County Board Democrats Infighting

[UPDATE: I was waiting for the video of the meeting to be posted on the County Clerk's YouTube channel before posting more on this, but that will be delayed for a bit. From the County Clerk's facebook response on the hold up:

In a few weeks. Our staff person who encodes the video is on vacation and when he scheduled it, we assumed (based on the posted agenda) that there would be very little excitement at the Board meeting and therefore the delay in posting the video would be acceptable. 

So, I'll have a post up shortly after then with all the fireworks and less exciting bits.]

I wasn't able to attend the last County Board meeting to have a front row seat to the fireworks this month. I'll have more about it when the streaming video is up on the County Clerk YouTube channel. In the mean time, the News-Gazette had details on the drama that unfolded over the District 6 vacancy appointment. More from the past Cheat Sheet post (and five updates) here. From the N-G Friday:

Shunned county board pick: 'This is all about race and gender'
On the night that attorney Tracy Douglas fulfilled a dream by being sworn in as the newest member of the Champaign County Board from District 6, rival Charles Young stole the show with a blistering attack against fellow Democrats.

Young, a retired education historian at the University of Illinois, thought he had possession of the county board seat once held by Democrat Josh Hartke following a vote by precinct committeemen on May 17.

But after county board Chairman C. Pius Weibel cried foul, expressing concerns over some irregularities in that meeting, including the length of time given for notification and the alleged counting of votes representing areas not part of the district, Democratic Party leaders ordered a do-over.

"According to central committee rules, notification is supposed to be five days," Weibel said. "Only two days were given."

When the precinct committeemen assembled for the re-vote on June 10, it was Douglas, not Young, who emerged victorious...

Following the meeting, Young told The News-Gazette he intends to run for the District 6 county board seat in an upcoming election.

"It has been very, very bad to go through this," Young said. "To see this happen has been devastating as an African-American. People don't know our feeling until you are in our skin."

More at the full article here.

Originally posted 6/24/2018 at 5:05pm.

County Weekend Roundup

The News-Gazette had a few county government related updates this weekend. From Saturday:

Sheriff announces changes to tornado-siren policy
Champaign County Sheriff Dan Walsh has tweaked the county's criteria for sounding the tornado sirens in Champaign, Urbana and Savoy, in the wake of a nasty storm two weeks ago that damaged homes in west Champaign.

Walsh said Friday that, after consulting with a local meteorologist, he added the following as a reason to sound the sirens:

"If a trained spotter sees a wall cloud with rotation — the spinning up in the air — approaching our area, we will sound," he said...
Walsh said the additional criteria would not have changed the decision not to sound the sirens on June 10.

"We still intend to use the sirens only when a tornado threat is imminent, not when conditions are ripe. A tornado or straight-line winds can still occur and cause significant damage with no advanced warning," said Walsh, who oversees the county's EMA.

More here at the full article, including more information on the previous protocols this adds to. This is following up on the local concern over the lack of sirens sounding with two small tornado touch downs confirmed after a recent storm. A link to recent news coverage here and a County Board meeting where it was brought up here.

New head of the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation:

Champaign County economic agency promotes from within for top job
The Champaign County Economic Development Corporation has promoted Carly McCrory to be its new executive director.

Currently the assistant director, McCrory will officially start July 1 after current executive director Craig Rost steps down.

"We felt she was the best match for our organization and our community, that her existing knowledge of the organization and of Champaign County gave her assets that other candidates didn't have," said Bruce Knight, the EDC board's chair. "She demonstrated a strong passion and commitment to the mission of the organization and to making Champaign County stronger economically."

McCrory has been at the EDC for almost six years, first as communications director, then as assistant director since July 2016.

Before the EDC, she worked for Tuscola Economic Development Inc.

Nine people applied for the executive director position in the statewide search, Knight said, and three were interviewed.

"She stood out clearly as the strongest candidate," Knight said.

More at the full article here. And from today, an update about Champaign County Forest Preserve summer programs:

More at the Champaign County Forest Preserve District website.

