This program was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And I am VCU.

We've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial health and we are here.

I am VCU as a proud supporter of Wqpt.

Public affairs programing on Wqpt is brought to you by the Singh Group at Merrill, serving the wealth management needs of clients in the region for over 35 years.

Rock Island is trying to create another downtown renaissance.

What's the mayor's plans for the coming year?

It'll be one of the big stories for 2025.

In the city's.

We'll.

Rock Island is in the midst of its biggest downtown renovation project in more than a generation.

And here's music to the ears of those who live, work.

Do business, travel downtown.

It's coming closer to being done.

Rock Island Mayor Mike Holmes talked about the progress during his annual state of the city address, and joins us in the studio to talk about not only the downtown, but the issues and the opportunities throughout the city.

Mr. mayor, thank you for joining us.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

It's great to be here.

Your state of the city was really talking about reinvesting in the future.

And tell me a little bit about that.

I mean, Rock Island had infrastructure issues, just like Moline, just like all these older cities in the 80s.

And you've really tried to improve on that?

That is correct.

Reinvesting in infrastructure is one thing.

Like we're looking at a downtown project as we'll talk about, more detail.

But there's also reinvesting in we're we bought a new, financial software for the city hasn't been done for decades.

And, obviously technology, as we all know, has gotten a lot better.

And it was time to do that.

Now, that also involves a lot of other departments, but this is a almost $2 million project.

That will make us more not only transparent, but user friendly for the citizens among us, give us a lot of flexibility to be able to get accurate data to citizens quicker.

And they have access, to this information on their own in a lot of cases.

So that's what I guess one of the things to talk about, investing in the future of reinvesting in the in the city, we did some remodeling of the city hall, council chambers that hadn't been done once again for many decades.

We took it back and did a retro to it.

So we got the original ceiling.

But, but investing in a lot of things that we hope will keep giving back in, to the citizens, for many, many years besides just infrastructure.

Let's talk about the downtown area, because that's the most visual that's not going on right now.

It has been, a long journey of construction.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Yes, there is, yes there is.

It is a almost $9 million project put together by a tiff money state, money city money being Arpa.

And so it took a collaboration of a lot of different people and entities to do it, but it was, much needed street to guide to repair, but not only that, as we had the old tall street lights we got now new, more, restaurant friendly ones.

We got wider sidewalks so you can do cafe seating, where the plaza was, where people talked about the plaza and, and the state jails took that out, put a street back in there, but one lane each way.

No parking.

But also did it curb loss so it can still be a plaza.

We can still close it off and have functions down there.

And so it serves more than one purpose of just a plaza.

Now it can be a street and also an entertainment area.

Of course, street scaping and that sort of thing.

Working with, building owners down there on their, awnings and some of their facades.

But we took a pretty large area.

It wasn't just 1 or 2 blocks, it was four block area, a major undertaking, and as unfortunately, got delayed and, taken longer than what we anticipated.

It's been harder on businesses we've worked with.

Some of those businesses, helped them out financially in some cases.

When I got here 30 years ago, there was the riverboat that was there.

Yes.

Blue Cat had pretty much just opened just a few years earlier.

Rib Cage had just opened and it was becoming the district.

Then it changed.

It's been kind of morphing over and over again.

It had much the downtown, much of reputation as a bar district and sometimes little more than that in the nightlife.

You're reimagining it right now, are you not as more of a residential, family friendly downtown shopping and eating experience?

You're absolutely correct.

We had no problem with the bar life.

We have no problem with nightlife, but we also want them to have some during the day and families during the weekend and etc.. Down there, you got Schriever Park.

Of course.

There's a lot of programing going on there, but we want to bring it into the downtown even further.

And so we're looking at, having people open businesses, whether it be in they just have a climbing wall or an arcade, those type of situations to have down there also to be family friendly.

But we want some nightlife.

We want some rooftop bar and and some restaurants.

And we've got now we're working on getting that, we tore down some blighted buildings.

We've now get some, got some developers that are maybe interested in, doing an apartment complex.

