BELLEVILLE, Ill. — In 2021, Belleville residents made history by electing their first female mayor, Patty Gregory.
Gregory discussed what has taken place during her two years in office. She had been a Belleville supporter prior to that for two decades as director of Art on the Square, which is underway May 19-21.
And she rode that success right into city hall.
As her achievements, Gregory cites a residency through retention award from the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois, sewage infrastructure replacement, a decreasing crime rate and a new contract for police officers.
“Our policemen were starting at $51,000 and were paying 50% of family plan, which meant they actually were taking home about $38,000,” said Gregory. “Very low. We gave them a $20,000 raise.”
Gregory says Belleville has also demolished deteriorating 24 homes, through a program modeled after a similar one in Granite City Municipal Court.
“My approach is creating a massive visual impact when you put a group of homes together and demolish all of them at one time and clean up block by block,” said Gregory.
She also said the number of businesses in Belleville, along with sales tax, is increasing.
Chuck Blanquart owns Blanquart Jewelry, located right off the square, in downtown Belleville.
“We’ve been here 87 years,” said Blanquart. “I’ve been here 56 of those years. Business has been good. There’s been times when customer traffic is a little slower than what we’re used to, but we’re still doing a good business.”
Meanwhile, in the category of new business, Great Clips has been located at Belleville Crossing on the west edge of town since 2008.
“Oh, tons of businesses,” said manager Stephanie Moore. “The entire street across from us used to be empty. Now, there’s a new Freddie’s, there’s a car wash, Panera, Arby’s.”
Gregory said Belleville is in the process of replacing its clay sewers. Those are not uncommon for towns of that era. City officials are just over halfway through that process, and they are using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding - pandemic recovery money – toward that end.
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