Rockford, Illinois - History - 2000–present: Building A New Image

2000–present: Building A New Image

This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
This section may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines. Please help by editing the article to make improvements to the overall structure.
This section may contain unsourced predictions, speculative material or accounts of events that might not occur. Please help improve it by removing unsourced speculative content.
The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

Since the end of the 1980s, Rockford has had the ignominious honor of being listed at times as one of America's worst cities by the Rand McNally corporation and Money magazine, sometimes being ranked one of the top ten worst cities. This may have been due to the lack of jobs and high number of outdated or closed factories. Crime on the west side of town was endemic, with huge areas of old established neighborhoods in extreme blight. The homicide rate in these areas was quite high. Many houses were vacant with no one wishing to buy them. The city government has developed many programs to attempt to address these problems and has seen some success. In February 2009, The Wall Street Journal published a series of stories on Rockford and its mayor focusing on various challenges faced by the city, including higher unemployment and lower education levels of workers compared to some cities.

New commercial and residential development have begun taking place in the downtown area. The Main Street Corridor (Illinois Route 2) is also expected to be redeveloped. Construction from the downtown area, south to US Highway 20 was expected to begin in 2007. In 2007–08, the MetroCentre in downtown Rockford underwent a number of interior and exterior renovations.

Read more about this topic:  Rockford, Illinois, History

Famous quotes containing the words building and/or image:

    “Are we not madder than those first inhabitants of the plain of Sennar? We know that the distance separating the earth from the sky is infinite, and yet we do not stop building our tower.”
    —Denis Diderot (1713–1784)

    “As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have formed during the last few years such close relations with this best and truest friend of mankind, that his image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and consoling! And I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity ... of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness.”
    —Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)