Canceled & Crumbling:
Freeport’s Historic Identity Is Being Erased by Government Neglect
By Joshua T. Atkinson
FREEPORT, IL – November 29, 2025
A Law on Paper — and Nowhere Else
Freeport Municipal Code Chapter 1475 requires the City to protect historic buildings and districts. It mandates public reviews, timely decisions, and Certificates of Appropriateness for any major change within these areas. These safeguards exist to preserve community identity and prevent reckless demolition.
But while the ordinance remains in the books, the enforcement structure behind it has quietly collapsed.
Under the law, “The Commission shall read and comment on the proposed project within thirty (30) days” (1475.13) and “The Commission shall schedule a public meeting… within thirty (30) days” of any required review (1475.16).
Those timelines have not been followed. Not once in years.
A Commission That Hasn’t Met Its Legal Duty
Public records show that the Historic Preservation Commission stopped functioning long ago. The City’s own calendar proves a complete pattern of abandonment.
Here are the most recent publicly posted meetings:
January 17, 2023 — Canceled
February 21, 2023 — Canceled
March 21, 2023 — No Meeting
April 18, 2023 — Canceled
May 16, 2023 — Canceled
June 20, 2023 — Meeting Canceled
July 18, 2023 — Canceled
August 15, 2023 — Canceled
September 19, 2023 — Canceled
2022 shows the same pattern.
2024 shows the same pattern.
2025 shows the same pattern — every meeting listed canceled before it began.
There is no evidence of mandatory reviews, public hearings, decisions issued within legal timelines, or enforcement actions taken. The City is failing to execute what State law calls a basic duty: due process.
A Public Message That Erases Reality
While Freeport’s law acknowledges historic districts, the City’s website tells the public the opposite. The site currently shows no recognition of historic buildings or historic districts in Freeport.
This is provably false. It contradicts:
• Chapter 1475’s requirements
• Existing City landmark designations
• State historic resource listings
• The physical landscape of Freeport itself
Freeport contains architectural and cultural heritage recognized for more than a century — from manufacturing-era commercial blocks to historic homes with preserved detail and craftsmanship.
The City has chosen to pretend that none of it exists.
Demolition as a Policy Decision
Over the past decade, the City has repeatedly opted to destroy rather than preserve. East-side neighborhoods impacted by flooding pleaded for mitigation. Instead, the City acquired and demolished homes. No long-term strategy to rebuild community followed.
Downtown Freeport once stood as a centerpiece of the region. The unique brick storefronts and upper-story living spaces that attract commerce and visitors in other communities have been left to deteriorate here. Empty storefronts now dominate where local business once thrived.
Historic preservation was intended to fuel economic revitalization. Instead, City Hall has allowed its absence to accelerate decline.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
Demolition is not free. It is funded by the people.
Every torn-down building becomes:
• A lost tax-producing asset
• A cost to remove and maintain
• A hole in the economic fabric of downtown
National Main Street data shows historic building reuse generates more than twice the economic output of demolition-and-replace strategies in similarly sized communities.
Freeport has chosen the most expensive and least beneficial path.
Mayoral Leadership and Accountability
Three-term Mayor Jodi Miller’s administration has overseen this long-running breakdown. Under her leadership:
• The Commission responsible for enforcement has been allowed to collapse
• Legal requirements have gone unmet year after year
• Preservation has been treated as an obstacle, not an asset
The results are visible in every demolished home and every vacant downtown structure. This is not an unavoidable trend. It is the direct product of policy decisions and inaction from the top.
The Law Still Exists — The Will Does Not
Chapter 1475 does not allow the City to simply stop enforcing it.
No amendment has removed the Commission.
No repeal has been issued.
No public policy change was ever announced.
The City has instead chosen a quieter approach:
Let meetings lapse, deny the existence of historic resources, and allow deterioration to continue unchecked.
This gives a legal advantage to demolition and a disadvantage to residents who want to restore.
It is death by neglect — and the public pays the price.
Time for Answers
The people of Freeport deserve a response to the following:
• Why has the Historic Preservation Commission been allowed to go dormant since 2022?
• Why does the City claim there are no historic districts while enforcing a law that says the opposite?
• Why has demolition become the default response to blight instead of revitalization?
• Why must taxpayers pay to erase their own history?
Requests for comment were sent to City Hall regarding the current status of the Historic Preservation Commission. No response was received prior to publication.
A City Worth Saving
Freeport’s identity is not only in memories. It is built into the places where people lived, worked, and shaped this community. The choice before us is whether that identity continues — or disappears one empty lot at a time.
Historic preservation is not nostalgia. It is economic development. It is community pride. It is the foundation for Freeport’s future.
Freeport deserves a government that recognizes its value instead of bulldozing it away.
