PEORIA, Ill. — Any city seeking to grow its population and the amount of business done or based locally, is often reticent to spotlight the true nature of its own crime problem.
It’s hard to say for sure whether that’s indeed the case in Peoria, however many local residents are frustrated at their leaders’ slow progress on funding a $25,000 independent “Cure Violence Assessment” to spotlight more precisely what Peoria’s violent crime problem looks like right now.
Several of those residents turned out for a rare weekend City Council special session on Saturday.
“Right now, it’s in our zip codes, oh-five, oh-four, oh-three, but tomorrow, it can be in yours,” warned resident Mae Catherine Godhigh when she testified to council during the meeting.
She categorized Peoria’s plague of violence as a potential “pathway of possible genocide in this city”
Last week, leaders with the local NAACP chapter held a news conference decrying the council’s slow action. They see the Cure Violence Assessment as a low-cost initiative which could light the path to a better quality of life for local residents who currently live in fear.
Thus far, council members opposed to the initiative have said they felt uncomfortable with the way its been presented — that it’s been too hurried for their liking.
It’s unclear yet whether the initiative will come up again in any future meetings.
