DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – On Wednesday evening, the Davenport City Council held their third and final consideration for whether or not 3rd and 4th Streets should be converted from one ways into two way streets.
After more public comment as well as comment from the City Council, it was time to vote on the long awaited conclusion to this saga.
The vote was split among the ten alderman, with Robby Ortiz, Kyle Gripp, JJ Condon, Maria Dickmann, and Marion Meginnis voting in favor. That leaves Ben Jobgen, Derek Cornette, Tim Kelly, Rick Dunn, and Judith Lee voting against the conversion.
It all came down to Mayor Mike Matson’s vote, which was in favor of the conversion.
“Tonight culminated in that we’ll move forward with two ways and see where this goes,” Matson said. “But this has been a discussion for years and now we have an answer. I appreciate and thank everybody that came to talk, emailed called, spoke whatever their position and giving that’s, that’s what we want.”
At-large Alderman Kyle Gripp has been a proponent of the conversion since the beginning and is thankful a decision has finally been made.
“It’s good to have a conclusion to this,” Gripp said. “I know we’ve been talking about this in our council meetings for six weeks. But really, we’ve been talking about this, this topic for 15 to 20 years. It’s been brought up over the years, and we’ve finally were able to bring it to a vote and get get it across the finish line.”
On the other hand, 8th Ward Alderman Judith Lee has always felt the plan lacked a clear direction and not enough planning went into the process.
“Well, the vote is done,” Lee said. “So now it’s just the city moves forward with the decision that was made with the mayor breaking the tie and that’s the way it went. Now I’m very interested to see if it works. I don’t want them coming back for more money. That’s for sure. Because I don’t think that the planning was in depth enough for what we needed.”
The construction for the conversion wouldn’t begin until roughly 2024 when 3rd and 4th Streets are repaved and repainted.
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