Luciano does Davis’ job for her

For the second day in a row, Phil Luciano has written a column that I
enjoyed. If he keeps this up, it could be a sign of the Apocalypse.

? Downtown plan mostly make-believe

Luciano looks into the Heart of Illinois plan, which advocates such
radical concepts like eliminating one-way streets, fixing up abandoned
buildings, fixing sidewalks and making sure the renovated Interstate 74
actually has on and off ramps for the downtown area. In other words:
Nothing that people haven’t been saying for years.

(I also note that the JS’s city hall reporter, Jennifer Davis, is too
busy cheerleading for the Heart of Illinois Plan to actually provide a
comprehensive look at it the details. Funny how it took a columnist like
Luciano to actually provide the details that a supposedly hard-news
reporter like Davis couldn’t — or wouldn’t — bother doing.)

There are some loopy ideas, including building a whitewater race course
near Taft Homes.

[sarcasm]Yeah, I’d be willing to close Fire Station 11 to pay for that
[/sarcasm].

An ice rink in the downtown isn’t a bad idea, but consider that there
already is an ice rink — Owens Center
— up at Lakeview
that isn’t exactly being overused.

The proposal calls for slowing down traffic in the downtown area. Hey,
if I waned to shop where traffic was slow and ponderous, I’d shop at
Northwoods Mall more often. Luciano knocks the plan for calling for even
less trees and foliage and more sidewalks.

And kudos to Luciano for doing what I haven’t had the time to do –
actually download and read the whole report.