One of Editor & Publisher’s ‘10 That Do It Right 2021’

Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 83F. Winds light and variable..

Partly cloudy skies. Low 59F. Winds light and variable.

LeRoy Mayor Steve Dean (right).

Tom Kacich is a columnist and the author of Tom's Mailbag at The News-Gazette. His column appears Sundays. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).

It's my last solo mailbag so we're going to have some fun this week. We revisit the noon whistle issue that I blew last week — "I don't believe there are any towns that still blow a noon whistle," I wrote — and correct the record.

Also, a winner in the "contest" to offer a new name for the poor Campus Instructional Facility at the University of Illinois.

And answers to questions about the confusing address system in downtown Champaign, TV markets, a new business in Mahomet, COVID testing at the UI, a shuttered trailer park and farmland around Willard Airport.

Thank you to all the people who have graciously answered my occasionally annoying mailbag questions over the years. Without you (and Jim Rossow, who came up with the idea) this little feature could not be modest success it is (the very first 'Bag from Dec. 21, 2013).

Best of luck to Kathy Reiser, who takes over the mailbag and inherits all of the questions I have been unable to answer or for which I am still awaiting promised answers.

LeRoy Mayor Steve Dean (right).

I heard from several readers last week that, yes, there are still "noon whistles" in some area communities. Thanks to the following people who straightened me out: Loretta Power, Franci Miller, Traci Anderson, Shannon Flannell, Deena Carico and Tricia Shouffler. They let me know that noon whistles — actually sirens — are heard in Mansfield, Farmer City, Bellflower and Le Roy. All, oddly, are in the same area northwest of Champaign-Urbana.

"I'm told that it started back in the 1880s as a signal to break for the day and that it was steam powered at that time," said Angie Wanserski, the city clerk in Farmer City. "It is currently a siren attached to our city hall building that goes off everyday at noon. The residents, especially the long term residents, love it and will call us with questions about it should it ever go down. The system broke during COVID and we had to wait a bit to get replacement parts and fielded many calls asking us to turn it back on."

"The village of Bellflower still has a noon whistle. It has sounded at noon every day for as long as I can remember," said Bellflower Mayor Allen Grussing. "I remember it going off back to when I was in kindergarten (1963).

"But it might be of interest that it didn't really start as a noon whistle. It was actually the fire siren in the beginning. In those days, Bellflower Fire Protection District had many volunteer firefighters that lived and/or worked in town. When a fire call was received, the siren was turned on to notify firefighters so that they could drive to the fire station and respond to the call.

"The location of the fire was written on a chalkboard in the fire station so that any firefighters arriving after the fire trucks had left would know where to go. In those days (and this is only my speculation and opinion, not a known fact) the siren was also sounded every day at noon to test it to make sure it would work when needed for a fire.

"In later years, firefighters were each given a pager to notify them of a fire and the need for the fire siren went away. Today the firefighters receive their fire calls on their cellphones, which includes information on the location of the fire. So even the use of the chalkboard in the fire station has been eliminated. But the sounding of the noon whistle has continued.

"It should also be noted that the whistle is still sounded in the event of a tornado threat in the area. When bad weather is in the area, our Emergency Services coordinator is notified by the county. At that time, he goes to a high spot on the outskirts of town to watch for possible tornadoes. If conditions look right, he comes back into town and blows the whistle to alert residents to take shelter. Afterward, an all clear is also sounded."

"I don't remember there not being a noon whistle," said LeRoy Mayor Steve Dean, who is 73. "All I know is that it started years ago when there were a couple of factories on the west side of town and it was the way to know it was time to take a break."

"Very seldom" are there complaints about the noon whistle which is actually a siren that sounds for about 30 seconds every day but Sunday, he said.

"There was a time, though, when a couple bought a house by the post office. The noon whistle goes off right behind the post office," Dean explained. "They were quite upset about it and wanted it to end. Well I just explained that we weren't going to end a town tradition just because you're real estate agent didn't tell you."

For years, he recalled, storeowners in downtown LeRoy would lock their doors at the sound of the noon whistle and head down to Land's Cafe for lunch.

