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Updated: January 18, 2025 @ 1:21 pm
Drop in a question of your very own BY CLICKING HERE or by emailing Kathy Reiser at mailbag@news-gazette.com.
A big ol’ orange barrel full of street- and highway-related questions in this week’s Mailbag. Also, some UI campus history and C-U’s rules for sidewalk snow removal.
Generations of local pet lovers have known this building at 720 S. Neil in Champaign as Sailfin Pet Shop. But long before the tropical fish, hamsters and geckos took up residence, it housed Inland Supply Company — purveyors of plumbing equipment and supplies — from the 1950s through ’70s.
After that, it was the home of several small businesses including A-1 Rent-a-Car, Millhouse Center, Capricorn Antiques, Champaign Auto Sales and Support Tech Computers.
Sailfin has been one of its longest-tenured tenants, since the 1980s. Same for Michaels’ Catering, which is not visible from Neil Street. Delta Vapes is a more recent addition.
In response to this week’s Now & Then post on Facebook, Steven Sansone recalled “when I worked at Sailfin (’93-’98), there was, briefly, a gym upstairs. BOOM when the weights hit the floor. After they closed, Sailfin used the upstairs for storage. There was a conveyor belt from the first to second floor that the gym used for weights and equipment, but we used for fish tanks and aquarium stands.”
Paul Selin remembered that Inland Supply “had a fence around the parking lot to protect all the soil pipe and cast-iron fittings laying in the yard. The trains would unload at their lot. Went in there many times with my dad, who ran the plumbing for big university construction projects in the ’50s –’70s. I can still smell the pipe ‘dope’ (thread lubricant)” and oakum (sealant).”
“Am I the only one who’s confused by the signage on CN’s viaduct on westbound Chester Street in Champaign? The right-hand traffic lane is signed both ‘Keep Right’ and ‘Do Not Enter.’”
The pavement leading up to the viaduct does have some fading BUS ONLY lettering. But I can see how drivers who are not familiar with the area might not notice it, as they’re focused on trying to figure out what the mounted signs are trying to tell them.
Kris Koester, spokesperson for Champaign Public Works, told me the “Do Not Enter” sign used to say “Buses Only” in the center bar of white space, but the lettering appears to have faded. Offhand, he said he didn’t know whether the city or the C-U Mass Transit District is responsible for the sign, but promised “we’ll look into it.”
“Why don’t road crews use a mix of salt and sand to treat snowy or icy roads? Wouldn’t some sand help with traction?”
This question came in on the radio version of Kathy’s Mailbag, last Friday on “A Penny for Your Thoughts” on WDWS 1400-AM/93.9-FM. A texter who self-identified as a highway commissioner told host Brian Barnhart that in rural settings, sand is sometimes used in places where it ends up in open ditches.
Champaign Public Works’ Kris Koester provided a detailed explanation of why sand isn’t applied to city streets: “Salt is more environmentally friendly to treating streets than sand would be. While sand may provide some temporary traction, during falling snow it would just get covered up by more snow.
“Also, remaining sand on the streets after an event would be messy, wet and heavy. If any sand got into the stormwater system, it would potentially clog up the drainage system and potentially cause buildup in the watersheds. While salt lowers the freezing temperature of the roads, it also mostly dissolves on the road or in the stormwater system.”
“On Thursday, a bunch of ‘vegetation fires’ showed up on the PulsePoint app that lists all area fire and ambulance calls. What was that all about?”
This question also came from a listener to the radio version of the Mailbag on WDWS. Jeffrey Wooten, deputy director of Champaign County’s METCAD emergency dispatch system, said those inaccurate fire descriptions were a temporary aberration due to a PulsePoint coding error that followed a METCAD software upgrade.
PulsePoint, which is based in California, works nationwide with local partner agencies to offer a 911-connected app that provides basic information on fire and ambulance calls in real time.
Wooten said METCAD recently bought an automated fire-dispatching system that “will provide our telecommunicators the ability to remain on the phone with 9-1-1 callers and speak with emergency responders while the automated system sends the call information out over the fire-paging radio channel. The paging system also has the ability to send paging information directly to fire stations, where they can receive fire and medical call information, in most cases, even before the call information is transmitted over the radio.”