May Unemployment in Champaign County

From last Friday's News-Gazette:

Unemployment rate down again in May in area, statewide
The unemployment rate continued to drop in May compared with a year ago in Champaign and Vermilion counties, and around the state.

In Champaign County, the rate reached 3.6 percent last month, down from 3.8 percent a year ago...

In the Champaign-Urbana metro area, non-farm employment grew by 1,300 jobs compared to a year ago. Government added 900; education and health services added 600; professional and business services added 200; financial activities added 200; and transportation, warehousing and utilities added 100. Meanwhile, wholesale trade lost 300 jobs; retail trade lost 200; manufacturing lost 100; and leisure and hospitality lost 100.

More at the full blurb here.

Bees and Pollinators

On an issue that couldn't be much more in the wheel house of Champaign County is the intersection of agriculture, environmentalism, science, alternative energy, and politics... through bees and other pollinators. From an article about a U of I Pollinatarium event from last Friday's News-Gazette:

UI Pollinatarium raising funds with buzzworthy 'Bee-zaar'
...
Pollinators transfer pollen and seeds from one flower to another, fertilizing the plant so it can grow and produce food. It's estimated that a third of the world's crop production and 90 percent of wild plants depend on pollinators...

On May 30, the Illinois General Assembly unanimously approved Senate Bill 3214, a "pollinator-friendly" solar energy bill encouraging the creation of habitat for bees, butterflies and other pollinators at solar sites.

The UI Department of Entomology's Adam Dolezal, a honeybee expert, helped design a scorecard for designating a solar facility as "pollinator-friendly," based on similar efforts in Minnesota and Michigan, Berenbaum said.

Typically installed on farmland, solar installations affect the biological community there and can deprive beneficial species, including pollinators, of important resources, she said.

But energy farms and pollinators are compatible if the right vegetation is planted — not just flowers, but habitat suitable for nesting and over-wintering, she said...

Over the next year, in time for the Pollinatarium's 10th anniversary, Berenbaum would like to see Champaign-Urbana earn a "Bee City USA" designation, by signing on to a pledge to create pollinator-friendly environments in the city...

The city of Urbana is already a signatory to the National Wildlife Federation's Mayors' Monarch Pledge, an effort to save the dwindling monarch butterfly population, said Scott Tess, Urbana's environmental sustainability manager. The city maintains butterfly gardens at the Urbana Free Library and elsewhere with milkweed and other flowering plants that support Monarch butterflies, he said.

The city also partners with Midwest Grows Green, which promotes natural lawn care practices as opposed to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

The UI is already in the process of becoming a "Bee Campus USA," spearheaded by students in the Sustainability Living and Learning Community this past year, said campus sustainability coordinator Morgan White.

More at the full article here, including more information about last Saturday's event.

Build Programs Not Jails 6/20

First an important notice for folks thinking of attending future meetings, the next "every other Wednesday" falls on July 4th and public transportation will be limited with the MTD closed for the holiday. The next meeting was moved to July 11th with the every other Wednesday continuing after that.

Updates 
The jail population is a bit higher in may in June (roughly 150 to low 160s), which may just be due to typical summer increase in activity. Reports on events attended included the recent presentation on Pedestrian Stop Data (a Power Point from that presentation has been added to the previous post I had on it). They also discussed the Juneteenth BPNJ table and outreach work.

There was discussion of Electronic Monitoring and the Challenging E-Carceration campaign. There will be an event coming up in Chicago about challenging Electronic Monitoring in Cook County that people from the group will be carpooling to attend. People were encouraged to check out a new blog on the subject: #NoDigitalPrisons. Concerns were raised about the pace of technology and the nonchalant or malicious use of such tracking and surveillance applications versus any real value towards criminal justice goals. As devices get smaller, more functional, and more invasive (from chipping people like pets or advancements in nanotechnology) the civil rights issues continue to grow.

Reforms to criminal justice fines and fees were discussed. A complicated new bill addressing the subject was highlighted in an article referenced in that conversation: Illinois Takes First Step in Criminal Justice Debt Reform With Passage of HB 4594- The Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act.

