Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

Last Wednesday, July 9, voters from in the Champaign-Urbana area made their way to 15th Congressional District Rep. Tim Johnson's office to present their community collected scrapbook petitions. These creative petitions express concern about the threat global warming poses to Illinois' environment and way-of-life in the form of hand-written letters, post cards, photographs and video testimonials. Those who participated in the petitioning asked Rep. Johnson to work towards real solutions against global warming in Congress.

(This is the second in a two-part series regarding retaliatory eviction issues relating to tenants and landlords in the greater Champaign-Urbana area. The previous part is featured here on Smile Politely.)

Lindsay Bever spent last winter trying to heat her apartment in Champaign with her oven. Her heat stopped working. She had complained to her landlord, who Bever said, did nothing about it.

Four years prior to Bever’s experience with her landlord, the Illinois General Assembly had passed the Residential Tenants’ Right to Repair Act, which was meant to give tenants a way to sidestep inept landlords.

However, tenants like Bever still have little recourse.

Last night at the Cunningham Town Board meeting, proponents of instant runoff voting, a controversial method of election where voters are able to rank their preference of candidates on the ballot, scored a small victory when the board deferred a move that could have quashed their efforts to have an advisory referendum placed on the November ballot.

During the last few years activists have used the Cunningham Town meeting, where citizens are able to place to place advisory referendum on the November ballot largely free of elected officials, to push issues ranging from the withdrawal of troops from Iraq to the impeachment of President Bush.

(This is the first in a two-part series regarding retaliatory eviction issues relating to tenants and landlords in the greater Champaign-Urbana area. The second part will appear next Tuesday at the same time.)

In downstate Illinois, a law aimed at protecting tenants from landlords who might retaliate against them for calling in a building inspector is almost never used.

Does this mean that landlord-tenant relations are just peachy in the land south of Chicago?

Downtown Champaign's oldest bar--as old as the end of Prohibition — is throwing itself a party, with bands, birthday presents and, of course, cheap beer.

Three dollars gets you in to see Dottie and the Rail (a ragtag country band fronted by a smoky-voiced singer whose beau, Foty Backey, is the 'Rail's owner) and The Golden Quality (a rock band with a Brass Rail bartender in the lineup).

Urbana City Council voted down an ordinance Monday night to make Urbana's Lincoln Hotel a historic landmark, a measure that would have secured the original 1923 structure built by local architect Joseph W. Royer.

Built in the Tudor-style, the downtown Urbana hotel has seen considerable ups and downs in its 85-year history along with a major addition constructed in a Bavarian-style aesthetic in the early 1980s by the Jumer's hotel brand.

On Sunday afternoon, a few dozen people gathered at Champaign’s West Side Park to send a clear message to Rep. Tim Johnson, the Republican congressman who represents Illinois’s 15th Congressional District. The message: It’s time to prioritize legislation that addresses the causes and effects of global warming.

Local and organic food has made a surge in the last few years with a growing number of American families putting local and organic grub on the dinner table. Tonight, the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force is coming for you. Not to hand out slaps on the wrist for your food infractions, but rather to get some feedback on how the public views Illinois’ food systems.

Champaign City Council took steps last night to connect the popular downtown district with Campustown by adopting the University District Plan — which was recently updated in 2007 — as council policy for the next ten years.

Along with adopting the plan, the council agreed to an intergovernmental agreement with the Champaign Park District to maintain a park along the Boneyard Creek corridor from First Street to Wright Street.

As development continues on a number of buildings in and around Campustown, the University of Illinois’s skyline begins to take new shape.

Among the construction projects slated for late-summer completion are the Urban Outfitters/office building at 507 E. Green Street and the Burnham310 residences on Springfield Avenue (both pictured).

In 2007, the Federal Bureau of Prisons made the decision to expunge all religious materials from prison libraries nationwide in an effort to prevent prisons from becoming potential “recruiting grounds” for terrorists. Amid public outcry and inmate lawsuits, the bureau was forced to reverse its initiative.

One-year prior, Pennsylvania was forced to justify, in court, its statewide ban on all news, magazines, and photographs to a sizable portion of the state’s inmate population.

