Thursday, September 29, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm

South Park Presbyterian Church, 1501 30th Street, Rock Island

Business and property owners, residents, community leaders, and college and high school students are invited to participate in a Visual Preference Survey Workshop designed to gather instantaneous electronic opinions from participants that will eventually be incorporated into conceptual streetscape designs for the College Hill District.

The City of Rock Island has been engaged in a planning process with College Hill business stakeholders to create a future vision for this eclectic neighborhood business district centered around two nodes along 14^th Avenue at 30^th and 38^th Streets. The City has commissioned The Lakota Group, a Chicago-based planning, urban design and landscape architecture firm, to help craft a Visual Preference Survey and facilitate a community Open House.

The purpose of the Visual Preference Survey is to introduce community character concepts that can influence streetscape and building facades and gauge stakeholder opinions regarding aesthetics of various elements and ideas. The survey will take the form of a PowerPoint presentation, using electronic key pad polling to create an interactive process with instantaneous results.

The survey will focus on the following design categories and/or elements:

• Overall District Character
• Streetscape/Landscape Design
• Building/Façade Improvements
• Building Height, Bulk and Setbacks
• Traffic Calming/Pedestrian Realm
• Public Spaces
• Branding/Signage and Identity

Following the survey, the consulting team will facilitate small group discussions concerning the character of the College Hill District and the preferences of the participants.

In addition to the conceptual streetscape designs, The Lakota Group will prepare a summary report of the findings that will help guide decisions about future College Hill District improvements. These elements will be incorporated into the College Hill District Revitalization Plan that is expected to be completed in late fall or early winter.

Support your neighborhood businesses, bring your ideas, and help mold the future of the College Hill District.

On the other hand, when laws place collective force at the disposal of those who would use it to exploit others, injustice prevails and there will be unrest in society. It does not matter if the exploitation applies to health, labor, education, safety, or religion. The law becomes legalized plunder, blurs society's understanding of justice and injustice, and disguises anarchy as order. Since people naturally rebel against injustice, unrest ensues.

True peace can be achieved only when man-made law obeys natural law, when justice is blind, and individual natural rights are protected

Action Stops State's Electric Utilities from Imposing Billions in Rate Hikes Following Summer of Major Service Disruptions

CHICAGO - September 12, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn today was joined by Attorney General Lisa Madigan and advocates from across the state to fulfill his pledge to protect Illinois consumers from massive electric rate hikes. The Governor today vetoed Senate Bill 1652, which would have allowed Illinois' utility companies to impose billions of dollars in automatic rate hikes every year for the next decade, while eroding more than a century of consumer protections.

"More than 1.5 million people and businesses have had to deal with power outages and services disruptions this summer," Governor Quinn said. "Now these same utilities are trying to change the rules to guarantee themselves annual rate increases and eliminate accountability.  I will not support a bill that contains sweetheart deals for big utilities, which could leave struggling consumers to pick up the tab for costs such as lobbying fees and executive bonuses. We can ensure innovation and investment in our electric grid, and create new jobs, without compromising core safeguards for Illinois consumers."

The legislation would strike more than 100 years of Illinois consumer protection law and weaken the oversight ability of the Illinois Commerce Commission to reign in excessive rate hikes that will heavily burden consumers and disproportionately harm seniors, minorities and low-incomes households. Without adequate oversight and effective performance metrics, Illinois ratepayers will be forced to pay billions in rate hikes, while potentially receiving the same subpar service they have for many years.

"This bill would have been devastating for Illinois consumers," Attorney General Madigan said. "At a time when people are already struggling to pay their bills, the utilities want to make an end run around the regulatory process and stick consumers with huge annual rate increases for unproven technology?all so they can guarantee their profits for the next decade. That's not a proposal I can support."

Senate Bill 1652 also gives unprecedented advantages to Illinois utilities that have less-than-stellar records for providing reliable service. Recent storms in the Chicago area exposed significant service shortcomings when more than 1.5 million people suffered through lengthy and widespread outages. Local businesses and consumers who depend on regular, predictable electricity suffered enormously.

The stated purpose of the bill is to allow the implementation of Smart Grid technology, which the Governor and many advocates support in concept as part of an overall strategy to make Illinois a leader in the clean energy economy. But Senate Bill 1652 puts too heavy of a burden on consumers at a time when they aren't getting the service quality they are already paying for each month. In addition to locking-in extremely high profits in exchange for lower risk by the utility, the measure also includes provisions that have nothing to do with improving service and could stick ratepayers with the cost of executive bonuses and lobbying fees.

Today's action was supported by AARP, the Citizens Utility Board, Citizen Action/Illinois, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, and many business and consumer groups. Along with the state's other leading consumer advocates, Governor Quinn and Attorney General Madigan are urging consumers to contact their legislators and convince them to uphold the veto.

The Governor also announced his support for reforms proposed by the Illinois Commerce Commission that move Illinois towards the goal of modernizing the electric grid, reforming the regulatory system and protecting rate payers. House Amendment # 3 to House Bill 14 represents a good faith effort toward modernizing the grid, reforming our regulatory system, and protecting Illinois' ratepayers.

For more information on how to get involved in stopping rate hikes, visit www.SayNoToRateHikes.org.

"Governor Quinn is once again holding state employees hostage to put pressure on the General Assembly to approve his billion dollar borrowing plans. What we are seeing is a return to the budgeting methods of Rod Blagojevich. We are seeing more attempts to threaten the General Assembly into spending more money. If the Governor wants to work with us, he needs to stop the bullying and start participating in the budget negotiations."

"We need to have responsible financial accountability and continue the steps we started in May, when the General Assembly sent the Governor a budget $2 billion less than he had proposed spending. We cannot back down to the Governor's threats in this time of dire financial straits."

For more information call (309) 762-3008 or email repmorthland@gmail.com.

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