EAST PEORIA, Ill. – East Peoria Mayor John Kahl will often tell you he’s a pretty positive guy. But in his State of East Peoria speech Friday, he had to address a couple of things he referred to as “nonsense.”
One of them, Kahl says, surrounds the new “BluTowne” apartment complex next to City Hall, and how people were posting “nonsense” about the environmental condition of the land and how it’s contaminated.
“The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has been involved in that project,” said Kahl. “They gave (the developers) two options to develop that site. The developer chose the most expensive option, which was to go down ten feet, tear everything out, put clean (dirt) back in. They literally…crushed all the concrete up. So, it never left the site.”
Kahl says the construction of the $65 million apartment and retail complex remains on schedule, with tenants moving in next year.
Another piece of “nonsense,” according to Kahl, had to do with law enforcement, and how some on social media still don’t want to support the police, including lawmakers.
“Quit criminalizing victims,” said Kahl. “This has got to stop. Part of it, I think, is getting our men and women in law enforcement to understand that we want to one hundred percent support them in their job in keeping our community safe. And, we appreciate that.”
Kahl was referring to some comments made by a lawmaker on a bill introduced Monday regarding police where he was trying to jump-start a conversation.
Speaking of police, though, he says plans are still being developed for a new $20 million larger police station near the clock tower that will be ready in 2026.
Kahl says a new fire station built next to Illinois Central College is mostly complete, and should be ready to open soon.
The mayor touted a projected $71 million in revenue expected next fiscal year, but a $14.5 million gap between revenue and expenses. Kahl says the budget will be balanced, because some projects being done this year were accounted for in last year’s budget.
The city is also on pace to propose a $28.3 million capital budget, of which about half will go toward the new police station.
Among road projects in the coming fiscal year, Kahl says, will be work on Springfield Road for new roads, and water and sewer lines, work on East Washington, Main, Cole Street, Pinecrest, the Veterans Drive bridge, and $1.1 million in residential work.
Much of the work will be proposed in the next city budget, which will be before the City Council in the coming weeks.
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