It’s been over 60 years since Decatur has had the opportunity to ask for so much federal money to go towards infrastructure, school and public works projects. With the Obama administration about to take over, what should Decatur be asking for? Here’s some of the ideas I’ve brainstormed.
Water Supply Issues
- Accelerating Lake Decatur dredging – Lake Decatur, like all lakes in this part of the country face the never ending battle of removing silt deposits. Over time the silt settles to the bottom of the lake and without efforts to remove it, will eventually fill the lake back in with soil. The city has had a dredging program for several years but hasn’t really achieved the success most would like to see. A lot more money is needed if we are to significantly increase our dredging efforts. Obviously, the deeper the lake is, the more water it can hold.
- A New Dam - One suggestion, that has been stated before to increase Lake Decatur’s water capacity, is moving the dam further downstream. The current dam is old and I don’t know how many more years of life it has in it, but it will need to be replaced one of these days. The costs of building a new dam further downstream hasn’t been the only tripping point though – apparently there’s a lot of red tape to cut through to construct a dam on any river. However, it’s worth considering because constructing a new dam further downstream would certainly increase water capacity; and the old dam is going to have to be replaced sooner or later anyway.
- Construction of Silt Dams – Unless we do something to prevent much of the silt from entering the lake in the first place, we will always be facing an uphill battle in our dredging efforts. Silt, which is mainly topsoil from farmland, could be collected by these dams and sold. Central Illinois has some of the best topsoil in the entire world; allowing it to wash away or collect at the bottoms of our lakes, is irresponsible to future generations. Removing much of the silt would also greatly improve the water clarity which would be great for recreational purposes.
- New Lake - A new lake could provide more water during droughts and could also encourage new development, new industries, and new residents. It’s probably the single biggest project we could do that would have the biggest impact on the future of Decatur. However, another lake would mean we would have two lakes to maintain and then there’s the property tax issues that would surface. Most likely, any new lake we could construct wouldn’t be entirely in Decatur’s city or school district boundaries, and nearby communities could wind up benefiting more financially than Decatur.
New Police Station
Decatur is in need of a new police station and costs could easily exceed $20 million dollars. It would make sense that the city try to seek as much funds as it can get to help pay for the construction.
New Schools
The Decatur Public School district floated the idea of creating a single high school in Decatur to replace Eisenhower and MacArthur. While I personally don’t think a single high school, in the inner city, would be a good selling point to new (or current) residents, I think the school district should certainly seek funds to improve both high schools.
Basic Infrastructure (Sewers, drainage issues, water lines, sidewalks, roads, etc.)
Needless to say there’s always plenty of basic infrastructure needs that need lots of money!
Green Technologies
Wind and solar energy grants? Green neighborhoods to replace our worst neighborhoods? What can Decatur do to tap into the new wave of energy creation?
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I read a few days ago that the county has a list ready to send to the Obama administration. Apparently, if I read the article right, projects have to be able to begin within 100 days of receiving the money. If that’s true that would eliminate many of my ideas above, so what can we ask for that could begin within 100 days of receiving the funds????
A new police station? Basic infrastructure? Dredging? As long as most government bodies take to get started on any project, it’s hard to fatham we’d have anything ready within a hundred day period but we better get to moving!
Kris, this subject is very interesting to me. I think there is much we need to be doing but I have not have much time at this moment to post!! City already has somethings in progress that i think should be part of this. Been in that CRB (community restorative board) training for weed and seed that took all Friday night, all day Sat and monday. Then last night we had our GM Square dinner with all past officers. We went around the room and talked about what we think was our biggest accomplishment. Wow – has this group been full of great people from way back! I will be posting here just have not been home…..
go to this site and you can view projects other cities are putting forward…. I see many similar ones we could use. Especially those focused on restoring neighborhoods. But road, bridges these all are good. So long as they are truly needed.
http://www.usmayors.org/mainstreeteconomicrecovery/
This does not relate to this discussion but I want to say if what I see on Matthews site is true – that Brian has decided to appeal – If they have decided to continue this I am very sorry hear it….
Continuing this fight is not good for the community.
I agree. An appeal really doesn’t serve any good purpose for the community. There’s too many important issues to discuss – whether or not a paper clip was attached to a petition would hardly qualify as important – in my book anyway. I’d rather just put the power in the people’s hands and let them vote. This has all gotten way past silly.
My story of last night:
I was at friend’s house and got a call from my neighbor that my street was blocked by cops at both ends and a fire truck was there and people were on the roof of MY HOUSE!!! I raced home thinking my house was on fire and cats might be dead. There were a number of squad cars and I stopped before reaching my house to ask the officers. I said I live in the house that had the people on the roof. Well some guy was ran from the cops when he was questioned and left bullets behind they figured he had a gun and he decided to climb onto my garage and my roof!! They figured he threw something off of my roof and then ran. They got him but were kept the area blocked and brought the dogs in to search my yard because they thought he may have pitched a gun. I sure am glad I was not home – I just plain would have freaked.
Holy Cow! That’s crazy! What an ordeal. I’m glad you weren’t home. I’m also glad they caught the guy. I hope nothing like like that happens again.
