Leila Martin and Florene Freeman walked into the storefront on the corner of Third Avenue and 20th Street in downtown Rock Island to get their first looks at a new nonprofit.
Martin found a pair of purple sweatpants. Freeman found a cup of coffee and some conversation.
After weeks of quietly providing a space for helping people — and some last-minute back-and-forth with staff from the city of Rock Island — the Third Place QC officially opened Wednesday.
“They opened this place to help the people here in the downtown of Rock Island,” the 73-year-old Freeman said. “I don’t need much, myself, but it is nice to have a safe place to come and drink a cup of coffee and maybe talk to other people.
“But I know they’ve been helping people here.”
Employees from a number of nonprofits gathered with people off the street Wednesday morning in the 2,600-square-foot space to share conversations and coffee.
The friendly atmosphere stood in sharp contrast to the behind-the-scenes turmoil over The Third Place opening.
Opening despite city moratorium
Christie Adamson and Cloey Miller founded The Third Place QC after working in directorial positions at the Davenport-based Humility Homes and Services. They saw a need for daytime services for the growing population of unhoused and impoverished people in the Quad-Cities.
The Third Place was envisioned as a place where people could do things like laundry or work on finding a job, or simply have a safe place to stay from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The Third Place QC always planned to officially open on the first day of October. But in late August, the Rock Island City Council voted 6-1 to approve a moratorium on new facilities that serve homeless people and those in need.
The council decided to have the moratorium last until Oct. 13, rather than go through Nov. 24 as initially planned. The goal was to give city staff time to develop a cohesive set of ordinances regulating nonprofits in the downtown area.
Miller and Adamson told the city council, and the city, they still planned to open 13 days before the end of the moratorium. Adamson said they received no input from the city or the council after they made their plans clear.
Adamson said their concern heightened after they saw early drafts of yet-to-be-finalized ordinances required all homeless shelters to be at least 1,000 feet from any other nonprofit, parks and schools.
The Third Place is 750 feet from Christian Care, which provides a homeless shelter and services for people living in poverty.
Adamson said the city offered to “grandfather The Third Place in” and Fifth Ward Councilman Dylan Parker said he supported the move to allow The Third Place to remain at the corner of Third Avenue and 20th Street, despite some of the prospective ordinance issues.
Parker represents a portion of the downtown business district.
Parker said while he supports The Third Place, he said he was not happy about the decision Miller and Adamson made to open Wednesday.
“I want The Third Place to be able to be a good partner in the downtown, and I think my constituents see how The Third Place will help people,” Parker said Wednesday morning. “But allowing The Third Place to open before the expiration of the moratorium undermines the purpose of the moratorium.
“My constituents have expressed the desire for the homeless shelters in the downtown be licensed and regulated and that there be an accountability. The moratorium was set up for us to have time to develop the regulations necessary to do that. But allowing The Third Place to open before the end of moratorium just creates confusion.”
Parker repeated why he wanted a moratorium and ordinances regulating homeless shelters.
“I don’t think downtown businesses and residents are wrong for asking for regulations that try to guarantee the quality of providers in the downtown,” he said. “I do not think it’s unreasonable to require licensing for homeless shelters and having some mechanism in place to remove them if they are not meeting requirements laid out by ordinances.”
‘A few weird days’
Adamson said the decision to open the doors to The Third Place was not one they reached easily.
“It’s been a few weird days, for sure,” she said Wednesday morning. “On Monday we received a letter from (Rock Island Community Development Director) Miles Brainard saying that if we decided to open before the end of the moratorium, we risked the city council not grandfathering us into the downtown.”
Adamson said at that point, The Third Place’s seven member board decided to delay the opening.
“So we decided that we would invite the media to The Third Place and talk to them about how the city was preventing us from opening and what it is we are trying to do,” she said. “So, by the end of Monday, that was the plan.”
Things changed on Tuesday.
“First, we decided that for two weeks we would work street outreach with Project NOW as a way to keep helping people,” Adamson explained. “Then, we got a phone call from (Rock Island) Mayor (Ashley) Harris.”
According to Adamson, Harris said he was working with the council to grant The Third Place a “special use permit” that would allow the space to open on Wednesday.
Adamson and Miller decided the opening was on.
Then early Wednesday morning an alderman called to say what the mayor did was not OK and that wires were crossed. Then the alderman called back and said the city was going to allow Third Place to open because the council took an informal vote.
The Third Place did open and some of the people its staff of two hope to help showed up for coffee and a comfortable seat.
The opening prompted two responses from the city.
Rock Island’s Community Engagement Manager Sarah Hayden released a statement to the media Wednesday afternoon that opened “In an effort to work with The Third Place, and ensure a smooth relationship with the city and services to the community, the facility at 2000 3rd Ave. will be allowed to open today despite not being granted a special use permit.”
Hayden’s release said the decision was made based on “input from city council members” and that the city “has agreed to allow The Third Place to open at their own risk until the anticipated end of the moratorium at the Oct. 13 city council meeting, at which time the council will take formal action.”
A letter from Rock Island City Manager Todd Thompson to Adamson and Miller restated Hayden’s letter, and added that city council’s “retroactive approval” is not guaranteed.”
Thompson’s last paragraph said Rock Island’s fire marshal “has identified two deficiencies that need to be rectified. First, remove the window hangings until they can be tested and treated. Second, ensure that all emergency lighting and alarms are properly installed and functioning.”
The city council next meets Oct. 13.
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