Marion Daily Rips Mount Vernon in Online Headline

As a journalist working in the newsroom of small daily paper I would often be called to suggest a headline for my story. Usually, the closer the deadline the more likely the first suggestion would be one not fit for print, or at least too edgy for a community newspaper. After we got the zinger out of the way, we could then focus on the "real" headline.

I'm thinking that might have been the case today at the Marion Daily Republican, except that they went with the zinger for the online edition, republishing a Mount Vernon Register-News article on the King City's reaction to today's bill signing in Marion.

In the same vein of thought as Marion Mayor Bob Butler's comment last month that Mount Vernon should "stop whining", someone at the paper came up with this New York Post-style headline — King City cranky over STAR Bond signing.

Marion, Ill. — Gov. Pat Quinn would sign STAR bond legislation in Marion didn't sit well in Mt. Vernon. King City leaders had lobbied to be included in the bill, but it appeared the city would be left out.

Mayor Mary Jane Chesley sent a letter to Gov. Quinn earlier this month asking him to impose an amendatory veto on the STAR Bonds bill to include Mt. Vernon. That he did not is disappointing, she said.

“It defies logic,” Chesley said of the city’s exclusion in the bill. “But what it does not defy is politics.”

In other news, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the latest population estimates show Mount Vernon losing another 62 residents between 2008 and 2009 with a current estimated population of 16,269, as of July 1, 2009.

'Life-Changing Exciting,' Unions Back Jobs Bill

The Marion Daily Republican nabbed the best quote yesterday explaining union support for the STAR Bonds bill.

Rick Hilliard, business manager for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 318, anticipated thousands of construction jobs awaiting the region.

"This is life-changing exciting. I can't wait to get machinery in the dirt," he said. "For business looking for a place to prosper, city officials helped them figure ways to prosper. This will be an explosion of that."

WSIL-TV backed up the sentiment the stats from the Laborers.

At Local 773, the Marion-based chapter of the Laborers International Union of North America, man hours dropped from around 1.1 million in 2001 to around 412,000 in 2007.

As the recession continued that number shrank to around 380,000 in 2009.

Everyone But Quinn Turns Out for Bill Signing

Officials from Cairo up to Mount Vernon (okay, maybe not Mount Vernon, but at least Franklin County) turned out in Marion this morning to witness Gov. Pat Quinn sign Senate Bill 2093, the STAR Bonds incentives legislation that would stimulate the development of thousands of jobs in Southern Illinois.

The Carterville marching band entertained the crowd, veterans manned a color guard and a children's choir sung the Star Spangled Banner at the Operating Engineers Local 318's union hall on Marion's west side.

The governor's staff and state Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, had the legislation laying out on the head table with plenty of pens available for the governor to use. All that was missing was the governor himself.

Wicked weather forced the cancellation of 375 flights out of Chicago O'Hare this morning and delayed hundreds of others at both O'Hare and Midway, including the state plane scheduled to fly Quinn to today's event.

Bradley first announced a delay of one hour following the Pledge of Allegiance and the invocation. The governor had canceled the rest of his schedule this afternoon and would arrive eventually. Minutes later Bradley provided another update inviting the crowd of around 200 to come back tomorrow after flight officials told the governor he was looking a delay of 5 or 6 hours before being able to take off.

Wags in the crowd were quick to point out two things. First, if the governor resided in Springfield he could have made it as it was nothing but blue skies over the Executive Mansion this morning. Second, since he's such a big advocate of Amtrak he could have come by train (and still made it quicker).

In the end it won't matter though. He'll be quickly forgiven. Barring wind and wild weather he should make it to Marion and sign the bill in 12 hours or so and the wait will be over.

Now that we know he's going to sign it, the next question is how much developer Bruce Holland will be able to say tomorrow on what's actually coming. Word is dirt should start flying almost immediately on at least some aspects of the project.

Quinn Expected to Sign STAR Bonds Bill Tomorrow

The wait is almost over. Gov. Pat Quinn is set to visit Marion tomorrow to sign SB 2093, the STAR Bonds development bill that could lead to thousands of new jobs created in Southern Illinois.

Quinn's set to be at the Operating Engineers Local 318 meeting hall at 11 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Quinn vetoed a similar bill last year sending it back to the legislature with a change in the language to limit state incentives to 50 percent of the eligible costs. This time the bill includes the language Quinn wanted.

The bill would use the state's portion of the new sales tax revenue generated by the project to fund bonds to pay for the development.

In testimony last month Bruce Holland, the lead developer behind the proposal, admitted that no companies had signed on yet, but were waiting for the bill to be passed. No word yet if Holland will make any announcements along those lines.

Already he has met the first June 1 deadline in the bill to secure control at least 50 percent of the land in the proposed development. The district will include 45 to 50 acres west of Interstate 57 next to Rent One Park and behind Menards, as well as least 350 acres east of the interstate and north of Morgan Avenue.

In order to secure a STAR Bonds district the developers must show they have at least one large retailer (a destination user as defined by the bill), and one entertainment user (an entertainment center or theme park). What and when they announce those two developments will go a long way in indicating just how big this development will be.