At 4:55 p.m. May 28, the west wall of the six-story apartment building known as The Davenport collapsed, killing three people, forcing an amputation of another and destroying the homes and belongings of dozens of people.
Ken Croken, left, and Mike Matson, right, are running for Mayor of Davenport. The city/school election is Nov. 7.
That tragic event and the actions that followed have helped shaped the race for mayor of Davenport. Two-term Mayor Mike Matson is running for a third term. He is challenged by Iowa Dist. 97 State Rep. Ken Croken.
Croken, 73, a retired Genesis marketing and government relations executive, served a four-year term as a Scott County Supervisor before winning election to the Iowa House of Representatives as a Democrat in 2022.
Croken’s candidacy for mayor arose out of what he says is a lack of trust of the city government in the aftermath of the collapse. He says a tension and animosity exist between residents and the city, and he’s campaigning on a message of restoring public trust, transparency and confidence in city government.
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Why give up his statehouse job? Croken says the microphone is his only tool in Des Moines due to the Republican supermajority. He believes he can be more effective as mayor of Davenport.
In an interview Oct. 18, mayoral candidate Ken Croken talks with the Quad-City Times about his priorities if elected to lead Iowa’s third-largest city. Please note this is a full, unedited interview.
Croken says the city needs to answer why people were still living in the apartment building when structural issues were identified and repairs being performed. Further, he says the city purposely removed the scope of city culpability from an investigative report looking into the cause of the collapse. The city has been named in seven lawsuits connected to the fatal collapse.
Some of Croken’s criticisms of the city land squarely and represent a group of city residents who believe the city doesn’t care about them. And we do want an investigation into the city’s actions regarding The Davenport. The city has a responsibility to make sure buildings are sound and safe. Like Croken, we’d like to see an accounting of the city’s processes and operations.
Croken’s vision to restore public trust, though, doesn’t appear to come with a manual. It’s not clear how Croken would achieve his goals, and we don’t see a track record of him bringing people together. Further, we don’t see a plan from him on how to move the city forward in terms on a host of issues, including economic development, infrastructure and public safety.
Mike Matson, one the other hand, articulates a broad plan for progressing the city. And he’s already got some accomplishments from his previous two terms.
Matson, 59, retired from a career in the U.S. Army, where he reached the rank of sergeant major. He was first elected to the 8th Ward in 2007 while a Junior ROTC instructor for Davenport schools.
One of Matson’s crowning achievements is the city’s reduction in violent crime, which he attributes to the community involvement in the Group Violence Intervention program. Shots fired incidents are down by 27% in 2023 compared to the same time period in 2022 and non-fatal shootings have declined by 14%. Group violence-related non-fatal incidents have gone down 76%.
With public safety clearly on the minds of city residents, this strategic change in approach to crime is a welcome development and something we expect to continue to improve. Matson wants Davenport to be the “safest big city in Iowa.”
Among other accomplishments, Matson notes a recent city bond rating upgrade, the first in decades, and pointed to street and sewer projects, including a major ongoing reconstruction project on 53rd Street, replacing a 1930s-era sewer line and building out the sewer system to the west. He also points to the 4,000 jobs added in the last three years, not including the 1,000 new jobs Amazon has promised.
Regarding the building collapse, Matson says he will focus on building safety and an improved inspection process.
One of the largest disparities between Matson and Croken is their approach to governance. We fall solidly behind Matson’s demonstrated efforts and successes from networking, partnership and collaboration, whether it be within the community, at the state or federal level. He’s built connections that benefit the citizens of Davenport, and we’d like to see that continue.
Through his 12 years on the council and four as mayor, Matson has developed a firm grasp on the broader operations of the mayor, and he understands he can’t move city forward on his own.
Mike Matson sits down with the Quad-City Times Oct. 17, 2023 to talk about his priorities if elected to a third, two-year term as Davenport mayor. Please note this is a full, unedited interview, but due to a technical difficulty with the camera used, there are a few brief moments with audio, but no video.
We believe Matson is much stronger of the two candidates and has earned our endorsement for another term as Davenport’s mayor
We applaud Croken for his candidacy, which has shined a needed light on some of the city’s shortcomings. Moving forward, we would like to see a less defensive posture from city leaders in regard to criticism.
And we urge Matson to turn those criticisms into to solutions.
