Things C-U can look forward to in the new decade
With the first decade of the 21st century now in the history books, we can begin culminating our hopes for what the new decade will bring. And if the Mayans turn out to be wrong, and the world doesn’t end in 2012, maybe Champaign-Urbana will have some improvements to look forward to. And if the world does happen to pop off in 2012, well, at least we can tidy up the place in preparation for the Four Horsemen and all that jazz.
So, in that spirit, we’ve racked our brains to try to come up with things that would make our little slice of heaven even more pleasant over the next decade. From businesses that we’d like to see take root, to administrative changes in existing bodies, to off-the-wall ideas that we just wanted to throw out there, this list has something for everyone. And if you have an idea for something that we didn’t mention, please make note of that in the comments. Happy New Year!
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Minor League baseball with beer sales: Level of Importance — 6/10
It seems crazy, but the best “Minor League” baseball in East Central Illinois resides not in C-U, but 30 miles east in Danville. And while making the drive to Champaign’s dirty cousin’s house is all well and good a few times a summer, it’s hard to get excited about the team, let alone following them as you would for a team like, say, the Fighting Illini. I have a friend — who owns a gym in this town, and who was once an MLB prospect — who has told me his plan to get a Minor League franchise in here, and my God, I hope that at some point, it’s realized. It would take more than just a contract in principle; it would take beer sales. No questions asked. Perhaps one day when the university stops treating adults like children, it could happen at Illinois Field, but for me personally, I say build a small grandstand and extend the field at Spalding Park and let’s get this thing moving.
Nothing would please me, and legions of baseball hounds, more than to unite the Cubs/Cards/Sox fans who annually duke it out all summer than with one team we could call our own: The Champaign-Urbana Prairie Fire… oh wait… not that one. — Seth Fein
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Pedigogical Diversity in Our School Systems: Level of Importance — Pretty Darn High
I would like to see the three local public high schools provide an academic style education that would allow students to enroll in a variety of programs. Such a restructuring would provide students who have alternative learning styles, ambitious career objectives and/or specific areas of academic interests with an educational environment more attuned to their needs. This kind of approach would include programs like Visual and Performing Arts, Technology or Foreign Languages. As a community we share a great deal of resources that allow us to provide a rigorous, meaningful and pedagogically diverse education to all of our students. In order to capitalize upon these resources, we’ll need to work with one another and be creative. Hopefully that’s not too much to ask. —Caleb Curtiss
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The Campustown to Downtown corridor: Level of Importance — 7/10
I can’t say that the Champaign Park District is flawless; naturally, there are more than a few things about their programming, swimming pools, and dearth of parks with trees and actual things to do that bum me out as a Champaign taxpayer. But I think that the Campustown to Downtown corridor might be the stroke of genius that helps get them out of their rut. The Scott Park renovations look tremendous, and while at this point no one is quite sure just what in the hell is happening to the 4+ acre plot of land between Springfield and Clark St., something tells me the end result will be consistent.
The idea to adjoin the two cities into one is something that you can read about in another paragraph, but at the least, the idea of making Champaign’s “two Downtowns” into one (as best as possible) is an intelligent move, both economically and psychologically. After all, there are few reasons for division, and many for unification. Especially within the confines of one city. Cheers to the CPD for getting on top of this one. — Seth Fein
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Trader Joes’ or Whole Foods in downtown Champaign: Level of Importance — 7/10
Shopping at Schnuck’s or Meijer — the only two places outside of the Co-op that are acceptable for decent produce — is a bit of a bummer. In fact, it down right sucks, especially when you compare it to pushing a cart around places like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, both located just a couple hours north in and around Chicago. And let’s get real: the Food Co-op we have here is tremendous. And Strawberry Fields is as well. These spaces have a great deal of value in our community, and by no means is being wishful for one of the bigger “health / organic” grocery stores an indictment of their work. To be clear: we LOVE both of them.
But they are in Urbana, which is perfect for the quaint and smaller town that it is. Champaign needs a bigger, more accessible store like the aforementioned in order to keep pace with other cities economically, and culturally. That’s what this really comes down to: holding onto residents.
Countless times have I heard people state loudly: “...plus, there is no Whole Foods here…“ etc, etc. And as a lifetime resident, I am sadly forced to agree with them. The quality in produce, the organic meats, the fresh seafood — all of it — is something that Champaign not only needs, but could also sustain.
