East Moline moves into its next big phase of infrastructure work and regulating kratom, something many of us have never heard about in The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends] Kratom is an herbal supplement that is getting new scrutiny from lawmakers.

We'll take a closer look with an addiction specialist.

But first, a new East Moline.

In his state of the city address.

East Moline Mayor Reggie Freeman focused on downtown redevelopment and the city's multi-million dollar plans impacting its water supply.

It could mean bigger bills for residents in the not too distant future.

So we're joined by the city administrator of East Moline, Mark Rothert.

The Mayors state of the city, really focused on a lot of the development that East Moline is already doing.

I mean, particularly trying to to get The Bend and downtown and that whole area, coordinated as one.

Yes.

That's been a major goal over the last two years.

What's the progress right now for 2026?

Yeah.

So for 2026, we're doing a lot of or we're finishing the construction on 15th Avenue and going from one end to the other.

There's a lot of work done last year for that, but, we're looking to finish that up this year with, you know, a whole new constructio of roadway, sidewalk, festival, infrastructure there to help for festival, parties and events that we have throughout the year.

And then also we're doing 12th Avenue as well to reconstruct that, to make that connection from The Bend to the downtown through the Rust Belt.

And that's been a major goal, because, well, because the railroad tracks, but also... Yes.

...because of the logistic of all three of those entities.

How important is that?

I think most cities don't realize, that to link these three major things actually gives you more cohesion in East Moline.

It does.

It creates a lot of mobility for people that are walking, riding their bikes.

You know, in vehicular traffic as well to make it more user friendly.

And connecting those, those core commercial areas of our community is goin to be vital for business growth.

People and visitors coming to our communit to to see what we have to offer.

Well, and people who haven' been in East Moline for a while.

I mean, you'll remember downtown as being kind of a depressed area.

It had a lot of empty storefronts.

And then you add Runners Park... Yeah.

...and you and you see all of these buildings that are being renovated.

It really is a bit of transformation for East Moline.

Yeah, it truly is.

And, you know, not only in the public infrastructure, but the city has taken a huge step through the leadership of the mayor and the council to create this program called our Business Improvement Grant, our big program to funnel, sales tax dollars from our business district into this grant program for small businesses where they can get up to $50,000, through their applicatio to the city to revitalize their their storefronts, revitaliz the interior of their of their, facilities to to really transform it in addition to what's going on on the outside in the street.

Well, because you als look at that core area, as you said, you know, The Bend, the Rust Belt, downtown.

And then you have another core over on Avenue of the Cities.

Yeah.

That's also getting some major attention.

Yeah, definitely too, because we don't want to forget the other commercial corridors of our community that are just as important as downtown and The Bend, right?

Avenue of The Cities is a prime example where there's a lot of good mix of residential, commercial, and some other uses that we find very beneficial to our community that we want to improve and help grow.

But a lot of construction.

Yeah.

I mean, people are going to have to be patient this year.

That is, you know, that's the the growing pains of growth, right?

You've got to go through construction.

You've got to be rerouted, you know, 12th Street, for example, today is going to be closed off in one way, one direction.

So we understand those impact that they have on our citizens as well as our business owners.

And we want to be as most accommodating as possible by giving advance notice, providing alternate alternative routes to, to reach these businesses and be as accommodating as we can.

Each of the Illinois Quad Cities have have one big issue, and that is the ability to expand annexation very difficult in in Illinois.

And then you have, you know, Rock Island butted to Moline, but to the east Moline, put it to Hampto and go all the way up the river.

Yeah.

So affordable housing and finding a way to, increase housing is really difficult for each of the communities, including East Moline.

And I want to talk about the Hoffman School.

Yeah.

Because you're looking at that, Metro Rock housing connection, acquiring it, trying to turn a school into affordable housing.

How critically important is that for East Moline?

you know, affordable housing is just the missing one of those missing pieces in our housing stock that we need more of.

But we have some of it, but maybe not have enough, right, to meet the demand that's out there.

And, you know, we've go a great partner in Metro Rock.

You know, they've doing great things.

They're going to be doing a huge, massive investment of their own, assets over the next several years.

And they're a great partner to work with.

And in this aspect of creating affordable housing, you know, it's just another piece to the economic development puzzle to help provide another resource for our citizens that want to live, work an recreate here in the community.

And so we always need to look for ways to to fill in those gaps.

And affordable housing is one of those.

