One of the largest impediments to growth in Old South Town neighborhood, as some business owners — some of whom live in the area — joke, is that that the area “is one block into the ghetto.” According the city of Springfield’s consolidated plan, the neighborhood “shows signs of advanced dilapidation, obsolescence, deterioration, structures below […]
R. L. Nave
Posted inNews
Labor’s day in court
Each time that leaders of Boilermakers Local 484 have met with officials from the Celanese chemical plant in Meredosia, where union members have been locked out for almost a year, they’ve been “cautiously optimistic.” Now, says Jim Pressley, the union’s international representative, they’re “optimistic” — an improvement. On Monday, May 22, Celanese and Local 484 […]
Posted inOpinion
The Hype
Opportunity knocks State Republican and Democratic candidates made huge symbolic statements at last week’s annual meeting of the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government — the GOP by showing up, the Dems by, well, not. State Sen. Christine RADOGNO, a Lemont Republican vying for the job Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka is leaving, made an appearance. […]
Posted inNews
Power struggle
Speak now or forever hold your breath. Springfield residents may opine on a proposed City Water, Light & Power plant until midnight Monday, May 22. After that, the comments will be compiled by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and made public as part of a responsiveness summary that will accompany the draft permit. To date, […]
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Gather around the mill
The hardest part of redeveloping the abandoned Pillsbury Mill isn’t figuring out what to build there — it’s deciding what to do with the buildings and silos that are already there. At least that’s what Springfield developer Todd P. Smith suggests. Smith, president of the Garrison Group, was a panelist at a September brainstorming meeting, […]
Posted inOpinion
The Hype
It’s in the stars It’s official — there’s no love lost between JUDY BAAR TOPINKA and ROD BLAGOJEVICH. Astrologically speaking, Blago, a Sagittarius, and Topinka, a Capricorn, are a match made in hell. The Sagittarius, incumbent Democrat Blagojevich, is easygoing, in no rush to work out state fiscal matters, whimsical, always jumps headfirst into new […]
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Quick, thoughtful
The Springfield City Council allocated $719,000 from a federal grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Springfield last week for a proposed community center on the city’s east side. Kristin Allen, executive director of the Springfield Boys & Girls Clubs, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, says the money is the first […]
Posted inNews
The Wise Choice
When she became president of the District 186 Board of Education, Cheryl Wise shifted her seat three spaces to the right. Her old seat, at the end of the board table, is now occupied by outgoing board President Judy Johnson. Now, whether she or anyone else likes it, Wise is front and center — and […]
Posted inOpinion
The Hype
Drinking, competition Just think: apple martinis at Apple River Fort; Jack-and-Cokes at Cahokia Mounds — delicious, educational, and an additional source of revenue for Illinois. Senate Bill 2454, which allows booze to be sold at private soirees at facilities under the purview of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is awaiting the signature of Gov. Rod BlagojevicH. […]
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State’s right
Let’s see how newly appointed White House press secretary Tony Snow spins this. On April 20, state Rep. Karen A. Yarbrough, a Democrat from Maywood, filed House Joint Resolution 125, which asks the Legislature to begin impeachment procedures against President George W. Bush for violating his oath of office. This week, Paul Koretz, a member […]
Posted inOpinion
The Hype
Bean Counting Last July, U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean was one of 15 Democrats who voted in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement. After CAFTA passed by two votes, some labor unions, who fought the bill’s passage and played a key role in Bean’s ouster of 17-term Republican Phil Crane in 2004, vowed to yank […]
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The revolution will be motorized
With fuel prices hovering around $2.80 per gallon, it would cost Dayton Keyes about $8 to make the daily round-trip trek from his home in Maroa, near Bloomington, to his job in Springfield at the Capitol. But Keyes doesn’t use gasoline. Instead, he pays between $2.10 and $2.30 per day to run his diesel-engine car […]