Because METCAD telecommunicators will no longer provide dispatch information over the radio, the automated system must provide enough detail that fire and EMS responders will know exactly what kind of emergency they’re responding to.
About 30 new fire-call types and 120 new medical-call types were built into METCAD’s dispatching software, he said. “Where previously, medical calls were simply classified as a ‘medical call’ with the telecommunicator providing additional call details over the radio, now the medical call may be a ‘difficult(y) breathing,’ ‘person choking’ or ‘chest pain’ call.”
Fire-call details provided to first responders are now equally specific: dumpster fire near a structure, power line down, vehicle fire, gas leak indoors, etc.
When METCAD programmed those new call types into its dispatch software system, the call-type updates also were sent to PulsePoint so the app’s software system could accurately interpret METCAD’s information on the nature of each call. Unfortunately, something got lost in the translation.
For most of the day on Jan. 9, PulsePoint classified certain calls as “vegetation fires” rather than what should have been a “single-unit fire response” call type as designated by METCAD. Wooten said PulsePoint corrected the coding error soon after it was brought to the organization’s attention.
“So, there were actually not any vegetation fires at all. It was simply a computer-coding error where the PulsePoint system was misreading the data it received from METCAD.”
“On Interstate 72 between Illinois 121 and U.S. 51, it appears there are the beginnings of entrance and exit ramps for an interchange that was never built. Was this to be an extension of Interstate 39 from Bloomington to Decatur and beyond?”
I’d always wondered if those “ghost ramps” were for rest areas that ended up being built elsewhere along I-72. But the reader is right: they were built to connect I-72 with a planned extension of I-39.
In federal highway parlance, the entire I-39 project was known as FAP 412. “FAP” stood for “federal aid-primary,” a designation for Interstate highways and important U.S. highways that connect to them. In Illinois, it was dubbed the North-South Freeway project.
Today, I-39 runs from Rib Mountain, Wis., just south of Wausau, to I-55 at Normal, Ill. U.S. Route 51 parallels I-39, much like I-55 was built parallel to (or using) parts of old U.S. Route 66. The portion of I-39 just north of Bloomington-Normal was built between 1987 and 1992.
As WDWS morning man Dave Gentry is fond of saying, “I told ya that so I can tell ya this:”
Originally, FAP 412 was envisioned as a high-speed, limited-access highway that would connect central Wisconsin to I-57 north of Salem, Illinois. Illinois Department of Transportation records include a 1978 “supplemental freeway system” map that had been approved by the Federal Highway Administration, as well as a 1974 revised description of FAP 412 from Bloomington southward:
“From an interchange with (Federally Assisted Interstate) 74 south of Bloomington via Clinton to an interchange with FAI 72 north of Decatur; and from another interchange with FAI 72 west of Decatur via Pana and Vandalia to an interchange with FAI 57 north of Salem.” Hence, the ghost ramps we still see today; they are the “stubs” of entrance and exit ramps for the segment of I-39 that was never completed.
The 1970s map showed the Rockford-to-Decatur segment as an approved “Priority Primary Route,” with the Decatur-to-Salem segment as a “proposed freeway corridor” – seemingly a lower-priority project that might be completed in the more distant future.
So what happened? It probably depends on whom you ask. Politics and lack of funding – the two ma-a-ay have been related – scuttled the project.
An October 1984 article in the Bloomington Pantagraph said recent hearings about the planned extension had pitted Decatur-area interests (for) vs. Bloomington-area interests (against).
The Decatur area coalition that supported the project was made up of “industrial-urban government battlers” along with labor unions. The news story characterized the Bloomington-area opponents as “the fighters with farming interests,” who were opposed to taking more prime farmland out of production for yet another highway project.
Also at issue was whether a new highway should be built to full, limited-access interstate-highway standards – or whether U.S. 51 should be upgraded to four lanes but left with a number of at-grade crossings. The latter option was less costly.
Interestingly, routings between Springfield and Quincy (today’s I-72) and between Lincoln and Morton (I-155) were shown on the 1970s map as “proposed freeway corridors” – seemingly of less importance to the federal highway planners. Those Interstate highways were built, and the proposed I-39 segment from Bloomington to Decatur ended up being shelved for good.
“I see Illini Grove on the UI campus now is called Seward Staley Illini Grove. Who was he, and when/why was the grove named after him?”