The city's also looking at other, vacant properties throughout the city that are sizable, you know, maybe 5 to 10 acres that we could also look to develop into more housing stock for the community, because you do have to look inside your city limits.

We do.

That's really the only place you can grow in size.

We are landlocked as well, obviously between Moline and Silvis, you know, we have some roo to the north of Silvis going out east, but, you know, that's we are relatively landlocked.

And so you've got to look inside to see how you can revitalize and rehabilitate homes, find parcels of land that can be reused for redevelopment of housing, and be just be creative.

Hoffman school must b very attractive because not only is it creating something inside an existing neighborhood, but schools of course don't pay taxes.

Correct.

So I mean, it's getting back on the tax roll.

Yeah, so there's an added benefit.

Now if Metro Rock develops it there's also that piece of it is also a unit of local government.

So, but there's also going to be ancillary development that that includes retail and grocery stores and, and things of that like, that will be, spinoff development that we wholeheartedly support and want in that area of town that is, you know, for the most part, been neglected as far as growth and development has been in the past.

You talked about expansion, that you do have some acreage in the East, and a lot of times that's been looked at for, industrial development.

Thats correct.

And I do also want to talk about, the, river edge redevelopment zone.

Tell me about how that can progress, that whole area.

Because by the interchange, real plans for East Moline.

Yeah.

So the river edge redevelopment zone is a state incentive, provided through state legislation to East Moline, Moline and Rock Island in each of the three cities have applied separately to the state of Illinois for that designation, provide some incentives for business to grow.

It is limited to 4,500 feet off of the river banks.

So whether you're talking about the Mississippi River or the Rock River, there's potential there to provide that, incentive.

And, you know, it's, incentives for potential tax abatements if the local taxing districts, support that, it's, sales tax exemption on building materials, investment credits and stuff like that.

So there's real tools there that you can use for growth and development.

How do you think that's going to then be used... Yeah.

...for East Moline?

One of the big things, incentives for that, river's edge is a historic tax credit that can be, utilized in conjunction wit the federal historic tax credit.

And so that's going to be huge for our downtown buildings and historic, places that we have downtown.

That's where I see the biggest, benefit for us here locally.

Anything els as far as when it comes up to.

Because that's not going to be used, of course, for the industrial area.

Correct.

But what, developments ar you still hoping in that area?

Are we talking about I-80, 88?

Exactly.

Yeah.

So an I-80, 88.

That's an interesting site because it's been in a floodplain for a long time.

It's been studied for the last 25, 30 years and nothing's really been done.

We've been fortunate to get a grant from the state of Illinois to do a study, to do, to to determine its site readiness.

And that study is almost complete.

And we're going for another round of funding to do construction to to get infrastructure, a sewer line out there to that 88 site.

The site has water already.

It's got close electricity.

So all it needs is sewer.

So once we get the infrastructure there, it's going to ope that site up for more developed.

The whole idea is shovel ready... Yes.

...which is what industries and businesses want.

And we've seen that on the north side of Davenport in particular.

And the success there.

Exactly.

You're thinking this could be just as... This could also be another spot.

I think it's probably the best spot in Illinois because it's at the intersection of to, you know, interstates.

Yeah, exactly.

So much traffic going through there that it's it's ideal for, industrial commercial development at that location.

So does that include Quad City Downs?

That's that's it' north west northeast of there.

Is it not.

So Quad City Downs is, I would say just west of this location.

Okay.

Mile a mile and a half.

So the Quad City Downs is another site that is on our radar scree for future development as well.

We don't know what exactl quite yet, but obviously it's a it's a major piece of property that holds great potential with its proximity to the interstates, and everything.

Let's talk about water bills.

Yeah.

Because, you've got major developments.

It's been ongoing.

Regarding, the water treatment plant upgrades about $42 million is slated for that, work being done from 2027 all the way to, 2032.

Tell me why that water treatment plant upgrades needed.

Yeah, well, certainly, we've got really aging infrastructure.

That plant was built in 1962.

It's gone through a lot of, you know, wear and tear on different pieces of equipment that, you know, break from time to time.

And, you know, we as a city found the need after doing a facility study, you know, having some consultants that are expert in that field of water treatment and facilities to look at what we had as infrastructur and what needed to be replaced.

And so, you know, we've got clear wells and basins and, just, you know, pumps and everythin that just ages out and gets old and deteriorates.

And, you know, we want to have safe drinking water for our residents.

And it's incumbent upon us and our responsibilit to make sure that that happens into the future.

