Tory Dahlhoff / WCBU
When Peoria resident Zaxton Johnson heard the city will begin road construction this spring in front of their home on South Western Avenue, he was quick to name his top repair priority.
“A lot of potholes,” said Johnson. “If you ain t paying attention you can hit them and bust your tire.and that can cause an accident right there.”
“With the potholes and these lights being fixed, I think this would be a lot safer road for the walking pedestrians that got to cross along this road every day,” said Shad Timmit, another resident living in the one-mile section of Western Avenue from Adams to Howett that’s included in the project.
Courtesy Google Maps Street View
First District city council member Denise Moore has withdrawn a proposal before the Peoria City Council to approve the use of $550,000 in TIF funds to purchase a former grocery store building at 210 S. Western Ave.
The building, once a location for Aldi, has remained vacant since the departure of Sav-A-Lot in 2017. But since the fall of 2019, the Southside Community United for Change has led a program to use the building for pop-up markets for independent food and retail vendors from the Southside neighborhood.
The latest series of markets held in the building last summer were part of a program that received funding from the Community Foundation’s Ending Hunger Together Grant in an ongoing effort to establish a food, health and business hub on Peoria’s south side.
Tim Shelley / Peoria Public Radio
First District Peoria City Council candidate Denise Jackson says the conversation around the city s potential plans for the former Save-A-Lot grocery store on Western Avenue are flawed.
Incumbent Denise Moore, who is running for another term, is proposing the city purchase the building with TIF funds in hopes of attracting a new grocer.
But Jackson, who also is a member of the Southside Community United for Change group that uses the site for farmers markets, said community input is needed first. It doesn t do any good to open up a grocery store if you don t have fresh fruit, fresh meat, and the things that people are going to use. Because they end up going someplace else for those things, anyway, Jackson said at a Monday news conference. I don t think we should rush.