"Then they'd all gradually reopen after they'd had their meal," he said.

Performers from the Illinois Shakespeare Festival were scheduled to do a noontime performance at a park in LeRoy this week. He cautioned them to delay the show.

"I told them that they should start it at 12:01," he said. "You can't outshout the siren."

I actually heard the noon whistle in Mansfield. It was very brief — probably about five seconds — but very audible.

We asked readers to supply alternate names for the poorly named University of Illinois Campus Instructional Facility, a new building that is much cooler than its name suggests. Here are more suggestions you offered:

— "The best name is obvious: 'Donor Hall.' When a generous enough donor is found, the generic 'Donor' name will be replaced with a more specific name.

— "We have two suggestions that optimize the acronym. 'IDK: Institute for Distribution of Knowledge' and 'CHEAT: Classrooms for Humanities, Engineering, Arts & Technology'

— "I suggest: Mel Brewer Athletic Accounting School."

— "For the new Instructional Facility: At Last NOT A New Athletic Center!"

— "Yingying Zhang Memorial Hall. I am not aware of any current memorial/dedication for her."

— "Since the building’s purpose is learning ... as opposed to, ick, instruction, I propose something simple: The Learning Center, or the North Learning Center, or The Teaching & Learning Center or Learning Hall or North Learning Hall."

— "In reference to the last two plus years, it should be named the 'JB Pritzker school of useless Covidiot dictates.'"

I like the name Donor Hall and proclaim it the winner. Michael Weissman, the man who suggested the name as an alternative to Campus Instructional Facility, will win a prize that I have not decided upon. But since I am cleaning out my desk here I'm sure there will be several worthwhile options. I'll get back to you, Michael.

"Tuesday's News-Gazette reported the anticipated development of the city-owned parking lot at 47 E. Main St., Champaign, between the pawn shop and The Venue CU. These are on Main Street's north side with odd-numbered addresses. Every other east-west street in Champaign-Urbana has even-numbered addresses on the north side. What is the history of this anomaly?"

T.J. Blakeman, Champaign city planner and president of the board of the Champaign County History Museum, has the explanation.

"I talk about that on all my tours. From what I can gather it likely stems from when Barrett Hall was built (on the site of today’s One Main) it was given the prestigious 1 Main Street address because it was the first brick building on Main Street," he said. "I’m not sure why the city didn’t continue this north-side-odd concept as more addresses were assigned. It is the only street in town where this happens."

Barrett Hall, where many traveling orators including Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony would speak, was built in 1865 and demolished in 1950.

"There is a portable speed limit sign on Kirby Avenue when traveling east toward the University of Illinois in between Mattis and Prospect. I agree with the choice of location as motorists routinely go much faster than the posted speed limit.

"I was wondering if you could tell me what led to the sign going there and how long it will be there? Finally, has the City of Champaign considered using cameras like in Chicago to issue tickets?"

Champaign Interim Deputy Chief Kevin Olmstead provided the following information:

"Champaign Police have been putting our speed trailers to good use throughout the community in recent months. These trailers help to remind drivers of the posted speed limit and make them aware of the speed they are traveling. Even moving with the flow of traffic, drivers can be surprised to learn that they are unknowingly exceeding the posted speed limit and will slow down as a response.

"CPD moves the trailers to areas around the community every few weeks, and the locations are determined by a number of factors, including proximity to school zones, traffic incidents nearby, and resident concerns.

"As for the question about using cameras to issue citations, the Champaign Police Department does not presently use such technology and is not considering its use at this time. After Automated License Plate Readers were installed, we did field some inquiries from the public about whether they would serve as speed cameras or red-light cameras, but the technology used in an ALPR is not setup to serve in either function."

"The governor signed a law that COVID testing isn't required anymore. So how can the University of Illinois still require those not vaccinated to test once a week?"

"Local municipalities and businesses have always been encouraged and allowed to implement their own mitigations that make sense for their communities," said Jordan Abudayyeh, spokeswoman for Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

"There seems to be a lot of work going on at the old Hideaway of the Woods restaurant on Prairie View Road in Mahomet. Can you tell us what is it going to be?"

