The letters to Santa from school kids that The Kewanee Voice published during the holidays have inspired me to come up with my own wish list for the city of Kewanee. January is the perfect time to do a little light housekeeping.
The idea all started as Board Chair TD Welch and I were driving just outside town to deliver copies of the Holiday Herald.
As I usually am required to do on that stretch of South Street just beyond Menards, I turned to her and suggested she slow down. “You’re speeding,” I told her, which is easy to do because the road practically begs you to go faster.
That benign comment kicked off a conversation about small, simple changes the city of Kewanee could make that would improve daily life for a lot of residents. Nothing dramatic. Nothing that requires a bond issue, a federal grant or even a miracle. Just the low‑hanging fruit.
Of course, if we were shooting the moon, the top items on the list would be good streets and even better water. But in the spirit of Santa letters, I decided to keep things modest. Maybe you have a few ideas of your own.
Let’s start with the stretch of South Street just past Menards heading west. The speed limit is 30 mph even though there are no houses on either side of the road and only a few businesses on the road’s north side. Drivers are expected to creep along until they reach the 40-mph sign, which for reasons known only to the traffic gods, appears right when the housing actually begins.
None of this makes sense. And because the sign jumps straight from 30 to 40, you have to accelerate like you’re merging onto I‑80 just to keep up with the posted limit.
At the very least, once you’re past Menards, 35 mph would be a reasonable compromise. Anyone who has ever felt the urge to speed up there or even done so without thinking and then been pulled over and cited for speeding would probably nominate this change for “Most Needed Ordinance Update of the Year.”
Driving 30 on that stretch feels as unnatural as wearing a parka to the beach.
A quick survey of a four‑block radius downtown shows a grand total of three handicap parking spaces, not counting the spaces in private lots. There’s four if you count the handicap space near the library elevator entrance, which I didn’t, since that’s a little far off the beaten path and used primarily by library patrons. That’s three spaces out of several hundred. Those include the one in front of The Kewanee Voice office on North Tremont, one in front of the martial arts studio on Second Street and one in the PNB parking lot right off Tremont Street.
That’s it, unless we missed one and we made several attempts to locate them.
The lack of parking spaces for residents with disabilities was brought to our attention last year by a family who was heading to the Downtown Eatery for dinner and couldn’t find a handicap parking spot near the restaurant. I was actually going to call the city manager and inquire about the matter when the news came that Kewanee no longer had a city manager. I still feel strongly that the lack of available handicap parking downtown would be a good issue to take to city officials.
Just by observing out the front window of our office, I have noticed the handicap space on Tremont Street never stays empty for long.
For a downtown that prides itself on being walkable and welcoming, we’re not exactly rolling out the blue‑striped carpet. People with mobility challenges shouldn’t have to circle the block like they’re hunting for a needle in a municipal haystack, which they are. A few more designated spaces would go a long way toward making downtown establishments accessible for everyone.
This rule has been around since the 1970s, a relic of the old blue laws, those statutes that restrict certain activities on Sundays. While the ordinance has probably been tweaked over the years, the core rule remains: no buying packaged alcohol or even alcohol‑adjacent items, like mixers, on Sunday morning until noon.
An informal survey of people standing near me in checkout lanes yielded the same response: the law is outdated and makes little sense. If you can buy alcohol at a bar or a club on Sunday morning, why can’t you buy a bottle at the store?
How many brunches has this rule derailed because someone forgot they were on alcohol duty and didn’t purchase the liquor or mixer on Saturday? How many afternoon grocery runs has it forced when the beer wasn’t purchased the day before for the Sunday barbecue or game?
Yes, it’s a small inconvenience, but still, why are we being inconvenienced at all?
Other cities have moved on. Chicago allows large grocery stores to sell packaged alcohol starting at 8 a.m. Springfield lets some stores start at 7 a.m. Peoria, never one to be outdone, starts at 6 a.m. and goes until 2 a.m. the next day.
Meanwhile in Kewanee, if you want wine for Sunday brunch or even a Bloody Mary mixer, and you failed to purchase it the day before the event, you’re out of luck until later.
I’d love to hear modern‑day rationale about why such an ordinance still exists in the books. Tradition? Habit? A municipal fondness for dry brunches?
Whatever the reason, 2026 might be an excellent time for a fresh look.
These are just a few small things that could make life in Kewanee a little easier and of course, they’re only my opinion. You may not agree or have entirely different ideas about small tweaks the city could address. But the ideas listed don’t require a major overhaul. None require a task force. They’re the municipal equivalent of straightening a crooked picture frame.
What other small changes would make Kewanee a better community to live in? After all, if the kids get to ask Santa for ponies and hoverboards, the adults should get to ask for a few practical upgrades, too.
Happy New Year to all of our readers! We hope 2026 brings you lots of good fortune and wonderful opportunities.
