Keep the entry age at 21

The City of Charleston police department recently arrested 88 patrons of Jerry’s Pub for underage entry into a tavern. 77 of them were arrested for underage drinking. This phenomenon is no stranger to Charleston, but this was the most ever caught at one time.

The incident has once again spurred the debate of entry age into Charleston bars. Throughout the 1980’s and the part of the 1990’s, the entry age was 19, however you were not supposed to be able to consume alcohol until you were 21. It was very easy to obtain alcohol on inside, prompting the city to raise the age to 21, the legal drinking age.

The argument that you’re old enough to vote or fight for your country, but not have a drink; or there are plenty of people over the age of 21 that are not mature enough to drink while some younger are, is fine. It is a good healthy debate with valid points on both sides. But these are NOT arguments on why Charleston should allow 19 year olds into their bars.

The state law is no one under 21 is allowed to drink. It is the City of Charleston’s duty to uphold the laws of the state. They are not a higher authority and can pick and choose which state laws they get to abide.

Teens’ driving to Champaign to drink is also not a valid argument to lower the entry age. The more places that allow underage patrons in their establishment, the more underage drinkers there will be. For years the entry age in Charleston was 19. 19 and 20 year olds from all over the area flocked to Charleston to take advantage.

In addition to the EIU students, the bars saw young visitors from Sullivan to Paris, and from Effingham to Arcola and beyond. The numbers driving to Champaign are far less then the numbers that were in Charleston bars.

Lowering the entry age to reduce the number of house parties is a horrible argument. This is almost an admission you are going to allow underage drinking in your town. If the house parties are full of law abiding 19 & 20 year olds, they aren't the ones causing trouble.

How do you word that on the ordinance? We have a problem with underage drinkers at house parties so we are going to let them in our bars? Now to state the obvious, what does it matter what the entry age is? It is 21 now and 77 underage patrons were sipping away at Jerry's.

The state law in Illinois is no one under 21 is allowed to consume alcohol. It is the City of Charleston’s job to enforce the law. Allowing 19 year olds into the bars flies in the face of this law. It has been tried and failed. Of course entry seems to have little meaning to some bar owners as 77 underage drinker were found in one establishment at one time.

Assistance in economic development

There are many tools a community has to lure business to their area. One of the most successful is to offer economic assistance or benefits to companies to locate or expand. The City of Mattoon has three such programs to help attract development.

The first is the Enterprise Zone. This is a state program that offers big incentives and seems to be taken advantage of by big companies. It is somewhat bittersweet because a lot of the companies taking advantage of these incentives can easily be profitable without them. But if they weren’t offered, they would locate elsewhere where they can get similar benefits.

The City establishes the zones, but has no control over who takes advantage of them. Companies that have taken advantage of Mattoon’s enterprise zone include, GE, RR Donnelley’s, Illinois Consolidated Telephone Company, and most active factories in Mattoon. Smaller companies have also taken advantage such as Furry Construction and Ronchetti Distributing.

There is also the revolving loan fund. The City offers a low interest loan to companies for assistance. The payments from these loans go back into the fund hence the name ‘revolving loan.’ Eighteen loans have been given since 1990. Eleven of these are still current; six have been paid in full and one ended in bankruptcy.

Recently, businesses like Broadway Beefhouse, Shimerz Glass, and Wave Graphics have taken advantage of the revolving loan fund. And in the past, Common Grounds, Dairy Queen and Gowin Enterprises have also used revolving loans to fund their projects. This has been a very beneficial tool the city offers and its success can be felt throughout town.

The city recently added TIF districts to its arsenal of economic incentives. TIF (tax increment finance) is funded with property taxes collected within the district. Any funds collected from increases in taxes after the creation of the district are used for private or public improvements within that district. They have three TIF districts; the midtown, the I-57, and the new south route 45 TIF.

Only the midtown TIF has issued grants for repairs. 21 grants have been awarded in total since 2005. These range from $2000 to $80,000. They have been used for structural and façade repairs, demolition and engineering studies. These grants are starting to show noticeable improvements downtown and along Lake Land Boulevard.

The first two years of the midtown TIF has been in existence, the city has collected over $235,000 for improvements and issued $68,000 in grants. They have committed close to $60,000 per year in coming years, but that will be a fraction of what will be collects.

The newest tool the City plans to use to assist in economic development is the Business District. This works similar to the TIF except funds are collected from sales taxes instead of property taxes. The City has created its first district on South Route 45 near the interchange and is studying other locations throughout town.

Offering incentives to attract economic development is the world we live in. Without these offerings these companies will either locate elsewhere or fade away. To those critics of these programs, take a hard consideration of the alternative.

Lane Acres road maintenance

According to the City of Mattoon, Lane Acres (north) was built as an oil and chip street. It was upgraded with an asphalt overlay sometime near the early 1990’s. Lane Acres South was built as an asphalt street and sealed with oil and chip in 2004. This controversial move was thought to have cost at least one councilmember’s position in the 2005 election.

Though the streets in the north section appeared in good shape, they were beginning to show cracking and wear. Once asphalt begins to crack, it will allow water to penetrate the pavement and that is when the real problems begin. Freezing and thawing water will break up pavement in a hurry. Treating the pavement before this happens saves thousands in unnecessary repairs. Lane Acres north was put on the maintenance list for 2007.

City officials wanted to get both the north portion and south portion of Lane Acres on the same schedule, so even though it was not required yet, Lane Acres South was also put on the schedule for this year.

The typical treatment for sealing asphalt streets is to apply a layer of oil and chip to the surface. This method has been done in dozens of locations throughout town. Rudy, South 17th Street, South 19th Street, Shelby, Moultrie, and Prairie from 21st to 33rd and all asphalt streets treated with oil and chip in the last 15 years.

The decision to treat Lane Acres came long before the decision to use boiler slag. The area would have received white rock if the slag had not been used. Without any treatment, the pavement would have been facing failure within a few years.

After the boiler slag failure, the city has offered to oil and chip the streets in Lane Acres. This is the exact treatment the streets would have received if boiler slag had not been considered.

Based on a poll taken of Lane Acres residents, about half of those responding asked for this to be done this year. And half agreed since the slag treatment has improved monitoring the street will be fine for now. But some residents are not happy with either choice. “It like choosing between being shot or being hung” is how one resident put it at a recent council meeting.

Thus far, the city has taken the right approach towards Lane Acres. If they retreat the area, they should use the method originally planned. Sealing asphalt roads with oil and chip is the accepted practice throughout town.

Overlaying asphalt in Lane Acres would be unfair to taxpayers not living in that subdivision. And a slap in the face to the citizens living on asphalt streets sealed with oil and chip in the past. The city can expect residents on those streets to rise up and expect the same for their neighborhoods.

The city should oil and chip the streets in Lane Acres and everyone should move on.