Excerpts from wcia.com:
URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — The Urbana City Council has approved $1.5 million for building two new fire stations.
A grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity gave a total of $2 million to the city for community development, affordable housing, violence prevention, and administrative costs. The fire department said the Philo Road and North Lincoln Avenue stations are long overdue for upgrades, but using the money for the stations wasn’t a unanimous decision from the city council.
Some city council members were opposed to giving such a large sum of that money to the department, saying that the spirit of the DCEO grant was intended for economic opportunities in these low-income neighborhoods and not for the government buildings of these neighborhoods.
One new station will be built across the street from the current Philo Road location. The other will be between Goodwin and Bradley Avenues. The Philo Road station has not been remodeled since it was built in the 1970s.
#1 by Localguy on September 29, 2023 - 11:47 AM
They are not spending 2 million for two stations. It’s 2 million to go towards two stations. The two stations are single engine houses. Gonna be closer to 8 million each. There’s plenty of low income housing in CU. This is the mindset of liberals. The FD didn’t let them go to heck. The firefighters have made the best of what they had for a long time. Again the issue is a liberal city that puts crap like low income housing before the services tax payers pay for.
#2 by crabbymilton on September 29, 2023 - 6:03 AM
Reading between the lines it sounds like the 2M is a supplemental amount for the stations. It also sounds like they let the current station go to heck and now they want more. I know I will be scorned but spending money on low income housing has been a failure forever. What makes them think it will work this time?
#3 by Chuck on September 28, 2023 - 7:17 PM
What are they building with $2,000,000 for two houses, two tin shacks? This I have to see.