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Talk-Line: Shaw Local News on homeless situation in Sterling and more · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Seven at am fourteen sixteen FM ninety five one wixcent
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  Speaker 1: Time for a visit from Shah Local News this week.
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  Speaker 1: It's our update of Shaw Local News and Information, and
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  Speaker 1: our representatives are live with us in studio. The managing
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  Speaker 1: editor of the Dixon Telegraph at Sterling Gazette along board
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  Speaker 1: with yours truly, Steve Marco. Here's Charlene Bilama, Hello you,
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  Speaker 1: good to see you, and reported Brandon Clark out of
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  Speaker 1: the Sterling Rock Falls area, also with us today on
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  Speaker 1: WIX and good morning sir.
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  Speaker 2: Morning. Well, we have.
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  Speaker 1: A lot to cover in a very short period of titles,
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  Speaker 1: so let's get right to it, and we're gonna.
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  Speaker 2: Start with Brandon.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, right, going on.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, Brandon again.
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  Speaker 1: You wanted to update us on areas concerning city council
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  Speaker 1: first of all, and the well topics that we've discussed before,
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  Speaker 1: and these are in the areas of homeless.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: So it's just an an update on the public camping
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  Speaker 4: ban ordinance that Sterling had issued in December of last year.
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  Speaker 4: And so really not a whole lot has changed, and
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  Speaker 4: that's not necessarily a terrible thing, only in the sense
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  Speaker 4: that you know, when these stories first came out, a
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  Speaker 4: lot of people were worried that this was going to
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  Speaker 4: be as a tool to just start kind of dragging
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  Speaker 4: homeless people off the street and throwing them in jail.
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  Speaker 4: Only five citations have actually been issued since the ordinance
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  Speaker 4: was put in place. But really, what this for me
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  Speaker 4: kind of highlights is the underlying the underlying issues, and
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  Speaker 4: a lot of that has to do with mental health
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  Speaker 4: kind of substance abuse in some cases, and then in
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  Speaker 4: others is just that some people who really don't want
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  Speaker 4: to seek help. The city has kind of cleared out
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  Speaker 4: a few encampments kind of down by the bridge or
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  Speaker 4: by the river in the city, and then the other
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  Speaker 4: you know, the other issue that this kind of highlights
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  Speaker 4: is the lack of volunteerism when it comes to the
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  Speaker 4: city's only homeless shelter of the Twin Cities Pads Homeless.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, you know, and I see.
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  Speaker 4: A lot of chatter online why can't we just take
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  Speaker 4: some of these vacant buildings throughout the city and turn
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  Speaker 4: that into another shelter. And what I think a lot
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  Speaker 4: of people don't really realize is where do you come
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  Speaker 4: up with the money annually to pay additional staff?
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 4: Because the current homeless shelter already doesn't have enough volunteers,
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  Speaker 4: so you're not getting it done through there. But then
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  Speaker 4: you've got to pay those utilities, somebody's got to watch
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  Speaker 4: over it, somebody's got to maintain it, right, uh, and
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  Speaker 4: we already know that. You know, usually that that gets
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  Speaker 4: paid through what's something new like taxes, you know, is
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  Speaker 4: usually the most unpopular method. And you know nobody wants
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  Speaker 4: a new tax, so you know that's where where that
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  Speaker 4: really comes down to is you know, we people you
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  Speaker 4: know generally seem to care and want this issue to
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  Speaker 4: be handled.
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  Speaker 2: But it's it's kind.
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  Speaker 4: Of more complex than I think a lot of folks realize.
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  Speaker 1: Ideas are good, but it's it's getting the ideas again, like.
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  Speaker 4: You just mentioned, executing them exactly. It's really it's funding
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  Speaker 4: those ideas. Yeah, money doesn't come from anywhere. Yeah, it's
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  Speaker 4: easy to come up with the ideas. That's great.
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  Speaker 1: Then we have these concerned citizens, but it's another story
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  Speaker 1: to actually get the ball rolling in these.
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  Speaker 5: And to get the shelter itself, because the idea it
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  Speaker 5: isn't You can't just take an empty building and say, Okay,
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  Speaker 5: we solved our problem everybody's.
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  Speaker 3: In the building.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly.
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  Speaker 5: It is about taking care, providing to some degree more
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  Speaker 5: than beds. It's also services and food and everything from there.
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  Speaker 5: You have to think about insurance. I mean, I'm sure
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  Speaker 5: that's part of it too, because you're taking people in.
