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* The governor needed more of these big announcements this month. He’s been getting incessantly whacked upside the head for incompetence while he’s got billions of dollars in real, honest to goodness, job-creating, desperately needed infrastructure improvement projects to unveil. I don’t get it…
Less than a week before the primary election, Gov. Pat Quinn today announced a $366 million construction project this morning to completely revamp the north-south section of Wacker Drive.
The three-year project will start in April. It calls for both levels of Wacker Drive from Randolph Street to Congress Parkway to be rebuilt, including creating a separated service drive on the lower level along with increased clearance space and better lighting.
And here’s another announcement that’s been sitting on the back of a shelf for weeks…
Northern Illinois University will get $8 million in state funding to renovate the site of a shooting rampage.
Cole Hall has been closed since a gunman entered a class lecture and started shooting. Five students were killed and 19 were wounded on Feb. 14, 2008.
The renovation will reconfigure the building that had two of the university’s large lecture halls. The room in which the shootings occurred will be closed to classroom instruction and reused as computer labs, offices and commons areas.
Combine stuff like this with the Ford jobs announcement and it spells “L-E-A-D-E-R.” Instead, he’s all bogged down in Harold Washington and violent prisoners.
…Adding… From the Sun-Times…
Funding for the project comes through Illinois “mini-capital” bill passed last May. Construction could start as early as April.
Quinn said the project will create more than 4,000 jobs. Less than a week before he faces voters in what’s projected to be a tight Democratic primary, Quinn has been traveling the state in Santa Claus campaign mode, announcing a deal Tuesday to bring 1,200 new Ford assembly plant jobs to Chicago’s South Side and suburbs, announcing an agreement with the state’s largest union to avoid layoffs and then, today, the Wacker Drive project.
That “mini” capital bill was supposed to be for shovel-ready projects. Eleven months after passage, and voilà!
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:02 pm
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So to spell “L-E-A-D-E-R.”, all we need is $ $ $ $ $ $ $?
That is the thinking that got us into this mess in the first place…
Comment by Leroy Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:07 pm
What? You don’t get that he’s incompetent? Even Hynes knows that!
Come on… after watching the CH 11 debate the other night hasn’t it become obvious he is a petty and vindictive politico? As I have watch him shrink further and further from his previous reformer self he looks more and more like Mike Madigan to me.
Comment by Wondering Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:09 pm
I believe the $366 million Wacker project has “boondoggle” written all over it.
We keep hearing about “crumbling infrastructure” that should have a higher priority than this.
It’ll also be a traffic nightmare.
I wonder how much of the $366 mill is state money we don’t have?
Comment by PalosParkBob Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:09 pm
My opinion is he has not been given the chance he deverves to see which is the real Quinn. The one with the potential to be great or the one over his head. He took the job in the worst time I could imagine, so I don’t think he got a fair shot and I think he is worth a shot.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:15 pm
Well, at least he’s returned to his roots of governing by press releases and press conferences…
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:16 pm
The Wacker Drive project is an absolute necessity and years overdue. It is falling down. Water cascades through the holes in the deck onto the lanes below. Concrete tumbles on passing vehicles. Dangerous, outdated curves cause a fair few accidents and many frayed nerves. The mixture of through and service traffic poses a danger to anyone using a parking ramp or driving a delivery truck.
But this has very little to do with Pat Quinn’s leadership qualities. It’s effectively a ribbon cutting on a project that has already been delayed three years. It says nothing about the delivery of the next capital bill, or whether the bonds will ever be sold.
Comment by Angry Chicagoan Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:27 pm
Having driven both upper and lower wacker drive several times this winter, I agree it’s a needed repair. And while I don’t know how cost-effective the east-west wacker drive reconstruction was, the result was top-drawer. I don’t know if they can do as much with those embeded concrete benches since they don’t have the riverfront in the north/south section, but the road on the previously rebuilt wacker is smooth and solid.
Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:33 pm
“….crumbling infrastructure”
———-
When was the time you were on Lower Wacker in this section? It is crumbling trust me.
Quinn looks like he coming into how own in this last week with the better ad, some good annoucements etc. Where was all this a month ago?