But alas, reports from home offices of both chains feel differently. So, for the moment, it seems like we’ll remain without them. But the last time I checked, people still liked unprotected sex a whole bunch, and you know what that means, right? Humans. Lots of them — to fill up our-just-under-populated-a-touch city. And that will mean enough dollars to justify one of these stores in downtown champaign. I know the perfect place too: on Walnut, just north of REO Way, just beyond the Kuhns lot. Raze those buildings and let the Green Letters shine! — Seth Fein
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White St. finally reopens between 1st and 3rd: Level of Importance — 6/10
For you automobilers out there, this probably isn’t even on your radar, but anyone who bicycles regularly between downtown Champaign and Urbana has been affected by the closure of White Street for the past six months or so. I thought I’d had my head in the sand and completely missed the announcements about the road work (which should lead to a really nice linear park, as Seth describes above). But as a resident of C-U since only late 2007, I’d just missed out any discussion, which concluded in July 2007.
And the road work isn’t closing just White, either: Stoughton and the bridge on Clark are closed too. So, cyclists have their choice of playing bumpercars on University, Springfield, or Green; heading six or seven blocks out of the way to pick up Washington; riding through the alley behind the Boys and Girls Club; or dodging equipment traffic to get the opportunity to ride on the dirt alleyway just south of University. A primary bike route has been closed for six months and will likely be closed for at least six more (completion target for the project is late 2010), and there’s no provision or communication on the part of the city to re-route. — Joel Gillespie
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A Literary Arts Festival: Level of Importance — 5/10
We have the venues, we have the audience and we have the precedent (Ebertfest anyone?) — now all we need is for the university to collaborate with the city and put their money where their landgrant is (or something). Seriously, how awesome would it be to play host to a bunch of temperamental poets, self-important fiction writers and the various literary enthusiasts (translated as “aspiring writers”) who follow them around? Sure, C-U would be swallowed by a sea of black turtlenecks for a few days, but it would be worth it to hear the heads poking out from said turtlenecks read their work out loud, wouldn’t it? Actually, given that we share our community with so many talented writers I’m a little surprised that we don’t have one of these things already.
—Caleb Curtiss
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An authentic Irish Pub: Level of Importance — 4/10
Can I get some black pudding or what? How about some real fish and chips? Or some Shepard’s Pie? Seriously? There is not one Irish person in this community that can’t see the huge potential for profit on this one? And don’t even begin to utter the word Murphy’s to me. What a pathetic excuse for an Irish Pub. Just naming it Murphy’s and slapping a clover leaf on the front of the building doesn’t mean shit.
Seriously, this would need to come from someone who truly knew the landscape of Ireland. In West Lafayette, home to Purdue University, Nine Brother’s (pictured) kills it almost every night of the week. They serve up all things authentic Irish, from Bangers and Mash to playing rugby on the tellies.
So, come on here. Some one do it up right. I promise I will ditch the diet at least once a month to indulge. After all, this chipper below here in Dublin caused a minor heart attack that felt real good:
Fish and Chips from Justine B. on Vimeo.
— Seth Fein
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Champaign and Urbana merge into one mega-micro-urban community, Urbanpaign: Level of Importance — 2/10
Sure, it’s kind of silly that there are two separate downtowns, governments, and school systems for this fine community; I mean, who do we think we are, Bloomington-Normal? But with all the talk of belt-tightening going around lately, consolidation of Champaign and Urbana’s positions and functions doesn’t seem to get much traction.
But why not? A little streamlining and cooperation might be just what these towns need to take it to the next level. Heck, maybe they should even cut Savoy in on the deal. Urbanpaign needs an airport, and a third Wal-Mart. — Joel Gillespie
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Monorail: Level of Importance — 10/10.
It’s gotta happen. Cost is no object.
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Renovations to the Virginia Theater: Level of Importance — 5/10
While the new bathrooms are wonderful, and the spiffy paint job will look nice, the glaring eyesore that is the gash in the plaster facade above the screen needs to be repaired. The Virginia Theatre is a majestic one-screen cinema that few theaters could aspire to emmulate, and it would only bring her back a little more dignity to patch up this beautiful work of art in the auditorium. Theater patrons are forced to look at this disparaging aspect of the auditorium with each screening. Enough is enough, time to patch her gaping wound. — Jamie Newell
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A New Mascot for the University of Illinois: Level of Importance — 1/10
Despite some of my very first memories being of “Chief Illiniwek” doing his halftime dog and pony dance, I was pretty happy to see him get retired. You know, because of the whole racialized paternalistic, white-privilege-reinforcing sentiment that drove the whole thing? Anyway, in “The Chief’s” absence some fans have promoted a new, super-creepy tradition of pretending he’s still around by standing and raising their hands above their head during half-time. This is stupid and must end soon (it also reminds me of an evangelical church service with the Chief cast as the Holy Ghost). My hope for C-U is that a. these people get a life and b. the U of I adopts a new mascot. I’ve heard it suggested that we get an orange Grimace-like “Illy” to take the reigns — you know, like Hilly, of Western Kentucky Hilltopper fame?