Right on the right across from Schriever Park.

We've got three, gentlemen that are going to open up a white tablecloth restaurant.

They're working on the building right now.

Can't name the name yet at this point, but it's bringing people like that investments down there again.

So we're going to get there.

It's going to be years.

It's not going to.

Something happens overnight, but we're going to reimagine it.

Have some small shops down there, some niche type of shopping.

We've already gotten some, brick and mortar that a one we've had down there.

Big T's, just to name a couple that, are opening up an incubator type of situations.

So it's starting to happen, but it's going to take time.

I think Rock Island was in some ways I don't want to read your mind here was looking at Moline and how it redid its downtown, or looking at Davenport and the revitalization there, or everything that's going on in Bettendorf and saying, look, we're getting a little old.

We have to blow the the dust off of our cover and we have to look more modern.

That's correct.

I mean, it's we're the Quad Cities, I understand that, but you are somewhat competitive with the other three cities.

Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And Rock Island, when it was the district and really hopping people are envious of us.

And when we did that, we did a lot of housing down there and everything else before people really the other cities got too involved with it.

Unfortunately, I will say we the city, but it's also the business owners and the building owners down there needed help work with it all too, also.

And we got behind the times we didn't catch up with, what is current and what people are looking for.

The, the, the, the bars is not just the only thing they're looking for it today.

And so we didn't keep up with it, as a city and as the building owner down here.

And now it's time to blow it up, blow the dust off, rehab it, and revitalize and start with some new trends and new thoughts, and, and be competitive and fun.

It also involves a half million dollar investment in Arts Alley, which has always been such a creative part of Rock Island that Quad City Arts was located in the heart of Rock Island.

Is it important to have that type of feature, as a draw for a community?

Yes.

We really do feel that, you want diversity and so you can have shops, but you can you can have restaurants and bars.

Interesting.

But you need some.

We feel we need arts and culture also, you need some nonprofit organizations.

So it really takes a very diverse, business mix, I, we believe to be successful in Arts Alley is that it really represents, what part of the Quad Cities in Rock Island is.

You know, we had two great artists working on those murals, one locally and the other one from out of town.

But it really did a great job in bringing out, what rock Island and the quad City stands for in their, in their art there.

We also, I don't know if you noticed, but two little pods down there, for pop up shops, once again, a very popular deal these days to be able to sit and say, I can rent the spot for two days and maybe either test the market and see if I want to be there and or just to expand and, and, and offering, certain seasons.

And so it really was a great corridor to tie in Schriever Park into the core of downtown, which you desperately wanted, absolutely wanted, and need to be able to tie those together.

And correct me if I'm wrong, with the bank building gone, that's going to be green space.

The bank building is a parking spot there that was torn down.

It's actually what's going to be green spaces right next door, right across from icons.

Okay.

Or where, Daiquiri Factory was.

There was a parking lot there.

It took the parking lot.

I was a city parking lot.

Took that out and make that green space there.

How important is that?

Because you got a little bit of a park there.

It is a we got a big park across the river, but once again we want to do a little programing in it.

Like I say, in the heart of it, place where people sit, grab something to eat, sit, sit in the grass and and have their fun, play the frisbee, do whatever it is.

And so it just is a good multipu You know, in the downtown area, we talk about the downtown, but let's talk about the West End, because you have a West End revitalization project that's going on.

It's being run out of Martin Luther King Center.

We're, what, halfway through a three year period of rethinking that area and rethinking the residents that live there and how to get them more involved and active in the community.

After, what, a year and a half?

How do you see that progressing?

It's progressing real well.

Yeah.

You know, the first year it and unfortunately, it's this started even before Covid or right at Covid time.

And that was the unfortunate part because the major core of this is getting the information is going door to door knocking to people and surveying what's going on.

We can all assume what some of the issues our concerns are, but you really don't know until you talk to the individuals that live there and work there.

And it took a little longer than planned because of Covid to get that part done.

But once we had that, we had a good understanding of some of the needs, that are there.

And now they've broken out.