Comment by Niles Township Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:34 pm
Agree with LCD about Lower Wacker. I use it a lot. It needs an upgrade.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:35 pm
Phineas — that’s not true. Nothing forced Quinn to oppose a special election for Obama’s open senate seat back when Quinn thought he might get a chance to make the appointment. All he had to do to be the Quinn of old was to have stood by his reform commission. If he had merely insisted on anti-gerrymandering legislation like Iowa’s before anything else, he’d have made a historica and tremendous achievement for state democracy.
Comment by lake county democrat Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:36 pm
All good stuff for Quinn. Flex the power of incumbency in the last week, that’s what it’s there for.
Again, though, I don’t think the bonds have been issued.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:37 pm
Is this federal money or state money (well, it’s all our money, but that’s a different point). And how much leadership (and by whom) does it take to
identify and spend on a project. I assume IDOT and other state agencies who contract for infrastructure improvements have a list of projects with some type of prioritization attached. Quinn can hardly be praised for taking free federal cash (the stimulus bill) or for picking from a list of already-identified projects as from a plate of cookies. What kind of leadership does that take. We should be praising ourselves for not only saving the financial industry but also managing to cough up all this cash for infrastructure.
I love Wacker Drive and I drive on it all the time, both upper and lower. It serves some pretty pricey areas too, not to mention the Loop and its financial and business district. But how thrilled is the average Illinoisian going to be about improvements to Upper and Lower Wacker. Not very I bet. And to we really want more folks driving their cars downtown via a spiffed-up and even more heavily used Wacker? I think not.
Comment by cassandra Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:39 pm
Why hasn’t this happened before? How about because Pat needs a real press secretary and a real press operation in his government shop.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:40 pm
Cassandra, please. Lots of regular, middle class folks use Lower Wacker every day.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:40 pm
Let’s see. If a governor announces new jobs its a boondoggle. If a governor announced infrastructre investment its $$$$$$ which is what got us into this in the first place. So in order to be governor of the State a governor needs to be what? I don’t really care if our governor is a LEADER, I just want him to DELIVER. Thompson, Edgar and yes, RYAN all delivered - not bad. Jobs, jobs, jobs make people happy. Payin one’s bills is not a bad thing, is it. Good job QUINN. Although, I am not so sure I will vote for you.
Comment by GetOverIt Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:42 pm
He’ll get to have a presser tomorrow on the high-speed rail project too.
Comment by Niles Township Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:44 pm
Cassandra… it isn’t about the fixing of the road that is valuable (though it IS needed). It is about the jobs that will be created because of it.
Comment by dave Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:45 pm
The Wacker Drive project has been on the shelf for years, it was supposed to be done right after Phase 1 which was the East-West reconstruction, which turned out to be a great final product. There was just no capital money to fund it until now. As someone who works on North Wacker, I can say this is badly overdue. Though I’m not looking forward to the disruptions if the project is done similar to Phase 1 they will be minimal & the finished job will be worth it.
Comment by Lincoln Parker Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:52 pm
It is too bad that at a time when state money is so tight, taxpayers have to be on the hook to renovate a perfectly good building because of some nut. I know it has to be done. I just wanted to illustrate the cost of mental health problems. My comment comes at a time when the state is looking down the barrel of a huge deficit, where most voters think cutting even deeper on mental health services is a good idea.
Comment by Fred Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:54 pm
Maybe he didn’t make big, splashy announcements because he didn’t know these projects were starting?
Comment by Anon Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 2:54 pm
I’m going to look into this project a little more (I’m a licensed PE), but rebuild versus repair is a big issue when looking at cost benefit.
Repairing leakage and spalling concrete and recoating steel is relatively inexpensive. Demolishing and replacing roads and bridges is really pricey, and often provides no better result.
I understand that IDOT paving standards are designed for significantly less useful life than most states, despite relatively high cost.
Cellini’s influence reached far and wide into our bureaucracy in Springfield.
Comment by PalosParkBob Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 3:07 pm
“Combine stuff like this with the Ford jobs announcement and it spells “L-E-A-D-E-R.” Instead, he’s all bogged down in Harold Washington and violent prisoners.”
Sorry friends.
What this ’spells’ is an incompetent, last minute incumbent politician who controls some voter-winning-taxpayer-cash [hopefully to him] to hoepfully sway [bribe] the election with.
Great. Vote Anybody But An Incumbent.
