The News-Gazette had coverage of the Urbana City Council meetings last night, including some news for folks who may be prone to using their cellphone while driving, annoyed by it, or lost loved ones due to it:
Grant to help fight distracted driving locallyFull article here. In a follow up on the distributor tax issue with local breweries (more here):
The Urbana City Council on Monday gave its initial approval to accepting a grant for extra police enforcement for distracted driving. The $6,300 grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation would pay for Urbana Police Department overtime shifts between April 16 and 30.
The shifts would specifically be for finding and ticketing distracted drivers, mainly ones occupied by cellphones.
UPD Lt. Robert Fitzgerald said each ticket would be distributed in a way that educates people about why the extra enforcement is happening, as well as the injuries and deaths that have occurred in Urbana due to distracted drivers.
In other business, the council also gave its initial approval to eliminating a 1.5 percent food and beverage tax on beer kegs brewed in Urbana and sold wholesale to distributors.
Darin Riggs, co-owner of Riggs Beer Co., discovered Urbana is the only city in the area with that tax. He talked with city staff and found the tax ordinance was written before Urbana had local breweries.
Riggs said that, if approved, the elimination wouldn't save his business any money, but it would reduce the tab his distributors pay by a small amount.
No comments:
Post a Comment