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  Speaker 5: Isn't that part of something too? That's sterling if they
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  Speaker 5: took if they expanded, had another city one that they'd
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  Speaker 5: have to look at, like taking on the liability also
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  Speaker 5: if it became a city entity.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I know at one point there was discussions of
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  Speaker 4: building like a warming shelter somewhere where people could just
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  Speaker 4: kind of come and warm up. It wouldn't even necessarily
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  Speaker 4: have to be an actual new homeless shelter, just a
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  Speaker 4: warming station. But again, you have to have somebody monitoring
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  Speaker 4: that because if you start to get fights and drug
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  Speaker 4: use i mean assaults, you never know, the issues could
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  Speaker 4: be endless.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, exactly, you know, and you're taking in city
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  Speaker 1: services as well, you know, your law enforcement and and staffing.
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  Speaker 1: You know, as you mentioned, are we are we? That
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  Speaker 1: is it problematic though, Brandon with the shelters, are they overflowing?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, is it? Is it? Is it a well?
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  Speaker 4: Starlings is full they usually hold on an average about
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  Speaker 4: thirty two individuals as it is, and a lot of
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  Speaker 4: those folks are regulars who are working towards things. I
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  Speaker 4: spoke with Miles Newberry. He's, you know, trying to do
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  Speaker 4: a few new things to be a little stricter about
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  Speaker 4: getting people moving along. But it seems like a lot
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  Speaker 4: of the issues that we're seeing in terms of like
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  Speaker 4: complaints are more from people who who aren't really using
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  Speaker 4: the shelter but are just don't want that help for
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  Speaker 4: one reason or another. And there's you know, there's no
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  Speaker 4: law to say somebody has to get help. There's you know,
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  Speaker 4: there's laws and consequences when you break laws, but you
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  Speaker 4: can't force somebody to get help that doesn't want it.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, situation involving at the ordinances, you know, uh, and
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  Speaker 1: they're kind of vague as you just met, you know,
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  Speaker 1: public out of camping. You know, you call it a
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  Speaker 1: camping ordinance, and it's really you know, directed in another
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  Speaker 1: way than just that ordinance itself with what it states,
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  Speaker 1: you know, is not you know, you're not thinking about,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the big picture when you when you're talking
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  Speaker 1: about an ordinance stated like that.
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  Speaker 5: So and you're even if somebody handed you, somebody waved
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  Speaker 5: a magic wand and said, here's the money, you can
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  Speaker 5: build it there.
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  Speaker 3: There also is where do I put it?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, because we've seen that happen in communities too, where
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  Speaker 5: they're giving a very large grant but kind of a
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  Speaker 5: not in my backyard.
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  Speaker 3: Was going to do that property values.
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  Speaker 5: There's that that way that people kind of look at
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  Speaker 5: what got you there in the first place.
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  Speaker 3: I don't want that in my backyard. It's sad to
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  Speaker 3: say that, but it does. It does play a role
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  Speaker 3: in it too. So it takes a lot of work
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  Speaker 3: to get even that set.
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  Speaker 2: Up absolutely, so it's very interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Brandon continues to cover that along with more Sterling information.
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  Speaker 1: You got an update on the rental situation.
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  Speaker 4: Oh there, Yeah, an update on another new Sterling ordinance
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  Speaker 4: with a residential rental inspection program. So this would create
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  Speaker 4: a registry of all the rental properties in the city,
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  Speaker 4: followed by in a universal inspectionalist that they would use
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  Speaker 4: to keep properties from falling below substandard living conditions. Those
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  Speaker 4: inspections were originally slated to kind of roll out in June,
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  Speaker 4: but they're still finalizing that last checklist. So landlords, you know,
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  Speaker 4: have a little bit longer before they can expect those
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  Speaker 4: to begin. It's probably going to be in the fall.
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  Speaker 4: They'll receive notices with that. They're also doing some education
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  Speaker 4: to kind of help bring them up to parvs, some
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  Speaker 4: practice inspections to get some feedback from some rental owners
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  Speaker 4: to kind of really tune that fine, tune that in.
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  Speaker 4: And then yeah, they'll start getting those notices and they'll
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  Speaker 4: have so long to comply.
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  Speaker 2: With getting on the registry.
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  Speaker 4: And then what that does is they'll have to provide
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  Speaker 4: these rental owners will have to provide some information about
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  Speaker 4: their properties as well as contact information for either themselves
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  Speaker 4: or an authorized agent that lives within at least fifty
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  Speaker 4: miles of the city, sort of that if issues arise,
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  Speaker 4: somebody can reasonably be reached in, you know, in a
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  Speaker 4: reasonable amount of time.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, this all stems from you know, uh the uh,
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  Speaker 1: I guess the problems that we've had with rental properties
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  Speaker 1: kind of going by the wayside and not being up.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, Sterling's really been trying to, you know, get on
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  Speaker 4: the ball about cleaning some of this up. And another
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  Speaker 4: thing I you know, I think some people don't really
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  Speaker 4: understand is some of the lengthy court proceedings. It can
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  Speaker 4: take uh to acquire some of these properties, but they
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  Speaker 4: have gotten several. Several were not only acquired, some were demolished.
