As we conclude 2025 there was no shortages of good news and controversy in the area.
In July, the Joliet City Council approved a contract with its firefighters that now allows them to live outside of the community.
The contract unanimously approved with the International Association of Firefighters Local 44 allows Joliet firefighters to live up to a 50-mile radius from the intersection of Jefferson Street and Essington Road. They also received a 3.25 percent annual pay increase for the next four years.
Residents in the City of Joliet voted on a public art sculpture called the Unity Dome for Joliet City Square in downtown. Sijia Chen Studio was chosen for the creation of a signature public art installation at City Square, located just steps from the historic Rialto Square Theatre, at a cost not to exceed $197,000.
The installation is expected to take approximately eight months following contract execution, with the goal of unveiling the completed sculpture in time for the Rialto Square Theatre’s 100th Anniversary Gala on May 16, 2026.
Joliet residents in late December 2025 expressed opposition after discussions about a City Council data center project up for consideration sparked controversy.
If discussions continue and the project gets approved, the data center development campus would be located on Schweitzer, Ridge and Millsdale roads. While developer Hillwood has yet to say which companies would be located on site, Joliet officials said possibilities include technology giants like Microsoft and Meta.
The Village of Plainfield started the year off on a sour note when officials announced the Kohls at 119th Street and Route 59 were one of the stores targeted by the company for closure. The location was among the 27 “underperforming” stores across the nation closed their doors in April.
The only other Illinois Kohl’s store to suffer the same fate was in West Dundee.
All was not lost. Village officials announced a large building that housed Plainfield’s Walmart Supercenter until its abrupt closure in March 2023, has been sold.
Good news for neighboring communities over the summer as
Bolingbrook ranked 210th on U.S. News and World Report’s list of 2025-2026 Best Places to Live in the country.
No Illinois community cracked the top 50 spot, with Arlington Heights ranking the highest at No. 56, Buffalo Grove, ranked at No. 63, and Naperville, ranked at No. 73.
Bolingbrook once again hosted the premier LIV golf tournament. Despite the extreme heat and oppressive humidity, more than 20,000 people attended the three-day August LIV pro tournament at the Bolingbrook Golf Club.
Shorewood gets good news in March when the village was awarded $600,000 in state grants to help the community acquire land and develop recreational opportunities. Nearly $60 million in grants were awarded for 118 local park projects in Illinois as part of the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) program. Other communities in the local area who received a portion of the $60 million were Plainfield Township Park District, $377,500; and Village of Plainfield, $284,500.
Romeoville’s Mayor John D. Noak was unanimously elected as the new chair of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, a regional coalition of 275 cities, towns and villages in northern Illinois, in November. The group works collaboratively on public policy issues that impact the entire region.
Good news for some area schools. Bolingbrook High School and Romeoville High School, both in the Valley View School District 365U, were ranked in the top 18 percent of Illinois public high schools by the U.S. News and World Report. Bolingbrook ranked 92nd and Romeoville High School ranked 127th in the state. The rankings were released in August.
