The city of Moline is continuing to transform itself, according to an optimistic “State of the City” address, given Monday morning, February 2nd, by Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati.
“At the heart of this annual review is the acknowledgement that Moline is undergoing transformational change,” she said in the presentation at The Moline Club, 1530 5th Ave. “I don't mean the buzzword type of change that folks use to generate excitement. I don't mean the type of change that people are afraid of because there's newness to grapple with or new habits to develop. When I speak of transformational change happening in Moline, I'm speaking about strategic stabilizing moves we are making to help our community fulfill its potential.
“The vision we have for this city is not myopic. It's not egotistical or meant to benefit a few select people. It's distinguished and it's communal,” Rayapati said. “And it rivals what other river towns have been or are willing to do to create a high-quality city.”
City accomplishments in the past year include new plaques on the riverfront honoring the work of an extraordinary early entrepreneur and founder of Moline, David B. Sears; the preservation and improvement of the old Post Office by Andrew Dasso and his team at Streamline Architects, to the continued use and improvement of the former KONE Tower by Hyperlift, Inc.
Parr Instrument Company (founded in 1899) celebrated the completion of its 54,000-square-foot expansion (211 53rd St., Moline) with a ribbon cutting in December. The project includes new construction that consolidates shipping, receiving, assembly, and inspection under one roof, along with renovations to existing buildings that transformed former manufacturing space into expanded, modern administrative offices.
“The city is committed to cherishing our past while moving us into a prosperous future. Communal prosperity, though, does not happen by accident,” Rayapati said. “It's planned for. We do that work through our budget and our strategic plan priorities, which are informed by our community survey results and best practices for urban community development.”
In her second term as mayor, she continued her tradition of moving the address to different locations around the city, with Monday’s at the recently renovated Moline Club (in the third-floor ballroom), in the 1912 former Leedy building.
“I change our location for this event every year, and that's intentional. I want us to visit or revisit the places and spaces that knit our collective memories together in community,” Rayapati said. “And for those who don't have generational ties to Moline, I want to introduce them to the unique spaces that are cherished and preserved for us to use in the present and the future. And so I'm really proud that once again we have a space that has been reinvested in and can welcome the community back in with open arms.”
Of the city’s $163.4-million budget, 39% of it goes for capital improvement projects and equipment, including up to $3 million in annual road improvements, such as the 2025 creation of roundabouts on 7th Avenue downtown.
“So even if your particular street hasn't been addressed yet, there are plans to get to it,” the mayor said, noting no discussion of 2025 transportation achievements is complete without “celebrating the appropriation of funds needed for passenger rail through the State of Illinois.
“I think it's ironic that we've had to fight so hard and so long for rail connectivity that previous generations had in the Quad Cities, but we will continue to monitor and advance the steps needed for completion of that project through our connections in Springfield,” Rayapati said. “I'm pleased, though, that future generations will finally have rail service that will bolster opportunities for work and economic connectivity. It's not just roads and rails, though, that this council has attempted to improve. We are engaged in a sidewalk improvement plan that has been executed well over the last year.”
Another significant infrastructure project that began in 2025 is the upgrading of the city South Slope Wastewater Treatment Plant, with $120 million of Illinois EPA loan funds secured for this. “That of course, required careful strategic planning met by our talented finance, utilities and administrative staff,” the mayor said. “Modernizing and repairing our utilities is essential for controlling future costs and the environmental impacts on our Rock River.”
As part of updating the city’s comprehensive plan, Moline is updating its housing plan, and improving zoning regulations, Rayapati said.
“We passed a small lot ordinance which should reduce barriers for interested parties to build homes on smaller parcels that exist all over the city. We're in the middle of improving zoning so we can increase our missing middle housing stock that's otherwise known as the duplexes, triplexes or quadruplexes that dotted neighborhoods in generations prior,” she said.
Late last year, the city completed development deals for 177 new units downtown, with another 105 units in design across five sites that are slated to start construction later this year and early next year. “People want to work with the city of Moline on these types of projects and we continue to try to make it as easy as possible,” Rayapati said.
The city comprehensive plan is seeking public input and should be adopted by November 2026. Moline is making progress to build a new Central Fire Station, which will go up on 7th Street in the Olde Towne area near Stephens Park.
Renew Moline is working with the city on the new riverfront plan, for the property around 19th Street and River Drive (and the area near the I-74 Bridge), and demolition of buildings is expected this summer. A planned food and public market will not go in the vacant Spiegel Building off the 74 Bridge and River Drive, but likely across the street, with new housing and other amenities, Rayapati said.
After Hy-Vee closed its store off 7th Street and John Deere Road in December 2021, the city has attracted new businesses, including a new Aldi, and Ulta stores. “It's a wonderful feeling to drive past knowing that we were able to meet a need in that part of the community as well as restore empty retail at a critical commercial zone,” the mayor said.
East of I-74, just north of John Deere Road, a new Texas Roadhouse is planning to open in 2027, at 3620 38th Ave., Rayapati said.