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  Speaker 4: Some were you know, repurposed and sold out to future
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  Speaker 4: developers to get them back on the tax roll.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll get the update in that area of Sterling.
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  Speaker 1: So a couple of really these are major issues. These
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  Speaker 1: are major issues that we're talking to Brandon about today,
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  Speaker 1: and we want to continue talking about Sterling because we've
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  Speaker 1: had some appointments made by the law enforcement you.
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  Speaker 2: Wanted to manage. Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: Ryan Potthoff is the new Deputy Chief of Support Services
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  Speaker 4: for the Sterling Police Department, replacing Jeff Moore who retired
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  Speaker 4: earlier this year. So Sterling City Council kind of made
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  Speaker 4: that official during the last city council meeting.
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  Speaker 2: He was there.
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  Speaker 4: His dad, Ron pot Off, who someone will remembers the
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  Speaker 4: chief actually had the honor of pinning his son.
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  Speaker 2: So that is a really cool moment.
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  Speaker 1: Congratulations. Then to that appointment again at the latest Sterling
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  Speaker 1: City Council meeting. Again, Brandon has the stories for us
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  Speaker 1: from sha local here at w I Accent want to
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  Speaker 1: shift our attention to some activities going on across our
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  Speaker 1: Noil and Illinois area. But you wanted to talk about
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  Speaker 1: an eerie actor.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you've had a story about these two
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  Speaker 5: mentioned about this, the Boss Brothers at the farm where
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  Speaker 5: they have their threshing. This year it's the threshing be Well,
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  Speaker 5: they'll actually show how they they harvest wheat and how
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  Speaker 5: that ends up in bred and they have all sorts
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  Speaker 5: of artisan presentations going on to kind of like the
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  Speaker 5: crafts of Yesteryear. I would say, so it's it's a
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  Speaker 5: big event for the twenty fifth of the twenty seventh.
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  Speaker 5: I think it's open from eight am to five pm
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  Speaker 5: during those days. Just a great kind of a multi
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  Speaker 5: generational family event where you have people who lived in
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  Speaker 5: that area and their offspring who farmed and they bring that.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you think about.
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  Speaker 5: For me, I grew up on a farm, but you
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  Speaker 5: think about people who maybe maybe have not had that
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  Speaker 5: experience to see how that works and then to see
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  Speaker 5: that Yesteryear that's really kind of cool.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so exactly.
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  Speaker 1: And in the midst of all of what is going
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  Speaker 1: to be presented as far as all of our county fairs,
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  Speaker 1: and we talked about this shar you and I talked
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  Speaker 1: about this last week all the county fairs, Lee Whiteside, Carol,
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  Speaker 1: all the county fairs. Here's something you know that's a
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  Speaker 1: little bit away from the county fairs circuit, but we
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  Speaker 1: wanted to mention because it's an important event, especially in
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  Speaker 1: that neck of the woods exactly.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, down to Erie, Profacetown, not a very big area,
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  Speaker 5: obviously rural, but it does showcase who they are.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly, and what yeah, what they offer down
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  Speaker 1: in that area.
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  Speaker 2: It's it's it's great.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's great with the good again that's out
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  Speaker 1: of the Erie area, and we wanted to mention that.
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  Speaker 1: Today had a word from Soft Valley Chain Dallas Neck.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I noticed that last week she was on
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  Speaker 5: air here and it talked about the rebranding of Keystone
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  Speaker 5: into Stock Valley under forty. So we have a story
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  Speaker 5: put together about that. And really what they do is
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  Speaker 5: looking at bringing the millennials and the gen zers together
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  Speaker 5: and having them learn how to get engage in the community.
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  Speaker 5: And it's networking, but it's also like what are you
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  Speaker 5: interested in and what kind of maybe platform or part
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  Speaker 5: of the community do you want to be involved in.
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  Speaker 5: So it does start teaching volunteerism.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, and because you were, you know, you were.
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  Speaker 5: Actually looking towards your next generation of leaders. So we
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  Speaker 5: have a story to follow up on that.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, And yeah, we did have Dallas on and that rebranding, right,
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  Speaker 1: the Keystone Group is what it was.
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  Speaker 2: It was a Keystone Group before, but it's now.
