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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Douglas Cunningham |
| Address | 1019 Arlington Ct.
Davenport, Iowa 52803, United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
November 27, 1956
(68 years)
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| Contributor | ev |
| Last Modifed | ev
Oct 07, 2023 08:59am |
| Tags |
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| Info | Office Sought: 5th Ward Alderman
"I have been a resident of the City of Davenport since 1972. My wife and I began our life together at Marycrest University in Davenport. Since that time I have been proud to be a member of this community. In the past 23 years there have been many changes in this city, some very positive, some not, but in the past several years I have found it disheartening that the negative affects can be seen primarily in the neighborhoods, and what was once the stable business corridors of the city.
I have chosen to run for 5th ward alderman to see if I can bring my life experiences, business experiences, and love of my neighborhood and the 5th ward to affect positive changes in areas that have seen so much distress.
Read more about my experience in the About Doug section below, and my concerns in the priorities section. One of the things that I love about Democracy is we all have great ideas, and I would be more than happy to hear yours, feel free to contact me.
I am proud to be a nominee for this seat on the Davenport City Council, and would like to thank all of you for your support!"
About
My name is Doug Cunningham. I was born in 1956 in Des Moines Ia., and attended middle school in Clinton, Iowa until moving to Davenport in 1972. I graduated from West High School in 1974., and started my college career at Palmer Jr. College where I was not only Student Senate President, but I was also the first male cheerleader in local colleges. After finishing at Palmer Jr. College I joined the workforce and the family business in 1976.
I started off as a laborer framing in homes and installing pools and worked my way up to managing the factory on South Rohlf St. At 21 yrs old I learned that this was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I then returned to school at Marycrest College, where I met the best thing that ever happened in my life, and a woman who possessed my same love for life, my wife Patti. We are now entering our 27th year of marriage. Patti and I have been blessed with 5 children and 3 grandchildren. They have been the driving force of our family.
After completing my education at Marycrest I was fortunate enough to be hired as a staff member of the John Connelly for President Campaign. After an unsuccessful bid for the presidency I left politics and pursued a career in sales. In 1989 I was promoted to sales manager and have held that position ever since.
As residents of the Central City my family and I have been neighborhood activists since the early 90’s. Early on I was a member of the East Bluff Neighborhood Association, and my wife served on East Bluff’s Crime Committee. I then moved on to Program Services Committee at Neighborhood Housing Services in 2003. In 2004 I was elected to my present position of Chairman of the Board of Neighborhood Housing Services of Davenport, where I have been proud to represent the neighborhood.
As 5th ward alderman, I will be extending my neighborhood activist role within the City Government and will faithfully represent my constituents.
Main Priorities
Increase in Public Safety Resources
For many years I have been an advocate for an increase in Police and Fire Department personnel. We cannot hope to expand the city population without expanding public safety or we put our present citizens at higher risk. Moreover, if you look at the 2005 crime statistics in the table above demonstrating Davenport as compared to Cedar Rapids (a city 33% larger) you will see a dramatic that this is a cause for concern.
Davenport even exceeds the national average in 6 of 7 categories. We need to address this issue by increasing public safety. The FBI says we are short on police officers, and the justice department describes more of a shortage than the FBI. Moreover the NFLPA says that the firefighter situation is even more dire. These are national organizations who have made an objective assessment of the public safety needs in this community.
Restore Trust and Accountability to City Government.
We elect our Mayor and City Council to make the right decisions and carry out their campaign promises to those who elected them, whether on a ward or city-wide level. Too often once they are sworn in as our representatives, they follow their own, or their agents special agenda.
Since I consider my only special interest group to be the citizens of my ward, I will stand on the issues that I run on. With that in mind I will represent my constituents on both issues directly involved with 5th ward and those that may have a larger scope. I will vote based on what is in the best interest of you, and adhere to my campaign issues contained herein throughout my term.
Increase Citizen and Business Opportunities The chasm between pro-business and pro-citizens has widened and created an impasse to action. To bridge the gap would allow productive progress benefitting both, with growth and prosperity—and ultimately a higher quality of life in the 5th ward and throughout the City.
Businesses—We need to continue to solicit new businesses and jobs in the City while also reinforcing the ability of existing businesses to grow and prosper. There are a variety of benefits that the City can provide to both new and existing businesses, we need to continue to “conservatively”
utilize these resources, while maintaining that the highest benefits are given to those that provide the most market rate jobs. We also need to expand knowledge of these benefits to those existing businesses who would like to expand but are unaware of the incentives available.
Neighborhoods—I have lived in my home for 17 years. I expected my neighbors to change; families come and go, but my specific neighborhood has changed significantly in those 17 years as well. How many vacant and foreclosed homes do you have in your block? I would guess your answer to be 2 or 3, in some cases 5 or 6. Foreclosures are increasing, young families are finding themselves unable to purchase their first home, and many homes are falling into disrepair. Stabilizing and reinvesting in our neighborhoods is a necessity. The City’s new 100 homes program will help, I hope that it is successful in the neighborhood that is chosen. True revitalization will require expansion of existing programs, encouragement of non-profit organizations, support of business partnerships in neighborhoods, reinforcement of neighborhood groups, new implementation of creative involvement of city council, and a reduction in crime. The simplest thing that we can all do is walk outside and across our lawn and talk to our neighbors, lets get to know each other again, help watch out for each others children, wave when drive by, I challenge everyone in the City to learn your neighbors names.
The truth is businesses are attracted by neighborhoods, and neighborhoods are great partners for businesses, the two are each as important as the other, and must occur concurrently.
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