East Moline's new city motto?
Happened to see this on the way home from the parade.
I thought it was pretty blunt and authoritative, so, not wanting any trouble, I stopped, dropped, and started rolling. Before long, about a dozen other people were doing it too, figuring it was the thing to do.
As I was rolling one way, I saw my life flash before my eyes when I suddenly realized a woman about the size of Montana was rolling directly at me. I now know what it's like to witness a flesh tsunami. Only my nimble reflexes averted a chilling and grisly fate. I still shudder to think of it.
But the banner should read, "Stop, drop, roll, and then eventually stop rolling", because no one knew when it was OK to quit rolling around.
I finally got dizzy and said to hell with it.
"East Moline; Stop, drop, and roll."
Catchy, I suppose, but WTF???? Wouldn't you expect something a little more upbeat like, "Gateway to Moline", or "We have a Jim's Ribs too." or "Come to get on I-88, stay for the taverns." or something like that? I mean, the downtown's a little sleepy, but it's not dead yet. (though it might smell like it in a couple years)
That's it.
Maybe the banner is a forward thinking effort to prepare the populace for what they'll be doing when the wind blows west after the Triumph plant is at full bore? (or would that be "boar"?)
posted by The Inside Dope @ 7/04/2006
5 comments
5 Comments:
I at least hope it was near the fire station. The eastmoline.com site doesn't work either. Way to go Mayor Thodos.
I was down there as well for the firecracker run. First time I've been down there in 6-7 years and I have to say it does look a little better than I remember - few more restaurants and stuff like that along 15th avenue.
Tiz,
For what it's worth, it was nowhere near a fire station, but rather outside Derby Tech computers at 7th and 16th Ave.
The downtown is hanging on for dear life, but most of that is on the west end. The further west you go on 15th, the more run down and dilapidated it gets.
As long as the Pleasure Palace is down there it'll be fine. I remember the good old days where there were TWO adult-oriented places down there. :)
Oh well, maybe the Quarter will help things out down there. As much as I love the Palace I can't see it being the place to eat for folks who just shelled out 400K for a condo by the river.
Ah yes. I think the other place was call the Studio. I thought it was still there.
And that Quarter development. Well. Good luck.
These first couple years it looked like a collossal boondoggle.
Maybe it will take a few decades to fill out, but for the last few years, it consists of a very well landscaped and expensive drive which winds way back behind a vast industrial plant which is clearly visible, and this drive finally reveals a small clump of condos firmly plopped down in the middle of reclaimed industrial wasteland.
There's this large field of mud and weeds which is and definitely looks like the site where an old factory had been razed, nothing but dirt, weeds, and chunks of concrete, and then this tiny, isolated little bunch of condos sitting waaaaay out in the middle of it.
How they picked that location is beyond me. It's not near the water, it's not near anything but the middle of this vast wasteland.
And of course, you can always look out your window and see dozens of combines getting prepped for shipment.
Very strange, and when I first checked it out, I was shocked at how bizarre the whole thing is.
The manicured boulevard built to get people the long distance back to the condo clump is actually the only attractive part of the entire development.
But I haven't been down there for about a year, maybe it looks a bit more finished now. I can only hope that it's just being developed in stages and the whole will eventually look less bleak.
I've only been back there once and concur, except there were some condos back by the river when I was there. Maybe for an encore they'll build houses on Sylvan Island. :)
I'm almost wondering if the people who planned it are banking on Harvester leaving the area in the next 10-20 years. Not that there's anything wrong with Harvester or trailer courts, but I don't think I'd be paying as much as people are paying to live between them, river be damned.
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