Peoria Mayor Rita Ali says she’s glad to see the city making a significant financial commitment to road improvements in the next fiscal year.
“Our budget should align with our strategic plan, and the strategic plan calls for six priorities — and we’re planning to invest over $80 million in capital projects,” Ali said in her latest bimonthly interview with WCBU.
“That’s very important to make sure that our infrastructure is solid and improved. I would say most of the complaints that we get on an annual basis are related to the roads.”
The city staff’s recommended $348 million revised biennial budget for 2027 includes funding for nine major roadway projects.
Among them is $5 million for Sheridan Road, $4.6 million for Wisconsin Avenue, and $2.3 million to start a two-year upgrade of the driving lanes on Main Street from the Peoria Riverfront to the Bradley University campus.
“It’s really a temporary fix for to get us by a few years. If you ride down Main Street, which I’m sure you do, you know that there needs to be some major work,” said Ali, noting Peoria is still waiting for the state to release $25 million allocated to revitalize the corridor.
“In the meantime, we can do what they call a mill and [overlay], so that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to make it drivable, smooth.”
Cannabis dispensaries
The city is contemplating an update to its regulation of medical and adult-use recreational cannabis dispensaries following the state’s decision to permit drive-through service and extended hours as late as 2 a.m.
Peoria has a cap of six cannabis dispensary licenses, with four currently in use. While the Peoria City Council has filed the proposed ordinance amendments, Ali says she’s hesitant to support modifying the existing rules.
“I’m not crazy about the idea of drive-through cannabis,” she said. “We’ve had no problems with them whatsoever. But I think to turn it into a drive-through facility may provide for more privacy, but then we have may have more issues.”
The proposed ordinance update would not extend dispensary closing times beyond the 10 p.m. that’s already enforced. Ali says she doesn’t see a reason to introduce any potential for problems.
“It’s the unknown that makes me a little bit uncomfortable,” she said. “We have not had police complaints or police activity, and I just want to keep it that way.
“I think when you start making changes, you start being too lenient, too flexible with modifications, then it could present some issues, and I just don’t want those problems to occur.”
Chronic nuisance update
The city council has twice deferred a vote to receive and file proposed code updates that would give the city more control over addressing chronic nuisance properties. Ali says she anticipates movement on the matter next month.
“There’s some resistance by some from the Realtors Association, who are saying that it may be stepping too far in terms of punishing landlords and so forth,” said Ali. “We’re listening, we’re talking, and we’ve continued to defer this item because of those talks, but I think at some point we have to make a decision.”
Under the proposal from the city’s legal department, residential properties that experience three qualifying criminal activities or code violations over a 12-month period would be subject to intervention from Peoria staff.
It clarifies that criminal activity or violations can occur anywhere on the property and not just within the residential units, and that the qualifying events committed by trespassers as well as tenants will be considered.
“I want these modifications,” said Ali. “I think that we need more tools, and we need a little bit more control to [respond] to properties that are abusing their residents, who are abusing our code enforcement laws, and just not taking care of their property.”
Ali said giving the city more authority to control problematic housing complexes would help protect residents.
“I wouldn’t want to say that we need 24-hour security, or make people hire security guards, make people put cameras up. That’s probably stepping a little bit too forceful,” she said.
“But I think that we can do more in terms of requiring certain rules that you can’t just let people in from off the streets; that you have to lock your doors by a certain time. These are the kind of things that some of these landowners are not doing.”
She said the talks with the Peoria Area Association of Realtors on property management companies have not revealed any path to a compromise.
“They didn’t support the initial ordinance from day one, so I think that we’re probably going to agree to disagree,” she said.
South Side police substation?
The city council this week agreed to move forward with plans to co-locate a Peoria Police Department substation with an Advanced Medical Transport [AMT] ambulance facility on the city’s north side.
During discussion prior to the vote, First District council member Denise Jackson said she would like to see a similar police location on the South Side in the interest of public safety. Ali said she’s not entirely opposed to the idea, but there would need to be a demonstrated need.
“What I would say we would have to have the justification,” she said. “I’m not against it, I’m not for it. I’m listening, but we have to have the justification.”
Ali said the partnership with AMT provides the resources that make the north side substation possible. She added that the main need for a police office on the north side is operational, as it typically takes officers 20 minutes to get from that area to the downtown headquarters.
“They’re doing it for really administrative reasons, not for crime or safety reasons. That’s not the same situation with the South Side, where it’s about a mile away,” said Ali.
“If it’s for safety reasons, the fact is that there’s a heavy presence on the South Side. When something happens, police are usually about a minute away. So where’s the rationale?”
