University of Illinois Willard Airport
The impact of COVID-19 on central Illinois airport revenue has been substantial as passenger travel was reduced by almost two-thirds.
The commission has assisted 432 veterans through November this year, but it has had to turn away many requests because donations that supplement the county money were down, said Brad Gould, the commission’s superintendent.
Darrell Hoemann
Forty-eight out of approximately 90 small businesses in Champaign received a total of $520,000 in grants from the Small Business Incentive Program COVID Relief Grants. The money for these grants came from the Federal CARES Act fund. The city council amended the pre-existing Small Business Incentive Program so that the program could be used to distribute this new funding in an efficient and productive way.
CU-CitizenAccess provides a searchable database of Champaign-Urbana business that received loans under $150,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program.
Sydney Wood
Despite ongoing major road construction within West Urbana, multiple stretches of brick sidewalks that do not meet the standards of the federal disability act will not be fixed. Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten said the City doesn’t have the finances to correct every non-ADA compliant sidewalk in Urbana that is outside of MCORE’s construction zone.
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.
University Housing
Last year, 233 criminal incidents occurred on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus according to the 2019 annual security and fire report, mandated by the federal crime reporting law for colleges known as the Clery Act. But the university’s daily crime log routinely reports many more incidents. Some law enforcement officials said the Clery Act guidelines can be confusing and unclear for crime reporting and can lead to ‘unintended harms’, especially in the wake of COVID-19, which may make campuses appear less safe than reality.
Champaign County businesses that suffered damage from looting may eventually be included in funding from the Small Business Administration (SBA), a spokesperson said last week. John Dwyer of the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency, said in a phone call that over 50 businesses were affected by looting. The SBA announced in an email on June 26 it would be providing grants to Illinois businesses affected by civil unrest between May 26 and June 8.
The Champaign Park District, facing at least $1.8 million in lost revenue, is set to meet July 22 to discuss its budget for the upcoming year. Part of the budget, which includes grants and the park district recently applied for a Rebuild Illinois grant. It is also in the process of applying for an Illinois Emergency Management Agency grant, but Wallace said in a phone interview Thursday that the grant has shifted to being administered federally and so the grant is more limited in scope.
The City of Champaign announced in an email that it is offering grants of up to $15,000 for small business owners. The email comes in the wake of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s announcement June 17 that the state of Illinois will provide grants for small businesses under the new Business Interruption Grant program. Illinois’ program provides $60 million of funding to small businesses, including allocations of $20 million to bars and restaurants who can’t have outdoor seating, $10 million to barber shops and salons, and another $10 million is allocated to gyms and fitness centers.