Thoms maintains revitalizing Downtown Rock Island priority for 2nd term
We’re now 15 days away from Election Day in Illinois.
Local government races for mayor and city council are on the ballot across the state.
We’ve been talking to the candidates for mayor in Moline and Rock Island in recent weeks.
We didn’t cover East Moline because Mayor Reggie Freeman is running unopposed for re-election.
We finish this morning covering the Rock Island mayoral race.
Incumbent Mike Thoms faces a challenge from Thurgood Brooks in the April 6 election.
This week on 4 The Record we focused on Thoms.
He’s a Rock Island native.
Thoms’ spent his primary business career working at the family business — Thoms Proestler Company, a food distributor and supplier.
He retired from there and moved on to developing residential and commercial property.
At one point, Thoms owned Fyre Lake Golf Course.
Thoms once served as president of the economic development non-profit organization Renaissance Rock Island.
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He was elected Rock Island mayor four years ago.
Thoms goes into the election with hopes voters want stability and give him a chance to finish what he started over the next four years.
Like mayors across the country, he dealt with challenges over the last year no one saw coming.
Thoms shared what he considers the most significant accomplishments of his first term and why he thinks voters should give him a second term.
This has been a rough year in a lot of ways for Rock Island, especially for The District section of downtown.
Businesses closed during the pandemic.
Violence raised safety concerns. The city council forced bars there to close an hour earlier.
Yet Thoms maintained revitalizing the District and downtown overall is one of your biggest priorities.
We know it can’t happen overnight. But Thoms discussed what steps he would take in a second term to get that ball rolling.
The District is known primarily for its nightlife and the bars.
Thoms addressed if that needs to change and if so, how to approach it.
Watch the video above for the full conversation.
Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present 4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. It’s a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as Jim Niedelman brings you up to speed on what’s happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home.
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