Comment by sal-says Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 3:14 pm
I don’t see how you can give Quinn credit for the Wacker Drive project considering that every state is getting help funding this type of spending. That is something that would have happened regardless of who was Governor.
The same goes for the NIU project. I’d give him credit if the funding came from a private source, but State funding? As was stated above, spending money you don’t have isn’t leadership. Canceling projects because we can’t afford them would be. Sadly, I haven’t seen much of that from Quinn.
The Ford jobs might be different. I don’t know enough about the negotiating process or the terms of the deal, but it sounds like the Quinn administration actively worked with Ford to get the deal done. He might have actually shown some leadership on this one.
Comment by Pelon Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 3:21 pm
I can’t get too excited about capital bill/infrastructure funding announcements. The non-profit I work for has $300k in the bill for much-needed renovation of our office. No one at DCEO can give any information about when the funding will happen, the process, etc. I expect it’s going to be a year after the bill signing and hundreds of groups will still be waiting for information.
Comment by Former Downstater Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 3:43 pm
The Associated Press is reporting that 31 states will receive funds and that some money will be allocated for improvements to rail lines outside the 13 high-speed corridors designated by the federal government. All in all IL gets shafted because Obama didn’t want to look like he was favoring his homestate.
Comment by Niles Township Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 3:45 pm
CDOT already has this job out to bid, so the fact that Quinn puts out this release today is pure politics. Why doesn’t Quinn explain why they are re-bidding the eisenhower project after the election?
Comment by YEP Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 3:46 pm
Regarding the NIU project, Quinn’s people have a stack of other university building announcements they should have issued over the past few weeks. It is political/press staff “malpractice” to have not gotten this kind of stuff out earlier. Wow.
Comment by Chad Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 3:50 pm
go check it out, Pee Pee.
You clearly have plenty of time on your hands, and abundant qualifications.
Don’t forget your yellow vest and brain bucket.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 3:53 pm
Arty A-
I’ll also wear the safety glasses (not blue colored) and steel toed boots so that I can see clearly and conservatively and be protected when Rich steps on my toes!
Comment by PalosParkBob Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 4:10 pm
The Trib is reporting that Illinois is getting “far less money” for high speed rail than originally thought. So tomorrow’s announcement might not be as big a deal for Quinn as they might have hoped.
Comment by And I Approved This Message Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 4:34 pm
This is exactly what Pat needs. If he could make the last push, if he could convince the voters that he is a leader that has brought jobs to the state, and he can inspire people to believe that the economy could be turning around, he could regain the momentum and pull it off on Tuesday. Pople are tuning out the negatives right now. There is also a large percentage of undecideds whpo may make their decision on election day. This could swing them his way.
Let’s go, Pat. Get it done!
Comment by anon Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 4:39 pm
Seems no matter what Quinn does, someone thinks it is wrong. Projects that have been on the self are announced, they are the wrong time. Do nothing and it is wrong. Spend any money and it is the wrong place. I admit the guy seems to have flip-flopped himself into a corner with some odd choices. He stepped into a pretty bad situation with some leaders who seem more determined to protect their turf. Still, he’s got the job (at least for now). I am sure everyone thinks they can do far better then he has, but he is the person in the spotlight wearing the jacket, not them. Give him some breaks.
Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 4:40 pm
I am sitting still on the future high speed rail line right now. We are stopped because of “freight train interference”. Rotsa Ruck.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Wednesday, Jan 27, 10 @ 6:33 pm
“High speed rail” is an expensive boondoggle that in no way can justify its existence economically.
The safety concerns from high energy trains run by the same people who keep on derailing Amtrak trains are frightening.
Airplane travel is much faster and serves similar areas already.
Busses are a much lower cost alternative for those who don’t wish to drive and are afraid of airplanes.
The only “value” for this high speed rail system is to create more ridiculously highly paid union railroad jobs, contracts for high speed rail equipment from overseas companies, and overpaid “prevailing wage” construction crews.
Digging a hole one day then filling it in the next would be more productive in “creating jobs” and fiscally responsible than the high speed rail debacle which will require huge tax subsidies through perpetuity.
We need to kill these economically unjustifiable boondoggles such as the Peoptone Airport and high speed rail at the earliest opportunity.
Comment by PalosParkBob Thursday, Jan 28, 10 @ 8:24 am