Marijuana Legalization and Technicalities

There have been a lot of helpful guides and explanations of how the legalization of marijuana in Illinois at the first of the year may still have a hitch or two for those who wish to partake. WILL had a helpful Q&A interview on basics like public consumption not being allowed:

Essentially, you will not be able to openly consume outdoors and in public any more than you can alcohol. So, you have to be in an establishment so there will be some dispensaries that will be allowed to have a consumption area and there will be existing retail tobacco stores along the lines of hookah lounges and cigar bars that will also be able to add marijuana to their ability to consume.   There are a lot of worries about people walking through big huge puffs of smoke outside and that is not allowed. There is no public consumption drawn into the bill.

And on state penalties:

If you're over the legally allowed limit, and if you are under age, so this is only legalized for people over the age of 21. And so there are penalties for underage consumption and there are penalties for (possession) over the  legally allowed limit. This is still illegal federally. So, on federal property, there can still be absolute bars to being able to consume in those places.  We have to be very wary. So yes, this is for the most part at this stage right now in the beginning, private. [Under the law, minors cannot be incarcerated for marijuana convictions.]

That full interview and radio segment available here. A more straightforward legal rundown was put out by WILL yesterday here. WCIA had a shorter overview here with a video segment. Tom's Mailbag had an explanation dispelling concerns about purchase monitoring locally or by the State here. City of Champaign marijuana FAQ with a lot of helpful information here. Local police are, of course, still warning against driving while under the influence of this or other drugs.

Illinois State Police have tried to dispel rumors that legal marijuana purchases will affect one's Firearm Owner ID (FOID) card eligibility or affect one's right to own or posses firearms:

State and local police say purchasing legal marijuana will not have any impact on your ability to own or possess a gun in Illinois.

Social media posts claim that marijuana dispensaries will be checking IDs of customers and then turning that information over to the state… which will then use that as a basis to revoke FOID cards. But a state police spokesperson says buying marijuana legally will not be used to take away a FOID card, although someone could lose the card if it’s shown they are addicted or a “habitual user” of any drug, including pot.

State police also say it’s illegal for dispensaries to collect or store personal information about recreational cannabis users.

From a WMAY blurb here. The rumors to the contrary have been in local media such as this WCCU article (correction here) and this one from WAND.

As the News-Gazette pointed out on Sunday, employers are still allowed to set their own drug policies and can enforce them regardless of the legal changes. They go through a great deal of local government employers, from school districts to local government agencies that have maintained their restrictions on marijuana use. Excerpt:

Some employers will consider off-duty marijuana use none of their business unless it interferes with an employee’s job performance.

Some plan to continue zero-tolerance and drug-free workplace policies that include drug testing.

“Employers are very concerned about safety in the workplace,” said Jay Shattuck, executive director of the Employment Law Council of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

Illinois employers struggling with how to handle the coming of legal recreational marijuana come Jan. 1 should pay attention to these two things, he said: The policies they set for their employees with respect to marijuana use should be both reasonable and non-discriminatory.

Full article with a lot of information here. So far the two local dispensaries are prepared for a busy first of the year. The News-Gazette had details on their plans on giving priority to medical card holders, hours, etc:

Both local dispensaries are preparing for a crowd and lines at the door.

“I’ve been told that people plan on camping out,” said Brendan Jolly, an employee at NuMed, 105 E. University Ave., U.

If you’re a later riser, Sunnyside, the new name for Phoenix Botanical at 1704 S. Neil St., C, will remain open until 10 p.m. on New Year’s Day. NuMed Urbana will stay open until 6 p.m.

Purchases at both dispensaries will be on a cash-only basis, their owners said. And medical marijuana customers will have first priority for the available supply.

That full article here.

The cities where the dispensaries are, Champaign and Urbana, have generally aligned their marijuana laws with reduced fines and consumption rules (more on that at a recent Cheat Sheet post here). The News-Gazette had an update since that post on Champaign ensuring that it's fines would remain local ordinance violations as opposed to a State offense with a risk of jail time:

Two weeks before recreational marijuana becomes legal statewide, city council members signed off on updates to the city code to bring Champaign’s cannabis ordinances in line with Illinois law.

“It doesn’t make anything unlawful that is not unlawful under the state law,” Champaign Assistant City Attorney Kathryn Cataldo said.

If the city had removed the ordinance violations related to cannabis, penalties — such as for underage use — would have become state criminal offenses.

This allows police officers to issue ordinance violations instead, which come with a fine but no jail time.

That full article here. I still haven't heard any updates on a set date and details on the public event being planned by Parkland College Police on marijuana legal issues announced at the Champaign Community Coalition. When I get more information on that I'll be sure to share it.

Unit 4 Equity Updates

Since the last Cheat Sheet post on Unit 4 Updates, there has been additional news coverage and public response worth mentioning. The last updates revolved around equity concerns. The ACLU and NAACP raised racial disparities in the district's gifted program and discipline. The school board raised the possibility of swapping the Garden Hills and International Prep Academy facilities, which brought a strong reaction by the Garden Hills community and parents. More on all that at the previous Cheat Sheet post here. WILL had an overview of the school swap proposal and reactions the day after our last update here.

First off, it was announced in the News-Gazette that there would be two listening sessions for the community in early January:

The Champaign school district is planning two listening sessions regarding its proposal to swap Garden Hills Academy and International Prep Academy.

The first meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at the Garden Hills Academy library, and the second will be at 6 p.m. Jan. 9 in the IPA gym.

Superintendent Susan Zola will visit the schools to “listen to feedback from the community and discuss possible options for several topics,” according to the meeting notice.

That full blurb available here. First meeting notice here, second meeting notice here. For those interested in attending, the school board meets for its regular meeting on January 13th at 5:30pm (more school board meeting information here).

