Gov. JB Pritzker and state Democrats have been touting the catchphrase, "Democrats get things done." In one west central Illinois town, that couldn't be further from the truth. In an election year where House Speaker Chris Welch is talking about flipping seats in this district and that, there are a handful of districts state Democrats are helping the Republicans further entrench.
Why? You can call it Forgottonia, a numbers game or politics. It's a section of the state where the Democratic party has been too chickenshit to run a candidate to even challenge Republicans on the craziest portions of their policies – for example, 15th District Rep. Mary Miller, who has brought zero in federal tax money back to the district in her first term in the newly drawn district.
Jacksonville is a glaring black eye on any claim by state Democrats to get a single thing done. It took U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to finally get some federal dollars to Illinois College for its nursing program to help them have a state-of-the-art facility.
Statewide Democrats do not show support for education here. Two state-supported schools, the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired and the Illinois School for the Deaf, have some of the oldest and outdated facilities in the region. Small maintenance projects here and there have put patches on the cardboard boat. Both facilities have a small but extremely dedicated staff and some truly talented and wonderful students who deserve better.
Then there's the Jacksonville Development Center grounds – a 60-acre hellhole right smack dab in the middle of Jacksonville's Community Park, along the intersection of the city's two state highways. It's become a beacon for every local vagrant to go and hide in, to cook drugs in or to start a fire by trespassing into the boarded-up buildings under cover of complete darkness. The once self-sustaining facility has no utilities, no lights, no cameras and the only security it has are concrete barriers that simply bar the way for emergency vehicles to get in and douse flames set for unknown reasons.
With an old coal power plant on the southwest edge, mold growing in the buildings and the tunnels underneath them and asbestos in the walls, the buildings on the campus are an ecological nightmare. On top of that, the city had to poke Central Management Services to even get them to mow around the outer edges of the property that face the public. If you head into the campus, it looks like Illinois' grasslands are trying to recapture the once-ornate buildings that are on the site of the first mental health treatment facilities in the state.
The campus is a sign of failed leadership at both the state and federal level as far as trying to get a single thing done. Gov. Pat Quinn didn't have a plan after the closure. Gov. Bruce Rauner didn't care. Gov. Pritzker simply won't listen. It's been 12 years now.
This doesn't fall on the city of Jacksonville – why would a municipality want that liability? No, this is a manufactured state problem, much like most of the residential mental health issues the state currently faces with the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Many residents think the reason why the state hasn't addressed the problem is because of the way the district votes. C.D. Davidsmeyer, assistant minority leader, has not been quiet in his criticisms of the governor. Rep. Randy Frese wasn't a fan of Pritzker during his short term serving the district. Both pushed bills, along with Sen. Steve McClure, to get something done with the property that has seen little, if any, movement. This problem of vacant state buildings with no plans isn't just a Jacksonville problem – but the state found money to tear down Stateville and Logan Correctional Center.
Currently, the city is trying to poll residents on what they would like to see happen with the property in the heart of the city. I could save them some time. The citizens of Jacksonville would like to see something – anything – useful done to clean up the eyesore and address the health, life and safety hazards for those that live in its shadows or view it from one of the city's most beautiful public parks.
If Democrats are a party of action, they've sure got a funny way of showing it. If our federal officials are people of action – Democrat and Republican alike – it's been nonexistent here. Unfortunately, it will take an environmental disaster like the coal plant smoke stack collapsing or a teenager getting lost and dying in one of the JDC's tunnels before we are likely to see some action. In my line of work, the news business, it's often said, don't let a good crisis go to waste. For Jacksonville's sake, I'd like to see us get ahead of this one.
Ben Cox has been the news editor for WLDS/WEAI in Jacksonville for the past six years. The one-time city council candidate has been a resident of the city off and on for the past 20 years. Cox lives with his fiancé, Katy, and their five children on Jacksonville's east end.
