Congrats to the Village of Downs! Proof the American Experiment is finished:
I suggest the Trustees remaining increase property taxes by 100% to wake your citizens up!
Think people might notice? Of course you could ask Bloomington to annex Downs, you too can have crappy roads. Oh wait, parts of Downs already does. (perfect fit)
So sad, these smaller towns could become havens of normalcy and decent living, but oh no, they instead fall into apathy, which leaves them ripe for the picking by “ambitious” leftists who can then completely collapse them or insure that they are “absorbed” into the larger and ever hungry (for more revenue) neighboring big towns/cities.
Oh, or one more option – turn them into a “hip/artsy” little enclave full of lefty artist types who hawk their overpriced artwork/creations out of renovated buildings and have their overpriced gourmet coffee chops and bakeries (maybe a wine bar) which is not entirely a bad thing but it works to displace the people who are essential to keep a small town going such as actual grocery stores, hardware stores, auto repair etc. more often than not.
Tri Valley schools are located there. Really sad since they are rated a lot higher than the local schools.
That doesn’t surprise me at all. I do think “their” long range plan for education is eventually just huge “mega schools” of 5-10 thousand kids as the norm where they can either be non entities or group into various small bands OR, ideally, all be good little students and follow the indoctrination to the letter, learn to work the gadgets and do as told, a few will be singled out for actual education perhaps but most of the “good jobs” will be for those who go to the private schools and attend the “right colleges” – the public schools will turn out hopefully good little worker bees – and yes, this connects to the original story because if small towns continue with the apathy, their future is not very bright.
The Mayor/Village President and Village Clerk are a married couple, so it makes sense that “they” decided not to run again. (Versus one and not the other, etc)
Village of Downs has had a long standing problem with water/water quality – for years! The water issues has been very frustrating for the residents of the Village of Downs. The rumors are this matter (at the water treatment plant) is at a critical point. The water issue may be why the Mayor and Clerk are not running? But who knows.
The most frustrating for residents/tax payers is the Board’s focus on things other than the basic infrastructure (water) – but there is clearly a focus on fighting crime and building a “police department” (my opinion – police should not be a priority when there is not a crime problem in Downs, plus there was already police protection for Downs)
The Board spent time & resources/tax dollars creating the “police department” which is a duplication of services for the residents in the Village of Downs (and tax dollars) because the McLean County Sheriff department provides police services to the Village of Downs. The duplications include Village of Downs tax payers buying: the Downs police needed/required a police building, police vehicles (modifications to the vehicles, maintenance, fuel and on & on) and ALL of the police equipment that the McLean County Sheriffs department already possesses.
So here we sit with a large water problem that needs addressed at the water treatment plant and no solution….and likely no money to solve the problem? I wonder if the Downs police can resolve the issues at the water treatment plant? Assuming the solution at the water treatment plant will come at a cost to the tax payers of the Village of Downs = higher taxes and/or higher water bills (which are already too high!!)
I hear they are leaving town.
Maybe they are moving because they are tired of the crummy water in Downs….HAHAH!