Metro East Sun

Belleville's economic and population troubles mirror the state's problems, on a smaller scale, with people and businesses leaving to find better opportunities elsewhere, two co-hosts said on a recent radio talk show.

"Go drive through Belleville, which is the town where I'm from," Illinois Policy Institute Marketing Manager Eric Kohn said during a recent edition of "Illinois Rising." "The west end of Belleville has been hollowed out. Businesses have been closing, and people have been leaving."

Belleville has changed since he grew up there, Kohn said.

Illinois Policy Institute Marketing Manager Eric Kohn | Contributed photo

"It's not the same community that it was," Kohn said. "It has been a slow progression of this over 30 years. It's sad to see, a community that I grew up in and I enjoyed so much, and even on just a micro level there, the way the city of Belleville is run compared to, say, how the city of O'Fallon, right next door, or Fairview Heights, right next door. There's business, there's commerce, there's more affordable home prices -- and on the west end of Belleville, it's hollowed out. People are gone."

Kohn made these comments in a conversation with "Illinois Rising" co-host Dan Proft, the radio show's regular host, with Kohn serving as a guest co-host that day. Proft also is co-founder, with Pat Hughes, of the Illinois Opportunity Project and is Liberty Principles PAC's chairman and treasurer. Proft also is a senior fellow at the Chicago-based Illinois Policy Institute. "Illinois Rising" is a presentation of the Illinois Policy Institute.

Belleville's population has shrunk more than 5 percent since 2010, according to U.S. Census estimates first released in May. Nearby Cahokia shrank by 5.5 percent during the same period, while Illinois managed to grow by a very modest 0.23 percent, the fourth-slowest growth rate in the nation.

The numbers reflect an ongoing outmigration, in which more people are leaving than moving into the state. That outmigration is largely attributable to greater opportunities and better government in the Midwest states that neighbor Illinois.

The U.S. Census Bureau, which profiled growth and decline in U.S. cities with populations greater than 50,000 from July 2014 to July 2015, found that of the 29 Illinois cities profiled, 23 saw population declines.

Some of Belleville's troubles may also be attributable to how the city is run and in the animosity within municipal government, including two candidates for the mayoral race, ahead of the April election. In July, City Clerk Dallas Cook asked the city’s attorney to take legal action to prevent Mayor Mark Eckert from interfering with his office. For his part, Eckert, who has been mayor of Belleville since 2004, said Cook's request was appalling and that he didn't have time to interfere with the City Clerk's Office.

While Belleville's municipal politics are officially nonpartisan, Cook's party affiliation as a Republican and Eckert's as a Democrat seem to be fueling their disagreements. An op-ed piece in the Belleville News-Democrat criticized the bickering, maintaining that the two city officials' party differences are a good thing and that pouting is rarely a public service, but the animosity apparently hasn't subsided. This month, Cook said he would challenge Eckert in the mayoral race and, if elected, would replace Police Chief Bill Clay.

As with the causes of most problems in Illinois' state government, most of Belleville's issues have built up over time, Kohn said, adding that such turmoil fuels residents' desire to move out.

"People get this, especially when it's not interstate moving that we're talking about, when it's moving one town over to lower your burden to get a better-run city, to get one that doesn't turn the screws on you quite as much," he said. "That's a no-brainer."

The situation in Belleville, like that of state government, should be a call to action for people in the state, Proft said.

"That's why we need a sense of urgency about it, why we need to precipitate the revolt that we saw happen in the rest of the country, outside of the coasts, in Illinois," he said. "We've got to precipitate the revolt that is bubbling below the surface, but is looking for a spokesman. And I don't think we've figured it out yet."