2023/05/22 - Mayor's Column: Upcoming Events
“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH
This week, I want to touch upon three happenings in our community:
Graduation: Congratulations to all our Graduates of 2023. To many of you it means moving on to your next level of education. To others it means moving forward with your career. In either case, you will face challenges and opportunities, but you control how successful you are going to be by your decision making, your attitude, and your individual determination to succeed. I wish all of you the best as you go forward with your life and ambitions. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot succeed. It is based on how much effort you want to put into it.
Memorial Day: The City of O’Fallon will hold a Memorial Day observance on Monday, May 29th at 11:30 am at The Veterans Monument, located at 737 East Wesley Drive, O’Fallon IL. The guest speaker will be Major General Susan Henderson, USA, Chief of Staff, USTRANSCOM. There will be participation from me, the OTHS AFJ ROTC; VFW Post 805; Miss O’Fallon Natalie Hale; OTHS Band Ensemble; Colonel Phil Goodwin (Ret.), Colonel Larry Strube (Ret.), in addition to others. The names of the newly inscribed veterans will be introduced at that time. Pre-service music will begin at 11:15. Veterans are encouraged to wear their medals and decorations that day. Please bring your own lawn chairs and water. In case of inclement weather, the event will take place at the First Baptist Church, located at 1111 East Highway 50 in O’Fallon. There will also be a remembrance ceremony held by our VFW Post at the City of O’Fallon Cemetery at 8:30 a.m. on Memorial Day.
O’Fallon Station/Downtown Market: The market is off to a GREAT start as we enter our fifth year of operation. Our first week of the year set a record for attendance with approximately 2,000 patrons visiting the Downtown area. We believe that week two had over 3,000 in attendance. This has been very successful under the leadership of Sarah Burton and everyone that has helped her and the City along the way. Many communities have nice facilities, but it takes a special type of leadership to grow an activity from a few hundred to a few thousand in attendance every week. I also want to thank the cooperation and support from our Downtown businesses and volunteers. It is with this type of collaborative effort that we have seen the success of the Vine Street Market at the O’Fallon Station.
Traffic Studies to Help with Current and Future Traffic and Growth: As we grow, we know that we must look ahead at how to keep traffic moving safely and how we develop more walking and biking pathways as requested by our citizens. At the current time the city has two such studies under way that will have a significant impact on our traffic flow for years to come. Those two studies are of Pierce Ave and the surrounding streets and the study of Route 50 from I-64 to the Scott Troy Road. This study will be looking at traffic not only on Rt. 50 but also on major connectors connecting to Rt. 50.
We should have final plans for the Pierce area within the next couple of months (we have had two public meetings and we have done a survey of citizens to gain public input on this study already). The results of the study on Rt. 50 should be ready by mid-2024. This study has just gotten underway.
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open.