Chamber travels to Washington D.C. to advocate for downtowns

In March, the Chamber traveled to our nation’s capitol to advocate alongside the International Downtown Association (IDA) for greater funding and support for downtowns.  

Kyle Carter, Chamber Vice President of Place Management and Downtown Davenport Partnership Executive Director, was one of 30 downtown leaders who came to advocate for the IDA advocacy agenda: 

• Enacting legislation to provide tax incentives for converting unused office space to residential and other uses 
• Increasing funding for grants to states and localities to help the unhoused find shelter  
• Investing in public safety programs at the Department of Justice that build partnerships at the local level to reduce crime 

In their first organized advocacy trip to D.C., IDA leaders from New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, the Quad Cities and more came together to share those agenda priorities with federal legislators. 

Carter met with Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley’s staff and Illinois Senator Tami Duckworth’s staff. In total, IDA met with Republican and Democratic leaders over the course of 60 meetings. 

“We’re pushing for a bill that would help incentivize the conversion of office buildings to residential buildings, as well as funds to address homelessness, mental health issues and safety issues. The main goal was the introduction of IDA as an entity that matters at the federal level when it comes to legislation,” said Carter. 

Throughout the day, many downtown leaders expressed having similar challenges to those facing Quad Cities downtowns. “Offices are forever changed because of COVID and downtowns are shifting in order to address higher vacancies,” Carter said. “It might be surprising that downtown LA, Chicago and New York actually have very similar issues to the ones we have in the Quad Cities, it’s just a difference in scope and scale. Issues with empty office buildings, homelessness and mental health are happening everywhere. This legislation would be just as helpful here in the Quad Cities as in any other major market.” 

Following the IDA’s first excursion to D.C., the organization is committed to pursuing long-term legislative advocacy. “Next steps is that IDA will continue to be present on an ongoing basis. We’ll follow up on legislative issues in the Fall. We’ll also continue to build a bigger, stronger coalition so that when we have these items that need to be dealt with, we’re heard.” 

The Chamber operates the Downtown Davenport Partnership, the Downtown Bettendorf Organization and the newly established Rock Island Downtown Alliance.