PEORIA, Ill. – A group Peoria Mayor Rita Ali formed a year ago to work on solutions to the city’s ongoing violence problem is one that, she says, has gotten off track.
Way off track.
“Politics, personalities, bureaucracy, and what I will call a media frenzy have gotten us away from the original focus of the Safety Network, and really created distractions from the important work that has taken place,” said Ali, at a news conference Tuesday at Peoria City Hall.
Ali says the “Safety Network” has been subject to unwarranted scrutiny lately — some of which she calls “pretty darn hurtful” — accusations that the 50-organization group has been working in secret, and even over the fact it’s been called “S-Net” until now.
“That changes now,” said Ali. “Because of the disruption I would say, the level of chaos surrounding the name ‘S-Net,'” that shortened version of the name will no longer be used. There have even been discussions among the City Council about the trademark to “S-Net.” Ali said she owned it, until earlier this year she transferred it voluntarily to the City of Peoria. She says the city will now have to decide what to do with the trademark, now that the moniker is no longer being used.
“I’ve always been engaging and collaborative when it comes to community and neighborhood issues,” said Ali. “I don’t like to work in silos. I need to be able to work with the people to get the work done, and to listen to their concerns.”
The main concern of the Safety Network has been the city’s ongoing violence problem. And Ali says that problem has been improving.
(From a City of Peoria handout)
“Compared to this same time last year, we’re down 35 percent in shooting incidents. We’re down 28 percent in shooting victims. We’re down 27 percent in shooting murders, and 18 percent down in all murders,” said Ali.
While that’s good news, Ali says she’s concerned about a recent spike.
She’s also concerned about who’s being targeted in those crimes. All but one of the city’s homicide victims, and all but one of the overall shooting victims, have been black.
“People don’t like to talk about race,” said Ali. “It’s a difficult, and it’s a sensitive, subject. But these are the numbers that we can no longer ignore.”
Ali says groups like her Safety Network and the City Council have to start including race in the discussion, and in the solutions.
The Peoria City Council Tuesday night will have a special work session dedicated to violence prevention and funding. Ali does not expect funding a study of the city’s violence problem by the Cure Violence initiative to come before the City Council again, now that the Peoria City/County Board of Health has offered to pay the $25,000 cost.
“I think it’s a dead issue, in terms of the city reconsidering the assessment, and hope that the Board of Health will go forward,” said Ali.
Ali says she hopes the council will consider funding whatever solutions Cure Violence comes up with.
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