So we made a decision to look at investing what those future improvements might look like, going down the road the next 5 to 10 years and making, you know, improvements to the clear well, immediately and other improvements as we go along.

On the distribution side of it, the pipes going out into the community, there's a lot of lead that's out there that I know is a huge concern for many communities.

And actually every community in the country is mandated by the federal government to do some led service line replacement.

So that's a huge component of this upgrade as well, too.

We want to make sure that we have clean, lines going to our residents, tha they have safe drinking water.

We've got about 6800 line in our community service lines, about 2000 of those are suspected lead service lines.

So we've got a bit, you know, a third or, you know, a more, to, to replace over the next 5 to 10 years.

And one of the things that I was looking at, the bill that was projected, at least in some of the city council documents, looked lik if you have a $47.64 bill now, it's going to increase to $79.57 by 2030.

That's a sizable increase.

It is a sizable increase.

And we are doing, you know, massive upgrades to to our water facility just to ensure that everyone has safe drinking water.

Again, it's the lead service line replacements.

It's the clarifier replacemen as well, that's deteriorating.

And it's it's just making for better utility that serves the public with safe drinking water.

You know, we have to run our operations based on mandates from the federal government and through the EPA, state EPA, as well as, run it like a business and effectively that our, our costs are covered by the rates that we charge.

And, you know, things aren' cheap anymore, as we all know.

And so producing water has a cost to it.

And that's that's what we're seeing through these rates to make sure and ensure that public has safe drinking water.

Have you heard from the public in regards to this?

You know, I'm sure that the mayor and council members certainly have.

Right.

But also we get comment that people understand that the that we're doing what is best for the community as well, that we're ensuring public water is safe to drink and it's safe for their kids, safe for their families.

And so there's an understanding piece of that too.

2026, a lot of construction this year.

Yeah.

What's the major goal that youve got going on?

The growing pains is to get through the construction.

Absolutely.

To make sur to create these beautiful pieces of public infrastructure, to help businesse grow in every part of the city, not just downtown or The Bend, but on the Avenue and across into our industrial industrial park.

It's to leverag and position ourselves as a city that is ready for growth, aligning our incentives such as the River's Edge and enterprise zones and TIFF districts, and business districts so that we can be as effective when you come to the cit of East Moline to do business, so that we can rival, in a way in a friendly way, our friends over across the river.

Our thanks to East Moline City Administrator Mark Rothert.

Just ahead, the dangers of kratom.

Does this herbal supplement have more negatives than positives for those who use it?

But first, we're entering the month of May with a new list of events that may interest you your family, and your friends.

Here's a look at some of the highlights thanks to Visit Quad Cities.

[soft music] Check out the things t do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start your week off by checking out the Quad Cities River bandits when they take on the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

Next, grab your tickets for comedian Jeff Dunham as he takes the stage at Rhythm City Casino Resort.

Then get ready to gather with neighbors and friends at the Carriage House Bar every Friday night.

Then plan to join in on the fun at Putnam Palooza.

Enjoy food trucks, crafts, live music, and family friendly activities.

Finally, get ready for the Taco and Margarita Festival.

Enjoy over 100 local vendors, margarita flights, and delicious food.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar at VisitQuadCities.com [music ends] Some see kratom an herbal substance, as a safe remedy for pains or even an effective way to get people off opioids.

In Iowa and Illinois, it's still a legal supplement.

Illinois restricts it to adults over 18, though some local communities have moved to ban it.

In Iowa for the most part it's unregulated, but lawmakers have made moves that could se new restrictions put in place.

So we want to know o the dangers of kratom, if any.

Center for Alcohol and Drug Services (CADS) program Director Kenno Neal joins us to talk about it.

So tell me about this kratom because, I mean, I mentioned it to peopl and they've never heard of it.

On the other hand, you see it, if you're looking for it, you see it everywhere.

That's correct.

Now, I will tell you tha kratom comes from, the origins Southeast Asia.

And with that being said, there's like 50 different strains throughout Southeast Asia.

The strains I want to talk about today that I think are important are three different ones.

And it deal with the maturity of the leaves, you know, and why people use kratom.

With that being said when you ask if it's been around Southeast Asia, people typically use it as we use coffee, you know, caffeine, social gathering.

Because it's based off a leaf.

Correct.

It is a plant leaf.

Yes, yeah.

So it is an herbal substance which gives the notion that it's healthy.

But with the maturity of the leaves, we talked about the strains, You have three different ones, [?]

they deal with the, maturity of the, the [?].

