January 25, 2017 – Lisa Miller, Data/GIS Director, reported that since its launch in 2010, the web-based data portal for our region, www.GreaterQCRegion.org, has housed data for the five-county region, Illinois and Iowa, and the U.S.  Users can select an area and get a quick report with key indicators or dig deeper into the data and get detailed reports or time series for these data.

January 25, 2017 –  The highest elected official or other administrative staff in your community recently received correspondence from the U.S. Census Bureau related to the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) Program.  This is an important opportunity for your community to ensure that its boundaries are correct in the Census Bureau files.  The Census Bureau uses the boundary information collected in the BAS to tabulate data for the decennial and economic censuses, and annual estimates and surveys such as the Population Estimates Program and the American Community Survey.  More information is available in the flyer pictured below.  For assistance in navigating this program or submitting your community’s BAS response, please contact Lisa Miller, Data/GIS Director, (309) 793-6302, ext. 133 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

December 21, 2016 –  Colonel Kenneth Tauke, Rock Island Arsenal (RIA), presented his vision for the future of the installation.  The campaign plan goes out 30 years into 2040, and focus areas include integrating the RIA with the larger Quad Cities community, adapting to a 21st century workforce, improving the quality of life, transforming the functionality of the installation, and focusing on infrastructure and sustainability.

May 25, 2016 – The following table details the construction projects for the Quad Cities Area as of May 25, 2016:

November 16, 2016 – David Gobin, Muscatine Director of Planning and Community Development, spoke on efforts by the City of Muscatine and local private partners to examine the feasibility of an intermodal container port in Muscatine, Iowa.  There are no intermodal container facilities on the upper Mississippi River north of St. Louis to date.  With many of the containerized ports on the coasts, and potential increasing opportunities for containerized shipping on the Mississippi River, the idea came about as part of Muscatine’s participation in both statewide freight plan development and a commodity optimization study by Iowa Department of Transportation (IADOT) and Iowa Department of Economic Development.

October 26, 2016 – Bi-State Regional Commission celebrated its 50th Anniversary of being a planning agency on October 26, 2016 at Camden Centre in Milan Illinois.  Randy Blankenhorn, Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation and Paul Trombino, Director of the Iowa Department of Transportation presented information on the importance of Metropolitan Planning Organizations like Bi-State in the development of the transportation system and on the future automation of people and freight travel.

November 16, 2016 – November 16, 2016 is GIS Day!  It provides an opportunity for Geographic Information System (GIS) users to promote and demonstrate the benefits of this technology that has revolutionized the delivery of spatial information.
Local governments use GIS to improve decision making, service delivery, and citizen engagement.  Since most government data is location-based, sharing this information using GIS can help operations run more smoothly and also give citizens more open, positive experiences.

September 28, 2016 – Donna Moritz, Revolving Loan Fund Program Administrator, presented the Commission with information on the Bi-State Revolving Loan Fund (BSRLF).  The BSRLF is celebrating 31 years of providing gap financing to businesses.  Since the inception of the program in 1985, over $10 million has been loaned to 107 businesses in Rock Island and Scott Counties.  These loans have helped generate approximately $437 million in total investments, accessing city and state public financing programs, financial institutions, and company equity.  In addition, nearly 3,800 jobs have been created/retained in the two-county area.  Currently, there is approximately $753,000 available to loan with the repayment loan pool growing by $5,000 each month.

September 28, 2016 – Kathy Morris, Waste Commission of Scott County Director, reported the largest and most impactful update was the completion and opening of the single-stream recycling facility.  She thanked the many partners in the region for a true collaboration to finance and support the facility.  The Scott County Board issued bonds, and the Waste Commission received a closed-loop grant to finance the  construction.  Communities and businesses from both Iowa and Illinois are utilizing the facility, which has seen a 102% increase in material accepted in the first two months of operation.  Recycling contamination is higher with the single-stream program; however, it is still below 10%, which is very good for a single-stream recycling facility.  Ms. Morris stated that the cities and Waste Commission are currently working with households to “right-size” their recycling cart, and are receiving more requests for smaller carts than anticipated.  Since the footprint of the smaller cart is only slightly smaller than the current carts, staff has been asking residents to consider that recyclables generally increase around the holidays.

July 27, 2016 – Liz Hogan from the Davenport FoodHub stated that there are over 30 FoodHubs in Iowa, including the Davenport branch located in the Freight House.  The FoodHub exists to connect local farmers and producers to commercial distribution centers and to consumers.  The FoodHub identifies local food sources and helps to get them sold locally to reduce the amount of imported goods, thereby creating sustainability in the local economy.  The movement of keeping locally-grown food local started with the Detroit Eastern Market.  The City of Davenport and the Regional Development Authority were instrumental in securing federal funding to start the FoodHub, as well as providing the facility at the Freight House.  Starting with four growers, the FoodHub has now grown to involve 100 farmers in the region.