Many, if not most, UI alums and townies who frequent campus probably know it as just-plain Illini Grove, but the newish sign identifying the grove now carries Seward Staley’s name.
Who was he? According to the Illinois Distributed Museum, Staley was a UI graduate and eventual dean of the College of Physical Education, forerunner of the current College of Applied Health Sciences. During World War I, he had served as athletic director of the U.S. Army.
That experience may have sparked his decades-long research interest in the physical preparedness of young men who might be called upon to serve in the military. Staley concluded that regular participation in sports — particularly “more rugged sports” such as wrestling or boxing — would be the best way to build the strength and endurance of America’s young men.
Staley observed how European countries put more emphasis on sports and physical education in schools, and he believed Americans were too inclined to take the path of least resistance. During World War II, he served as an instructor and consultant with the U.S. Army, Navy and Army Air Corps.
In 1950, he saw an opportunity to transform a neglected and overgrown experimental woodlot known as The Forestry, located at the corner of Lincoln and Pennsylvania Avenues in Urbana. He worked with UI administration to turn it into “a useful and attractive recreation area” – one that formally would be named in his honor four decades later. Minutes of the February, 1991, UI Board of Trustees meeting tell us Illini Grove was “developed at modest cost” and opened to the campus community in 1951.
The uihistories.library.illinois.edu website tells us that by 1960, construction began on various recreational facilities for Illini Meadows, “formerly known as Illini Grove.” In the early 1960s, the shelter house in Illini Grove first appeared on maps. By 1983-1986, the present Illini Grove had regained its former name and Illini Meadows referred to an area immediately west of the Veterinary Medicine complex across Lincoln Avenue.
“I’d like to donate money to a charity that will help those affected by the Los Angeles-area wildfires. How can I be sure my donations will actually do some good?”
We try to stick mostly to questions of local interest in the Mailbag, but I’m sure many kind-hearted readers are wondering the same thing right about now. Of course, anyone can put up a website or social media page and start soliciting donations, purportedly to aid disaster victims. At a time when donors across the country feel an urgent, emotional connection to affected Angelenos, some scammers and (loosely defined) charities may take advantage of those tender hearts and open wallets.
Consumer Reports lists three national charity watchdog groups that aim to hold charitable organizations accountable, helping donors ensure that they’re giving to legitimate charities that align well with their values and intentions. Those three groups are CharityWatch, Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance.
Each of the three watchdog groups has its own way of evaluating charities’ finances and management practices, giving more or less weight to various factors such as overhead/fund-raising expenses, transparency, etc. The three groups also differ in how they compile data — for example, how heavily they rely on the charities’ self-reporting vs. analyzing their financial records independently.
All three watchdog groups offer accountability information on established charities that are working to assist California fire victims. What they will not have at this time … is accountability data for new charities that have sprung up recently in response to the current fire disaster.
“Will the City of Champaign ever stripe the streets again? They’ve let them go so far, I don’t think they’ll ever catch up!”
Champaign Public Works spokesperson Kris Koester said the city has an annual pavement-marking contract with a budget of $115,000. That’s not enough to stripe every street, but is enough to stripe some of the more heavily traveled streets each year.
Work completed in 2024 included portions of Country Fair Drive, Bloomington Road, North State and Randolph Streets, and several others. In addition, pavement markings are part of other projects, such as the annual asphalt resurfacing projects and larger capital projects. He said 2024 work also included portions of West Green and John Streets, and Duncan Road between Springfield and Kirby.
Readers: if you would like to let the city know of a street that should be evaluated for inclusion in a future annual pavement marking contract, contact Public Works at publicworks@champaignil.gov.
Last week’s Mailbag item on roadside cast-offs prompted Joe Pisula to drop us a note: “For the past few years, myself and a few other Savoy folks have taken it upon ourselves to periodically pick up trash along the east (i.e., “orphaned”) part of U.S. 45 in Savoy, and we find a lot of weird things.
“Last fall, during the week after the Illini football team beat Michigan at Memorial Stadium, we cleaned up near the intersection of Curtis Road and Route 45. I found what I thought was a $100 bill lying face-down. However, as the attached photo shows, when I turned it face-up, I found that it was “motion picture money.” Apparently, a disgruntled Michigan fan tossed it out.”