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  Speaker 1: Being changed and it's kind of reworked right through the
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  Speaker 1: stock Value Eachamber, which is great. And they got that
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  Speaker 1: big gathering out at stock Valley Community College coming up
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  Speaker 1: later this week. As a matter of fact, all the
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  Speaker 1: chambers are going to be out. Oh that's right, Daily
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  Speaker 1: Community College. Yeah, different community. Yes, I believe that's tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: If I'm not mistaken, it's on Thursday the seventeenth, Then
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  Speaker 1: I believe that's a big chamber gathering, not at stock
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  Speaker 1: Valley Community College. And we'll have more on that as
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  Speaker 1: we move through the week here at w I accent.
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  Speaker 1: Back to Stirling the Theater you want to do Do
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  Speaker 1: you want to talk about the theater renovation?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's a big deal. Brandon did a story
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  Speaker 3: about that.
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  Speaker 5: It was an announcement about a lot of money that's
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  Speaker 5: going into the old Starlight Theater. And with the business
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  Speaker 5: center next door at the M Court building bank.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was actually Peyton's story.
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  Speaker 3: That was py story.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a story thank you when we had Dixon
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  Speaker 4: because it's Darren Mangler.
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  Speaker 3: Is Darren Mangler I had done a story are you
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  Speaker 3: talking about?
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  Speaker 5: Okay, right, right, right, Okay, I will roll that back in.
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  Speaker 5: Peyton did a great job in that story about the
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  Speaker 5: downtown development that's happening there. And yeah, Darren Mangler, who
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  Speaker 5: had been with the Dixon Historic Theater, is actually the
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  Speaker 5: driving force behind that renovation of Starlight. It'll be called
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  Speaker 5: the Spark Center for the Performing Arts.
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  Speaker 2: Cool.
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  Speaker 5: And yeah, a lot of work will go into renovating
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  Speaker 5: that building as well as in the plans for the
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  Speaker 5: bank M five, a developer is behind all of this.
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  Speaker 5: And in our story that Peyton did, it outlines what
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  Speaker 5: his plans are, pretty much down to the floor of
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  Speaker 5: that bank of if you're a business owner in there
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  Speaker 5: and what services are available, The idea being that if
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  Speaker 5: you are just getting in the business, you know, trying
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  Speaker 5: to run your own business, what all the extras are
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: that make it prohibitive in some costs cases to open
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: those those doors up, So he can you know, really
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  Speaker 5: is a way to get people who have an.
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  Speaker 3: Idea absolutely into their own suite.
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  Speaker 2: Sure so, all right, So that's good.
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  Speaker 1: It's always great to hear renovation and growth right in
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  Speaker 1: our communities, and especially with the you know, areas that
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  Speaker 1: need to be refurbished.
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  Speaker 3: Could be a great anchor, exactly. You know you're looking
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  Speaker 3: for an anchor, exactly.
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  Speaker 2: Always great to hear those stories.
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  Speaker 1: We got about a minute left, Shark, just a quick
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  Speaker 1: quick update on your court to activity.
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  Speaker 3: Oh that's this week. Two days ago.
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  Speaker 5: I was in Whitesain County Court and there was the
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  Speaker 5: garage party shooting.
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  Speaker 3: That's we're referring it to.
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  Speaker 5: In Rock Falls on June twenty ninth, three men are
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  Speaker 5: accused of walking into a garage party. They had wanted
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  Speaker 5: to be there and they were told they couldn't be there,
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  Speaker 5: so they allegedly showed up with masks and guns and
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: threatened people there. They all got all three of them
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  Speaker 5: got charged with selling seven felonies because they were concealed
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: and carried guns and shot at the building allegedly. And
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  Speaker 5: so the first one of the three appeared in court
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  Speaker 5: this week for his preliminary hearing and he pleaded not guilty.
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  Speaker 3: So that was the first.
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  Speaker 5: We'll see two more go through on the twenty first,
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  Speaker 5: and they'll also have their preliminary hearing, so that's where
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  Speaker 5: they outline the case against them. Two of them are
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: being held in jail, the third one is out in
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  Speaker 5: pre trial lease based on they analyzed all different factors
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  Speaker 5: to decide who should stay and who is able.
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  Speaker 3: To be let go.
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  Speaker 5: But now we're starting to see movement through that. That
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  Speaker 5: was a scary you know, that story came up. We
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  Speaker 5: put those stories up online. It's like, uh, you know,
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  Speaker 5: I can't believe something like that is being invested, but
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  Speaker 5: it is. Anyway, it is it to proven guilty. So
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  Speaker 5: we're following them through court.
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  Speaker 1: So there's your court update as well through Shaw Local News. Guys,
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  Speaker 1: we thank you so very much great information in this
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  Speaker 1: portion of our program and we'll look forward to more
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  Speaker 1: next week.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us today.
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  Speaker 1: Charlie Bilama Brandon Clark our guest from.
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  Speaker 2: Shaw Local News on Wix.
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  Speaker 3: Some things can steal your sunshine.
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  Speaker 1: I've just got my hair done