Adam Kimball and his wife Jodi are developing the property for use as a self-storage business.

"We bought 5 acres behind the old BP gas station and we're putting up 500 self-storage units. We also bought the old restaurant to use as the temperature-controlled portion of that," he said. "We'll have abut 50 temperature controlled units inside the old Hideaway.'

"We'll have all sizes of units — units big enough to put your RV or your boat in. Eventually there will be units for small businesses for a shop space so that if you're a plumbing business you can have a space there."

There's already a self-storage business at the site, Kimball said, but Bulldog Storage is at capacity.

"All of Champaign County right now is completely full. People are going to Decatur to get a storage unit," he said. "At first I thought we'd get customers from the Mahomet area and maybe a 5- to 10-mile radius. But it's such a high-demand, low-supply right now that I've got a lot of people calling me from Champaign."

"I read the article on how schools are spending their state-issued maintenance grants. What did the schools have to do to get these grants? Mahomet-Seymour School District could have used a grant like this. They just had a referendum on the ballot in June that did not pass. Part of this referendum included renovations to a couple of their buildings. It sounds like this grant could have gone toward that. Did someone drop the ball? Why didn’t Mahomet get that grant?"

The reader's question references an item in the Meeting Minutes & More pages last Friday (July 22) about how local school districts plan to use their state maintenance grants.

The important thing to know about the grants is that they're a maximum of $50,000, which is a tiny sliver of the $98 million in construction work the school district was seeking in its bond issue.

Second, Mahomet-Seymour did get a $50,000 maintenance grant and it will be used on concrete and asphalt projects at the schools, said Superintendent Kenny Lee.

"My question regards the remaining cornfields near Willard Airport in Savoy. Have they all been sold to be turned into new neighborhoods, or will some still continue to remain farmland? It breaks my heart to see it destroyed, even though I guess I understand why it's being done."

Jon Fisher, who farms in Champaign County and is a real estate appraiser and agent, agrees with you.

"We're taking steps at our family level that for generations or centuries to come that this will continue to be farmland as long as we can or until the airport claims eminent domain and takes more of it from us," he said.

As for residential development near Willard, Fisher noted the construction of homes and long-term care facilities east of U.S. 45 and the Canadian National Railroad.

"There's been development far enough south that some of those kids are going to the (Unity) school district now," he said. "Hopefully we can contain that.

"I've got 160 acres around me. I certainly don't want a residential subdivision around me. We are stewards of the soil and our family has been here since the late 1860s (coming from Ohio) and hopefully we are for hundreds of years to come."

Fisher has farmland along the Monticello Road. His parents, who farm a nearby 360 acres, caught wind a few decades ago of a plan to develop a residential subdivision between the airport and Tolono.

"My parents were able to talk to the owner of the farm and ended up buying it because it was adjacent to one of their parcels," Fisher said. "They were able to prevent a subdivision from being put in there. I think that there would be lots of developers out there, that if this ground were to become available, they wouldn't hesitate to buy it and put a subdivision out here."

He said he hasn't heard of any recent attempts to buy farmland near the airport for residential development "but it's always a concern. We will do everything in our power to try to keep anything from being developed, for sure on our ground and on our neighbors' as well."

"I recently moved to Champaign-Urbana and am happy to be a resident of central Illinois. However to my surprise as far as the local ABC, CBS and ABC affiliates are concerned, when it comes to news and weather central Illinois ends at Jacksonville. This puzzles me. According to Wikipedia central Illinois consists of the entire middle third of the state. What is the truth?"

Wikipedia does not determine what television markets look like. Designated Market Areas are generally determined by the reach of a TV station's signal. The stations you cited do not cover all of central Illinois.

Champaign-Urbana is within the Champaign-Springfield-Decatur market which in 2021 ranked 90th in size of the 210 designated market area. It included about 365,000 homes in Cass, Champaign, Christian, Coles, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Ford, Iroquois, Logan, Macon, Menard, Moultrie, Morgan, Piatt, Sangamon, Shelby and Vermilion counties.