“Aren’t property owners in C-U required by law to clear snow from their sidewalks? If so, what is the penalty for not doing so — and how can people report violations?”
Both Urbana and Champaign have ice-and-snow-removal ordinances that apply only to certain areas of town. Of course, residents of other neighborhoods are encouraged to clear the walks near their homes, but are not required to do so.
Urbana’s Sidewalk Snow Removal Zone Ordinance requires that property owners in the identified snow-removal districts clear the adjacent public sidewalks of snow and ice within 24 hours of a declaration by the Public Works Director. Those zones include the UI campus area, downtown Urbana and the Philo Road business district.
“Public sidewalks within these districts, which are not in compliance, could be cleared by the city at the expense of the adjacent property owner, with additional fines and administrative fees applied,” according to a City of Urbana press release.
Across Wright Street, owners of property located within Champaign’s university district and the downtown area are responsible for removing snow, ice, sleet and/or freezing rain from the sidewalk adjacent to their property. The map of the zones covered by the ordinance seems to include the “midtown” district between the UI campus and downtown.
The city website says the ordinance’s purpose is to maintain accessibility for the general public who rely on the sidewalk system to carry out their daily activities. The ordinance applies when accumulations are of 2 inches or greater. The public works director will announce when the ordinance requirements are officially in effect. Owners then have 48 hours to comply with the declaration.
If a downtown or university district property owner in Champaign does not comply with the ordinance, the city will notify the owner of the requirement. If the owner is not responsive to the order to comply, the city will provide for removal of the snow and/or ice and will bill the property owner for the costs in addition to an administrative fee.
Violations may be reported to each city’s public works department.
Some people may hesitate to scoop the public sidewalks near their homes, for fear of being sued if someone falls on a patch of ice. However, the Illinois Snow and Ice Removal Act (745 ILCS 75/0.01; Ch. 70, par. 202) actually encourages people to make a good-faith effort to shovel the walks and provides protection for those who do so:
“Any owner, lessor, occupant or other person in charge of any residential property, or any agent of or other person engaged by any such party, who removes or attempts to remove snow or ice from sidewalks abutting the property shall not be liable for any personal injuries allegedly caused by the snowy or icy condition of the sidewalk resulting from his or her acts or omissions unless the alleged misconduct was willful or wanton.”
“I’ve never been sick as many times as I’ve been so far this season, mostly with respiratory bugs. Is it just me?”
It does seem several illnesses have been going around over the past month or so. It may be hard to tell when the effects of one “bug” end and another one begins.
The Illinois Department of Public Health’s most recent Respiratory Illness Dashboard, for the week ending Jan. 4, characterizes the state’s respiratory illness level as “high.” Among the so-called “big three” respiratory viruses – influenza (flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 – the most recent data show seasonal flu as the most common reason for emergency department visits and hospitalizations.
As of Jan. 7, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimates show cases of flu, RSV and COVID-19 are declining in Illinois.
OSF HealthCare spokesperson Tim Ditman said OSF “is seeing our fair share of (respiratory illness) cases. It hasn’t been anything our hospitals and clinics can’t handle. In talking with our doctors, it seems we’re seeing more flu than the others.”
CarleHealth’s Brittany Simon said that system’s care teams “continue to encounter high rates of respiratory infection; most prevalent are flu, RSV and COVID-19. Though most of these viruses are typically only contagious for the first 3 to 5 days, symptoms could last up to 2 weeks or more and (affect) every individual differently.”
She said if someone continuously feels ill, they should contact their primary care provider and be evaluated.
Over at Christie Clinic, spokesperson Melissa Tepovich said Christie’s convenient care locations have seen a rise in respiratory infections, as they usually do at this time of year. They, too, are seeing cases of COVID, flu and RSV in their offices.
As always, healthcare providers urge people to wash their hands frequently, stay home when they’re sick, cover coughs and sneezes, wear a mask when ill or around people who are symptomatic, and stay up-to-date on vaccines for which they’re eligible.
Longtime multimedia reporter Kathy Reiser is the author of Kathy’s Mailbag, which runs in full every Friday on news-gazette.com and in part in Saturday’s News-Gazette. Submit your questions here.
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