—Caleb Curtiss
27 comments
Nitpik
How come no one counts all of 2010 as part of the decade. It realy ends next year.
Oops! That was just a little unplanned sneak preview — the real dog and pony show will be up soon. Till then, you can ponder the beginnings and ends of decades and the question of whether time exists at all…or not.
Nitpik—that’s not true. The past decade began on Jan. 1, 2000. Counting forward from there, Jan. 1, 2010 was ten years, or a decade.
Good Counter
Not true? Not true, you say?
Try this instead - count forward from the year one. Remember, there was no year zero. You’ll find that the decade began 1/1/2001 and ends 12/31/2010.
Well, we’re only doing this Best Of stuff once, so in the world of Smile Politely, the new decade hath begun!
steven Goodwine
that undertaking inbetween campus and downtown is going to be a water retention system…..i heard. perhaps, similar to the one closer to green street inbetween neil and 1st. EXCITING!
dasboot
i would be ecstatic about a whole foods. and that said location would be ideal if not for the fact that dr. youngerman owns all that shit to my knowledge. sooo…...
how old is that guy?
Well, Doug, technically the anonymous nitpicker is right, since there was no year zero in the Gregorian calendar. It was the reason for all of the hoopla surrounding all of the “it’s not the end of the millennium!“ stuff ten years back. Though, these days, most people tend to like the more sensical look of round numbers and so we just block the decades in the 0-9 block instead of the 1-0. It looks cleaner and then people don’t have to deal with the “wait, so you’re telling me 1980 wasn’t part of the 80s????“ conversations. These days the only time you hear about it is when someone wants to be a pain in the ass.
“These days the only time you hear about it is when someone wants to be a pain in the ass.“
My point, exactly.
1. Minor League Baseball. Excellent!!!. But forget the U of I or even CPD. What baseball entrepreneur is going to be willing to deal with those bureaucrats. Why not on Rt. 130 where TK Wendels was? Fields already there, parking, beer, and maybe even decent BBQ (anybody reviewed it yet?).
2. Pedagogical Diversity. Why this can’t be is beyond me. My theory, from experience in several, is that college towns are too transient (and splintered between town and gown) to develop proper school resources. My arts and language suggestion is a course of study in Catalan, Picasso, Dali, and how to make decent Tapas.
3. Campus to downtown C corridor. Good idea. It’s only taken about a century to deal with the flooding issues, so this should be completed about 2110.
4. Whole Paycheck is not really needed or desired (the owner is a dick). Trader Joes is way overrated—except for good beer wine and liquour selections and prices. Produce is all packaged and not that great. Both are too expensive. What we need is local slaughterhouses and more producers and for the coop to be so successful it has to open a downtown C store too.
5. White Street bikes, etc. Shocking. I’d always thought the city of Champaign had bike paths at the very top of their agenda, way before new sprawl subdivisions.
6. Literary Arts Festival. I look good in a black turtleneck, but find them uncomfortable. Pass.
7. Irish Pub. Good luck in Bud-Light-Town. You want a good Irish Pub? Go to Spain.
8.C-U merger. We in Urbana would love to be governed by the right-wing News-Gazette type wackadoodles in C, are drooling over all the drink revenue from the bars, and can’t wait to be served (if that’s what they call it) by the Champaign Police. As for the airport, isn’t about time we had direct flights to Barcelona?
9. Monorail. Terrible idea. If we spend money on an electrified rail system between the downtowns through the campus and then out to the bedrooms, where would we get the money to build the ring road and all the trucking warehouse facilities? Not to mention the terrible need for more 3000 square foot, but green, houses, west of 57.
10. Virginia. Yah, fix it, but it’s too big for most movie showing these days, except for Ebertfest, etc. What we need are a number of smaller art houses around town. Once you’ve seen the show at the Art, you have to wait too long for the next one to come before you can go to the movies again, unless you want to see Hugh Grant and Seth Rogen in a sex comedy slasher pic.