Local education equity activist Craig Walker sent an e-mail to the Unit 4 school board that has also been circulating among Garden Hills families and other organizations. The letter itself takes a strong position against the swap proposal and cited some of the relevant initial equity negotiations from past referendums:

Attached is a flyer for the sales tax referendum that was utilized to pass the funding necessary for several Unit 4 school initiatives including Garden Hills. I was part of the community team that worked with the Board to get the referendum passed.

What is important to understand about this history is that this package was negotiated with the community as a resolution to end the Consent Decree and provide equitable school facilities for the black students in Unit 4.

His full email letter is available here. The flyer he sent along with it is available here. An old blog post covering Unit 4 issues has a well cited timeline on the various taxing issues around the end of the consent decree and the tax issues here. Unit 4's current website also reiterates its commitment to the end of the consent decree being the beginning of its work on ensuring equity in schools:

Champaign Schools are committed to diversity, and believe diverse schools offer the finest education to all students. From 2002 to 2009, Champaign Schools operated under a consent decree, which changed the way we view diversity in our schools. The expiration of the consent decree was not the end, but the beginning of our renewed commitment to increasing achievement levels and access to opportunities for all students.  Our district has established a number of initiatives and programs to help achieve these goals.

More information at that page on the consent decree and other related Unit 4 programs.

In regards to the issue raised by the ACLU and NAACP about racial disparities in the gifted program, Juliann Xu had a guest commentary in the News-Gazette. Excerpt:

Champaign-Urbana’s greatest pride should be its diverse community, and this should be represented in the spaces in which youth interact. When these spaces lack diversity, the students are deprived of the most comprehensive education this town can offer.

Centennial administrators work tirelessly to increase enrollment of underrepresented groups in AP classes. They administer surveys, send letters home and organize informational meetings. Although there is more work to be done to increase enrollment, this is not where the problem lies. The gap is established much earlier, when elementary school students are divided into enrichment and gifted programs.

Once a student is in the gifted program, they are more likely to enter the honors track in middle school, which then makes them feel better equipped to enter AP classes in high school.

Full commentary here. The News-Gazette editorial staff, for its part, argued that implicit bias and discrimination other than "" does not exist:

In fact, unless school officials are intentionally penalizing black students while ignoring or minimizing the same or worse conduct by Asian and white students — intentional invidious discrimination — it’s not really a racial issue, but an issue of disproportionate misbehavior among some members of an identifiable group.

Kids who get in trouble in the K-12 public school system are essentially volunteers for the disciplinary process. That’s because they’re attracting negative attention and potential punishment as a consequence of their own behavior.

That full editorial here. The ideological differences locally on this have been highlighted in a previous Cheat Sheet post on Urbana's discipline disparities here. A recent GAO study on the subject highlighted the problem with some of the other assumptions in the editorial:

Black students, boys, and students with disabilities were disproportionately disciplined (e.g., suspensions and expulsions) in K-12 public schools, according to GAO's analysis of Department of Education (Education) national civil rights data for school year 2013-14, the most recent available. These disparities were widespread and persisted regardless of the type of disciplinary action, level of school poverty, or type of public school attended.

That study available here. Local statistics on racial disparities in our schools available here, including a link to a searchable database. Pinning the blame on racial disparities in housing and poverty as if those racial disparities are somehow unrelated to racial discrimination in the past and/or current systems propagating those racial disparities gets problematic very quickly. 

One has to exonerate current institutions from playing a role in continuing racial disparities, ignore a lot of history that is far more recent than many of us would like to admit, and carefully word individual responsibility to dance around the end result of this construction: they are walking right up to the line of arguing that there is a racial disparity in good character. 

What's certain is that there is a chasm between those who believe America has overwhelmingly resolved its institutional discrimination problems and those who believe modern institutions evolved in a way that maintains discriminatory outcomes. I leave it to the reader to decide whether the disparate outcomes and data support their own views.

Champaign Planning Updates

The past week or so has seen some news coverage of various planned and past projects in the City of Champaign. First, I'd like to remind folks of this great interactive map tool on the City's website for tracking planning projects from a Cheat Sheet post earlier this month:

One of the City of Champaign's many interactive maps was highlighted recently (City website's map page here with all sorts of helpful tools!) I first saw it mentioned by Julie Cidell in a tweet. She's a professor of Geography and Geographic Information Science (GIS) and project leader of the University of Illinois' Transportation Sustainability Working Advisory Team team. It was also mentioned in a recent Tom's Mailbag article in the News-Gazette here. There is just a plethora of information on current and past planning and development projects for the city on it.

More City GIS maps and information here. The News-Gazette also highlighted a few other items this month. Tom's Mailbag had the City of Champaign's timeline for the Garden Hills water runoff improvement project:

Construction of the proposed detention basin in the northwest Champaign neighborhood still is considered to be about 10 years away.

Here’s the full update from Kris Koester of Champaign’s Public Works Department:

“Phase 1, Property Acquisition of the Garden Hills Watershed Drainage Improvement began in March 2019 and includes the acquisition of 47 properties at the site of the proposed stormwater detention basin along Hedge Road. To date, 25 of the properties have been acquired by the city of Champaign, with an additional 10 property owners accepting the city’s proposed offers.

“Work continues toward acquisition of the remaining 12 properties. Demolition work on the properties acquired by the city is scheduled to start in Spring 2020. Phase 2, construction of the proposed detention basin, is currently scheduled for 2030. It is a city council goal to explore options to advance construction of Phase 2.”

Full Mailbag article here. The News-Gazette also had an update on the Hill Street Parking garage ten years since it was built, both on finances and the projects it has opened up:

Now 10 years old, the Hill Street Parking Deck makes a consistent operating profit for the city, which won’t pay off the bonds it sold to build the garage until 2027.