Now they're working on implementing those, and they've got five working groups.

I can't remember all five of them, but one is economic.

The other one is social issues.

And, once you get trained to then implement, do we need to have, trades, training or whatever a, a place for that to happen down there, whether it be welding, whether it be nursing, whatever it is in the area.

So transportation is not an issue, is that one of them is transportation an issue and that we work on bus stops and that sort of thing.

How can we help people, get an education, learn a trade, whatever that is, get some more education in.

What are the barriers to that?

Is there also some social issues?

Is there kids not getting to school and is that transportation?

Is it home life?

Do we need counselors to be able to go to Martin Luther King Center and have a place for people and kids to be able to talk to somebody and understand, their issues of why or what their problems may be?

So those are the different barriers that they have found, and they're working in overcoming those and offering the services or beginning to put together the services they need to, to make that happen.

Let me move you further south as we go.

And that would be the Mile and Bottoms area where you're hoping to put in, a truck stop and cannabis.

What do you call a dispensary?

A dispensary?

Thank you.

It's meeting some opposition with people who are worried about the eagle population and conservation efforts and the ecology in that area.

That is an area that Rock Island has really wanted to develop and has been held back in some ways.

What concerns do you have in regards to development in an area so close to the wetlands?

You know, in this case and what I've seen, what they're doing, their meals.

I don't have any concerns.

We want the we want the Eagles population to stay.

We want to be able to help that grow, not just the eagles, but other, habitat.

And whether it be plants and trees, or birds and other animals to survive and work.

You know, we just were given action by Riverstone, 350 acres out there.

So there's a lot of land plus some other Anchorage that we've had and everything else.

So there's a lot of area that's, that's out there to for them to land and work, you know, in today's technology and lighting their meals, you can do LED down lighting that it really doesn't cast up into the trees or in the sky or blind the cars and everything else.

And so the lighting today is really not a big issue.

Noise.

You already have the 280 bridge in 92 animals and truck traffic and everything else.

So we feel that that's not going to be an issue.

And it is a truck stop, but it's not an I-80 truck stop.

There's like 12 spots for trucks.

And so there's not a lot of volume.

Economic development is needed in Rock Island.

And this is going to bring some of that to Rock Island.

This is multi million dollars a year to bring, some revenue into the city that we need to help relieve the burden of the existing citizens here.

Rock Island has consistently tried to increase its retail base, which is where you've got one of the weakest in the Quad Cities.

You just absolutely don't have it.

See?

So you look at these opportunities, and are there more opportunities because you also think of 11th once again where they were Walmart was supposed to go, I mean, is there any chance for retail in that area?

Yes, yes there is.

They're they're we're still working and talking to different people there.

But I'm gonna go back out to southwest Rock Island real quick at the dispensary is that organization is also committed to working with the nature and everything else, and offering some moneys toward building a, a path to walk in and enjoy the nature.

Whether it's coming up with kayak, services to be able to kayak through there.

But we also got to remember that that land used to be dry.

And the part of the reason it's wet now is the beavers building dams and backing up the creeks that take it and flow it to the river.

Someday we're going to have to work on that.

We cannot allow that water to continue to rise there, because we have a water treatment plant out there that it'll affect.

It's starting to affect it already.

And so at some point we have to address how that whole situation is out there.

But, you know, there's permits in there, state regulations and federal regulations.

This company is willing to abide by all those and get the proper permits to make sure that they can locate there and be safe for everybody and all the animals.

Back to 11 Street.

Once again, we're continuing to market that space animals.

We have had minor conversations with the sports complex, developer.

That has not happened yet.

I mean, nothing is formalized.

They're doing a study to see if it's feasible financially.

And just if there's a need, that could fall apart.

And we got to keep moving forward with other avenues.

You don't sound as optimistic as people have sounded months ago.

You know, once again, I guess I've maybe learned a little bit, like the Walmart deal.

You get too optimistic and be a real positive about it, and then it falls through and the people took it as well.

I thought it was happening for sure.

There's nothing for sure at this point.