11. Mascot. The obvious mascot is Lincoln. We can imagine a dignified outline of him on the helmets, with our motto of “Learning and Labor” across the jerseys. Or, preferably, we can have a lanky hillbilly type character called the railsplitter wielding an ax with a wolverine skull firmly attached to the blade.
Tony C.
Yup. I second the notion that it will be nice to get White Street back as a bike route between Urbana and Champaign. My usual alternate has been to pop over to University, but I’m a relatively grizzled bike commuter. Newbies wouldn’t feel comfortable in the unsavory alternatives.
The planned multi-use path from Urbana to Kickapoo State Park (http://www.smilepolitely.com/culture/if_you_build_it_will_they_ride_or_walk/) should be on the list as something to look forward to in the next decade? Seriously, I can’t wait for my private off road bike route to almost nowhere to be completed - all $8 million of it. Level of importance: 9/10. This should be just below monorail!
NitPiK
Sorry Mike and Doug. I made one comment under the name Nitpik that is an overlooked truth. Didn’t mean to be such a pain.
Wait, are you that DJ Mingram I see obnoxiously advertised everywhere. Jesus dude did the “80’s” personally hire you as their bodyguard/attorney/promotions manager. There’s one of you in every decent size city in this country and I personally find that the folks “keepin the 80’s alive” for money, or even worse, pleasure, are more of a pain in the ass than any innocent comment about the begining/end of decades could ever be. Now please, comment about the story - its about the future and coud be good for yer equilibrium.
I’d imagine that the members of the Brat Pack are the true local stewards of the 80s, as they’ve been at it multiple nights a week for over ten years, and I have been doing one night a week for a year. But I’d be willing to bet that behind your anonymous internet name, we’ve probably met, so you likely already know that.
It does seem odd to me that someone being so nitpick-y about something like the perception of the beginning and end of a decade would end up not being so nitpicky about spelling and grammar. Watch out for the English Language Nitpicker. He’s vicious.
Keepin’ past decades alive in the new one (once it truly starts in a year),
Mike Ingram
Sorry, that comes off snarkier than I meant it to be.
If your loaf of deep fried cod is bigger than your face it means you’re gonna have cancer.
As for electrified public transport, Rob McColley says we should get trolleybuses on the current MTD routes. That shit doesn’t even need infrastructure.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Trådbuss_Landskrona.JPG
Bob Dole says a 45 minute (220 mph) commute to and from the 3rd largest city in America would make Champaign supertie dupertie…
http://www.midwesthsr.org/network/index.html
johnny
Irish bar food here sure would be nice. Just Guinness doesn’t cut it.
Bill J
The city of Champaign replacing the century old sewer pipe under John Street so neighborhood residents don’t have stormwater and sewage in their basements would help rid me of some sleeepless, rainy nights. Poop in basements should qualify for a fix in fewer than 10 years. I’m no urban planning student, but am guessing that working sewers are found somewhere in Chapter 1 of the textbook.
El Jefe
Whole Foods/TJ’s: I’m not craving any seafood around here. Just accept where you live, and get some good duck/goose/pork/beef/chicken etc. at the farmers market. There is less and less fish left to be caught, and the farmed stuff ain’t so good for you, plus all the transport needed to get it here.
I do wish there was a better butcher shop. Calling farmers to see what is available and then wait til saturday is pretty time consuming.
Irish pub: is there really any shortage of fried food here? All the good beer you would get is found elsewhere and if you’re looking to get all greasy go to seaboat or Fat sandwich company.
White street: Head over to hill st. at 3rd, then you can cut through the parking lot at the Police station and under the railroad tracks. Save yourself the downhill/uphill that you get going under the tracks on a real street. Though this isn’t such a great solution when it’s icy, as it doesn’t get plowed/salted.
How about: more pedestrian-only zones in downtown champaign and campustown.
J
An Irish Pub? Really? How about a decent kosher deli? I think we need that more than black pudding and shepard’s pie. And I agree that we need a high speed rail connection to Chicago, but I would gladly settle for a regular train that actually runs on time without all of those delays to give freight trains the right of way…
Yes. Really — traditional Irish food is terrific when done well.
Though, I wholeheartedly agree with you about a kosher deli — so much so that I’ve written about it. Twice.
Can’t get this to link, so here: http://www.smilepolitely.com/food/pleading_for_a_jewish_deli_in_c-u
Here is one simply about matzo ball soup.
