 Last week during his talk, he conveyed that upon taking office, he
had made a list of goals for what he wanted to accomplish in his
first term.
"I had a page of promises, things I wanted to get done. We've
been whittling away at them. I think I was a bit too ambitious about
some things. You don't realize the manpower issues, you don't think
about the finance issues, you don't think about the time things
take," Snyder said. "I talked about economic development the first
time, the future and community pride, and I think we've made good
strides in all those. The economic development piece has been slower
than anyone would have liked, but we're still not only trying to
swim against the national recessionary tides, but also it's not easy
being in Illinois and trying to deal with all those issues.
"The community pride piece," Snyder commented, "I think we've
done a lot of things there, from the building and safety office
efforts to get some of the worst properties demolished in the
neighborhood, to the things that Kathy Vinyard has led with the From
the Ground Up, and the improvements to neighborhood parks and the
downtown and all. We've made some great strides. We've got lots more
to do."
When asked what he had accomplished that he was most proud of, he
responded: "Oh boy. I think it's probably some of the community
pride issues. Just kind of anecdotally, I get a newsletter each week
from a nationwide gal whose focus is small communities and small
business development. She had an article recently about a little
town in Oklahoma that needed to paint their utility poles downtown.
Rather than paint them with gray paint, they painted them white,
then let families paint on the poles. So she wanted to know, ‘What
have you done in your community?' and I thought, ‘We do a lot!'"
Snyder said he shot off an email to her telling her about the
railroad viaducts, the "plant the town red" and the mural done by
Lincoln Christian University. He said within a few minutes he heard
back from her, and she said she would feature some of that in a
future newsletter.
"That is kind of neat when you think about it. From those things
to planters downtown, some of the things we've done to highlight
local artists -- that is all community pride. It is little stuff,
but it is all stuff that helps build pride in our community and
makes Lincoln look better.
"There are big things down the road that I still want to get
accomplished, downtown revitalization; but some of those little
things, I think, have added up to make a difference, and that is
encouraging."
When asked what the biggest challenges have been for him, he
first noted the transition into a new position.
"When I decided to run was the summer of 2008, and shortly
thereafter things went south. Those first few years were really
tough. We couldn't do hardly anything. Even with the budget we had,
we had to do everything we could to not spend it," Snyder said.
"It has been a challenge, just fighting the state of Illinois
from time to time. We have had governors who wanted to take away our
income tax proceeds, which is a big chunk of the budget. Gov. Quinn
wanted to close Logan Correctional Center."
Snyder said he'd recently talked to a prospective candidate for
governor who asked what "we" would like to see in a governor. Snyder
said he replied, "We'd like to see someone we're on the same page
with, on the same team with and not fighting all the time."
Snyder added: "We should be partners with the state to make
Lincoln a better place. It helps Illinois if Lincoln is a better
place. I think most communities feel like they have been fighting
the state."
Snyder said he does realize the state itself is fighting some
huge challenges, but he said it has been a real challenge to try to
work with the state.
"I think anything that has happened positively economically can
be traced back to the local communities, not to the state efforts.
It is the Brian Bergens in each community, the city councils in each
community, the Andi Hakes in each community are all doing their best
to try and make their communities a better place. But then to have
some of the battles we've had with the state, it can take some of
the air out of your sails."
[to top of second column] |
Snyder moved on to answer the question "What has been your
biggest disappointment?" and he responded, probably the ITEP grants.
The Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grants are funds
that could pay for some of the work the mayor would like to see done
as part of the downtown revitalization. The city has been applying
for the grants through Lisa Kramer with Prairie Engineers, and they
are still being turned down.
Snyder said it is disappointing when the city is told they scored
very well on the grant application, yet they did not win the award.
This year, in addition, the city is dealing with changes to the
grant that have made the city realign some of the priorities for the
project. One of the new requirements for the grant says the
enhancement has to be done along a federal highway. Recently it was
discussed that perhaps the ITEP would allow for changes along
Chicago and Sangamon streets because high-speed rail is a federal
transportation project. However, more recently, the city has learned
that high-speed rail does not qualify, so the city is back to the
drawing board on finding the right combination of factors to suit
the requirements of the grant.
Snyder said it is also sometimes disappointing that things take
as long as they do. He added that sometimes that is good because
"sometimes maybe we shouldn't rush into things."
He noted that one such frustration is trying to move on the
purchase of the depot property. The city has been working with the
Illinois Department of Transportation to acquire the property for
the official Amtrak station in Lincoln. Snyder said that for a short
time, it looked like everything was worked out and they were ready
to begin negotiating the price, but then other issues came up, and
now it is on hold again.
Over his first four years of office, Snyder worked to find an
answer to the problem of what to do with the former Lincoln
Developmental Center structures and four new cottages that were
built for group homes but never occupied. Also known as Lincoln
Estates, the property is owned by the state of Illinois but has been
abandoned. The facility, which once was a home for the
developmentally disabled, was shut down by Gov. George Ryan in 2002.
During his run for governor, Rod Blagojevich made commitments to
Sen. Larry Bomke that he would work to find some use for the
facility, but in the end he did nothing.
The city of Lincoln has also fought to revive the facility,
bringing ideas to the sitting governors at the time, but has had
little success in getting anything accomplished.
Snyder said last week that LDC certainly could fall into the
"biggest disappointment" category as he has been part of some really
great, workable ideas for that property that the state would not go
along with.
He said, "We've had interest in the properties that the state had
no interest in dealing with." Snyder said there had been prospects
for housing projects and prospects for some social service projects.
He spoke specifically about an idea that came up that would have
solved more than one issue. At the LDC campus there are buildings
that have mold issues. Snyder said there was a firm interested in
coming into the facility whose area of expertise was in mold
removal.
"We thought we could put them in one of the smaller buildings,
and while they were there, they could deal with the mold problem.
Later, we could move them into perhaps another, larger building and
let them deal with the mold there as well. But the state said it
wouldn't work because they first couldn't give people free rent, and
secondly they would have to bid on the mold remediation.
"You talk to the state and they say, ‘Oh yes, we're definitely
interested.' But then you run into bureaucracy, and then things drag
down and don't happen."
___
This concludes Part 2 of a one-on-one discussion with Mayor Keith
Snyder about his time spent as mayor for the city of Lincoln. In the
third and final segment, Snyder will talk about the future and what
is on his "list of promises" for the next four years.
[By NILA SMITH]
Mayor Keith Snyder: Looking back, looking forward
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