For the first two fiscal years after it opened in March 2009, the parking garage lost money during the height of the recession. For the first few years after that, it made a profit of less than a $100,000 a year...

It freed up the city-owned lot across the block at the corner of Neil and Hill streets, which was sold last year for $275,000 to become the Mariott Aloft hotel.

That’s scheduled to open by the end of 2020, and it will rent 100 spaces at the top of the parking deck.

A lot more details available at that full article here. The News-Gazette also had coverage of an engineering study being done for the possibility of a Neil Street Plaza in Downtown Champaign:

An engineering study is underway for the area city officials hope to transform into “a center of urban life.”

In the coming years, downtown Champaign’s long-discussed Neil Street Plaza will be designed to serve as a communal space, replacing the triangle parking lot in front of the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum...

The engineering study will provide more specific details about where to put drop-off points for ride-hailing services, crosswalks and access points for cars, Lowe said.

The project will be built in multiple phases to spread out the cost over time, Mayor Deb Feinen said on “NewsHour” on WDWS 1400-AM.

More at that full article here. More details on those phases was covered in an article last month after the City Council approved going forward:

City staff hope to build the project in three phases, starting with a revamp of One Main Plaza that will extend it to the west, eliminating some parking lots and adding a stage. Phase 2 will address the areas around Orpheum Children's Science Museum, creating a pedestrian connection between Fremont Street and the front of the building and reworking the parking lot to the west.

The final phase, which will be the most expensive, includes replacing the largest part of the current lot with a large lawn, business-incubator kiosks, a pop-jet fountain and a culture walk and cultural features.

Added to the new vision for the final phase are 20 diagonal parking spaces situated in front of the buildings along a narrow, one-way alleyway for cars and pedestrians with no curb and bollards guiding vehicles out, similar to European streets.

That full article here. More information on the City's vision and goals from the Study Session materials here (final two pages). I wasn't able to find video for the special study session where I believe this was discussed in more detail. According to the agenda it was held at unusual time and location (as opposed to the City Building on Tuesdays).

Local Police Litigation Updates

This post has links to updates on a few litigation issues involving the Champaign Police Department, the University of Illinois Police Department and Champaign County Sheriff's Office. The litigation against the Sheriff's office is available in the county Cheat Sheet here.

The News-Gazette had coverage of the Champaign City Council approving a use of force settlement against the CPD earlier this month:

By a 7-1 vote, the Champaign City Council approved an $87,000 settlement with a Champaign man who filed an excessive-force lawsuit against a police officer.

The federal lawsuit filed in February alleged that Officer Tyler Darling forced his way into Davonte Wright’s home in October 2018 and beat him unjustifiably.

The lone no vote came from District 1 representative Clarissa Nickerson Fourman, who had no comment...

Darling is still an officer, according to Champaign Police Chief Anthony Cobb, who referred The News-Gazette to the city's attorney, Fred Stavins.

Stavins said settlements are often reached without any admission of liability, as is the case with this settlement, and to avoid the cost of further litigation.

Details of the litigation and the related incident are available at the full article here.

In more recent news, the UIPD officer was arrested after being accused of using law enforcement database information to get information on women. The News-Gazette had information on the background and accusations that led to his arrest:

A University of Illinois police officer was arrested Friday on seven counts of official misconduct, a Class 3 felony, for allegedly using police resources to target women between February 2017 and January 2018...

The charges involve Sandage’s misuse of law-enforcement databases and security cameras to seek personal information about women at the UI and off campus.

The university said the allegations remain under investigation.

Sandage was placed on administrative leave in September 2018 when he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman off campus while he was off-duty, though no charges have resulted from that case, the UI said.

More details on previous the previous accusations he was facing in the full article here. He has since pleaded not guilty and is expect back in court in mid-January according to the News-Gazette earlier this week. There were a couple other blurbs in the local news about it from WAND and WCIA, mostly citing the UIPD press release available in full here. Excerpt including timeline of events given:

Timeline of events:

September 2018: A woman reported that she was the victim of a sexual assault that Sandage is alleged to have committed while off duty. The investigation was referred to the Illinois State Police (ISP). Sandage was immediately relieved of his police authority and placed on administrative leave. In addition, his access to law enforcement information and resources was revoked. He was later allowed to return to desk duty with the investigation pending, however his access to law enforcement resources was not restored.

January 2019: ISP provided information to the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office. Based on Sandage’s position as a recently active police officer, the State’s Attorney’s Office requested that a special prosecutor be appointed. A judge appointed the appellate prosecutor’s office to handle the matter.

September 2019: A second woman reported that Sandage sexually assaulted her in 2012.

October 2019: Both victims declined to participate further in the investigation, and no charges have been filed at this time in those matters. ISP turned over to UIPD the evidence collected during the investigation, and UIPD immediately commenced an internal investigation to address personnel matters related to Sandage’s conduct.

December 2019: During the course of the internal investigation, it was determined that Sandage likely had engaged in criminal acts involving misuse of law enforcement resources. UIPD provided its reports to the Champaign County State’s Attorney for review, and the State’s Attorney determined there was sufficient evidence to file criminal charges of official misconduct. The evidence also included photos of women that are suspected to have been taken without their consent.

“We acted as quickly as possible at each stage of the process,” Stone said. “We have and will continue to work diligently to hold the offender accountable and provide resources to the victims. We intend to be open and transparent about the process and will provide updates as it is appropriate to do so.”

Due to the time period over which the behavior occurred and the voluminous amount of data collected, the extent of who may have been targeted is unknown.

More at the full press release here.