I want to talk about another issue involving Rock Island.

That, of course, is crime.

And crime.

Violent crime is down 9%.

Calls are up 7%.

Yes.

You're saying you wouldn't mind seeing more cops on the beat either?

Well, I'd love to see more.

We have more budgeted, and we plan on hiring more.

So that's not a problem.

It's not a budget issue or anything else.

It's harder to find police officers today than it used to be.

Several years ago.

What is the key to the violent crime dropping?

And, mind you, that could just be a blip, as we all know.

What do you think is the key for Rock Island?

You know, implementing different programs.

And you're right.

There are blimps.

I've talked about, promoting the when it drops your money.

Also, the police chief keeps on saying, oh, be careful because then the next it almost like a jinx it.

And the next time there's, there's problems.

But you know, we've implemented a year ago.

Gvi.

Davenport did this several years ago and has had good success with it.

We've implemented so far.

It's just in the infancy stage with us, but we've had good success with it.

We've had, 12 individuals that we've met with and had this counseling.

And actually at this point, 62% of those have not re-offending.

And so can we keep an expanding on that, working with individuals that are maybe going down the wrong path and seeing if we can once again find them, what the reasons they're doing that and help them, get on the right path and not re-offend and be more productive in a society.

So I really feel that that's one of it.

One part of it, the other is education, educating people in the neighborhoods to report issues to, to, not just sit in their home and, and since then, I'm not getting involved.

So when people get involved and report suspicious things, anything else, we can sometimes prevent things from happening before they happen.

Sometimes we can be and hopefully in, in being on, on scene quicker when things do happen.

So that's where the calls are up is because people reporting them, getting more involved, you know, ahead of time.

It used to always be one family or one gang in Rock Island, one family or one gang in Davenport.

And it was just going back and forth.

Yeah, back and forth.

Do you think you've got a greater handle on that?

You know, I'm sure there's many of those family members left.

It's a very varied and different generations because it's been going on for generations.

So, you know, in this, the today that there's still an issue out there with that a little bit, but most of it is, unfortunately, what we've seen with some of this youth in these car thefts, is where the problem has been.

The biggest problem has been, one other area, affordable housing.

And I know that you had mentioned that the possibility of, more construction of apartment buildings, of course, in, in the downtown area.

Is that still?

And, I mean, it's such a tough area to tackle is to get more housing in the available space that you have.

It is in rock, landlocked.

And it's it's difficult to to find the right sponsor meals.

But we tore down some blight, buildings that have been around for a while that open up that opportunity.

You know, it gets to the point of definition of affordable housing.

You know, there's affordable housing, as people would know, is that I'll call it subsidized or for restricted incomes.

Has got quite a bit of that.

There's a large need for more.

But what Rock Island needs is more affordable market rate, apartments and condos.

And so how can we maybe help incentivize financially, to do that?

One is we just now have gotten a new tool in the toolbox called River's Edge, and that opens up an opportunity for historic tax credits that we've never had before.

And so you can take older buildings and rehab them, and people can make it financially feasible, and make it market rate, not just, with, income restricted.

And so we are just on the cusp of putting that, getting that in place, writing the boundaries and getting the state's approval and everything else so that, we feel is going to be a good feather or a tool in our toolbox to be able to use along with the enterprise zone, we are reestablishing a tiff downtown.

And so we'll have once again continue to build these tools to help developers take an old building and make it, more viable and add more housing.

We would love to have more market rate, affordable housing.

2025 is just beginning.

What what what is your big goal for this year?

You know, one of the big goals, of course, is to not only finish the downtown, but to continue that process.

One, we're going to take First Avenue long trailer Park and put it on a road diet, take it one lane each way with the turn lane in the middle, pedestrian, for easier for pedestrians to get across.

And so that's another big project is going to be happening.

You know, you'll hear it tonight, inner city council.

But talk about the Centennial Bridge.

They're looking at either, major renovations or rebuilding in Centennial Bridge and potentially moving it.

The study is just starting as we speak.