A few other topics were touched upon, but not substantively due to waiting on more information, responses, or relevant members' next attendance.

Projects
A number of possible future projects were discussed as well as the resources needed versus those available to carry out. The cyclical nature of this university town has a lot less manpower and resources over the summer due to the transient student population. In the short term more focused work on preparing for outreach at CU Day and a possible future local Narcan training project were discussed. More long term projects that would need more manpower resources or collaboration were discussed for a community brake light repair project and a bail fund project.

The brake light repair project would be based on a similar idea in New Orleans. that addresses some of the high costs of low income living and avoiding additional traffic stops in areas with inequity in criminal justice practices. The bail fund project would be part of growing efforts in the United States to deal with unfair bail practices that deny justice and fairness to the accused without resources. Where small infractions they may never even be convicted of can result in crippling economic ramifications as well as long and unnecessary jailing.

A possible community safety night was discussed, based on an Oakland program to bring communities together and mitigate the pressure towards and dangers of over-policing.

Politics
The Champaign County Sheriff's race has a new Democratic candidate that demanded a look at possible future scenarios and a discussion on where the candidates stand on the issues and electoral environment and possible reception. Immigration issues locally and nationally may intersect more and candidates appear to be pro-actively attempting to paint themselves as reasonable and moderate. That strategy may neither appeal to or move the more passionate partisans and ideologues of either side. It could, however, butter up the middle in a "go along to get along" Midwestern town that's desperate for normalcy in abnormal times. I might just be projecting my own concerns there, so take that as you will.

Canvassing and voter registration events are happening for a lot of the local candidates as we're now less than 150 days to the election. The protest against ICE and its heavy handed new mandate in town was discussed. A suggestion to be aware that if anyone joins other groups in the July 4th parade, they may not appreciate signs for other groups being displayed. Check first.

Next meeting
July 11th at 7pm, due to the July 4th holiday interrupting public transportation service.

The Week Ahead: 6/24 - 6/30

*** Next month (July) will likely have a lot of cancellations outside of the regular County Board meeting. Build Programs Not Jails will not be meeting on July 4th due to there being no CUMTD service that day. Meetings will resume every other Wednesday starting July 11th. More info below.  ***

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up. A long planned progressive organizing meeting is coming up Saturday, more information at their facebook event Building the Blue Wave. Check out your preferred candidates and you will likely see campaign, canvassing, or voter registration events in the area. Many are using facebook to more easily share event information and reminders. Check out the Champaign County Voter Alliance's preliminary general election candidate guide to see who is running. We'll be updating County race information from the primary election to the general soon.
 
Groups that crossover with Racial Justice Task Force recommendations meeting this week:

Build Programs Not Jails doesn't meet this week. Meetings are usually every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC. Due to the July 4th holiday disrupting public transportation, the next meeting is July 11th.

The Housing Authority of Champaign County Board of Commissioners has its monthly meeting Thursday June 28th at 3pm at their offices at 205 W. Park Ave (agenda here when available). 

County Calendar:

The week kicks off Tuesday with the The Local Emergency Planning Committee (agenda here). It deals with issues related to Illinois and Federal Emergency Management Agency issues, including training and response programs. I don't know if they will discuss the tornado siren protocol (recent changed as noted in the News-Gazette). There is public participation on the agenda to hear comments from the public. For an idea of what a meeting is like, check out the previous meeting minutes here. This meeting is held at ILEAS which is just north of Nursing Home, North of Brookens (Map!).

On Wednesday there are the Mental Health and Developmental Disability boards. If you're interested in finding out more about county Mental Health and Developmental Disability programs and agencies they can be a bit wonky. They are, however, very interesting if you want to see all of the gears moving to provide care to so many in our community. If you're interested in what an MHB or DDB meeting is like, here are a couple write up examples: Mental Health Board 2018, Developmental Disabilities Board 10/25/2017.

The Zoning Board of Appeals meeting Thursday night may continue to address concerns with Solar Farm noise and proximity to homes (upcoming agenda here). Board page here.