Parkland Updates

This update includes information on leadership changes, shrinking enrollment, and some local coverage highlighting the Parkland Staerkel Planetarium. First the updates on Parkland Board of Trustees and other leadership changes announced in December. In the first change there is some crossover news between the Parkland board and the UI Trustees, the News-Gazette explained a shift in leadership roles:

The board chairman for Parkland College is stepping down to take a job as secretary of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees...

As the ninth secretary of the university, Knott will be one of four officers of the Board of Trustees, reporting jointly to Board Chair Don Edwards and UI President Tim Killeen. He will coordinate agendas for meetings, maintain minutes and other board documents, respond to requests from the public, and provide assistance to trustees and other administrators...

[Parkland board] Vice Chairwoman Bianca Green will lead the process to fill the board vacancy.

Full article here with a lot of additional information on the people and positions. Parkland also had a press release here. In further changes at Parkland, the News-Gazette also covered a promotion of a dean to be in a position to succeed the retiring President of Parkland College:

A dean at Parkland College is being promoted as part of an executive transition plan for the retirement of President Tom Ramage in 2023.

Trustees promoted Nancy Sutton, dean of arts and sciences, to associate vice president for academic services effective Jan. 2, filling a position vacated when Pamela Lau was promoted to executive vice president in October. Trustees at that time named Lau as president-designee to succeed Ramage in 2023...

A search is underway to fill the dean’s post. Sutton will cover those duties in the interim and hopes to have someone in place by March.

More information at that full article here. Additional information from the latest Parkland Trustees meeting, including this promotion, at their press release here. More on the previous transition appointment of Lau in a press release from September of this year. The News-Gazette had coverage of the previous transition plan around the same time here, including some additional coverage by Tom Kacich here.

Tom Kacich also had some enrollment figures for Parkland in one of his Tom's Mailbag articles earlier this month:

Parkland’s enrollment decline is not out of the ordinary.

Illinois community college enrollment dropped from 347,277 in 2007 to 293,4517 in 2017, according to Illinois Board of Higher Education statistics.

Nationally, according to a recent report by the American Association of Community Colleges, since a peak enrollment in 2010, “total community college enrollment has dropped each fall, declining by more than 1 million students (14.4 percent) between 2010 and 2017.”

The most oft-cited reason for the falloff is the economy.

“Community college professionals frequently claim that the economy is an important driver of community college enrollments,” said the report. “Of particular note during the time period investigated is the Great Recession, which economists indicate began in December 2007. While the recession technically ended in the second quarter of 2009, solid job growth was not seen until 2011.”

Full Mailbag article here. This mailbag article also included some information on Parkland's time capsule at the Planetarium, to be opened the next time Halley's Comet comes around in 2061. This was in response to a question about another recent News-Gazette article highlighting the Staerkel Planetarium and its history on campus here.

Smile Politely had more on the Planetarium later that week, including a video segment and interview going behind the scenes:

In the 30+ years since opening, the planetarium has evolved alongside technology, replacing analog slides and practical effects with digital projectors and advanced imaging software. Nine computers work in-sync to produce images that can range from a drone view of the Parkland campus to a view of Jupiter’s southern pole. The centerpiece of the dome is a Zeiss M1015 star projector from Germany which is original to the planetarium and was the first of its type to be installed in the western hemisphere. Each of the stars projected on the dome has a dedicated light on the projector, for a total of 5,000 individual lights.

We spoke with planetarium director Erik Johnson to get a behind-the-scenes view of the planetarium’s operations and to experience the vivid imagery that takes you worlds away.

Full article and video segment here.

City of Champaign Updates

This post covers a few recent topics related to the City of Champaign's local government bodies in the news the past few weeks (not including the reentry housing issue covered in a previous post here). The City Council approved a gambling expansion measure and announced Christmas tree collection information. The Champaign Police Department settled an excessive force lawsuit. The Park District is considering naming a education wing of a new center after a former local educator. And there's a new tool on the City's GIS map page for information on City planning projects.

The News-Gazette had coverage of the vote for gambling expansion a few weeks ago:

Businesses with video-gambling machines now have the option of adding one more after the city council voted Tuesday to increase the maximum allowed from five to six, which brings the city’s limit in line with the state’s.

The ordinance was also amended to peg Champaign’s limit to the state’s to avoid having to update the city code every time it changes in the future.

The proposal was approved 7-2, with at-large council member Will Kyles and District 4 representative Greg Stock voting against it...

The state law increasing the limit also increased the maximum allowed wager from $2 to $4, though that didn’t require council action.

More information including comments from City Council members in opposition at the full article here. The News-Gazette also had additional coverage previewing the vote with background information here. Smile Politely had an editorial in opposition to the expansion push here.

WCIA had coverage of the City's information on Christmas tree pickup in January here. More information at the City's website here.

The board approved the Champaign PD settlement in their December 3rd meeting. The News-Gazette had coverage of the vote:

By a 7-1 vote, the Champaign City Council approved an $87,000 settlement with a Champaign man who filed an excessive-force lawsuit against a police officer.

The federal lawsuit filed in February alleged that Officer Tyler Darling forced his way into Davonte Wright’s home in October 2018 and beat him unjustifiably.

The lone no vote came from District 1 representative Clarissa Nickerson Fourman, who had no comment.

And Mayor Deb Feinen said District 4 representative Greg Stock was unable to attend because it is new student night at Centennial High School, where he is a teacher...

The payment will be made from the city’s “Retained Risk” fund and from its insurer.

More information on the incident at the heart of the settlement at the full article here. More coverage on the incident from the News-Gazette here.

WCIA had information on naming an education wing at a new building after a former local educator:

Teretha Johnson was an educator in Champaign when schools were beginning to integrate. The park district says a decision will be made about whether or not they should reach out to family to pursue naming the education wing at the new Martens Center after Johnson. They say a donor wanted the wing to be named after an African American educator. He heard about Johnson and thought she would be a good choice...

