PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria’s small businesses can’t wait.
Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis has submitted a plan to Gov. J-B Pritzker to fully reopen restaurants and bars ahead phase four plans announced Tuesday in the governor’s “Restore Illinois” plan.
Ardis told WMBD’s Greg and Dan, local businesses need to open before May 30.
“Our bars and restaurants and a lot of our other people licensed by the state they cannot wait until the 4th of July to get started again.”
“Restore Illinois” divides the state into four regions for reopening. Peoria is grouped with Rock Island and Rockford, communities that have experienced higher spikes of COVID-19 cases.
Ardis said Peoria will continue to tweak its plans and engage Gov. Pritzker to reopen local businesses earlier than hard-hit areas like Chicago and its surrounding counties.
“We think, even looking at the governor’s figures, that we’re farther in this process than the majority of the folks (in Illinois), just based on the metrics that he put out there.”
According to a report from chicagoeater.com, under Gov. Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” plan, the earliest restaurants and bars could open would be June 26th.
Gov. Pritzker’s plans did not include specific dates to begin phase four of “Restore Illinois”.
