A new investment in the future for the City of Rock Island. The Rock Island City Council approving a recommendation from the Community Economic Development Department to approve Houseal Lavigne Associates for consulting services to create a Downtown Revitalization Plan for $60,000 on Monday, June 23, 2014.
"This is having professional planners in conjunction with professional engineers who do this for a living, revitalization plans especially on like a downtown," said Fifth Ward Alderwoman Kate Hotle.
Information provided by the company says the downtown lacks residential or employment populations that would help the strength of the downtown. The proposal also says there is limited bike and pedestrian access to the waterfront, recreation, and entertainment.
The plan calls for a creation of a Downtown Plan Advisory Committee, a website, webpage updates, and newsletters to help with community engagement.
"There's a lot of room for improvement," said Dean Fait, owner of The Art Place located in The District since 2002.
"Our downtown didn't get this way over night. It got this way over years, if not decades. And many of these alderman, myself, I've lived in the city my whole life, many of our staff have been here a lot of years, too and we're not really getting anywhere, we're not moving forward, and you get to a point where you need to bring in an unbiased vision," said Hotle.