Peoria's New Councilman: Alex Carmona Emphasizes Business Growth and Public Art

Yahoo

09-05-2025

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A student of history, the 2nd District's new councilman says he's excited and ready to get to work to continue the process of making Peoria a vibrant city.
Alex Carmona, 39, sat at his home art studio on Moss avenue Thursday, two days after he was sworn into office and still enjoying the special moment. But he says he's not much for pomp and circumstance.
Rather, he's an ordinary guy who wants to help make his adopted city — he moved here five years ago from Colorado — more attractive to business and a place where people will come and settle.
He's pro-business, wanting to make city ordinances more welcoming to companies big and small. He's a 'core services' guy, meaning he believes that a main facet of City Hall's reach should be in the police, fire and public works area.
'I would prefer a more of a free market type rather than a heavy handed kind of government control,' he said. 'We need to be a little bit more adaptable to the needs of the business community, but also residents as well.
'So all I'm saying is that regulations, they're not bad, they're good. We need them. It's just to what end? And if we really want this city to grow, we need to be more adaptable,' he said.
He also supports bringing the Par-A-Dice casino to this side of the Illinois River if the parent company wants to build a new casino on land.
'I am a big proponent for the for a land-based casino here because things will pop up around it and it'll just bring more opportunity around here,' he said, noting as others have on the council that the 30-plus-year-odl agreement between East Peoria and Peoria clearly states that land-based gaming was to be on this side of the river.
But he's also got some other ideas that are interesting as well.
An artist, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, a jazz and blues lover, Carmona said one way to improve Peoria is to offer more public art. Already, he said there is a lot going on in the central business district or Downtown Peoria but public art is important.
'We are starting to pay more attention to public art in this city,' he said. 'It's really interesting and I'm not just saying this because I'm an artist myself, I am saying this because every city that I go to, Austin, Nashville, (others) they all have a very vibrant art community. They have murals all over the place. It's more welcoming.'
He's done his share, creating a 32-foot by 35-foot mural which hangs on the Adams Street side of the Niagara parking deck. It was unveiled last fall and he used that event to announce his candidacy.
It's dubbed 'Live Greater,' and features six people, each of whom corresponds to a letter in the word 'Peoria.' The mural, he said at the time, was to 'capture the joy of our vibrant, diverse community.'
He said he's traveled around seeing thriving cities. They have many things in common, including public art and have a business-friendly environment.
'We need to try to take examples like this and apply them here in Peoria for the good of all of us,' he said.
And now that he's sitting on the Horseshoe, he wants to do what he can to represent the people of the 2nd District, a very diverse area of town stretching from Downtown up to Northmoor Road.
It was a close race to win the council seat, with less than 50 votes separating the two candidates.
'I want to tell everybody, that seriously from the bottom of my heart to even the people who did not vote for me, that I'm actually doing this for the right reasons,' he said.
He wants to work with the local schools because, as a parent of three, he wants his children to come to love the city and chose to stay here when they are older.
'One of the reasons I actually decided to run was because I noticed life is just speeding right by us,' Carmona said. 'And my oldest daughter, she's learning how to drive. And then I just came to the realization that, you know, she's going to be an adult very soon.
'All my kids, you know, eventually are. And I want them to stay here and have opportunity here,' he said.
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