Environmental Impact of FutureGen

June 26th was the night of the last public hearing on FutureGen here in Mattoon. The meeting was to discuss the environmental impact study recently completed on the proposed site.

There were several comments in favor of the project and a couple opposing it. But I felt Kent Metzger best caught the spirit of the meeting. Mr. Metzger commented on several environmental concerns and how they can be overcome. He did such a good job; I thought I would repeat his points here.

The report states all four sites are subject to severe drought. “A drought in Illinois is wet season in Texas” Metzger argued, bringing up until recently, we were considered to be in a drought but the corn is six feet high and tassling. A drought in Texas, the sagebrush would be dead. The evaporation rates at the Texas sites are two to three times greater than Illinois.

Aesthetically, the plant should be a showplace of the community as much as it is a showplace for technology. The proposed 250 foot stack will be the tallest structure for miles, but not that much taller than a lot of the grain bins in the area. Coles Station bins are 180 feet high and only a few miles away from the proposed site. Metzger pointed out that this tower and other infrastructure such as high-tension lines quickly become a common site and unnoticed. “How many high tension lines did you pass on your way here?” he challenged.

Noise pollution is another problem to be addressed. Noise can be deadened with natural and man built features such as vegetation and berms. Rail cars can be connected without banging them together as well. And the three additional trains per week are a small trade off to the community benefits to the plant.

Traffic will be increased, especially during construction. The roads to the site are asphalt roads that should handle the increased traffic. They will be upgraded if necessary. Obviously, there will be increased dust issues during construction. “That is what water trucks are for, that’s the way construction sites work.”

One of the most important issues brought up is community safety. There will be some hazardous materials handled at the proposed site, and precautions must be taken to insure safety. Metzger reminded those in attendance of some of the hazardous materials handled daily in the area that a lot of people don’t give much thought to.

“There are three manufacturing plants within three quarters of a mile from this school (Riddle School) that handle hazardous materials on a daily basis”. They are closer than the proposed plant will be. Also within a short distance is an anhydrous ammonia plant; one of the most dangerous chemicals dealt with in the area. “We are so used to it, we don’t even take it into consideration a lot of the time” Metzger pointed out.

“There are risks in everything we do, but I believe that FutureGen will take great care to the safety of our community” Metzger summarized. With the amount of preliminary study that has gone into this project, I believe he’s right.

Restoring the parks one at a time

It has been nearly two years since I first wrote on the condition of Mattoon Parks. At that time, the city was contracting out mowing services and the contractor was not fulfilling his duties. City crews resumed mowing the parks, cemetery and various other city owned lots around town.

2006 was a relatively quiet year on the parks. But rumblings this year are coming to a boil. First the smoking issue was debated for weeks before the city decided to install signs forbidding the practice around the playgrounds. Now once again, parks are at the forefront of public debate.

Over the last several weeks, I have received several e-mails concerning the parks. Complaints range from tall weeds, to excessive litter, to dangerous equipment. Though all parks were mentioned, most mention Cunningham Park as the one of the worse in town.

Aging equipment has been removed, but not replaced. Trash cans and benches are continuously vandalized to the point the city no longer replaces them. There is often obscene graffiti on the equipment that usually draws the comment “glad my kids can’t read”

Last Tuesday, Chere Adams, a Cunningham Park neighbor of 19 years, addressed the council about the condition of the park. She pointed out that equipment has been being removed from the park steadily since 1988. Swings, slides, teeter totters, and merry go rounds have all been removed due to dangerous conditions and nothing brought back in their place. Recently the city removed two more pieces, leaving only one piece left for children to play.

Ms. Adams spoke of the families that used to come to the park, and now they have stopped. She used to hear laughter from the children, now only the occasional fight from the mischief teens. Overall, her complaints were similar to the ones I’ve fielded through my website.

While Mattoon has seven parks, sometimes the parks department neglects the smaller ones. Little Kinzel Park seems to the exception to this rule. Here the neighborhood banded together and showed their support for the park in a positive way and the city remembered that at budget time. They were successful in receiving $10,000 in new equipment in recent years.

Some have inquired about organizing cleanup days and tackling one park at a time. I support this, but cautioned to get city approval and supervision if anything more than pulling weeds and picking up trash was proposed. I floated the idea to Public Works director; David Wortman and he welcomed the idea as long as it was in the spirit of wanting to help and not to bash the parks department. If the neighborhood around Cunningham park can ban together like the neighborhood around Little Kinzel, that park can thrive once again. Then we can move on to Van Laningham park.

Taking the fire trucks to lunch

If you’ve been to County Market around lunchtime, you’ve probably seen Mattoon’s fire trucks parked there while the firefighters eat lunch at Villa Pizza. You also may have seen the trucks at the sports complex while they enjoy a game. This practice has drawn some criticism at City Hall and various discussion groups on the Internet.

The chief and the administration in place at the time set the guidelines on leaving the station while on duty. The City of Mattoon has no official policy on leaving the station except to be done in moderation. Some leaders have kept tight leash on this privilege while others have been more lax.

It isn’t really fair to criticize the firefighters for eating lunch away from the station. Most of us leave work once in a while for lunch. Firefighters work 24-hour shifts, allowing an occasional meal is not out of line.

Allowing the firefighters to watch their kids play an occasional ball game is not out of line either. Again, we are talking about people who work 24-hour shifts. That is 24 hours away from their families. No breakfast in the morning, no dinner when they get home, no tucking in at night. Not to mention missed holidays, reunions, and school plays that may interfere with their schedule.