Quincy, which is in central Illinois, is in the Quincy-Hannibal-Keokuk Designated Market Area. It ranked 174th with just short of 100,000 homes. Its Illinois counties includes Adams, Brown, Hancock, McDonough, Pike, Schuyler and Scott counties.

Peoria, also part of central Illinois, is in the Peoria-Bloomington DMA. It ranked 123rd with 235,550 homes and includes Fulton, Livingston, Marshall, Mason, McLean, Peoria, Putnam, Stark, Tazewell and Woodford counties.

"Does WCIA-TV have any new meteorologists hired? Amelia (Henderson) left and now Jack (Gerfen) is soon."

"Both Jack and Amelia left WCIA 3 for fantastic opportunities in much bigger markets. It’s a testament to the growth potential our community and our station offers," said Andy Miller, news director at WCIA. "We always hate losing talented people, but celebrate that we got to be a part of their impactful career."

Henderson went to a station in Jacksonville, Fla., and Gerfen is headed to Oklahoma City.

"We are, admittedly, being very selective in choosing who we bring on to the weather team. With a legacy that includes names like Mr. Roberts, Judy Fraser, Robert Reese and now Kevin Lighty … our audience has come to expect a high degree of professionalism and credibility from our team of meteorologists.

"We’re thrilled with the work that Kevin and Jacob Dickey are doing on a daily basis and want to bring in the perfect pieces to complement their efforts. This week, we announced the hire of Seth Bohnhoff as a part-time meteorologist. Seth is a Dieterich native and has been a standout intern with us for the past few months. He’s studying Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois and has demonstrated great knowledge and an ability to effectively communicate the day’s weather story to our audience. We’re excited about what he brings to the table."

"On the southwest corner of Cunningham Avenue and Country Club Road, and adjacent to the Urbana Welcomes You sign is a paved area that was originally a welcome/information center. Mounted on the kiosk that was there were two large metal discs. I believe they were stainless steel and were engraved with maps of Urbana and possibly the University. They were later replaced with ones of a less desirable material. What happened to the original discs?"

"This topic dates back to the early 2000s," said Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin. "A few current employees were working for the city back then. As best as they can remember, there was a welcome/information area at that corner that contained a printed map protected by Plexiglas.

"In approximately 2005, the welcome/information area became a 'minipark' and was upgraded with benches for a seating area. The city installed a new metal map of the city that was framed in wood. The map was printed in-house, in the city's sign shop, where our street signs are produced. No one can recall the metal discs described in the inquiry."

"Any idea what happened to the food truck Taco Motorizado that was parked on Cunningham Avenue just north of McDonald's (in Urbana)? Seems like they vanished at some point during the pandemic."

The family owned food truck posted the following message on its Facebook page on April 27: "We will be closing permanently Saturday, May 1st due to personal reasons. With deep sadness we leave back thousands of faces and memories. We are incredibly thankful for the support through these years but it’s time for us to see what else life has to offer. We will miss all of the people who became regulars. Taco motorizado will be closing for good. Thank you everyone!"

We messaged the owners, asking for further comment, but did not received a response.

"I am curious as to how roads receive their status.”'Monticello Road is just a county road but has an interstate interchange, is very heavily traveled, and has frequent accidents. By comparison, U.S. 45 is a highway, although seemingly with less heavy traffic. 45 also receives more maintenance, snow treatments, and attention to safety."

You will be surprised to learn that U.S. 45 receives much more traffic than Monticello Road.

"U.S. 45 is a principal arterial state route and the traffic count on it is 8,550 vehicles a day. By comparison Monticello Road is a major collector county road and has 3,200 vehicles a day," said Jeff Blue, the Champaign County engineer. "The county did a safety upgrade to Monticello Road more than a decade ago to widen and pave the shoulders and put in centerline and shoulder rumble strips. The surface is getting a little rough but the safety features of the roadway have been built to very high standards.

"As far as snow plowing goes, we plow 24 hours a day, seven days a week until the roads are clear, the same policy that IDOT has in our district."

