Changelog

Jo Daviess County Transit runs a door-to-door bus, but its fares and booking rules were spread across a few pages. The new "Getting Around by Bus" tool lays out each kind of ride — around Galena, across the county, and medical trips out to Dubuque — with what it costs, how far ahead to call, and the dispatch number. For anyone who'd rather not drive to an appointment, it's all in one place.

The old parking questions now live inside the new Where to Park Downtown tool, which maps every lot and keeps the same payment, shuttle and ticket details in one place.

Galena has no public noticeboard — what locals know tends to live in private groups or just in people's heads. Ask Galena is a small, public place to share it: where people really eat off Main Street, what stays open through the quiet winter, who's good and fair for work on an old house, and where to send first-time visitors. Reading is open to everyone; adding a pick takes a quick sign-in. We read what comes in and keep it kind and local.

Galena's most-documented gripe isn't finding a space — it's the surprise fine. This new tool maps every public lot: which are free at the edges, which are paid, and the exact ParkMobile zone number for each (the paid lots have no meters, so it's easy to park and walk off without paying). It shows the City Hall lot as free in the evenings and on weekends, the weekend Galena Free Ride shuttle, a heads-up on the busiest days, and who to call about a ticket. It replaces the old parking Q&A, which is now folded into it.

Galena is a river town with a 200-year-old downtown and a flood history, so its first tools lead with the water. "Is the River Rising?" reads the live river height at the National Weather Service forecast gauge upstream and shows it against the official flood thresholds, alongside how the town's levee and South Main Street flood gates work. "Downtown Parking" answers the question visitors and residents ask most — where to park, what's free, and how to pay with ParkMobile so you don't come back to a ticket. "What's On in 2026" tracks the bicentennial-year calendar and flags the days downtown fills up. More to come; the trash-day lookup is waiting on the city publishing its pickup zones as something other than a map.