Geese invading grassy and populated areas are causing residents to ask both the Champaign and Urbana Park Districts to manage the geese population better. However, others in the area are trying to get rid of the geese humanely.
Darrell Hoemann
While recycling is controlled in Urbana, trash is not consolidated in the same way, as there are seven licensed haulers for the city of Urbana, all ranging in price and accepted volume. Not every hauler services each part of Urbana, and haulers pick up trash on a few designated days. Courtney Kwong, recycling coordinator for Urbana, said this is a long-term goal for the city to increase efficiency in the next 30 years.
Darrell Hoemann
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) predicted capacity limit for the Republic Services Brickyard Disposal is the lowest in the Central Illinois region, and…
An agenda item on the Oct. 18 meeting packet stated that the school district had an “obligation” to complete on-site underground storm sewer work at the Middletown Prairie campus as private land west of Middletown Prairie Elementary (MPE) developed. That obligation may have been the first time the public was made aware of the situation, yet, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by CU-CitizenAccess, it is evident that all parties involved, including the boards, were aware of a developing situation as early as 2016 and 2017. It started with a drainage issue and led to an agreement for South Mahomet Road while the school district finalized their plans for Phase II construction on the elementary school.
Darrell Hoemann
Throughout this year, about 466 nuisance complaints were reported in Urbana. Nuisance complaints include weeds and overgrown trees and vegetation, trash, debris, loud noise…
Darrell Hoemann
The inconsistent pick up by some commercial garbage-hauling companies has been sharply criticized residents in the Champaign area. Despite an increase in complaints, no companies have received a fine from the city. The city also has no employee in the city’s public works department who is dedicated to dealing with complaints about waste haulers.
Darrell Hoemann
In response to uncontrolled trash piling up in the North Prospect business area, community members rallied together to pick up 29 bags of litter…
Champaign residents erupted on social media in early March about the excess litter in the Champaign area, especially North Prospect, with some claiming they have never seen the city so polluted before. In late spring this year, resident Michael Chrasta expects “a revival” of the Loving Our City cleanup initiative that was cancelled in March 2020 as COVID-19 entered the community.
Champaign County Forest Preserve District
The Champaign County Forest Preserve District is a week away from learning if voters will support its plea for an increase in taxes to support catching up on more than $4 million in backlogged capital projects. The referendum proposes an increased tax levy of 0.0160 to 0.1033 percent. The district decided not to increase its tax levy before a tax cap implementation in 1996.
On-going flooding still plagues the Champaign area, despite multi-million-dollar changes made to local water areas over a decade ago. Based on observations from Champaign’s COOP weather station, not only have water levels in Illinois have been increasing about 0.6-inches every decade since 1899, but the daily precipitation has also grown in the same time span. Over the last 20 years, Champaign has been doused with the highest rate of precipitation on record.