The full 2018 schedule is on the Calendar page and the County page. The regular County Board meetings are back to Thursdays until next holiday season.

If you're curious about learning more about how your county government works, it's easy enough to live stream a meeting or go in person: Attend a Meeting.

*Meeting is broadcast live on Comcast Public Access and at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/champco1776

Where is Brookens?

Brookens Administrative Center
1776 East Washington Street
Urbana, Illinois 61802-4581
Phone: 217-384-3772

After 4:30 the Washington Street side Parking Lot is Closed See Maps for the North East Parking Lot Access

Fab Lab Summer Camp and Local Collaboration

An amazing local collaboration resulted in access to a high tech summer camp for Urbana kids. From the News-Gazette Wednesday:

Grant lets C-U Fab Lab bring cutting-edge summer camp to Urbana kids
...
A cutting-edge summer camp offers chances to play "Minecraft," program computers and use 3-D printers. But, often, chances like this come with a price tag.

Jeff Ginger knows. As the director of Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab — short for fabrication laboratory — he's watched as his University of Illinois-sponsored camps draw a similar able-to-pay crowd every summer.

"One of the downsides of these camps is that they tend to be kids that are home-schooled or kids that have access to the university," he said. "We wanted to get out of the university and into other populations."

This year, Ginger and other Fab Lab affiliates didn't go very far: They took their programming to the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center and organized two, two-week summer camps around space and computer technology...

Since the camp's equipment — computers, 3-D printers and a router, among other items — came from an Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband grant, all of it will remain at UNCC after the camps formally end, meaning Daniels and other kids can pick up right where they left off.

Ginger would like to see the camps' programming expand into classrooms, but noted there are all kinds of "structural barriers," like a class having 30 students and one teacher, or only a half-hour to try to implement technology like Champaign-Urbana Fab Lab offers. If it can't expand via classroom, Ginger said after-school and summer sites become integral for accessibility...

For Ginger, the summer camps represent at least two things. First is the power of local collaboration.

"Janice Mitchell (the director of UNCC) provided the space and UC2B provided the grant," he said. "It wasn't entirely just the university coming in and setting this up."

And second, responsiveness to what kids actually want.

More at the full article here. More information about the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center here, the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab here, and Urbana Champaign Big Broadband here.

Area Blood Shortage and Drive

There's an area blood shortage as we approach the July 4th holiday. Here's the full blurb from yesterday's News-Gazette:

Blood donations urged as two products run critically low
Two blood products used by area hospitals are at critically low levels, and donors are needed especially in the days before the July 4 holiday, according to Community Blood Services of Illinois.

The agency called on all eligible donors to step up, saying the supplies of type O and type B red cells have reached critical levels.

The blood center typically experiences a significant drop in donations during the summer, according to Amanda Hess, director of donor relations.

"There are weeks we collect 1,000 fewer units than we normally do in the spring and fall, especially surrounding the summer holidays," she said.

Donations of all blood types and products are needed, but inventories of type O-negative, O-positive, B-negative and B-positive red cells, along with all types of platelet products, are the most urgently needed before July 4, the agency said.

To schedule a donor appointment at a Community Blood Services of Illinois center or mobile blood drive, call 800-217-4483. More information on blood drives is at bloodcenterimpact.org.

Web article here. Additional information on local blood donations here: https://www.bloodcenter.org/home.aspx

Census Report Data

The US Census Bureau released updated data on the Midwest this week (direct link to their data browsing tool here). There were a few highlights in the News-Gazette yesterday:

Census: County's Asian population on the rise
Come 2035, the number crunchers at the Census Bureau report, history will be made: For the first time, there will be more people over age 65 (78 million) than under 18 (76.4 million) living in the U.S.

Closer to home, that's a long way from playing out in Champaign County, where the median age remains a smidge under 30 (28.6 for men, 31.5 for women), according to a fresh batch of population estimates due to be released today by the bureau...