“For Teretha to go out to Bottonfield, it was a majority white school, and so for her it was kind of like breaking a barrier,” said Johnson’s friend, Eunice Rivers. That opened doors for others. “Then once she was established and the people accepted her teaching there they decided to have more black teachers and that’s when it started to spread,” said Rivers. Students say her contributions are profound.

More information and background at the full article here.

One of the City of Champaign's many interactive maps was highlighted recently (City website's map page here with all sorts of helpful tools!) I first saw it mentioned by Julie Cidell in a tweet. She's a professor of Geography and Geographic Information Science (GIS) and project leader of the University of Illinois' Transportation Sustainability Working Advisory Team team. It was also mentioned in a recent Tom's Mailbag article in the News-Gazette here. There is just a plethora of information on current and past planning and development projects for the city on it.

More City GIS maps and information here. For information on the County level GIS Consortium, I have an overview on the County Cheat Sheet here.

MTD Financial Audit and Tax Levy

Earlier this week the News-Gazette had coverage of the recent MTD board meeting which highlighted the results of a recent financial audit and an update on the MTD's tax levy.

Audit shows C-U Mass Transit District's finances are strong, stable
...
For both years, state operating assistance grants covered 65 percent of the MTD’s eligible operating expenses, according to representatives from Martin Hood, the Champaign firm that completed the audit...

In other business, the board voted 6-1 to approve a $10.6 million tax levy for the fiscal year that began July 1 and will run through June 30, 2020 — a potential 20 percent increase over the previous year.

A levy increase doesn’t translate to higher MTD tax bills for individual taxpayers. The levy is based on the amount of equalized assessed value in the district to which the tax rate is applied.

MTD Managing Director Karl Gnadt said earlier in the tax cycle process the levy increase is largely a placeholder to be able to collect additional taxes if the two Urbana hospitals become taxable.

The full article is available here. The latest update on holiday route reductions and closures is available here from the MTD Pulse. Other recent Cheat Sheet updates available here on recent grant funding boosts and here on other updates and an ongoing survey. Direct link to the survey here.

Reentry Housing Updates

At the Tuesday night study session of the Champaign City Council the compromise language moved forward on the reentry housing issue. Full video of the study session is available from CGTV here and the agenda (with links to the study session reports) available here. This is following up on a previous Cheat Sheet post previewing the meeting with links and background on the reentry housing issue. From the News-Gazette coverage after the meeting:

The Champaign City Council is moving forward with changes to a city ordinance that allows landlords not to rent to most people with felony convictions.

The council voted 8-0 in favor of reducing the amount of time landlords can hold felonies against potential tenants from five years to two.

A final vote will come later.

The proposed ordinance would also make it clear that the two-year rule refers to convictions in which someone is sentenced to prison, not probation, and lists the types of felonies that can be considered, such as murder, robbery and arson.

Full article here with additional information, including on the second study session topic on reentry group housing regulation. WCCU had additional coverage and a video segment here. (also a brief initial blurb/video story the night of the meeting here). The presentation and discussion on the group housing regulation involved technical zoning issues and language, though the board seemed generally supportive of finding a solution to allow reentry group housing overall.

Coincidentally, as this post deals with changes to Champaign Human Rights Ordinance, the city is celebrating Human Rights Day today. WCIA coverage on that here.

Unit 4 Updates

Following up on a previous Cheat Sheet post previewing this week's Champaign school board meeting, there has been a great deal of coverage and updates from and after the meeting. The full meeting video is available here and board agendas here. This post highlights a few of the topics: the ACLU/NAACP concerns about equity in the gifted programs and discipline, the potential programming swap between the International Prep Academy and Garden Hills campuses, and an updated report on the bond sales issue.

I strongly recommend watching at least the public participation at the beginning of the meeting to see the incredible and dedicated community members concerned about their local government. From young kids who want to expand a successful educational program to people who escaped authoritarian and failed nation-states to achieve the American dream locally. People fighting for equity, for their neighborhoods, and for the future of our children.

The public comments and meeting itself hit on two major topics that got a lot of local coverage in the news. WILL had an overview of the ACLU/NAACP letter that was raised at the board meeting Monday:

The Champaign County chapters of both the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) jointly sent a letter to the Champaign Community Unit School District 4 Board of Education and superintendent Susan Zola last week, highlighting a lack of access to gifted and advanced placement classes in the district for black students, as well as disparities in discipline and academic proficiency for black pupils, as compared to their white peers. Less than 10% of black students in Unit 4 schools are proficient in math and reading, compared to nearly 50% of white students, the letter states. White Unit 4 students are also more than seven times more likely to take AP classes than their black peers, according to federal data.

In their letter to the district, the groups urged school district officials to meet with them to specify how the district intends to address the disparities...

A court-ordered consent decree mandated the district improve racial equity measures in the early 2000s. A settlement was reached in 2009, and district officials at the time promised to make racial equity a priority moving forward. But ACLU of Champaign County president Carol Spindel said equity in the district has, by at least one measure, gotten worse in the last decade...

In 2009, black students were more than five times more likely to be suspended than white pupils, the letter from the ACLU and NAACP states. District data indicates that black students were nearly nine times more likely to be suspended than whites in 2018...

A spokesperson for Unit 4 schools, John Lyday, wrote in an email that district officials plan to meet with the NAACP and ACLU members soon. “This was a very thoughtful letter. The District takes it seriously and looks forward to having a discussion,” he wrote.