And so that we want to bird dog that and work with the Illinois dot idot to be able to, figure out the best way to do that.

Is it moving it, moving it down toward 11th Street and redeveloping the area where it's at now?

Is it to rebuild right where it's at?

Is it to do a major renovation?

So that's a big project, even though it's not going to happen.

But the study in the future happens now.

It may be funded ten years from now, but at this point, those decision making, times are now.

So that's another big one.

Of course.

Continuing, economic development.

We're opening up, Campbell Sports Complex, West Campbell's.

It's in the south part of town making that in Industrial Park.

We've already got one, building the, Stern Beverage is going to be building out there, in the near future.

And but there's land out there for others.

And so we're just now starting to get that developed and need some new buildings, as we talked about for, sales tax, property tax and job creation.

So that's a big project for 2025.

The other ones, Port District.

We just got established a year ago as a port district.

We got, half an almost a half $1 million grant to do a master study.

We're now going after a much larger grant to help a business on the river expand and become more efficient, and, and their business and looking at rail service.

And so this opens up some federal funding, this port district federal funding to be able to do that type of deal, a multi, purpose, modal, servicing, whether it be not right on the river, but anywhere in the industrial parks.

So we got this port district that's really helping us, take a look at the industrial parks and how we can be more efficient and expand, the businesses down there.

Our thanks to the honorable Mike Toms, mayor of the city of Rock Island.

We're ready to march into a new month with new activities both indoors and out.

And here's a few ideas for you and your family and friends.

Thanks to visit Quad Cities.

Check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start off with Tuesday Trivia night at Bally's Quad Cities on February 25th.

Then you can watch a free film at the Fiji Art Museum on February 27th.

Then try picking your own project at Borden Brush Quad Cities on February 28th.

Next, check out wine at the Warehouse at Dimitri Wine and Spirits on March 1st.

And finally attend the 2025 Awards party at The Last Picture House on March 2nd.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar.

Visit Quad cities.com.

Jason Carl says much of his musical style is influenced by rock, folk and blues musicians, and his original material is written and performed with honesty and passion.

That's what Jason brought to the stage when he joined us at the Black Box Theater in downtown Moline.

Here's Jason Carl with Crazy Life.

Thinking is you in no way cool challenges, right?

And you feeling pretty good.

But you're wondering if it would be all right.

There's nothing to hide.

It's easy to decide.

Just move over and have a look inside.

But you'll want to unwind your mind.

The soul of time.

One spinning round in my chair.

And I just can't get you to my side.

They they goes there in some box your brain is in.

It's a picture painted in your mind.

Keep moving ahead and make some bring.

Saving up a little like your old man.

Sit with a pillow underneath your hair every night.

There's nothing to lose but an old pair of shoes.

You can run around as well.

Almost any way I choose.

As long as wings are blue.

You're doing fine.

So I'm spinning round in my chair.

Lose.

I just can't get you over to my side I see the rain on walls.

And then there's the rains.

Here's a picture painted in your mind.

And no one was saying what's going on today?

The real and real.

No more.

It stand in your way I take experience all the pain.

Every time.

You gotta take another look.

Ain't written in a book.

You can get anything you want.

Just talk directly to the cook.

As long as all that took it sure flew by.

I'm spinning around in my chair.

Oh, cause I just can't get you over to my side I said I ain't gonna lose.

Unless it's about your brains.

There's only a picture painted in your mind I'm.

Keep movin along to an ever changing song.

You gotta do something before you're doing something wrong.

And when you're living on the edge.

It's a long, crazy life.

Thank you guys.

All right.

Jason Carl is part of the group The Jason and John Experience, which will return to the stage March 7th at the Firehouse Bar and Grill near Five Corners in Davenport.

It's their first show in months.

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 city's.

And I am VCU.

We've always been here for you.

You are and always will be our top priority.

We care about your financial health and we are here.

I am VCU as a proud supporter of Wqpt.

Public affairs programing on Wqpt is brought to you by the Singh Group at Merrill, serving the wealth management needs of clients in the region for over 35 years.

This program was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.