If rusty chains, blown-out tubes or any other cycle malady has been keeping you from participating in this week's Bike to Work Week (May 12–16), and you feel like you don't have the tools or know-how for a DIY fix, The Bike Project of Urbana- Champaign can help (and before the big Bike to Work Day tomorrow, May 16).

After many separate discussions about enacting a ban on using cell phones while driving, the council has decided on an ordinance, but surprisingly, the new draft doesn't include talking on hand-held cell phones and hands-free units.

The ordinance put forth includes an amendment to prohibit sending text messages while driving a vehicle and an addition for bicyclists on the roadway to be susceptible to the same fines. Other elements of the ban include a hefty fine — maximum of $750 — if caught talking or texting on a cell phone while involved in an accident, and an educational program to teach the public about the new ordinance.

Late last year, the increasing prices of food and fuel were putting pressure on the Eastern Illinois Foodbank's ability to meet the needs of hungry people through its food pantries in the 14 counties surrounding Champaign County.

Since then, the price of oil hit a record high and the costs of basics such as rice have been soaring higher, too. With the U.S. economy having taken a turn for the worse, the lines at food banks have gotten longer.

Not surprisingly, things haven't gotten any easier for the food banks, either.

"The pressure has gotten much greater,"says Jim Hires, Executive Director at the Eastern Illinois Foodbank. "As lines at pantries have grown, we have not been able to increase our ability to acquire food."

For those of you downtown dwellers ever on the watch and diligently moving your car in the a.m. hours to escape the eye of parking enforcement, your time has come. The City of Champaign is currently accepting applications to be placed on a waiting list for parking spots in the new Hill Street Parking Facility, but the convenience comes with a price tag.

The parking deck isn't completed, but the city is taking requests at their Parking Programs Office located at 713 Edgebrook Dr. or online along with a $60 deposit fee.

Chris Knight, proprietor of one of Champaign's most popular bars, The Blind Pig, purchased the Barfly yesterday. The cocktail lounge will, Knight says, be open for business under his ownership tonight.

Barfly, a fairly typical lounge that never quite found its footing as a dance club due to the narrow structure of the space, will remain as is for a while. Knight has plans for the Neil Street locale, including a name change to the Twilight Lounge, after some alterations to the current spot.

After 15 years as one of Champaign’s prominent sports bars and billiards joints, Jillian’s has closed.

Employees got word on Sunday and by the end of the day Jillian’s had shut its doors for good. The “Champaign” link on the corporate website now leads to a blank page.

Jillian’s — a 20,000-square-foot space featuring pool tables, games and large TVs — was located at 1201 S. Neil Street, west of Memorial Stadium.

Urbana City Council did not provide many answers concerning the proposed cell phone ban scheduled for a vote on Monday. Plenty of questions, however, were put forward. Should cyclists be prohibited from riding and talking? How will a cell phone ban affect our twin cities? And the fundamental question, should the ordinance be for hand-held cell phones only or should it include hands-free units?

City Attorney Ronald O'Neal asked for more time to draft the ordinance.

Now that spring seems to have officially sprung, students at the University of Illinois are rediscovering the quad. More than a dozen organizations lined the walkway just outside the south end of the Illini Union this afternoon, and hundreds of students found places to relax in the grass. Look for temperatures near 80 for the next few days, but storms and chillier weather are just around the corner. Monday's forecast? A high of 48 and plenty wet.

At 4:35 a.m., an earthquake rumbled through Champaign-Urbana. WCIA Newsroom corroborated that over fifteen people in their viewing area had already called in to claim the movement. After a few minutes, the U.S. Geological Survey posted the information to their website, listing the earthquake's magnitude as a 5.2 and it's center was near West Salem, Ill.

It is assumed that the tremor was caused by the New Madrid Seismic Zone that runs between St. Louis, Mo., and Memphis, Tenn. In 1811, the fault moved for almost three months during the wintertime. The quake was felt as far away as North Carolina.