So, I thought it might be redundant for me to spout off again about the lack of a Jewish deli in yet another article.
I love fish n’ chips done right. Almost as much as Jew food.
M@
> three local public high schools…
Time to go back to school and learn to observe & count—there’s 4 local public high schools: Urbana, Central, Centenial and Uni.
Uni is a limited entrance public high school (ie, you got to pass the entrance exam/application), but it is public none-the-less (you do not have to pay to go there, and unfortunately they do not get any funds from having a ‘school district’—they’re funded through the Unversity’s budget… whoops!)
haelig
The lack of notice on the White Street construction was/is a major issue for me: All of last spring and summer, I was biking back and forth without a care and then out of the blue, those sections of White and Stoughton streets were suddenly blocked off without warning. I mean there was nothing—I had to DIG through the City of Champaign website and the back articles of the News-Gazette to find any clues on why they had closed down those streets.
One glance at the widely available Champaign-Urbana bike map tells you that White and Stoughton are the main bike routes for traveling between the two towns. But obviously the city isn’t as tuned into their constituents’ concerns as much as they might claim…. I’ve tried several alternative routes, including biking down that Campustown pathway that runs parallel to Healey Street between 6th and 1st streets. But my solution has been to take White as far as 3rd, bike down 3rd to Springfield, and then when there’s a break or slowdown in traffic, I dart down Springfield to 1st, where I pick up the bike lane and go back up to Logan.
You’re right, M@. What I should have said is that we only have 3 real public high schools and one high school that accepts the public’s money.
The math for Whole Foods and Trader Joes doesn’t work out. The market is too fragmented for either to want to be here. Combined Champaign and Urbana are not big enough population-wise, nor is the average income high enough to warrant their coming here. If someone from either organization lost his/her mind and decided to risk it, the store would be down at the crossing, anyway, not in downtown, as they prefer nearby highway access.
For those who don’t know, Whole Foods brought down one of the biggest cooperative grocery wholesalers in the Midwest a few years back, selling it out to publicly traded United Natural Foods Inc. For consumers, the result has been increased prices and decreased selection for organic and natural foods ever since. On the farmer side, this has resulted in fewer vertical integration/value-added opportunities for small mom and pop local farmer/producers of things like salsas, pickles, chutneys.
Count me with Stuart, I can’t wait for Common Ground to be big enough to put a storefront in downtown Champaign.
In the meantime, White and Stoughton are serious pains for those trying to get to the Farmers market and CGFC in Urbana. And, the flooding/sewer backups need to be fixed to make people want to live close enough to downtown Champaign to do business there.
Adam
re: M@ “public none-the-less (you do not have to pay to go there”
From the Uni website:
“This year Uni will raise $500,000 in private, voluntary donations from current use and endowment funds. The majority of private donations are contributions by current parents.“
Sure doesn’t sound like a public high school free for all.
Uni is a fantastic school, with some unbelievably good teachers (some not so), and as bright and motivated a student body as possible in the USofA (full disclosure: my bright and motivated kids went there). It is certainly not a private school, since it is not fee based (the donations Adam mentions are not mandatory by any means—there are other cultural and financial reasons for the donations), but to consider it a public school is absurd. It is run out of the provost’s office, and in large measure is a perk for attracting and retaining faculty. It has had various incarnations and purposes over its lifetime, once being designed as a school to get local farm kids up to speed to go to the UI (Kent McConky, the Oldtimer, was a 56 grad), and once as a laboratory (the current title of Laboratory High School is honored more in the breach than in reality these days) school for the UI Education Department. Why the school continues to exist is a bit of a mystery, perhaps more due to inertia than anything else. Still, the question we need to ask is not whether Uni is worth it, but why the public school systems cannot match it in quality. The publics certainly could, but why they don’t is something that needs to be addressed. Oh wait. We’re overtaxed, we can’t afford to have classes of 60, we’re making sausage here.
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@Ty I think this article from last year is what you’re looking for: http://www.smilepolitely.com/food/talking_breakfast_at_the_market/ Enjoy!
Thank you SP editors for removing a not-so-nice word from Pope’s comment. I was just going to comment on it myself, wondering if we need an article titled “Down with the F-word”. John, very interesting read. Huzzah for well-written local music opinion.
Ok folks, now that its obvious the wonder bread, gas station eggs, and pasteurized processed cheese food can be marked up sufficiently enough to open two restaurants during a recession and in the same five year span, ya think we can be a little demanding? I’m all…
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I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Gold