On Monday, February 3rd, 2025, the Scott County Attorney announced that they would not be seeking criminal charges against locally known slumlord Andrew Wold, 43, for his role in the collapse of The Davenport.
On May 28th, 2023, The Davenport, a 116-year-old apartment building in Downtown Davenport, Iowa began to collapse. The collapse killed three members of our community, permanently injured another, and made dozens of citizens suddenly homeless with all of their possessions lost to them. This collapse was not unavoidable. There were many signs that the building was in desperate repair. Frequently residents would mention structural failings to Wold’s management staff and even to the city. All seemingly were ignored or deemed too costly of a repair to even consider.
This neglect was paired with an abdication of responsibility from those in City Hall to the citizens of Davenport. Indeed, this tragic outcome was all too predictable to those of us paying attention to the corruption on display at City Hall. That still does not make the decision from the Scott County Attorney’s office any less galling, nor any less heartbreaking, for the members of our community who lost loved ones or who know those who lost their home along with everything they own.
We condemn, in the strongest possible way, the political corruption that led to this travesty. We condemn the lackluster investigations given to this nightmare. We condemn the systemic failures that continue to plague our local political environment that seems all too content to let the rule of slumlords and petty tyrants casually decide that public safety should always take a back seat to profit. We condemn the legal structures that allow rent-seeking from the most vulnerable among us on humanity’s most essential needs.
Quad Cities DSA Steering Committee