Champaign City Roundup

The past week or so has seen a few news items related to Champaign City government. A nullified panhandling ordinance was repealed, a deceased former mayor was again in the news due to a sex abuse scandal, and a hotel has gone from millennial to "urban inspired." Here's a quick roundup: 

WCIA had a short video segment and blurb about Champaign repealing its aggressive panhandling ordinance after a related court ruling. Video segment here. Blurb excepted below:

City leaders voted to repeal an aggressive panhandling ordinance Tuesday night.

The Supreme Court ruled the first amendment protects panhandling as free speech.

Officials say having the rule still on the books can make it confusing for law enforcement and leave them open to lawsuits.

They say people shouldn't notice a major change.

Aggressive panhandling hasn't been an issue for years in the city.

In more unfortunate news, a former Mayor was highlighted among local Catholic Priests involved in sex abuse scandals. From the News-Gazette a couple weeks ago:

At least 16 priests with area ties on Illinois list of alleged sex offendersAt least 16 priests with area connections are among the nearly 400 Catholic clergy members and church staff in Illinois named in a report — released Wednesday by a Minnesota-based law firm — that accuses them of sexual misconduct.

All had been previously mentioned on lists released by the Joliet, Peoria and Springfield dioceses, but Wednesday's report by attorney Jeff Anderson is the largest list of accused clergy in Illinois and includes where each priest served....

The report includes former Champaign Mayor Robert Dodd, who served parishes in Highland and Pana in the 1960s before leaving the priesthood in 1971.

He was mayor from 1983 to '87, and in 1994, Dodd was named in a child sex abuse lawsuit, according to the report. His name was also on the Springfield diocese's list of clergy with substantiated cases of sexual abuse of a minor.

Dodd died in 2013 in Champaign.

The full article has more information on the scandal, including other area priests listed in the report.

A downtown hotel (originally envisioned for millennials and called "Vib") will still be arriving, but with a different name and an "urban-inspired design" instead:

Aloft Hotel, by Marriott, now slated to occupy downtown Champaign lotPlans are still on track to develop an urban-style hotel on a small downtown Champaign lot, but the planned hotel brand has undergone a change.

Developer Doug Altenberger has been working with Marriott International to make the future hotel at 401 N. Neil St. an Aloft Hotel, according to Rob Kowalski, the city's assistant planning and development director...

Last year, the city believed construction would begin at the start of 2019. Now, Altenberger is working with his general contractor to finish construction plans and expects to be ready to start on the foundation work in the next couple of months, Kowalski said...

If construction begins in the next couple of months, Kowalski said, it likely won't be completed until next year.

More details on the ownership details  at the full article here.