Urbana residents tell mayor of crime worries
URBANA — Residents of southeast Urbana told the city council on Monday that they appreciate Mayor Laurel Prussing's proposal to make the review process regulating liquor stores more strict, but they added that the plan is just a small step to correcting crime problems in the area that they think has gotten out of control.
In recent weeks, those who live in the area have decried the addition of two liquor stories in the Philo Road business district as something that would just aggravate a series of crimes that resident Pat Johnson said feels "like a wave coming in."
Those two liquor stores are Q-Mart, proposed for 2005 Philo Road, and The Short-Stop, proposed for 1720 S. Philo Road.
Mayor Laurel Prussing has maintained that the problem is not the cluster of liquor stores in the area, but rather with an apartment manager who has not kept his properties in compliance with city regulations. Prussing said the city is working with the owner to correct the violations, and she has promised the city would not allow the owner to continue operating if he does not comply.
"We're trying to work with the landlord," Prussing said. "But if that doesn't work, we have new ordinances in place that we can get someone to shape up."
Police have also been running special details in the neighborhood, Prussing has said. But residents on Monday night said it is not enough — they pleaded with the city council to fill two police officer positions that have been left vacant as officials deal with a tight budget.
"I would prefer safety to landscaping," said resident Ed Bruner. "I would prefer safety to nearly everything else in the budget."
Prussing said city officials are taking steps that they believe are appropriate — that may include filling one of those police positions.
"It is more than simply hiring two more police officers," Prussing said. "It's a question of how the businesses are managed."
The plan that the council supported on Monday would reduce the number of available Class C liquor licenses in the city from 27 to 16, just about five months after the council raised that number from 11 to 27. The council will need to give their formal approval at a city council meeting next week before the revisions take effect.
The proposal to make the liquor license review process more stringent does not necessarily stop any liquor store from opening shop in the city. It does, however, add a public input aspect to the review if a 17th or more liquor store would apply for a license outside of a planned development agreement, and store owners and managers will need to pass a background check before they are granted a license.
But the residents are asking that even more be done.
"The future of our lives and our entire neighborhood, and the future of Urbana is at stake," Bruner said.
It is clear to me that the CG of both C and U are out of touch with reality. Spending millions to beautify a drainage ditch, while ignoring public safety demands is beyond the pale. What is more important to you? A "river walk" past a drainage ditch or a police or fire fighter who comes to your aid?
I have heard that often there are only 3 police officers answering calls for the whole city of Urbana. I sincerly hope that is not true since most of the times one police call will require two police officers. What would happen if two serious calls came out at once? I am curious what the ratio of officers to the population is for the city of Champaign. Urbana wants to spend money on this Boneyard beautification project. Who is going to protect it from vandalism if there are only 3 police officers answering calls? Half of the city now has spraypaint all over it.
All of the police in the world will not fix what is happening to SE Urbana. We need to begin to address the root of these issues. Density in the neighborhood needs to be reduced. The apartments that line Philo/Silver/Vawter were not planned to house large groups of former government housing tenants. They were designed for graduate students and other people who were making short stays in CU and needed to live very economically. As they got older and new apartments were built demand fell as did the rent. This created a perfect storm as Chicago systemically waged war on the poor by forcing them out of affordable housing. These buildings in Urbana are clustered, difficult to police, and simply too high of density for the neighborhood by which they are surrounded. If we want to spend money, lets offer the owners an incentive to demolish these functionally obsolete buildings, along with the former IGA complex, and lets redevelop it into single family units and open space that is easier to manage. I'm not saying we should wage war on the poor, but we just need to reduce the density to make it managable. Our small community does not have the resources to deal with these dense poverty and its unfortunate side effects.
My issue, as a resident of SE Urbana, is with multiple apartment complexes in the area. The shooting that happened most recently was at The Pointe where K-Mart used to be. It just seems that not only is there more rental units than there used to be, but they are slowly gaining more "undesireable" tenants. Based on the "clientele" that seems to frequent The Pointe, I'm starting to think that it's worse than Sunnycrest Apts.
AS long as Urbana insists on having all these low income houses sited in a nice neighborhood, then you're gonn have problems. I grew up in Chicago..and this is becoming more and more like it...policitcos afraid to say anything and use tough love...and the gangs are next. Take a drive down Philo Road some evening....see if you can count the number of street people down there. Oh yea...that carwash on Philo Road is a real help... I can hear the boom boxes already. Thanks Mayor for ruining a once nice area.
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There is a peculiar liberal train of thought that says that the poor need to be spread into every geography. I hear constant complaints that Champaign doesn't build low cost housing into this or that neighborhood. As if! Commuting across town in Champaign is not a hardship.
Proper zoning dictates that like properties surround like properties. You don't zone a commercial office building in the middle of a neighborhood, or an industrial plant next door to your high school campus. Similarly, you shouldn't put housing voucher apartments in a nice middle class neighborhood. These errors risk a neighborhood's vitality, and hurt the tax base.
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