So th white one is the least maturity.

People can use that for the stimulant like effect, alertness.

So some individuals who may be dealing with a mental health, such as anxiety or depression may use that.

Then you have the middle strain, which is green I believe would deal with mild pain relief.

Because creative does act as an opiate like, stimulant like when it's attached to those receptors.

So people tend to use that one.

Then the big concerning one is the red which is more potent.

And so, think about it.

You're using this substance to manage pain.

But then you have the chance of building tolerance the more you use it.

And then we end up in that, substance use disorder type of thing.

And so, I mean, to me, there's not enough out there information out there.

But we do know I could give you data on as far as hospitalization and things of that to show that, I think it's a very dangerous substance.

And I think the fact that it's not regulated.

Well, even the FDA doesn't really come out and say this is incredibly dangerous.

They say it has no evidence of medicinal purpose.

That's straight from the FDA, which is kind of their way of saying, don't use it.

It ain't good.

Well, absolutely.

When I think of FDA and if I'm going to use this, well, it wood be a substance, something has to be FDA approved.

Because I think the FDA, the first thin that comes to mind is regulated.

Tested!

Tested.

It works.

You know, even things that we do within our prevention services, our test that we use was like evidence based, you know, so you believe in it.

You know that it works.

So if it's not FDA approved, I'm not touching it.

No.

But of course, I mean, this is available like a the counter of a quickie mart.

It's at convenience stores, it's at smok shops, it's at various places.

And the people that do us it would say, hey, works for me and leave it at that.

If it works for me, it I need it.

Well, two different things I want to touch on.

You're right, you see it everywhere.

So because the idea that it's okay, it's the norm, you said, smoke shops, convenience stores, even some health places in that herbal attachment, when you hear that.

And the mor you see it, the more you think it's the norm.

And it does work, but we still don't know enough about it.

When I say works, I'm using it lightly.

It will act as that opiat like thing and alleviate pain.

But there's a lot of time, weve had a history.

Remember big tobacco.

And you know, we've had history where things have been everywhere.

And it's promoted.

I remember the ol advertisements, such as “Smoke one a day,” you know.

Or even seven out of ten doctors prefer... There you go.

...X, Y, Z cigarettes from the 50s.

But later on we see the repercussions.

All right.

So.

Tell me a little bit about because it's also been claimed that kratom is good, and it does have opioid tendencie I guess is what I want to say, but that it can be used to get people off of addictions.

No.

So what I will say has those compounds made up, and I'm not a science, but I know those have compounds made up that act as an opiate.

Now, but study has also show the individuals who have used it to try to substitute getting off of the opiate have actually ended up, developing like I talked about, tolerance.

So they use more of the substance and then they tend to fall into this substance use disorder.

I can tell you one interesting thing.

It there's such a, let me see, if its actually such a thing to help peopl with addiction, that we've had, I think the CDC reported that within the last decade, I want to say, like 1,200% increase of opiate relate incidents for hospitalizations.

So right there again concerning, you know.

So again, I might have to point out to you that many of the people who have used opioids actually are dealing with probably substance, so they're using some illicit substance as well.

So individuals go in there and they may use this.

Not all individuals.

I say some individuals may say, okay, I'm gonna deal with this pain, Im gonna try to modify this and end up becoming addicte to using some other substance.

Well, once again, you could see the appeal because because it is herbal.

So it's natural.

So it can't have that much harm.

And it's been aroun for like you said, in Southeast Asia, it's been aroun for decades, if not centuries.

Well, let me ask you anything else.

Do you know it?

Can you name?

I'm gonna ask you, not as a quiz to put you on the spot.

No, youre not after me.

Im ready for this.

Alright, so... The table has turned on me.

okay, so as far as, herbal, do you, can you name any other substances that are herbal?

Do you think... Tea, herbal tea?

Okay, ha, ha, ha.

That's got a calmin influence for a lot of people.

Actually, I'm talking about stuff that, there's a substance that you wouldn't use, like a plant.

Youre thinking marijuana.

Marijuana.

Leafy things such as that.

Right?

So, I mean, there's... Poppy seeds.

There you go.

So my point is, like I said, I remembe growing up in the 80s and people saying, oh, this marijuana, this plant is healthy.

Its hemp.

Right.

And we didn't know today, and I' not here to speak on marijuana.

We do know that if, people develop an addiction, we do know that.

