Council members say it was a great learning opportunity. When you travel in a large group you make lots of observations. Their journey there and back left time to talk about what's working well in the quad cities and possible changes to downtown Champaign. It's similar in size to Moline and Rock Island, but has fewer places to live downtown. Council members say that's changing quickly with the M2 building, but there's still the need for more affordable housing. Another difference: what rock island charges for parking. "We noticed for one thing downtown Rock Island, which is thriving, charges a dollar an hour for parking meters and we're having all kinds of angst in Champaign because it's gone to 75 cents an hour," said Tom Bruno. That was the big change this week. People were upset the meters are being enforced until nine. Rock island too charges for meter parking well into the night.

Council members say trips like Thursday's are crucial and they hope to take more in the future. They're a good way to build relationships with other cities.