Kris, below is the email I sent to city council on 12/29 regarding this issue. Sorry it took me so long to post on this subject – I think it is very important!!
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 4:05 PM
To: Decatur City council
Subject: Infrastructure projects
Dear Sirs and Madam,
Lately I have been hearing on the news that President-Elect Obama plans to stimulate the economy with infrastructure projects. His recent appointment of Peoria’s Ray LaHood makes me think this may be an opportunity for us. I heard on one of the Sunday news shows that the National Conference of Mayors is coming up with a wish list. You probably have already heard this but I will pass it along anyway.
Click on “Ready to Go” to download the entire document with what some cities are proposing…http://www.usmayors.org/mainstreeteconomicrecovery/ Many of them are cities much smaller than Decatur.
Decatur has great needs especially in our older neighborhoods. Many parts of town, from Nelson park area to South Shores to Neighborhood United area to NWRAPS all suffer greatly from a sewage problems. It’s my understanding that the city is already moving towards some major sewer rehab projects. We also have many older neighborhoods without sidewalks or a safe place for anyone to ride a bike – This is hard on kids, handicapped and lower income folks trying to get by without a car. This would be right in line with the “Safe routes to School” program the city is already working on with the District 61. And we sincerely could benefit greatly from any type of projects that focus on rehabbing dilapidated properties which would raise property values in the older areas and bring long term benefits. Due to the heavy truck traffic many of our roads need much help too. It would be great we had bike trails that crossed our town and could be actually used to get somewhere like shopping centers and to Richland or ADM. All these are rather labor intensive projects which I would assume to be just the type they will be looking for. Oh, not to forget the possible new police station! And those are just a few I can think of off the top of my head. Especially our older parts of town are in such great need.
I’m hoping Decatur is coming up with some projects that would be ready to go if this type of federal dollars does materialize. Maybe I’m overly optimistic I’d just hate for any opportunities to pass us by.
Thank you for you service,
Susan Barnhart
whoops – forget the “ready to go” it is more interesting to look below and sort by city or project type. Much being brought up IS similar to thing we need
Sue, those are all very good ideas. I’ll have to write up a letter to send to the city council once I decide what’s best to ask for – and what would be realistic to ask for.
People’s lifestyles and expectations have changed since a lot of the neighborhoods were developed. Biking trails would be a big plus. I know at one time the city was planning to connect the Fairview bike trail, which I think starts at Rock Springs, and connect it with Forsyth’s bike trail. The path would go by not far from my house. My dad has become a major bicycle enthusiast, at age 65, and rides from Rock Springs to Fairview and back often with his bicycling buddies. I should ask him; he knows where all the bike trails are!
It would be great to have bicycle trails linking much of Decatur to downtown. From my neck of the woods, there’s spans where there’s not even sidewalks, let alone bicycle paths. One would be risking their neck to attempt to ride a bicycle, or even walk, from Ravina Park to downtown or to Fairview Plaza, for that matter. It would be nice to at least have a much safer option to ride a bicycle to these destinations. More bicycle paths around the lake would be great too!
And yep, I agree on the police station. That’s a no-brainer there. Gotta ask for money on that one. High school upgrades would be a great thing to ask for too. Both MacArthur and Eisenhower need to modernize to attract and retain students. They’re really starting to show their age.
I think getting the funds to extend US 51 south is another important key to Decatur’s economic development, as well as Southern Illinois. My family has land in the Beecher City area and that area could sure use some help. It’s very rural, which I love, but it’s economically depressed. We think Decatur has it bad, well we’re not alone. Counties in that area have very high poverty rates as well. It’s kind of a forgotten part of Illinois, which again I kind of like, because it’s not overdeveloped and ruined, but people down that way need help too.
Agree with much of what you are suggesting. I too love to ride bikes and have ridden the Rock Springs trail and walked it many many times. I’ve even rode many time from my use 2000 N Union to Fairview but that is rather scary… The trail is beautiful also along Lincoln park – they don’t connect yet. Here is what Bloomington did with a bike trail. I’ve ridden it many times as well and it crosses their city rather than going around it….
http://www.constitutiontrail.org/
Yeah, I’d be kind of afraid to ride a bike downtown or to Fairview Plaza. I’ve had experiences in the Fairview shopping center and Walgreens on the corner of Grand. I don’t shop at either one anymore. I don’t feel that safe in a car there. I’d really feel like a mugging or rape waiting to happen on a bike trail in some parts of town. Until crime issues are dealt with, and that means some big time improvements in the neighborhoods – the bike trails are going to have to wait in some areas because nobody in their right mind would bike through a gang-banging hood, with stray bullets flying about.
I think the single biggest issue that faces Decatur is our neighborhood conditions. I think that’s what we need to focus our attention on but that has to be in conjunction with job creation, better schools, competitive tax rates, etc., and that’s where it all gets tricky! Dang, I wish it were so much easier.
Here is my idea –
Make Monroe 2 lane again. Of the 2 lanes we close to traffic, make 1 lane parking and the other a bike trail!