Rock Island City Council further demonstrated its commitment to Downtown revitalization on Monday when it voted to put $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds toward a proposed $7 million project that would modernize and enhance the city’s historic center of commerce and culture. That money will be supplemented with about $1.5 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District revenue the City earmarked for Downtown infrastructure improvements, and potentially, up to $3 million from the State of Illinois Rebuild Downtowns & Main Streets Capital Grant Program. “I am excited... Read More

The following story is shared from WVIK News as part of QuadCities.com’s partnership with WVIK. To see the full story click here. Republican Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms is running for the Illinois Senate. Thursday morning he began a several-stop announcing tour of the new 36th Senate district. If elected, he says his focus would be on the economy and jobs. “More jobs, more rooftops. More rooftops, more retail. More retail, more income. And that’s how we do it. We need to generate new income for the state of Illinois, not continue taxing the existing people that are here, more... Read More

Rock Island broke ground on a new YMCA building in its downtown yesterday! Mayor Mike Thoms posted the following on social media to celebrate: We broke ground on another exciting project downtown Rock Island. The YWCA is building a 45,000 square-foot new facility, at the former Zimmerman car dealership lot. Their services are greatly utilized and needed in the city of Rock Island helping the youth get a good start in life. Great job, Mr. Mayor, and let’s keep up that positive momentum for Rock Island, especially the downtown!    Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Rock Island has stopped exploring selling off its water and sewer services to a private company. The city issued the following statement this afternoon: “The Rock Island City Council is suspending further exploration into the privatization of the City’s water and sewer utilities. The elected officials and staff of the City of Rock Island are continually looking for ways to provide high quality and cost-efficient services to its citizens.  For the past 18 months, the City has gathered information related to the potential privatization of the City’s water and sewer... Read More

EXCLUSIVE: Thurgood Brooks, who recently led the charge to pass The Resolution to improve relations between police and the Rock Island community, is considering a run for lllinois State Representative for the 72nd District, which includes the Quad-Cities. The current representative, Mike Halpin, announced today he would be leaving the seat to run for State Senate. Brooks, who was narrowly defeated in the Rock Island Mayoral election earlier this year, has been extremely active in the community, from his work as a football coach with Rock Island High School to his various charitable projects and... Read More

UPDATED: After a lengthy question and answer session with American Water, I still think Rock Island selling its water and sewer would be a horrible idea, and I think the Rock Island mayor and city council needs to stop being disingenuous about stringing the idea along and put it aside. After I’d previously written on the subject, I was happy to hear from Karen Cotton, Senior Manager, External Communications, for Illinois American Water. I understand it takes a good amount of courage and initiative to contact someone who has expressed a contrary idea, particularly one going against a goal... Read More

EXCLUSIVE: There’s been a wellspring of controversy over the past few months as the Rock Island Mayor and City Council have contemplated selling the city’s water and sewer systems to a private company, American Water. On July 26, American Water gave a presentation to the city government officials pitching them the potential sale. After that, the council and mayor had their regularly scheduled meeting, at which there was a full house of local residents protesting against the sale, not just to American Water, but to any private company. In addition, the American Federation of State, County... Read More

EXCLUSIVE: Rock Island Mayoral candidate and community organizer Thurgood Brooks lost in a surprisingly close election to incumbent Mike Thoms earlier this year. Since then, Brooks has been working to put together a commission to increase communication between law enforcement and citizens, working on various community initiatives, and contemplating his political future after an impressive debut. In an exclusive and candid conversation, Brooks spoke with me for the first time since being narrowly defeated for the top political spot in the city in my latest episode of my podcast, QCUncut. We talk... Read More

On May 12, the Rock Island-Milan Education Foundation awarded $10,000 to Rock Island High School entrepreneurs at the Final Pitch night in the RIHS Auditorium. 5 student teams presented their products or services to a panel of judges in hopes of winning 3 different awards: Best Pitch, Best Business Potential, and Best Business Model. The winning teams for the Final Pitch were: Best Pitch: “Boardable” – Payton Cassidy; $2,500 Best Business Potential: “Pooh Pods” – Calvin Banks, Jacob Voigt; $2,500 Best Business Model: “The Cobblers” – Jason Arroyo-Vasquez, Zach Beckman,... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: In a surprisingly clean-fought yet vigorously challenged campaign, Mike Thoms has won re-election for Mayor of Rock Island over energetic and impressive challenger Thurgood Brooks. According to official results, Thoms won 52-48 percent with a little over 5,000 votes cast. This is Thoms’ second term. He won over a number of challengers in an open field in 2017 after then-mayor Dennis Pauley decided not to run for a third term. The Thoms/Brooks contest was marked by its vigorous intellectual and political debate, with the more centrist Thoms facing off against a decidedly more... Read More