Peoria’s mayor spent a part of this week in the nation’s capital, collaborating and learning with community leaders from across the country.
The annual U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting attracts more than 250 mayors to Washington D.C. The conference covers topics like mental health, housing and homelessness, immigration and transportation.
Mayor Rita Ali says the transportation sessions gave her the opportunity to meet with Amtrak leadership and discuss the ongoing effort to bring passenger rail service to Peoria.
“We talked about the fact that Peoria is in the Federal Railroad Administration’s new corridor identification program and how we will work with Amtrak along the way,” she said. “So it was great.”
Peoria is still in the early stagesof the federal program, which will eventually create passenger service to Chicago and a new station downtown. City officials estimate it will be about seven to ten years before rail service is a reality in Peoria.
However, the conversations at the conference also include programs that are active and ongoing. Ali says violence prevention is a prominent topic among the nation’s mayors and she’s learned some of Peoria’s efforts fall in line with other cities’ “best practices.”
“I’m proud to be able to share the things that we’re doing in Peoria, that we know are working,” she said. “Some of them we don’t have the numbers that we’re proud of yet, but we know that we are utilizing best practices and we’re making a difference.”
She references the Safety Network and grant opportunities for community violence prevention efforts as examples.
Importantly, Ali says conversations about combating homelessness and expanding housing have highlighted the need to involve the community when developing programs and making policy.
“You don’t do it alone, you don’t do it in silos,” Ali said. “You have to do it with, not for, but with those people who are directly impacted. So, you don’t develop housing without the voice of the homeless.”
The conference concludes today.