— Asians make up 12 percent of Champaign County's population. Accounting for another 14.9 percent: the 32,230 black or African-American residents — though that figure is less unique, putting Champaign at 278th nationally. (For overall population, it's No. 318 — sandwiched between Pennsylvania's Lackawanna County and Alabama's Tuscaloosa County.)

...

— One of a couple handfuls of Illinois counties to grow every year this decade, Champaign (pop. 209,399) should have 10th place on Illinois' most-populous-counties list all to itself for years to come, with 12,947 more residents than No. 11 Sangamon.

More at the full article here. Additional data links from the related Census Bureau news release on the Midwest data:

This is the last of the population estimates for 2017. Previous estimates include national, county, metro area, city and town population estimates. The population estimates as of July 1, 2017, do not reflect displacement or other migratory changes to the nation’s population due to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in August and September 2017. For information on how the country is projected to change through 2060, view our previous release, Older People Projected to Outnumber Children for First Time in U.S. History.

Our QuickFacts data tool is now mobile friendly and updated with the newest population characteristics data released today. Data from today’s release are also available on American FactFinder and Population Clock.

CU Student Activist Organization

 

(Photo from a previous meeting)

A group of area students met Tuesday night to get organized and active in local political issues that affect their lives. The Student Activist Organization (SAO) includes many students and student leaders who had met and organized around the recent marches, walkouts and town halls concerned with gun violence and possible reforms. In last night's meeting of two dozen students, they laid out preliminary organizational structures and broader issue and project teams.

Some of the future work proposed included tutorial videos and educational tools for students to understand how local government works and how to effect policy changes they'd like to see. Issues such as improved sexual education with an emphasis on consent, drug policy and marijuana decriminalization, protections for marginalized groups in the community, as well as gun reform were discussed among others. They will be soliciting input from interested students about interest in committees that would be teams working on various issue areas and administrative roles.

There were a couple local candidates who offered advice and ideas as well. Urbana Alderman and County Clerk candidate Aaron Ammons was in attendance as well as Ben Chapman, a County Board candidate for District 1. Ammons encouraged them to focus their efforts and advised them how to avoid organizational pitfalls that political activist groups often face. Chapman offered examples of similar college organizations and committee structures they could either work from or modify to their specific goals.

Many students were already planning to participate in upcoming political actions on immigration, canvassing for candidates, etc. They already had the beginnings of a newsletter and a broad social media presence to help keep members informed and connected. They had assembled and were expanding a press list and discussed media strategy. Ammons offered advice on using local groups already specialized in various areas and projects to avoid re-inventing the wheel, but also as experts in their own perspectives and concerns to help inform government bodies and leaders of their needs and the issues they face. Local radio show opportunities through WEFT and the Independent Media Center were discussed along with a YouTube channel for more direct outreach on demand.

Overall there was a desire to learn more and help others know how local government works, which government bodies to go to for various issues, and long term solutions as they see projects through from conception to policy and/or law. Like many adults they found the initial foray into local government organization a bit intimidating, but were highly motivated to overcome the learning curve and encourage better civics education among themselves and for future students. They discussed a serious need in our schools to better prepare citizens for participating in their actual democratic institutions.

After having settled on next tasks until their next meeting they adjourned the general meeting and the design committee went to work on some of the logos and graphics they had designed and proposed.

It would have been an impressive start for adults organizing an indivisible or similar political activist group to get involved. I think it's safe to say that these students shouldn't be underestimated. Check them out on facebook, twitter, or their instagram at cu_sao.

Aquifer Gas Leak Issues

Residents discussed the gas leak ramifications and possible solutions in a public meeting yesterday night. From today's News-Gazette:

Water issue 'getting worse'
...
At the meeting, officials with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of Oil and Gas Resource Management outlined their efforts on the issue, including 3-D modeling by the IEPA of below-ground areas. That will help determine where the remaining leaked gas might be trapped, so relief wells can be installed to "flare off" the gas.

And Mike Mankowski, director of the state's Oil and Gas Resource Management office, outlined new federal rules regulating underground natural gas storage, prompted by other leaks across the U.S.

