For the last few months, Nature’s Treatment of Illinois (NTI) has been attempting to buy a plot of land owned by the city of Rock Island, IL to build a cannabis dispensary and truck stop on a 10-acre site located adjacent to the Milan Bottoms. The Milan Bottoms includes over 3,500 acres of wetlands that sits at the intersection of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers and is host to a variety of endangered species. Many residents and environmentalist groups, such as the Sierra Club Eagle View Group, have raised serious concerns about the conservation of these wetlands and the risks of pollution generated from the development.
In response to these concerns, the city has started the process of creating a conservation easement in the tax increment financing (TIF) district that has recently expanded to include the development site, part of the wetlands, and Bally’s Casino. The city has also formed a task force to address the wetlands and has stated they wish to use TIF funds for conservation purposes. It was only from the result of public outcry that they have been moved to act. However, the city has not formally and specifically committed to using TIF funds for wetlands conservation. We therefore see these actions as an attempt at appeasement: without concrete details, these are promises the city can conveniently break, and we hope further details come shortly.
City officials have spent an immense amount of effort in a public relations campaign to paint opponents of the project as unreasonable and blocking progress. Mayor Mike Thoms hosted a press conference on March 21st, 2025 to specifically address the development, and the city’s official social media regularly dismisses these concerns as false. City officials are painting this development as an obvious public good even though the deal is not fully approved, going so far as to attempt to limit public comment in city council meetings from five to three minutes, as was attempted and was thankfully tabled at the April 14th city council meeting.
Altogether, city officials have repeatedly demonstrated that they are willing to move fast and act urgently for only one purpose: the accumulation of capital. When RIPD officer Brett Taylor murdered Jakarta Jackson in January 2025, the city stayed silent despite weekly protests from Jakarta’s family demanding justice. Officer Taylor remains on the force and no proposals have been brought forward to seriously modify police policy or the department’s funding. The city has the power right now to constrain the power of the police, but their energy continues to remain on expanding business development.
As socialists, we believe that Rock Island workers deserve more. While this deal is hoping to create $2 million annually in cannabis tax sales, there is no solid indication that these funds will be spent on improving housing, public works, recreation, and so on: it is all too likely the funds will immediately be funneled into “balancing the budget.” The city could be doing more to directly benefit working families, but instead, far too often energy and resources are directed to helping business owners and landlords. From the massive outcry over the development of this dispensary, to the police killing of Jakarta Jackson, we understand why residents were so fed up with years of neglect and empty promises that they voted out Mayor Thoms in April. While it remains to be seen what the actions of Mayor-elect Ashley Harris and the new city council will be, we hope they turn a new page in Rock Island’s history and enact meaningful programs to help working people, not to continue to line the pockets of the moneyed elite.
We urge every resident who is opposed to this development to contact their alderperson and tell them to vote NO on the project. You can find your alderperson and how to contact them here on the city’s website: rigov.org.
In solidarity,
Quad Cities DSA Steering Committee