan to create a health insurance co-op for musicians and artists as a lack of health insurance can be a barrier to entrepreneurs starting businesses.
Huiskamp praised the city’s small business loan program, which offers low-interest loans tied to new jobs created.
Pirck said he’s opened and worked for several Davenport business. He would not push away any businesses from Davenport, because the city needed to bring more jobs and more people.
Plans for infrastructure
Answering a question on infrastructure, Huiskamp said the city needs to ensure it has a comprehensive plan for every inch of the road networks so people can know and plan for when a street will be redone. He praised the city’s ability to acquire grants.
Noting that infrastructure is typically a top priority for Davenport residents, Gordon suggested the city council could consider increasing how much the city bonds for in its capital improvement budget each year, considering rating agencies upgraded the city’s bond rating in 2023. Gordon also suggested the city should look to merge with Illinois transit systems to make a regional Quad-City-wide transit for ease of use and potential efficiencies.
Lee praised the city’s new electric buses, but said the city needed to do more to survey bus drivers and riders about where and when they wanted stops.
A full video of the forum is available on the Metrocom NAACP of Davenport page on Facebook.
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Sarah Watson
Davenport, Scott County, local politics
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