Full article available here. Additional coverage from the News-Gazette here and WCCU here with a video segment. More background at a previous Cheat Sheet post previewing the meeting here. The News-Gazette coverage also highlighted the potential programming swap between the International Prep Academy and Garden Hills campuses that brought out a great deal of public participation:

The board didn’t make any decisions, and members emphasized that this was the first of several discussions around the idea of the current Garden Hills elementary, a federally funded magnet school, moving into the West Kirby Avenue location of International Prep Academy, a K–5 bilingual school, and the current IPA moving to Garden Hills Drive.

While IPA students and parents spoke overwhelmingly in support of expanding the school through eighth grade at Monday’s packed board meeting, Garden Hills supporters and multiple board members expressed concern about the swap and had questions about what it would mean for Garden Hills students and families...

Superintendent Susan Zola said the proposal stemmed from internal staff conversations to address three issues:

— Middle school capacity.

— 227 open seats at Garden Hills, where “a lot of those students arrive to that campus in late July, August and September, so they’re students that are in transition oftentimes,” Zola said.

— IPA families wanting to continue bilingual schooling through eighth grade.

That full News-Gazette article is available here. WCIA had additional coverage on this issue, including a video segment here, including this excerpt looking towards the future:

Neighborhood association president Chad Smith said some of the confusion and uncertainty around the topic could have been prevented had the district approached the Garden Hills community first.

“I just wish that…in the future that when these conversations are had that Unit 4…get input before making decisions,” he said. “With this, I know that no decision was made, but I think a lot of the fears could be eliminated by simply having a conversation with the neighborhood association ahead of time.”

District officials said Monday they would hold forums on the topic next month.

That full article and segment here. WCIA also had some coverage before the meeting previewing the campus swapping proposal coming up at the meeting here.

There was also the latest report on the bond sales issue (coverage from WILL last month here). The report is available at the 1:10 minute mark on the meeting video here. Description of the report from the agenda:

The essence of the report will be relevant passages from the “School Building Bonds, Series 2019/20 – Option Recommendation” memorandum found in your Dec. 6, 2019 “Weekly Update” received Friday.  The relevant passages will include:  the “parameters”, summary of options, ROC and Finance Committee meeting member feedback, and consensus of the Administration-MA/UW Team as to the preferred option upon which to proceed.  This will be followed by a calendar of next steps.

There are all sorts of nitty gritty details for folks who are interested in the financing nuances that go into funding the school district budget. From the WILL article on the bond issue from November:

It’s unclear how much Unit 4 taxpayers will be on the hook to pay back. In addition to the $110 million in bonds sold two years ago, the district also sold roughly $15 million worth of premium bonds. Guy Cahill, a business consultant for Unit 4, said that extra $15 million doesn’t count toward the total referendum amount that voters authorized in 2016. Additionally, he said, the district could choose to sell premium bonds during the upcoming bond sale — meaning the district could receive proceeds greater than $73.4 million...

The district must sell the bonds before February to allow the Champaign County Clerk time to record the sale on the tax levy for next year. Cahill said authorizing the sale now allows the district the option to sell before the December holiday season, if the market proves favorable at that time. He said a weaker economy and lower interest rates could help the district. 

That full article here.

5th and Hill Updates

The last Cheat Sheet update on the 5th and Hill toxic cleanup site was prior to a community meeting and teach-in on the subject last month (video excerpt available here). Since then there has been some local coverage and responses in the news. From the Daily Illini's coverage this past week:

University registered student organizations are working to obtain indoor vapor testing kits for Fifth and Hill, a community that is believed to contain a toxic waste.

Black Students for Revolution UIUC and Students for Environmental Concerns have set up a GoFundMe to purchase the testing kits. They have currently raised $1,756 of their $3,000 goal.

“Your donation will help us buy in-home testing kits and prove that the air this community is breathing is full of benzene, napthalene, cyanide and other volatile organic compounds,” reads the fundraiser page. “These chemicals have serious health effects on the neighbors – from headaches, to reproductive issues, and rare deadly cancers.”

Claudia Lennhoff, executive director at Champaign County Health Care Consumers, said for current residents, it may be too late to prevent health issues.

“People who have already been exposed to contamination, they might be already having health problems and sometimes those health problems don’t manifest right away,” she said.

SECS also organized a Sustainable Tote Bag Sale on Nov. 21, where the proceeds were used to support the 5th & Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign. 

That full article with a lot of additional information and links here. Updated link (12/12) on cautions for using the test kits from the Daily Illini here. It includes links to Ameren's response last week in reaction to the new attention on the matter, also from the Daily Illini:

“There’s still some soil impact under Fifth Street, not beyond Fifth Street, but just under Fifth Street deep enough that it’s not going to impact anybody working on the road or construction,” [Dave Palmer, Ameren manager of remediation projects] said.

The manufacturing site’s soil has been excavated and filled with clean material, and the company has been monitoring the groundwater for 20 years to ensure its safety...

To the company’s understanding, Palmer said there weren’t any illnesses correlated with the exposure. Since the site was secure, there should not have been any possibility of toxic ingestion and illness.

“We’ve got a legacy facility we’re not using,” Palmer said. “We’d rather repurpose it probably for something productive. We’re not using the property or anything and would rather somebody else use it.”

Currently, the company needs to submit the site into the public records and have a report sent to the Illinois EPA. Without the report the site will not be able to be sold since people do not want to take on liability for the property until they receive the proper documents.

That full article here. For some background on the community concerns about that documentation, this News-Gazette article from April has a good overview of the ongoing concerns and demands for testing and transparency. There was also a letter in the editor today highlighting the issue and the recent meeting in the News-Gazette (available to digital subscribers in this link here).

UI Admissions Moves the Box

In other local criminal justice reform news, the University of Illinois system, including the UIUC campus, will no longer be screening admissions applicants for criminal background. After admission is approved, however, there will still be potential scrutiny. The admissions process still includes information about high school disciplinary infractions. From the News-Gazette last week:

Admissions applications to the University of Illinois this year are missing a box: the one that asks about a student’s criminal history.

