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Tuesday, August 23, 2016
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Streetscape planning can proceed Princeton council gives OK, but wants legal opinion on spending tourism dollars By Goldie Rapp grapp@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — The Princeton City Council on Saturday, Aug. 20, decided to go ahead with a streetscape design plan, but also to seek legal advice on whether tourism revenue can be spent on the projects. Landscape architect Scott Mehaffey, a Princeton native hired by the city to plan streetscaping, addressed the council during a special public session. He said he is leading community discussions to build a design plan.
Mayor Joel Quiram and commissioners Jerry Neumann and Ray Mabry said they wanted Mehaffey to move ahead with planning, but Commissioner Laura Favia expressed concerns about funding. Favia said she wasn’t sure the city can contribute to the millions of dollars the multi-year project will require. She pointed out the city is still paying off a $2 million loan for North Main Street improvements. She also said the city’s financial situation isn’t the best; its roads, sewers and sidewalks are in dire need of repair, all while the community is looking into
building a new school. Favia said the city should focus on bringing industry to grow its population and tax dollars to benefit Main Street. Commissioner Bob Warren, meanwhile, said tourism money must be spent only to promote tourism and attract nonresidents and overnight visitors, according to statute. He said it’s a stretch to say planting trees will encourage an overnight stay in Princeton. Quiram countered that the statute is subjective. He said streetscape improvements will bring people back to the city by show-
ing necessary upgrades are being made. The council decided to seek an answer on how tourism dollars can be spent. Council members will visit suburban Chicago communities next week to see how they funded streetscape projects, rehabilitated historic properties and improved the aesthetic look of their main streets. Those communities have bigger budgets than Princeton, Mehaffey said, but he thinks the city can find inspiration and learn from what they did.
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It’s fair week in Bureau County!
BCR photos/Dave Cook
LEFT: Richard Fisher, of the Tiskilwa Historical Society, helps prepare its display in the Bureau County Fair Museum. Throughout the day, trucks arrived at the fairgrounds and people in each of the buildings worked to prepare for the 161st Bureau County Fair, which will be held from Wednesday to Sunday. RIGHT: Marlene Klingenberg begins to arrange the many jars of canned goods which have been entered into competition.
Perspiration creates inspiration LaMoille students beat heat by inventing portable cooler By Zachary J. Pratt news@bcrnews.com
LAMOILLE —As the school year begins, LaMoille students are finding ways to beat the heat. At the LaMoille Community Unit School Board meeting on Thursday, Aug. 18, Principal Chawn Huffaker spoke about a project the fourthgrade class had worked on to kick off the school year — a portable cooler. “It’s been a short week, but I want you to know it wasn’t a week without kids learning and being engaged as
such,” Huffaker said. Huffaker introduced Marla Graham, who would tell the board about the portable cooler project. “Mrs. Graham came up with a wonderful idea to start the year off with a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) project,” Huffaker said. Graham said the project involved having the class focus on a problem that needed to be fixed and then developing a solution to that problem.
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Complaints about litter from free publication By Goldie Rapp grapp@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Following another resident complaint, Princeton City Manager Rachel Skaggs plans to address the issue of the NewShopper being thrown in the yards of those who have tried to cancel the delivery of the complimentary publication. At the Monday, Aug. 15, Princeton City Coun-
Year 170 No. 101 One Section - 28 Pages
(815) 915-8748 © Bureau County Republican
cil meeting, resident Tom Carr spoke during the public comment period and questioned why the city continues to allow the newspaper to litter the streets. “We have an ordinance against littering. We have businesses around town who pick up litter around their places instead of putting it in everybody’s yard. We have another business who has this kind of service
that is putting them in the mailbox and on hooks,” he said. Carr said the NewShopper is laying in the streets, on sidewalks, in gutters and in catch basins around the city. He held up the newspaper, which comes in a lime green bag with a 1-800 phone number on the side, at the meeting.
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