Editorial: City of Belleville gearing up to make itself very special

On Jan. 12, at 6 p.m., the City of Belleville’s Downtown Development Authority is holding a strategic planning session with a facilitator at city hall. The public is invited, but only the DDA members and the facilitator will be talking. They are making plans.
On Jan. 31, at 6 p.m., the Belleville City Council will hold its strategic planning session at city hall in preparation for budget talks in March. It is making plans.
Mayor Kerreen Conley said if the city is to be made into something like Disneyland, as the new city manager keeps saying, they will have to do something with the budget to make that happen.
City Manager/Police Chief Dave Robinson explains his Disneyland comments mean he wants the city to be clean and tidy and welcoming to those in the community and from out of town. He said broken things or dirty things turn people off. He wants the city to be pristine. He’s working on it.
The DDA has been talking about funding summer employees to work on this and maybe even a full-time, full-year employee to keep it going. They are sure the empty storefronts will fill up when everything is clean and tidy. The DDA is looking at ways to bring new businesses to town. The city and DDA are getting serious about this and are working to make it happen. Let’s help all we can.