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

2000–present: Building A New Image

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 This may have been due to the lack of jobs and high number of outdated or closed factories.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.