The UI System has taken those questions off the initial application for undergraduate enrollment but will ask students about criminal background once they have been accepted.

It’s a response to the “ban the box” movement that calls for eliminating criminal history questions from job applications or college admissions. Advocates say they can discourage even people with minor offenses from applying.

Last year, a student-led coalition called “Yes Apply Illinois” urged UI trustees to drop questions about criminal and disciplinary history from admissions applications altogether.

More at the full article here. The article explains the nationwide movement for these kind of changes and the State level legal changes that have been pursued in employment and education. WILL had additional coverage that got into some of the nitty gritty of the new policy this week as well:

“It would be inaccurate to say that we’ve gotten rid of the questions,” [Barbara Wilson, vice-president of academic affairs for the University of Illinois system] said. “We’ve really moved them and they’re no longer part of the front end of the application process. But they are still asked of all provisionally admitted students.”

Once a student is provisionally admitted to the university, they still need to submit information like their final transcript to ensure their spot. Now students must also submit whether they have any pending or prior convictions. If they do, Wilson said a committee that does not include admissions personnel will review the student’s record to assess whether they pose a threat to campus safety. If the committee decides the student poses minimal risk, Wilson said the admissions process continues.

“If there is a concern about the risk, then the student will be notified. We may provide things like an online degree or other kinds of options that the student might have to pursue a degree,” Wilson said. The university policy also provides for an appeal process if conditional admission is rescinded due to a student’s criminal history. Wilson also noted that university officials estimate only about 1% of applicants who check the box will actually have their admission rescinded as a result. In 2017, 240 applicants to the University of Illinois’ three campuses indicated they had a criminal record; 82 were admitted and 11 were rejected due to their criminal histories, according to university data.

More at that full article here. WILL's 21st show also covered the topic with interviews available in a segment here. Description excerpt:

Prospective undergraduate students will not be asked about their criminal histories until after they’ve been admitted. Students applying for the fall 2020 semester will have already seen this change on their application. Lee Gaines, is an education reporter at Illinois Public Media and Illinois Newsroom she has been reporting on this over the past year. She joined us to give the latest updates to this policy. Chris Miner is pursuing a masters degree in social work at the University of Illinois he also joined us.

Full episode page here and this specific segment available here.

Champaign Reentry Housing Update

The Reentry Housing issue is being revisited this upcoming Tuesday, December 10th at a City Council Study Session. Meeting agenda is available here and the updated study session report here. The last Cheat Sheet update on this issue was after the last study session where the City Council directed City staff to formulate a compromise reform. From the staff's latest report:

On June 25, 2019, a Study Session was held to discuss Section 17-4.5 of the Human Rights Ordinance. Council gave
direction to staff to bring back the following alternatives concerning this section:

a) reducing the post prison time to consider convictions from 5 years to 2 years;
b) clarifying what type of convictions would be considered;
c) clarifying that people on probation and parole were not to be included in this
provision;
d) providing information relative to the process under the Cook County Just Housing
amendment relating to the responsibility of the landlord in the process relative to
more individualized assessment.

The clarifying language will certainly help alleviate some of the confusion on exactly what discrimination was or wasn't protected for people who had been sentenced only to probation or others on parole. The reduction from 5 years to 2 will almost certainly be insufficient to activists who still view that as 2 years where discrimination is allowed, and directly impacts minority communities in a disparate way. For others this compromise may be an improvement, if not ideal, given that prior to 1994 and the 5 year exemption, it wouldn't have been allowed at all.

The arguments for removing the exemption entirely versus a compromise and discussions on what the language actually says and means was covered at length in the last study session (Cheat Sheet post and links here). The previous City staff's report was very detailed and helpful to understand the issue from the City's perspective and the interests involved, from landlords to rental companies, to criminal justice and housing activists and reformers. CU Indivisible had a report on their take on the situation last year, available here.

Also on the agenda the same evening is looking at a report on zoning issues with potential reentry housing programs for groups of recently incarcerated people. For anyone interested in reentry housing programs, that may be worth checking out as well here. This may relate to the joint collaboration by First Followers and the Housing Authority of Champaign County's FirstSteps Community House.

School Board Updates

At Monday's Unit 4 School Board meeting, the local ACLU and NAACP chapters will be addressing continued racial disparities in the district. From the News-Gazette yesterday:

Two civil-rights groups are challenging the Champaign school district to address racial disparities in student achievement and discipline, 10 years after Unit 4 was released from federal oversight.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Champaign County and the Champaign County NAACP released a letter Thursday saying they were “deeply concerned” about growing disparities in the district since a federal consent decree to improve racial equity ended in 2009.

A decade later, “we would expect to find significant improvement. Instead, tragically for the students and families of Champaign, the situation has deteriorated,” said the letter from ACLU President Carol Spindel and NAACP President Minnie Pearson.

The disparity in English language and math proficiency has widened to a “chasm,” their letter said, citing data showing just 8 percent of black children in Unit 4 schools are proficient in English language arts and 6 percent are proficient in math, compared with 47 percent and 49 percent for white children.

More at the full article here. WCCU had additional coverage, including a video segment, here as well as a link to the letter addressed to the Unit 4 school board. At last night's county NAACP General meeting, people were encouraged to attend and show their support for equity in education. The meeting technically begins at 5:30 on December 9th at the Mellon Administration Center, though the first half hour is generally taken up in Executive Committee (outside of public view). More information at the agenda and directions here.

At Urbana Schools, the School Board recently approved permanently adding two additional School Resource Officers. In the last Cheat Sheet update on this, the board had delayed the vote until their next meeting. Since then, the measure has been approved. From the News-Gazette earlier this week:

Despite several more residents speaking out against a proposal to add a police officer to Urbana High School and another at Urbana Middle School, the Urbana city council approved it.