UPDATE: Aftershocks were felt in Urbana, Ill., at 10:15 a.m. A seismographic reading could not yet be identified. The U.S. Geological Survey has identified this one as a 2.5 on the Richter Scale.

When Council Member Michael LaDue walks around his Campustown neighborhood after a particularly successful football game things can get pretty rowdy on Green Street — more raucous, in fact, than the 2008 Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day, a two-day brew-ha-ha devoted to drinking, which LaDue called “uneventful.”

The event cooled its heels a bit this year after the City of Champaign and University of Illinois implemented new restrictions, including a “No Visitor” policy at the dormitories and a strong police enforcement on the street. And although the morning after included piles of puke on the sidewalk and bottles littering the lawns, statistics for arrests were down.

But Mayor Gerald Schweighart, also acting Liquor Commissioner, felt the City of Champaign needed to do more to curb underage drinking on campus. In a 6-3 vote last night, the council passed an ordinance granting Schweighart emergency powers to enforce a 21 and up limit on bar entrance for special events, particularly looking at next year’s “Unofficial” celebration.

Last night — to an overflowing council chamber — Urbana City Council held a discussion to hear the opinions of the public concerning Urbana Public Television’s airing of an anti-Semitic show that many residents at the meeting deemed hate speech towards the Jewish community.

The extreme program spews hateful propaganda about the Jewish community and was provided to a local resident by an out-of-town source.

One resident called the situation “heartbreaking." A second dubbed the proposed revisions to UPTV’s manual concerning airing public-access programs “an empty disclaimer.”

UPTV revised some of their policies and procedures including a disclaimer at the beginning and end of all public access programming that states, “the City of Urbana does not condone or endorse speech that promotes fear, hatred, prejudice or discrimination toward any group based on religion, ethnicity, race, gender or sexual orientation, Kate Gorman, Station Manager of UPTV says.

After a windy weekend rife with threats of snow (which never quite materialized), the weather is beginning to return to its springtime form. Still a little chilly, sure, but this morning's benevolent skies above St. Matthew Catholic Church in Champaign will usher in afternoon temperatures in the lower 50s. By Thursday, the thermometer will be climbing toward 70.

The City of Urbana will be introducing a new type of sign to the landscape of the ever-growing Philo and Windsor developments: an electronic message board with business advertisements changing every 10 seconds.

The sign, soon to post in front of the Pines at Stonecreek Commons shopping center, veers away from the current ordinance which allows electronic messages to adjust once every three minutes.

Bob McChesney, host of the WILL-AM show Media Matters, hosts this semester's Racial & Social Justice Book Club, organized by the YWCA of the University of Illinois. The discussion takes place today at 7 p.m. in Murphy Lounge at the University YMCA, 1001 S. Wright Street in Champaign.

Featured books for the discussion include The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein, The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office by David Lindorff and Barbara Olshanksy and Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda by Noam Chomsky.

McChesney, a leading media scholar and activist, is a Research Professor in the Institute of Communications Research and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois. He has penned several books on media including his most recent venture, Communication Revolution, released in 2007.

John Currey, director of Champaign Central High School Jazz Ensemble, along with members of the group, collected a proclamation from Deputy Mayor Michael LaDue declaring April as Jazz Appreciation Month in the City of Champaign.

While Currey accepted the certificate, he had some news of his own: Champaign Central High School Jazz Ensemble was chosen as one of 15 schools across North America to participate in the prestigious high school band festival dubbed Essentially Ellington.

After about two years of learning how to build a business, and a year of renovation and construction at 114 Walnut Street in downtown Champaign, Trisha Bates and her sister, Amanda, are almost ready to open Champaign's first cupcake shop, Cakes on Walnut.

The shop, for a time known as Cream & Flutter, is scheduled to have its grand opening party the last week of this month. Cakes on Walnut will have a menu of rotating cupcake flavors — classic flavors like chocolate and vanilla will be served daily with three or four exotic "featured" flavors (such as green tea, for example, or lavender).

The World Wildlife Fund has asked the world to pledge just a single hour of the day to turn off all their lights. Now a global movement, called Earth Hour, they are hoping to send out a powerful statement about taking action against climate change. It was created last year by the WWF in Sydney and the image above is of the Sydney Harbour Bridge before and during last year's Earth Hour.