"Help! I want to see if I qualify for public service student loan forgiveness. Every time I try to apply I end up with questions and am unsure who can answer them. Is there anyone who can walk me through this process? I have until October to figure this out."

Head to this website and it should be able to help you. There's even a link to a live chat at the Federal Student Aid Information Center.

"Who owns the old Triangle Trailer Park on U.S. 45 just south of Ludlow and are there plans to demolish and clean up that area anytime in the future?"

Champaign County Planning and Zoning Administrator John Hall said that the state Department of Public Health has been in court with the Triangle Manufactured Home Park over water quality problems since 2020 (Case 2020CH000068).

"A recent court docket reports that as of 1/18/22 the park had been closed and the water wells have been sealed," hall said. "There is no information regarding removal of the remaining homes or general clean-up of the property."

"In your July 1 mailbag you cite statistics on the rising enrollment at the UI from 2012 through 2021. How much of that increase justifies the massive surge in apartment construction for undergraduates? What percentage of the enrollment increase is due to more graduate students? What percentage reflects increasing online enrollment?"

There wouldn't be all this apartment construction if there wasn't an increase in student enrollment.

The graduate enrollment on the Urbana campus has more than doubled between 2011 and 2021 — from 9,551 to 20,525.

The total enrollment increase is from 42,606 (fall 2011) to 56,257 (fall 2021).

The UI does not report numbers on students who attend classes only online.

"Who is responsible for maintaining the circle drive for the USPS drop boxes behind the Urbana Post Office? There are very deep potholes on the side with the boxes, and it is next to impossible to navigate around them. In addition, the USPS drop boxes themselves are badly rusted out. I assume there is an inner container and it's still safe to deposit mail in the boxes, but it's not a good look for downtown Urbana."

We still haven't heard back from the postal service about the rusty mailboxes but the city of Urbana, which owns the lot, is aware of its condition.

"The parking lot in question is maintained by the City of Urbana and identified as Lot 10A North. The Public Works Operations Division performs necessary reactive maintenance and can address this, and other, specific issues," said Vince Gustafson, deputy director for operations for Urbana Public Works. "There are no parking lot improvement projects included in this year’s capital improvement plan. We encourage citizens to report concerns to Urbana Public Works at 217-384-2342."

Noon whistles, Raising Cane's, marching bands in the July 4 parade, country club memberships for top UI officials, county fair food, slow business in the basement of the Illini Union, Champaign schools of choice and alleged impassable streets in Urbana. 

We dive into the history of Roselawn Cemetery, the Tuscola outlet mall, Old Church Road, 115-year-old Illini Hall, Windsor Road resurfacing, Sweet Basil Cafe, a permanent marching band tower at Champaign Central High School, COVID screening at Carle, plastics recycling and a new name for a new campus building.

Questions about a whether bulldozer is buried under Memorial Stadium (probably not true), State Farm Center bookings this fall (nothing yet), German POWs held in Hoopeston (true), a disappeared mural (true), taxes paid on farmland owned by the Mormon Church (true), upcoming citizenship ceremonies in C-U (nothing yet) and the mundane named Campus Instructional Facility (cool).

Virginia Theatre acts, absentee farmland ownership in Champaign County, progress on the Hotel Royer, violence concerns at Carle Foundation Hospital and attendance at last week's Trump rally in Quincy ... plus much, much more.

Questions this week about illegal parking in Campustown, the most popular specialty license plates in Illinois, a cluttered yard in Champaign, 100-degree temperatures and the Dick Butkus statue. Also, the top addresses in Champaign County for METCAD "calls for service," Urbana-Champaign versus Champaign-Urbana, radio station interference and planned developments in Rantoul.

Questions about birdhouses along Windsor Road, donors to the University of Illinois athletic department, a new restaurant along Green Street, a new mural along Green Street, former tenants of a 140-year-old downtown Urbana building and a trail at Allerton Park.

The new Conrad’s Grill under construction on campus is set to open in the second half of August.

More in Sunday's "It's Your Business" column.