Closing time for bars in downtown Rock Island may soon change from the current 3 am to 2 am. Monday night the city council may give final approval to a proposal from Mayor Mike Thoms.
He hopes the change will help the city avoid violence downtown like the shootings on August 29th, when one person was killed and five others wounded.
"For the most part, the bar owners are not in favor of that, but by a large margin I would say my calls, and the aldermen's calls they've been taking, is to move it to two o'clock."
Bars in the Iowa Quad Cities close at 2 am, and Thoms says some nights large numbers of people come to Rock Island for a final hour of drinking, and congregate around the downtown plaza.
He also thinks the earlier closing might lessen the community spread of the coronavirus.