Firefighters know the risks of missing these events when they choose their profession. But allowing them to see a game if their duty’s are caught up and there are no emergencies is not something to get worked up over.

If the fire fighters leave the station, they must take the fire fighting trucks. That way their response time won’t be diminished by having to return to the station if they are called on an emergency. The argument of wasting fuel is something to be considered. But the benefits of keeping high spirits in the fire department far outweigh the gallon or so a day of fuel that is used for these uses.

The trucks need to leave their garage for more than just emergencies. This allows checking the vehicles for problems and keeping them in good working order. No sense waiting till there is a four-alarm fire to find out the ladder truck needs a starter.

I would hate to see the city have to make an official policy on this. The crews should understand what is meant by moderation and not abuse the privilege. While going to lunch is ok, grocery shopping for their shift may not be. But I don’t think we are anywhere near this.

The idea that firefighters should not leave their quarters unless it is to respond to a call or for training is too extreme. As with all things common sense should be applied to when and how often the trucks are taken out of the station. The fire department does an excellent job protection the City and deserves our thanks. Not petty criticism over lunches and ballgames.

A Walkable Community

Perhaps you’ve seen the new sidewalk plan titled “A walkable community”. The plan is to replace, repair or rehabilitate sidewalks along certain routes throughout town. The four-year program hopes to supply Mattoon with 20 miles of connected sidewalks built to today’s safety, construction and accessible standards.

The move comes after years of complaints of deteriating sidewalks. The policy was favored over patchwork repairing throughout town. To look at all the sidewalks in town and start replacing the blocks in the worse shape would not create continuous walking routes for years.

The plan could seem controversial on the surface, especially if you do not live on one of the routes scheduled for sidewalks. So many of the sidewalks are in such disrepair, a plan must be built from the ground up. From the walks I take, I would say over 50 percent of the walks need attention of some sort. It would be way to costly to address all at once.

When rehabilitating or rebuilding a network in such disrepair, you must first secure the main structure. This phase of the plan strengthens the arterial sidewalk routes so no matter where you are in town, you can reach a walking route within a few blocks. After these trunk lines are in place, I hope the City continues repairing the secondary routes until the entire network is in working order with a regular maintenance schedule.

The work will be paid for from sales tax revenue accrued by the city from the quarter cent increase approved by the voters several years ago. They are also investigating state funding to improve sidewalks along state routes.

If you are not on the route, the city does have a 50/50 plan where they will assist in the cost of the homeowner replacing their own sidewalk. They will pay for the cost of the materials and you are responsible for the cost of the labor. They do require a deposit to insure a good job is completed. A do-it-yourselfer could go this route fairly cheap.

Overall I think it’s a good plan. I would like to see it labeled "Phase 1" with "Phase 2" beginning to fill in the voids, and an inventory map classifying each block and rating the conditions of all the sidewalks within them. (ie: Western would be considered "pedestrian arterial" all pedestrian arterials should have sidewalks at a rating of 2 or higher.)

I would also like to see all the parks, and ball fields served in the plan. Currently, Kinzel and Vanlaningham are not connected to the plan.

But this is definitely a good start and in its early stages. There is plenty of time to come up with a final plan. Unfortunately, I believe the sidewalk in front of my house will be on about Phase 46 scheduled around 2057.

Best of luck, Dr. Thallemer

Lake Land College accepted the resignation of their president Dr. Bill Thallemer this week. This came after several weeks of speculations and accusations about the Board of Trustees and the President.

I never met Dr. Thallemer, but did hear him speak a couple of times. He brought a fresh look to the college and to the area itself. He was full of ideas and full of energy. I believe his style was not what the Lake Land Board had in mind when they hired him.

I like Dr. Thallemer because he’s not afraid of telling it like it is. “If the people in the community believe in the college then why aren’t they showing it?” Thallemer once asked community leaders, “The four miles between the college and Mattoon might as well be 400.”

Comments like these are brutally honest, but really hit the mark. But they also don’t make many friends. People don’t like to hear they are doing things wrong. Thallemer’s strategy was to shake things up and involve the students in the community. He hoped the community would meet him halfway; somewhere, the relationship fell apart.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, there was little public knowledge of trouble with the new president. There were only rumors. And even now, the exact reasons for the disagreements are not completely known. This had put a stain on the Board of Trustees that may seal their fate in the next election.

Sometimes it is best to keep these reasons private and save the community and persons involved the embarrassment of the story. No sense dragging everyone through the mud. But you must be prepared to take the heat. This is not that different then the Sarah Bush-David Padgett ordeal.

On the surface, it appears the Board ran Dr. Thallemer out because he rocked the boat. Sometimes the boat needs to be rocked to shake off the dead weight. Sometimes that weight can’t shake loose. This is Mattoon where leaders are supposed to drive the boat, not rock it.

The board may have a very legitimate reason for asking for the president’s resignation. But without disclosing the details, they will look like they are hiding something. It still may be the best for the situation, but they will have to face the music come election time.

Best of luck Dr. Thallemer. I had hoped your visions would take the community in a new direction. But outsiders rarely survive in central Illinois; Ask Richard Underkofler, Alan Probst, Bill Riebe, and Paul Nicholson. They were all brought in from other cities into high-level positions in Mattoon and Charleston. I am sure you will find a home where your talents will be put to there best use. And I hope your departure will not take our community a step backwards.