We do know that there's a lot of substance out there that may derive from some herbal thing that is not exactly healthy, you know, so.

So at CADS, at treatment centers, are you seeing an increase use and dependency of kratom?

Because as you know, there's people in our society who've never even heard of it.

I will tell you, this is what we're seeing is that there are some people within the treatment centers that are, like I said, that poly substance.

So they may report using kratom, but they're actually dealing with some other type of [?].

Or, some type of stimulant.

So it sounds like they're using something legal when it... Right.

...I see what youre saying.

You know, it's kind of like you do screening services or they individual may share that, yeah, I've done kratom before, but they've actually talked about doing and maybe even drinkin or doing some heroin, you know.

So I've never seen anybod come in and just say I've used kratom alone.

You've seen that lawmaker are now putting some attention toward it.

And last year, in Illinois, they restricted it to adults, 18 and over.

In Iowa they're looking at making it a, a substance, that is more heavily regulated, like, like more hardcore drugs.

Is it another thing also that lawmakers don't really know that much about it and that you're having this patchwork of different states with different regulations?

Well, and I don't have those exact numbers, but I will tell you, now, you said Illinois, correct me if Im wrong, they have a standard age for kratom?

Yeah.

You have to be an adult.

It was from last year.

How about Iowa?

Iowa, I don't know the law, but to the best of my knowledge, Iowa's unregulated.

Iowa is unregulated, as far as law.

But they do have a practice.

Those people who do so, I think they have a practice at their discretion, 18 plus.

Generally its an adult.

You know, again, not really too familiar with all the laws as it surrounds kratom.

And they're changing.

And they're changing.

I do know that, like you said that you have some states where it's not regulated.

I mean, as far as the sales or who they sell to, I believe even online, you could purchase kratom.

So all those are dangerous.

The mixed messages that we're sending.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We all gotta to be on the same ship.

But if everybody's on this ship, I mean, I think we've all seen Titanic, you know, it's so I mean, we're on this boa together and we have different peopl who have different perceptions.

What is safe, what is not safe.

It also always boils down to, what do you tell parents?

What should they be looking out for?

Is is there any signs or anything that would help parents better understand kratom?

I would think the best thing for parents to understand or just people in general to understand kratom, drive around, go to the shops.

If you're able to d your own research and you'll see a lot of the practice, as far as the signage in there, the different things, I mean, how they come in different forms making more accessible.

Whether it's, I think powder is most commonly used for them, but they even have shots that they referred to, capsules.

All these things that make it inviteable, to make sure we're touching every individual, you know, as far as, route of the, that's the word I'm looking for?

As far as how you're going to take that substance.

Okay, right.

You know, because think about it, when I go to the doctor, I don't like capsules, so the first think Im asking i do we have this in a liquid form or something that we could chew.

So they're making it easily accessible to individuals.

But I would tell parents, not only be prepared, but also signs would be typical that of anybody using any substance.

Change of friends.

You may not see the physical signs or smell that odor that somebody may use, like from smoking marijuana but I would just pay attention.

And most importantly, as a parent myself, just have the conversation.

I would say explore with them.

Ask them, are you familiar with this substance?

Have you heard of it?

What do you know about it?

And do your own education.

So.

Our thanks to the Center for Alcohol and Drug Services (CADS) Program Director Kennon Neal.

It too a spark to create this nation, and each of us has a spark that helps keep it going.

As America gets ready to celebrate its 250th birthday, we're asking people in the cities about their Civic Spark, what made them get into the careers they chose, an how does it benefit all of us?

We posed that question t Davenport School Superintendent T.J.

Schneckloth.

What is your Civic Spark?

[soft music] I was in college.

I was volunteering in a classroom, and I was reading a book to a third grade classroom.

The teacher in the classroo literally grabbed me by my ear, took me over to her desk, dialed the number, said, you're going to talk to a counselor.

The counselor said, get over here right now, we'll change your major.

I went down there.

I changed my major to elementary education.

And I can tell you, when I walked out of that, that building, I, I, I came alive.

My career an everything about me had purpose.

When I became a teacher and I became a principal, everything was about finding that little T.J.

Schneckloth that might need a little bit of help or or a family that might that I could in some way help.

And so that was the spark for me.

And it was, started with a tap on the shoulder.

And that's why I think education is one of the greatest professions on the planet.

[music ends] Our thanks to Davenport Schoo Superintendent T.J.

Schneckloth.

for sharing his Civic Spark.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile device, and streaming on your computer, thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends]