What if they made a budget
and nobody cared?
by Mike Kroll
The Zephyr, Galesburg
Galesburg
city officials officially began the 2008 budget process at Lake Storey Pavilion
on Monday night. City manager Dane Bragg and is top staff joined mayor Gary
Smith and five of the seven city council members for what was described as a
goal setting session. Aside from four members of the press a total of three
Galesburg citizens came to enjoy the festivities and see their city officials
brainstorm plans for next year. Bragg began the meeting by having community
development director Roy Parkin lecture everyone on what constitutes a ÒgoalÓ
versus an Òobjective.Ó Then Bragg turned the meeting over to Smith and the
council, inviting them to bring up any goal they had for the upcoming year.
While
the word was never used, this was one of those classic opportunities for our
elected officials to demonstrate the vision and leadership we entrusted in them
at the polls. Alas, with but a few notable exceptions the council members did
nothing but rehash old plans and long-standing complaints or reiterate the need
to complete critical projects already identified and begun. It was like
watching a gaggle of lethargic people stumbling aimlessly around in a totally
dark room for two hours. The mayor should actually be pleased so few were
present to witness the event.
To
Bragg's credit he didn't immediately take over leadership of the meeting but
rather attempted to force the aldermen to do their duty through his silence.
The preceding city manager would have prepared his list of goals and objectives
and spoon-fed it to the council to be rubber stamped. It wasn't until the tail
end of the meeting when the council had expended its limited pool of ideas that
they convinced Bragg to present his ideas.
As
one might expect, the mayor focused principally on economic development. What
was probably unexpected was his suggestion that the city council spend the time
to reevaluate city spending on economic development. Do we spend enough or is
more of a commitment needed? More importantly, are we wisely spending the
economic development funds currently? Late in the meeting Smith broached a
topic I have harped on in these pages for some time, how can we get people in
this community who possess the resources and knowledge to startup
entrepreneurial projects that can help build our area economy.
There
is no doubt that finding a cost effective means toward successful economic
development has to be an ongoing priority and this will not be accomplished
merely by waiting for outsiders to arrive and rescue Galesburg. The mayors
suggestion that we engage in a meaningful reevaluation of local economic
development efforts was one of the better ideas that came out of Monday's
meeting. The coming year would appear to offer an excellent opportunity to
explore new economic development opportunities with the city's newly hired
economic development director. We can only hope that his role will be much
broader than just retail expansion.
No
doubt creation of this position must be seen as a challenge to our friends at
GREDA, but what's wrong with that? Let us begin a regional effort to nurture
new LOCAL investment in job-creating enterprises that offer more than just
blue-collar or retail jobs. Let us make Galesburg as great a place to live as
we have been telling people it is and use quality of life and technical
assistance to nurture creation of local white collar jobs serving corporations
outside of Galesburg.
To
that end we need to devote real effort and resources toward fixing those things
that are currently broken in Galesburg. The council should set a goal of
replacing the currently toothless rental property inspection program with a
strong rental property licensing program. We need to force local slumlords into
becoming responsible landlords or getting out of the business. By eliminating
the many substandard, extremely low-rent apartments and rental homes we will
simultaneously make Galesburg a more attractive community and reward
responsible landlords for maintaining quality properties. This is a big and
politically sensitive task but one that must be done if the Galesburg economy
is to improve. While mandating better quality rental properties will bring
higher rents that is the price we must pay. The presence of slumlords merely
discourages responsible ownership of rental properties because they depress the
housing market prices.
Since
the vast majority of problem properties across this town are poorly maintained
rental properties the above will go a long way toward improving the conditions
of Galesburg neighborhoods. Let us accompany this with a targeted effort in a
highly visible area to offer incentives to home ownership and rehabilitation
for owner-occupied properties. New home construction just isn't going to happen
until we can make Galesburg attractive enough to bring back middle-class
families and financially-secure retirees. And when we encourage that new home
construction let us not automatically presume that it can only be successful
norther of Losey Street.
Alderman
Mike Lummis' suggestion that the city begin promoting creation of a light rail
system linking Galesburg with the Quad Cities, Peoria and even Bloomington
isn't as far fetched as many think. With the flight of manufacturing jobs from
Galesburg many of our neighbors already commute to these places daily and
Galesburg can be promoted as a better place to live and raise your family even
if you commute to work outside of town. Urbanites regularly spend more than an
hours commuting to work in the big cities across this country so a 45 minute
train or bus ride to and from work could offer an attractive solution that is
less stressful on the employee, her pocketbook and the environment too.
Late
in the meeting Bragg mentioned establishing a Main Street corridor bisecting
the city from I-74 on the east to Route 34 on the west. Devote the time
necessary to plan a responsible combination of commercial and residential use
along what could become Galesburg premier boulevard and a showplace for
visitors. Clean up not only these two city entrances but avoid the commercial
planning nightmare that is Henderson Street. Systematically rezone properties
along Main Street ahead of their redevelopment and implement building code and
zoning changes that will make Main Street a safer, more successful and more
attractive business corridor.
There
is no question that we must get moving on the necessary improvements to our
aging water system but this is now a matter of fiscal prioritization and and an
iron-clad commitment by the city council to see the job through. The water
system is one of the most critical and challenging services offered by the city
and it has gone along far too long with little or no real oversight. The water
division should be withdrawn from under the public works umbrella and truly operated
as a stand-alone entity with the constant oversight of a water commission to
oversee system priorities, rates, and a responsible capital plan. This is just
too important to be handled directly by the council or as just another public
works division.
There
are many, many more things that could and should be discussed by the city
council in a brainstorming session but the key is that the council accept and
perform their duty as the elected leaders of Galesburg. It is up to the city
council, not the city staff, to establish a vision and plan for the future of
this community. Galesburg needs and deserves seven visionaries and a team
captain who facilitates the planning process. Work out a plan and prioritize
its component parts and then turn to your city staff to help implement that
plan.
8/2/07