I received an e-mail this week from Lisa Meid regarding a company called Pavlov Media. They are proposing a wireless network for the downtown area including West Side Park at no cost to the City. They are asking to place their equipment on some of the City equipment (street lights etc). This is supposed to be on our June 5th agenda. I don’t have my packet yet but I am very excited about this possibility. From the Draft Memo:

“Proposed Coverage Area. City staff and Pavlov established major corridors to focus on for initial implementation. High priority was given to the One Main Plaza, Taylor Street Plaza, and West Side Park. Street corridors identified were Neil, Church, Main, University, Walnut, Chester, Park, Randolph and State. This area encompasses the largest concentration of outdoor café’s.

Quality of Life and Economic Development Benefits. Implementation of this program is expected to have several positive impacts on the Downtown Community. Upon completion of this installation West Side Park will become Champaign’s first WiFi park. These enhancements will likely generate additional traffic to the park as well as aid vendor sales during events such as the Downtown Festival of the Arts and Taste of Champaign-Urbana. Another benefit is expected in the more that 600 outdoor café seats currently available in Downtown. This program has potential to attract more daytime visitors to those cafés and help increase sales during off-peak times. A number of restaurants and café’s currently offer wireless internet within their establishments and in their outdoor café areas. The wireless signal offered by this agreement will be available in addition to the existing outdoor wireless provided by the business. The signal strength on the Pavlov system will not be strong enough to penetrate the walls of the business and therefore not be available inside. “

I think it would be wonderful to have wireless available for our citizens throughout our community. This area is a great test for making it more widely available. I will see you this summer in West Side Park with my laptop!

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One of the items on our agenda for tomorrow night is “our future here- a vision for Champaign County.” This document is a report from Big Small All. And, as our memo states:

“The vision in its simplest form declares that Champaign County will be a community that is collaborative, prosperous, sustainable, supportive and enriching.”

There are 5 areas that the project is focusing on:

“The Prosperous County theme captures our desire to create a future in which Champaign County attracts new investment, the University of Illinois is globally competitive, businesses flourish, individuals and families thrive and resources are available to support community initiatives.

The Sustainable County theme describes our aspiration to create stable and convivial neighborhoods, use natural resources including prime farmland efficiently and wisely, minimize waste and pollution, and restore the ecological integrity of the natural environment.

The Supportive County theme reflects our commitment to ensuring that everyone in Champaign County has access to the basic necessities of a secure, happy and dignified life in which they can contribute to the larger life of the community The

Enriching County theme expresses our intent to empower individuals to flourish, and to lead lives that are healthy, stimulating and fulfilling. “

You can find more info at www.bigsmallall.cc. I would love your comments about the project and the proposals.

We also have some budget items on the study session agenda. The Capitol Improvements Plan Budget and a memo about Township Budget should be the most interesting of the evening. In the Township item, City Staff recommends that the City “loan” the Township $26, 000.00 until the annexation fight over the properties annexed by the City of Champaign in 2005 is resolved (meaning $26,000 EACH YEAR until the lawsuit is resolved). Assuming this lawsuit is resolved in favor of the City of Champaign and Champaign Township the Township would receive the $26,000.00 (per year) and then presumably repay it to the City. Although since they are running a deficit budget I am not sure how even when they receive it the Township will have the money to repay the loan. The best arguement in the memo for doing this is, “the City is saving about $220,000 annually, as it does not have to pay Champaign Township for property taxes lost because of the detachment of the properties from Champaign Township.” I remain skeptical of providing funding from the City to the Township. The Memo also provides alternatives relating to in-kind of City staff time to help the Township which I would support and a discussion about trying to remove tax caps and placing theTownship issue on the ballot again. As for tax caps, they were voted in and I don’t think I would be in favor of them being removed without the voters choosing to remove them (via referendum). I suppose we can ask the legislature for authority to put on the ballot the issue of removal of tax caps and let the voters decide. However, I think it would be better to find support from the voters for a tax increase for the Township (via referendum) then a removal of tax caps. Removal of tax caps without a vote seems like an end run around the voters by removing tax caps and letting the Township tax whatever it wants. There are many governmental bodies impacted by tax caps- school districts, the County, etc. the Township is not unique in having a hard time under tax caps. I am interested to hear the discussion tomorrow night and to think about possible solutions to the Township’s structural deficit.

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 ”I, State your name”

Council after swearing in minus Pirok

 The Mayor, Deb, Catherine, & Karlee

 Council Team Building

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