Working toward a “just” city
In 2026, the community and economic development staff will work on a unique project sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Harvard Graduate Design School. Through the Just City Fellowship that Moline was recently chosen for, they will spend the next several months learning from city design experts “about how we can improve equity and opportunity by addressing the built environment, especially in the East End,” the mayor said.
Rayapati was picked as one of eight Just City Mayoral Fellows nationwide, to work on how cities can maintain a vision of equity, address injustice, and advance the design and development of more just cities while responding to shifting resources, capacities, and constraints. Working with experts in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, art activism, housing, and public policy, mayors and their staff will identify how injustices manifest in the social, economic, and physical infrastructures of their own cities and develop manifestos of action for their communities.
Rayapati on Monday also praised the Library Gardens project done at the Moline Public Library, 3210 41st St.
“If you haven't had a chance to check them out, make it a priority when spring and summer roll around,” she said. “So much thought and care went into it and the events we've had there so far have been received well. I'm proud of the forethought the library board had to feature artwork by Moline artists David Zahn and Joel Ryser.”
City staff continues to work on housing needs, including solutions such as the temporary winter shelter recently opened at the former BridgePointe 485 property in partnership with Project NOW.
“It takes a commitment from every level of the organization to see this project through and I'm thankful to everyone who has shown that we're actively engaged in conversations with all of our municipal and county partners on the Illinois side of the river to chart a successful path for this part of our housing solutions,” Rayapati said. “I'm encouraged by the best practices I've learned about at mayor conferences and special sessions and look forward to sharing my most recent information with government and nonprofit partners soon.
“In many ways, Moline has adapted, adjusted, planned, replanned, foregone and forgiven when 2025 dealt us grounds of uncertainty,” she said. “Whether it was potential or realized funding gaps from a shutdown, federal government, a federal budget that pulled back from funding that made cities work or immigration steer tactics, and the uncertainty that has injected into our community, the city has responded with research, conversation and communication. Residents can expect those efforts to continue in 2026.
“To be sure, there is more work to do around workforce, around housing and around improving our economic situation. But we will approach this in the balanced manner we have cultivated, understanding what prior decisions have resulted in and work in a way that builds on our rich history of hardworking people,” the mayor said.
Big year for Ontiveros family
Three main speakers preceded the mayor, each describing what the city means to them, and how others can help Moline grow.
“The Ontiveros family had a big year this year,” said Maria Ontiveros, co-founder of Mercado on Fifth. “I'm still pinching myself that a school that was previously named after Abraham Lincoln is now named after our family. I want to thank the voting public and the Moline Public Schools for this incredible honor.”
The new consolidated Lincoln-Irving and Willard elementary schools will be named the Robert Ontiveros Elementary School, in honor of her grandfather, the founder of Group O, and area philanthropist and volunteer.
“He has an incredible American dream story and he is a product of his city,” Maria said. “At a certain point in his life he turned his attention to giving back to Moline.”
When the newly expanded Lincoln-Irving Elementary School in Moline opens in fall 2027, consolidated with Willard School, it will honor the life and legacy of the influential founder of Group O, nationally respected business leader, and lifelong advocate for the Floreciente neighborhood where he grew up (in a household of 11 children).
The Moline-Coal Valley School District announced the renaming in early December, for the school at 1015 16th Ave., to be renovated and expanded at a cost of $33.8 million. On Monday, Maria Ontiveros sang part of a song she wrote about Moline (when she dreamed of escaping the city), set to the tune of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” – “Moline, Moline, Moline, Moline -- please don’t keep me, just because you can.”
“Ten years ago, I came to visit my family and stay with my grandparents during the summer to their home in Moline and during that time, my grandfather recruited me to help him with the idea that he had for our market, to get us started on the right foot,” she said of launching Mercado on Fifth.
Ontiveros urged other young people who graduate from Moline High to come back and invest their time and talents in the city and region. Monday’s program included a brief talk from Moline High senior Bryan Viyegbe, who had an internship last summer with the city. He said it was “a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“There’s so much opportunity to create something, to find purpose, get connected, to start and raise a family,” Ontiveros aid. “I'm so grateful to my grandfather who passed away four years ago this week, and I'm so proud that his story and legacy will continue to inspire future generations of and those beyond.”
Moline native Clare Lindahl since 2017 has been CEO of the Soil and Water Conservation Society, which is based in Iowa but works nationwide. She’s active in Moline’s East End Neighborhood Group.
“I get to meet hundreds of people from coast to coast in my line of work, but there’s no one like a Moliner,” Lindahl said. “I take no greater pride than coming home to Moline, at least quarterly.”
In her neighborhood group, they support local businesses, plant trees, host neighborhood cleanups, and help each other, “with immense support” from the mayor and other city staff. Lindahl also urged others to give back to the community.
“And reap the benefits that come from that experience – the joy, the friendship, the love,” she said. “It is absolutely worth it.”
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