After seven years of delay by three different sets of members, the St. Charles City Council has finally decided: the median at the rebuilt First Capitol Drive-Interstate 70 interchange will be filled in with plain concrete.
The council on Tuesday night voted 6-4 to accept a $58,590 bid to use concrete instead of brick pavers – the beautification option preferred by Mayor Patti York. The latest estimate on that was $114,155.
Another option supported Tuesday by York and some council members as a compromise - brick pavers with a concrete border – had a $105,617 price tag.
York said she and the city beautification commission first proposed brick in 2002 – when the new interchange was still being planned – partly because it ”would tie into all the other streets we’re doing across the city.”
Councilwoman Laurie Feldman of the 3rd Ward called the proposed compromise “the best of both worlds” and said “sometimes you have to spend money to do the right thing for aesthetics.” Councilman Michael Weller of the 5th Ward agreed, saying it’s “pretty short-sighted” to scrimp at the end of a $27 million project just to save around $50,000.
That was countered by Dave Beckering of the 7th Ward. He said the city should choose the least expensive option at a time when budget constraints had previously spurred officials to trim the maximum household utility tax rebate for older residents to $100 from $125.
Councilman Richard Veit of the 1st Ward, another concrete supporter, said he didn’t think brick is “significantly better looking” for a road median anyway. And Erv Ermeling of the 10th Ward said most people who drive by could care less about what the median looks like. ”They’re on their way home,” he observed.
Joining Beckering, Veit and Ermeling in voting for concrete were Bob Kneemiller, 4th Ward; Jerry Reese, 6th Ward, and Ron Stivison, 9th Ward. Voting against concrete besides Weller and Feldman were Council President Larry Muench, 2nd Ward, and Michael Klinghammer, 8th Ward.
Had the council gone with the usual concrete earlier, York said, the state would have paid for it. “We wouldn’t have paid a dime” for the median work, she said. “We have to pay for it now because we committed something different.” The city did pay for some other enhancements to the bridge, a state official said.
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Now we understand the need for the increase in checkpoints.
The council screwed up and now needs money to cover their mistake.
Better get crackin’ on cars without front license plates too.
“We’d love to look for the guy that robbed your house but there’s no commission on catching him.”
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Mayor York said she and the city beautification commission first proposed brick in 2002 and then says “Had the council gone with the usual concrete earlier, York said, the state would have paid for it”
What a line of crap, Mayor your and the her hand selected beautification commission cost the tax payers 58 thousand dollars.
I guess the hard economic times don’t effect Mayor York and some of the council members and why should it, it is our tax dollars they are spending.
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Tom, I tried not to make people think too hard for that one. Painting the concrete green makes it look like artificial grass. It goes with the plastic nature of an artificial shanty town like New Town. A lot of people think this technique is “cheese ball” or so totally gauche that it’s ridiculous.
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Hal, you\’re comment doesn’t make sense…
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To capture the true essence of St. Charles, I propose that the concrete inside the median be painted green when it’s cured to simulate grass. It would go well with the New Town motif.
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Everything else at the intersection is concrete, so why not the median? I can’t believe it took this long for them to come to an agreement about a median! But then again, I don’t know why I would be surprised by anything elected officials do. Mayor York needs to look at financial considerations because this isn’t her money, it’s the taxpayers!
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