Ali and Kelly prepare for Tuesday's Peoria Mayoral election

Yahoo

28-03-2025

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — There are two people vying to be elected Peoria's mayor on Tuesday.
Incumbent Mayor Rita Ali and At-Large City Councilman John Kelly are the two candidates, who both want to develop the city in their own way.
Ali has been mayor since 2021, when she became Peoria's first African American mayor. She previously served on the city council.
Ali hopes to be able to continue her accomplishments in a second term.
'It's very important that our progress is not interrupted with a new, inexperienced mayor but to continue with an experienced mayor with the progress that we have, the seeds that we've planted, and continue to move Peoria forward,' she said.
She is excited for what is on the horizon. While her administration is making strides, there is still a long way to go. Among her priorities are working to bring Amtrak services to Peoria and improving the housing stock within the city.
There's also the Riverfront Development Plan which was unveiled nearly two years ago and requires at least $15 million and possibly more to revamp and redo the area along the Illinois River.
Then there's the city's strategic plan, with six priorities including improving infrastructure, quality of life, and developing the city's downtown.
'People want to live downtown. They want to live near the river. They want to live near retail establishments and be in the center of our city,' she said.
Under her leadership, the city has invested $100 million in infrastructure, including roads and bridges. She wants to also rebuild older buildings into a combination of residences, retail, and commercial entities.
Kelly's main focus, if elected, is to turn Peoria into what he calls a 'growth' city.
He believes the city has too much red tape for businesses and wants to get rid of building permit fees and rental registration fees, and provide free downtown parking.
'Other cities tend to go out of their way to understand what's on the mind of a developer and if something is askew with the code, they devise a workaround. We need to do more of that,' he said.
Business attraction has been a major talking point in both the mayoral and city council races. While Kelly agrees with attracting new businesses, he also wants to help out the businesses currently operating in Peoria.
'If we can make their life a little bit easier, the economic effect of that would be greater than some new big outfit coming to town,' he said.
He also wants to improve communication with city council members if elected. He said Ali has called him twice over the last four years, and he hopes to meet with council members at least once a month individually.
As for his debate performances, he described some of them as being in 'hostile environments', but he believes he performed well overall.
Ali, along with 2nd District Councilman Chuck Grayeb, who unsuccessfully ran for mayor this go-around and endorsed Ali, have criticized a mailer from the Kelly campaign that took aim at each of their positions.
Kelly is holding firm, saying while he did end up correcting information regarding Grayeb, the information about Ali is true.
'I have said on a couple of occasions that if there is anything in that tabloid that was not correct, please let me know and we'll correct it. I haven't heard anything,' he said.
But Ali and Kelly can agree on one thing. They want your vote on Tuesday.
'Look at what we have done so far. Look at what we have planned to do over the next several years and become a part of it,' Ali said.
'Vote for me on April Fool's Day. That is no joke,' Kelly said.
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