Tonight the city council will be discussing possible plans for the Lincoln Homestead State Park near Decatur. The hope is to build a replica cabin on the location of Abraham Lincoln’s first Illinois home. A cabin has been there in the past but was often the victim of vandalism; thus security and upkeep of the facility is a high priority of the city. The city was hoping to receive significant help from the state but it looks like the bulk of the project will rest on Decatur’s shoulders. Revenue gathered from the Lincoln Heritage Project Fund would pay for the upgrades. I’ll have a run-down on my take of the meeting tomorrow, in the meantime you can view the council memorandum which details what the state is willing to do – which isn’t much!

UPDATE:

Well, I didn’t get the chance to view the council’s discussion on the fate of the Lincoln Homestead State Park, however I did attend a meeting of the Decatur’s gifted program, in which my daughter is a student (a chip off the ol’ block ) and got to view the proposed plans for the new gifted center that will reside on much of the unused space on the second floor of the Decatur Public Library. This center will cater to 2nd-6th graders. $1.6 million dollars is needed to fund the project and the school district is hoping to raise some community support and dollars. The project includes special classrooms, an auditorium, a science lab and even a recording studio. If money can be secured, the facility could be ready by August. So if you know of any millionaires who are looking for good tax right offs…:)

I’ll be discussing the park in a future post.