Waiting for the Bus?

With the growing number of senior citizens, persons with disabilities and low-income families, there is a definite need for a more robust transit system. So why isn't better transit service becoming available to Monroe County residents?

Transit providers, of course, are being hit with the same economic limitations facing the rest of the community. The downturn--and citizen resistance to new taxes--has severely curtailed regional services through Metro and may eroding services provided by St. Clair County Transit to Columbia at the current time. Even those services are severely limited.

Despite the ongoing work of the Monroe/Randolph Transit District, communities in Monroe County and other downstate parts of Illinois are facing a substantial shortage of funds for transit. Nothing in the economic forecasts suggest that this fact will change anytime soon.

Nevertheless, Pike County community members and area agencies met yesterday with the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs to discuss how to get the first phase of a public transit system up and running. Pike is one of twenty-four counties in downstate Illinois that have little or no public transit services.

Council to Approve Designation of 17 Landmarks Next Monday

Members of the Columbia City Council will be able to give a big boost to historic preservation efforts next Monday evening if they approve landmark designation for seventeen buildings across the city.

The proposed landmark buildings are the following:

1. Fort Piggott - 11562 Bluff Rd.
2. Stone Arch Bridge - Gall Rd. & Illinois 3
3. Old St. Paul's Lutheran Church – 118 W. Liberty
4. Gundlach-Grosse Home - 625 N. Main St.
5. Wagner-Gundlach Home - 404 N. Main St.
6. William G. Rose Home - 105 N. Metter Ave.
7. First National Bank Building (now Estes Financial) - 102 S. Main St.
8. Charles Breidecker Home - 217 S. Main St.
9. Nicholas & Anna Ferkel Home - 501 S. Rapp
10. Turner Dance Pavilion - Metter Park
11. Nolan-Schneider Home - 508 S. Main St.
12. Theodore & Mary Schaefer Home - 305 S. Main St.
13. Alfred Henckler Home - 124 S. Metter Ave.
14. Immaculate Conception Cemetery - Bluffside Road
15. John Weist Home - 304 N. Main St.
16. Conrad Wenkel Old Mill Saloon & Inn (now Our House Coffee & Crafts) - 125 N. Rapp Ave.
17. Henry N. Kunz Home - 404 E. Centerville Rd.

One building was held out from the list pending consultation with the current property owner:

• R.P. Briegel Home - 620 N. Metter Ave.

Two buildings were held out pending preparation of a landmark application:

• Miller-Fiege Home – 140 S. Main St.
• Shoemaker Schoolhouse – Gall Rd. & Illinois 3

Focus Through the Storm, Retail Seekers Told

Economic development staff were in Omaha this week exploring opportunities to attract new retailers to Columbia by means of the International Council of Shopping Centers' Heartland Idea Exchange.

Retailers and retail developers from as far as Kansas City and Chicago are attending this event, which has also drawn representatives from several Midwest cities. The local government people and developers are here to make or renew contacts with retailers who may be interested in specific local projects, and the retailers are there to learn what new opportunities may be available.

Both sides of this economic equation were encouraged by speakers at the event to focus on the long-term prospects for growth; many of the formal presentations are from retailers who are doing well and looking to expand either now (in a few cases) or in the longer term, when the economy rebounds. Several speakers cited the need to keep calm during times of economic stress.

While Columbia has no new large-scale retail development currently on tap, City staff are here to feel out the retail market, lay the foundation for future growth, and make connections; they are also promoting the Columbia Centre and Admiral Trost developments. A current priority is identifying a family-style restaurant to locate in the Trost center, near the new Hampton Inn hotel.

Founded in 1957, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is the global trade association of the shopping center industry. Its 70,000 members in the United States, Canada and more than eighty other countries include shopping center owners, developers, managers, marketing specialists, investors, lenders, retailers and other professionals as well as academics and public officials.

Obama's Stimulus Package May Help--Or Not

Making a profit in local construction and development should continue to be as complicated and difficult this year as the past year, but Metro East political, business and labor leaders believe President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan could help set the tone for recovery. That was the main thrust of yesterday morning's Construction & Development Forecast organized by the Leadership Council Southwest Illinois.

U.S. Congressman Jerry Costello said that getting the nation's economy moving again will be "a massive undertaking," but he believes "the stimulus package will work." Costello--who flew overnight from the nation's capitol to attend the meeting in Collinsville's Gateway Center--said that he is "pushing very strongly to spend as much or to get as much into the package as we can to improve our infrastructure."

Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said that support for the plan would add $2.6 billion to Illinois' gross domestic product and sustain 20,000 jobs. He foresees a rise in single family housing starts later this year, but he also predicts a sharp drop in creation of new multi-family units and commercial buildings.

Meanwhile, across the Mississippi River in St. Louis, economist Arthur Laffer was telling the Association for Corporate Growth that the stimulus program won't work.

Hail to the Chief!

Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards was installed last evening as head volunteer for the Southern Illinois Police Chiefs Association during a gala event (co-sponsored with the Southwestern Illinois Law Enforcement Commission) at The Falls Reception and Conference Center.

Team Specialist Josh Bayer of the Columbia Police Department was also honored at the annual awards banquet.

Putting Our Best Facebook Forward

To many, technology is the clearest path to an open government. Cities across North America are deploying venues like blogs, Twitter, and Facebook as means to more effectively communicate with the public.

Cities are interested in this technology for the same reason that corporations are--it offers valuable user data. Elected officials can survey the concerns of their constituency and agencies can identify problems in neighborhoods, while citizens can enjoy greater access to their leaders and help government pursue greater transparency.

To those ends, a page for Columbia, Illinois has been posted on Facebook; it allows users of that social medium to post pictures, discuss topics and become "fans" of the city.

Obama May Backstop Muni Bonds

The Wall Street Journal reports today that the incoming Obama Administration is proposing to coordinate efforts of the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department so as to provide a funding backstop for the municipal-bond market. The resulting program would be similar to that set up for the commercial-paper market to help ease financing conditions for companies in need of short-term funds.

As long-time readers of this blog will recall, municipal governments across the nation have been struggling to float new bond issues in the wake of the credit crisis, "raising the cost of day-to-day operations, threatening longer-term projects and dampening a major source of jobs and stability." The proposed action would serve to strengthen the municipal bond market and make it easier for cities and villages to secure funding.

The City of Columbia successfully offered a bond issue early last fall, just before the debacle in securities chilled the bond market; the proceeds were used to purchase the landmark Miller-Fiege Home and an additional building that will eventually become part of the City Hall campus.