Urbana Alderman Charlie Smyth introduced an ordinance last night — to a packed council chamber — that would ban cell phone usage while driving in Urbana.

After much discussion and public input, the council opted to further the conversation and allow City Attorney Ronald O’Neal to draft a new ordinance reflecting questions raised at last night’s meeting.

Smyth’s proposal included most mobile electronic devices, including hands-free sets such as Bluetooth devices. Council members voiced concerns over banning two-way cell phone devices for businesses such as towing services: how the ordinance would be enforced and how to educate the public about the ban.

The stretch of Springfield Avenue that runs through campus, between Neil Street and Lincoln Avenue, has never been about great heights. From Am-Ko to several-story apartment buildings to the regal but relatively low-lying Grainger Library and Uni High, Springfield has long been, to a degree, a vertically modest road.

But the Springfield landscape is changing with the erection of Burnham310, an 18-story residential structure on Springfield between Third and Fourth streets.

After Mayor Gerald Schweighart read the resolution providing funds to the reconstruction of three residential redevelopments on North Neil and West Church streets, Council Member Michael La Due took time to note that the incentive deserves a little fanfare in what he called “a small step for the city, but a giant step for preservation and integrity of our downtown.”

The resolution grants $225,000 from the city to go towards expenditures incurred in reconstruction of the properties at 219 N. Neil St., 223 N. Neil St. and 109 W. Church St. The buildings would provide more residential living in the downtown area.

Over the past eight months, Urbana's Public Arts Task Force (encompassing seventeen local working artists), with the support of Urbana's Art Coordinator, Anna Hochhalter, have developed a Public Arts Program for Urbana. In order to directly support the arts in our community, the new program calls for the creation of a permanent Public Arts Commission and Public Arts Trust Fund, with an allocation of $4 per capita going into the fund to support an Arts Director and Annual Grants. One percent of any city building construction or renovation project over a half a million dollars will be put aside for project costs for the arts as well. Their mission statement is as follows: "The Urbana Public Arts Commission is established to recognize the arts as essential to the vitality of our city. The commission fosters a dynamic, innovative Urbana, where all residents — emerging artists, established artists, and 'non-artists' alike — may engage with the arts in its many forms and where artists thrive and are valued."

Attention all Insight customers in Champaign County: you can say goodbye to your Insight prices. Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, bought out the other half of their partnership with Insight Communications and has fully moved into town. With over 24 million cable customers, Comcast now serves Champaign-Urbana, Peoria, Quincy-Macomb, Rockford-Dixon, and Springfield cable television systems in Illinois.

Urbana City Council passed a resolution last night to join an intergovernmental agreement to fight against AmerenIP’s rate hike. The council voted to revise the budget to include funds to protest in front of the Illinois Commerce Commission alongside other downstate Illinois cities.

According to Mayor Laurel Prussing, who laid out the issue last week in her “Mayor’s Report,” the electricity hike could cost the city more than $100,000 in street lighting alone. AmerenIP is currently proposing a 14 percent increase in rates over a two-year period along with an 11 percent increase in natural gas rates.

Downtown Champaign will be suffering yet another Italian restaurant closing this year. First, Dom's closed at the end of 2007 and now, The Great Impasta, a downtown tradition for more than 25 years, will be shutting its doors at the end of 2008.

"It's not established, for me, if this is a closing or if it's another move. It might just be another part of the saga," Harold Allston, the former chef and now owner of The Great Impasta says. In years past, the restaurant occupied a space in the building three doors away, at 132 W. Church St., where Sushi Kame is currently located.

For more than ten years, a small company located on Danville's east side has been making a significant impact on the way we clean.

EnvirOx originally started in 1995 as a research project with the primary objective of developing a cleaning technology that would reduce toxicity in a meaningful way. As the company grew in recent years, a line of environmentally friendly home-cleaning products was launched, and now employees at EnvirOx are pulling double duty to produce 44,000 household cleaning kits before its national debut on the QVC shopping channel on March 18.