But he emphasized that Illinois needs its own more stringent regulations, ones that would allow more monitoring of the state's 1,186 underground gas storage wells, bring tougher enforcement measures, lead to more personnel inspecting oil and gas wells, and provide more funding to make it all happen...

The task force of mostly local and state government officials, as well as experts from water-related organizations and agencies, is in the early stages of delivering groundwater protection recommendations to the state by year's end. But on Monday, members focused most of the meeting on the Peoples Gas situation, which began to unfold in late 2016 when some residents in the Mahomet area began noticing issues with their well water.

More on the leak and legal ramifications at the full article here. More on the Mahomet Aquifer Task force at their website.

Invasive Plants and Awareness

When it comes to landscaping and planning for all these parks and plazas hockey stadiums, there can be threats to the eco-system by invasive species. In a region that relies on agriculture and ag science, that could be more than a mere annoyance. From the News-Gazette a few days ago:
In the Garden | Fighting invasive plants
Many of us are utterly unaware of the serious threat these plants present to the native plant diversity of our natural areas.

Thankfully, there is a group of trained ecologists, volunteers and other plant enthusiasts who focus on invasive-plant issues and fight these destructive plants on a daily basis in central Illinois.

The Headwaters Invasive Plant Partnership was formed in 2015 to raise awareness of the invasive-plant issue by making sure area residents have access to information in order to recognize problematic plants and their negative effects on the environment. The group has produced excellent informational materials (such as the Invasive Plants and Beautiful Native Alternatives brochure), sponsors educational events and organizes volunteers to hit the front lines in the battle against invasive plants.

The group established the first Cooperative Weed Management Area in central Illinois, although many others exist across the country. These areas typically rely on voluntary participation from government agencies, nonprofit organizations, private landowners and concerned citizens.

The partnership's mission focuses on reducing the impact of invasive plants in central Illinois, including everything from awareness and early detection of invasives to rapid response and control of invasive-plant populations.
The full article is here and explains a recent awareness project that had odd synthetic plants popping up around downtown Champaign. They had advice for folks with gardens and their own landscaping work:

The take-home message is that we need to be more responsible for plant material we buy and exercise our right as consumers to carefully select the plants we buy. Since all of the invasives I listed above are currently for sale at local retail outlets, it's really important to understand the plant you are taking home.

Kaleb Lukens, the local partnership's newly hired program coordinator, offers some expert advice if you would like to be more proactive in stopping the spread of invasive species: "Gardeners should aim to identify the scientific name of what they're planning to buy, which can be used to search an Illinois invasive-species list.

"It can also be helpful to check guides and find suppliers that sell natives," Lukens said. "This way, gardeners are not only ensuring that they aren't part of the problem, but also helping to be part of the solution. Both an invasive species list and a native-plant-purchasing guide can be found on our website, Ilhipp.org."

CU Fresh Start Call-Ins

A local program that tries to help those most at risk to be part of gun violence down a different path has started it's latest "call-in." More on the CU Fresh Start program from their website here, or a Cheat Sheet overview here. From the News-Gazette last week:

CU Fresh Start's fourth 'call-in' group has six members
At the community's fourth CU Fresh Start "call-in" intervention to stop local gun violence, facilitator Tracy Parsons acknowledged that the program continues trying to find its footing.

At Thursday night's event, part of a broad initiative to curb a spate of shootings locally, a group of six black men heard stern messages from local law enforcement, government and community members. The men were encouraged to put their guns down in exchange for resources that can help rebuild their lives.

The men — selected by law enforcement — are all at least 18 years old, on probation or parole, connected with a recent violent crime and have a prior felony arrest, gun arrest or violent crime conviction...

Those who commit to Fresh Start will work with community liaison Donte Lotts. He transports them to job interviews and help them get in touch with new opportunities. But he said it isn't easy to work around employers who won't hire those with conviction records, or temp agencies that don't help with finding sustained employment.

"It's a community decision on how supportive we're going to be of these men," Lotts said. "If they're staying away from guns, then what will the benefits be?"

More at the full article here. A previous story on the last call-in here.