Annual Report 2

Page 1

ANNUAL REPORT 2

TUESDAY, March 13, 2012

Randy Kindred

No time left for savoring sports in 2011 aybe it is inevitable given the instantaneous nature of society. News is on Twitter or Facebook seconds after it happens. There is a rush at both ends of the information superhighway. Life is in a hurry. It is especially true in sports. That was clear in 2011, a year in which titles were won and goals achieved, but little was savored. There’s no time. It is on to the next sport or travel team or college showcase. Present turns to past faster than ever. Blink and you miss it. Living in the moment is like a 30-second timeout. No need to sit down. You’re up and running again in a heartbeat. And when the game ends? Get out of the way. There are places to go, faster than you can say, “Is Smith still in the locker room?” Not likely. Those of us from the eighttrack tape generation can remember when players showered after games. They would chat with each other … spend a few minutes rehashing what just happened, good or bad. Talk about old school. In 2011, they were dressed and out the door as if a fire alarm had sounded. Many emerged sooner than the poor coach, who addressed the troops and headed to the nearest wall, hoping to avoid the player stampede. Where were they headed? Hard to say … other than it wasn’t the bus. Mostly, players go their separate ways, riding with whoever jotted their name on the “signout sheet.” It’s as much a staple of athletic teams as the scorebook. The system offers immediacy. Mom/Dad don’t have to delay asking, “Why did you let that guy get by you?” or “How can they play Smith ahead of you?” Used to be that could wait. Life won’t stand for it. The fastbreak is no longer limited to basketball. It permeates all rungs of sports, from youth to junior high, high school, even college and pro. A youth who shows promise is hurried along to a 10-and-under travel team. Everyone else is doing it, and if you want to keep pace … Junior high athletes finding success on the court or in the batter’s box are pressed immediately as to where they will play next. Never mind that they’re in eighth, seventh, even sixth grade. There are important matters to consider. What high school coach’s system will suit them best? Can they play right away? Where will they get the most “exposure?” The clock is ticking. None of it can wait. High school freshmen with potential — real or imagined — are groomed for college scholarships by how they train, the travel team they make, the camps they attend. The race is to get noticed sooner than later. Later is too late. A college standout is projected into the pros before he attends his first class. How will his skills translate? Will he leave school after one year? What round would he be drafted? Reach the highest level and it becomes: Where’s the next contract? We saw it in 2011. The Cardinals win the World Series and immediately the focus is: Where is (Albert) Pujols going? Will he stay or sign elsewhere? Where’s the best fit? Soon we found out. He was off to Anaheim for $254 million over 10 years. It said so on Twitter. Life is in a hurry.

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Randy Kindred is at rkindred@pantagraph .com. The Kindred Blog: www.pantagraph.com /blogs

The Pantagraph/LORI ANN COOK-NEISLER

Work continues on the Uptown Station in Normal. The multimodal transportation center is just a few months away from opening.

Last puzzle pieces falling into shape By Mary Ann Ford mford@pantagraph.com

NORMAL — Nearly 3½ years after an uptown redevelopment project was halted because of lack of funding, four new plans are under council review. Meanwhile, a key public component of the uptown plan — Uptown Station — is only months away from opening. Last month, the City Council heard presentations from four developers: JSM Development; Harlem Irving/Tartan Realty; One Main Development; and Raufeisen Development to fill the gaping hole on the west side of the traffic circle. Each proposed retail on the first floor. JSM would bring offices and apartments to top floors; Harlem Irving/Tartan envision a boutique hotel, a health and wellness spa, and condo-quality apartments; One Main, offices and condo rentals; and Raufeisen, top floor apartments. One Main Development of Champaign had to abandon its original plan for an upscale condo and retail development in fall 2008 after it couldn’t get financing following chaos in the banking industry.

Plans to fill the hole at One Main in uptown Normal are being discussed by the Normal City Council. The site has had only a foundation and a fence since then. The town had some development interest in the property but decided to issue a request for proposals in October. Ten developers responded. A decision on which project the council supports could come later this month. “The key is can they finance the project,” said City Manager Mark Peterson. If everything falls into place, construction could begin by fall with completion next spring, Peterson said. Meanwhile, work on Uptown Station which will serve Amtrak, bus and taxi passen-

gers on the first floor and house the town’s administrative offices and the City Council chambers on the upper floors, is on track to be completed this spring with move-in in June and a grand opening in July. “It’s gone as smooth as could be,” said Peterson. “At the end of the day, the building will be very nice and professional; not ostentatious or over the top. It will be a building we can be proud of.” The council recently agreed to negotiate a contract for a first-floor Subway Café to provide food, drink and sundry items. The bulk of the cost of the

Normal advances plans to fill hole as Uptown Station nears opening

63,000-square-foot, fourstory building on the southwest corner of the traffic circle was paid by a $22 million federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant. There is a 400-space parking deck on the west side of Uptown Station. Last year,Union Pacific upgraded its tracks from St. Louis to Dwight — including the line through the Twin Cities and along the south side of Uptown Station — to high-speed rail lines.The new lines will allow trains, including Amtrak, to travel up to 110 mph, about 30 mph faster than the current average speed. For safety reasons, the railroad asked the town to close the Constitution Trail crossing at the station. This spring, the town will begin construction on a permanent detour of that portion of the trail, taking it east to Linden Street, across the tracks, then west through a parking lot on the north side of the tracks, eventually connecting to Gateway Plaza between Uptown Station and the Children’s Discovery Museum. Work on the plaza is expected to begin this spring. SEE NORMAL / PAGE 2

Changes may crimp growth at airport By Kevin Barlow kbarlow@pantagraph.com

BLOOMINGTON — In nine of the past 10 years, the Central Illinois Regional Airport has broken passenger traffic records. Now, with AirTran Airways leaving and Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines arriving, airport officials are waiting to see how the changes — which will include adding new flights to Orlando and Denver — will affect the 2012 numbers. “We anticipate we will have a drop off, because we are making changes in the middle of the year,” said Bloomington Airport Authority Chairman Paul Harmon. “But, we are encouraged that our numbers were up 4 percent in January and so if we can continue to have a good start now, that will give us some cushion toward the end of the year.” That concern comes off of a record 2011, during which 579,265 passengers flew in and out of the airport, a 3.5 percent increase from the 559,481 travelers during 2010. This past January, the airport served 43,318 passengers,a 4.3 increase over the 41,542 passengers from January 2011. Last year’s record pace came despite the November announcement by No. 2 carrier AirTran Airways that, after 16 years of service, it would cease flights from Bloomington to Orlando, Fla. and Atlanta, Ga., in June. Southwest Airlines purchased AirTran in a $1.4 billion deal in 2010. Airport Executive Director Carl Olson said CIRA tried to con-

The Pantagraph/DAVID PROEBER

Community leaders from across Bloomington-Normal gathered for the announcement of the arrival of Frontier Airlines at Central Illinois Regional Airport on Feb. 9.

vince Southwest to retain the service, but the airline prefers markets where it has a minimum of 400,000 to 500,000 fliers annually and a minimum of eight daily flights in a market. The airline is also discontinuing service to other smaller markets throughout the country served by AirTran. “It’s going to create a hole for us because AirTran represented 40 percent of our traf-

fic,” Olson said. But some of that void was filled in January, when Allegiant Air also announced it would provide twice-weekly flights to Orlando, Fla. beginning in May. A month later, Frontier Airlines said it would provide four flights per week to Denver, also beginning in May. SEE AIRPORT / PAGE 2


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