Rock Island mayor highlights economic growth, downtown improvements in 2024 State of the City address

Jan. 23—Rock Island is moving "forward together," its mayor said, building on a year that saw investment in economic development and new projects launched.

Before Mayor Mike Thoms stood at the podium in the large event room at Bally's Quad Cities Casino & Hotel to give his speech, former Mayor Mark Schwiebert introduced Thoms and gave his own speech. Schwiebert, who was the city's longest serving mayor, said improving and investing in the city can't be done without the help of partnerships and city officials continue to work to build on the history of Rock Island and create a better community.

"Rock Island is a community of creativity, diversity, productivity and prosperity," Schwiebert said.

Thoms' annual State of the City speech highlighted investments and improvements around the city, accomplishments from 2023 and how the city plans to move "forward together" with partners as it continues to grow.

Upcoming projects such as downtown and West End revitalization were highlighted, along new programs city departments plan to implement and how partnerships continue to be one of the biggest factors to move forward.

"The city is investing in the future and poised to head in 2024 strengthened by its community partnerships," Thoms said. "We move forward with resiliency, inclusion and collaboration."

Economic development and investment

One of the biggest highlights was economic development and investment around the city. The private sector invested more than $60 million toward new businesses and business expansion.

Thoms said nine new businesses opened and 28 expanded.

The new businesses include Brick and Motor opening a storefront at 1629 2nd Avenue in downtown and The ARTery re-opening in August at 3913 14th Avenue.

The city also held 20 grand openings in partnership with the Development Association of Rock Island, or DARI, Thoms said, and more than $17 million has been invested in Rock Island. A few investments include awarding thousands of dollars in Growing Rock Island Together grants, or GRIT, and Commercial Property Enhancement Program grants, or PEP.

The two programs are fairly new. The PEP program aims to provide funds to improve the functionality of and increase the property value of commercial structures and encourage new and expanding business investment. The GRIT program provides low interest gap financing along with a forgivable loan for projects to incentivize business attraction, expansion and creation.

Thoms also highlighted the Rock Island Downtown Alliance, which launched in response to the downtown special service area. He said it is a private-public partnership meant to improve the quality of life in downtown and to facilitate downtown grown.

Jack Cullen, the downtown alliance director, told the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus that the alliance is excited to finally have boots on the ground in downtown. Most of the focus, he said, has been on maintenance, such as cleaning and finding ways to spruce-up downtown.

"We have a dedicated team," Cullen said.

Cullen also highlighted how a lot of the work in downtown couldn't be done without the collaboration of public works, the police department, the city's economic development team and other public officials.

De'Andre Robinson is the operations manager for the downtown alliance and focuses on the maintenance and day-to-day operations.

This spring, the city and the downtown alliance will break ground on the $7.4 million rebuild downtown streetscaping project. The project consists of reconstructing the 2nd Avenue pedestrian mall, a dog park and improvements to the overall appearance of downtown.

The downtown alliance and Quad City Arts are seeking two artists, or artist teams, to design and install two public mural in Arts Alley downtown.

A completed request for qualifications application is due by Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m.

Previously reported by the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus, the project is being funded with a $3 million grant from Rebuild Illinois, $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and $1.5 million in tax increment financing district funds.

Upcoming and completed projects

The Rock Island Activities and Fitness Center is currently undergoing a large remodeling project. Renovations include remodeling of the men's and women's locker rooms, new steam room and sauna, installation of new windows in the pool area and repainting of the walls.

The 95-year-old clubhouse at the Saukie Golf Course also will be demolished. Saukie will receive a new clubhouse and the old one will be demolished once the new one is completed. The project costs about $1 million, $900,000 of which will be covered by a grant the city received.

A new $20 millionYWCA is under construction on 5th Avenue; six new projects are planned for the city this year which total $11 million; and a STEAM lab is under construction at the Martin Luther King Center which will provide the community with the chance to explore robotics, drones, 3D printing, laser cutting and more.

Other ongoing and future projects include redredging and renovating Sunset Marina, renovating and updating city hall and council chambers and replacing water meters.

The waters meter updates, Thoms said, will eventually let the city switch to monthly utility billing rather than every three months.

Projects accomplished in 2023 include the makeover of Dennkmann Park, including the installation of ADA accessible sidewalks and a new concrete basketball court; six new tennis courts with pickleball striping at Lincoln Park; and six new pickleball courts at Mel McKay Park, funded from ARPA and a grant from the state.

Other completed projects include the police department implementing an automated license plate reader system, bringing back a School Resource Officer with the Rock Island-Milan School District and opening a third library location on 30th Street.

The fire department also received two new engines, with one that was planned for this year. Late 2023, two fire engines were suddenly put out-of-service due to problems with their frames. One of the two new fire engines were budgeted for 2024.

The out-of-service engines were at least 20 years old.

The projects and updates, Thoms said, have been a longtime coming and that they have been in the works for years.

"I guess we hang on to things for a whole around here," Thoms said, getting a laugh from the room.

New programs, looking ahead

The city police department also plans to implement a new program similar to Davenport's in addressing gun violence. In collaboration with the Davenport Police Department and Family Resources, the group violence intervention program Davenport uses was brought over to Rock Island.

Group violence intervention looks at the root causes of gun violence and how best to address them to help lower recidivism and gun violence. Funding has been secured, Thoms said, to enter into a partnership with the National Network for Safer Communities to begin implementation of the program this year.

The city also began implementing a new app called See Click Fix for residents to easily address communicate and address concerns for non-emergency related issues.

"We want to be more mobile-ready, easy and accessible for the public to be able to get information about the city or do business with the city," Thoms said.

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