The council voted 6-1 in favor of the amended agreement, with Ward 7 Alderman Jared Miller voting no and saying he was frustrated with the process...

Fourteen people spoke at Monday’s meeting, including 10 against the agreement and three in favor of it.

More at the full article here. There is video of the full board meeting, including public comments available here. Final approval is likely at their December 17th meeting, and a petition in favor of approval is already circulating among supporters. From WCIA:

A petition in favor of two school resource officers at the Urbana School District middle and high schools now has more than 120 signatures. Supporters say the BB gun a man brought to school Wednesday reinforces the need to formalize the intergovernmental agreement.

Urbana City Council members approved those officers Monday night. The petition aims to encourage the Urbana Board of Education to give the final approval on December 17.

More details as well as a video segment from WCIA here. WCCU had a segment on police support here. More information on the opposition voices is available from the News-Gazette here, as well as in the public comments of the recent school board meetings available here and at the previous Cheat Sheet update here.

Today's Tom's Mailbag also had an update on Urbana School Board president's possible future plans on the board after he plans to step down as board president. Whether he stays on the board may be up in the air until the 2021 local elections get closer.

UIUC Updates

In this update:

• A new accessibility tool for restaurants in the C-U Area for people with disabilities. 
• There's a bike repair event to learn bicycle maintenance coming up this week. 
• Also some links to the coverage of new misconduct policies adopted by the UI trustees this past month.

The Daily Illini had a good overview and background on the accessibility website:

When picking a restaurant for dinner, many will decide based on the food quality, wait time or distance from home. However, people with physical disabilities often must consider many other factors about restaurants to determine if they are accessible.

Meghan Burke, professor in Education, has been working on a project with her students to create a website called Access Urbana-Champaign, a tool that assists those with disabilities in choosing a restaurant...

This restaurant accessibility project and website have been a part of Burke’s class: SPED 431, Assistive Technology and Physical Disabilities ,for the past couple of fall semesters. The class is also a requirement for Special Education majors.

Full article with additional information here. The accessibility tool is available at their website here. Additional coverage at a Smile Politely blurb here and a News-Gazette article here.

The bike repair event was covered in another Daily Illini article last month:

The Campus Bike Center hosts two “Bike Fix-A-Flat” events this semester. One session was already hosted on Nov. 6; however, another will be available Dec. 6. The events teach attendees how to repair flat tires.

“Flat tires are regarded as the most common repair issue and the most common reason people come into the shop,” said Jacob Benjamin, manager of the Campus Bike Center.

The events are available to non-bike owners as well because this class is solely a demonstration. The classes are free for anyone, which reflects the philosophy of the Campus Bike Center.

More information at the full article here. More information at the Campus Bike Center webpage here and the event webpage here.

The new misconduct policies at the University of Illinois campuses was covered in the News-Gazette a couple weeks ago and touched on a local conflict between a news affiliate on campus and campus reporting requirements. From that article:

Citing a sense of “urgency,” University of Illinois trustees Thursday approved new system-wide recommendations to combat sexual misconduct on its three campuses, echoing those developed recently at the Urbana campus.

They include restricting faculty-student relationships, requiring background checks for sexual misconduct in hiring, and banning separation agreements that withhold any sexual-misconduct findings about departing employees.

Meanwhile, First Amendment groups continued to press the university to reverse a decision forcing WUIS public radio journalists to disclose any sexual-misconduct complaints they uncover to the UI, including the name of the victim, under its Title IX mandated-reporting policy.

A lot more information at the full article here. The News-Gazette also published an opinion piece from a journalistic perspective on the disclosure rules last week that examined some of the ethical dilemmas involved here. WCCU had additional coverage of an ACLU lawsuit here and some background and links of the disclosure back and forth here.

Urbana Former Superintendent Lawsuit

The public may finally get to learn more about the leadership shakeup in Urbana School District 116 this past year. In a new lawsuit by former superintendent Don Owen, the accusations fly about a coordinated effort to stop staff diversification, and in turn address the racial disparities in the school district's treatment and punishment of students. WCIA and WAND have had a couple blurbs so far here and here, respectively, including a link to the legal complaint from WCIA here. The News-Gazette had the most fulsome overview earlier this weekend here. Excerpts:

In a lawsuit filed this week in Champaign County Circuit Court, former District 116 Superintendent Don Owen, 53, alleges that the district and the board of education retaliated against him by firing him for questioning an audit ordered by the board a year ago of the hiring of several minority faculty and staff members.

Besides his job, Owen wants punitive damages against board members John Dimit, Anne Hall, Ruth Ann Fisher, Brenda Carter, Paul Poulosky and Peggy Patten, and former board member Benita Rollins-Gay...

Those hirings sparked complaints from district staff and union members that Owen and his colleagues were engaging in “top-down management” and violating hiring policies. The union maintained it was not opposed to restorative justice but rather its failure to address the needs of all students.

Without consulting Owen, the school board then ordered a “hiring practices audit” of the new staffers, who were all African-American, Latino and Asian...

The suit alleges that the board violated Owen’s civil rights and the Illinois Human Rights Act by retaliating against him for opposing what he believed to be an unlawful employment practice, namely discrimination.

A lot more additional information and timeline available at the full article here. The legal complaint PDF is available here from WCIA. I have a couple links to previous Cheat Sheet posts with additional background on some of the Urbana School issues, including the superintendent changes, here:

• Urbana High School Violence: Overview of various issues, including the superintendent firing.
• Urbana Property Tax and Superintendent Updates: Previous post with updates on new hires in the superintendent's office.
• More previous Cheat Sheet posts mentioning Owen covering quite a bit of the recent timeline.