Latest / WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio / Talk Line with Sterling Mayor Diana Merdian

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Talk Line with Sterling Mayor Diana Merdian · WIXN AM 1460 - Shaw Local Radio

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Sock Valley.
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  Speaker 2: You're with the Waking Crew here on AM fourteen sixty
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  Speaker 2: FM ninety five to one w I XEN, where you're
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  Speaker 2: never more than moments away from all the music, sports,
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  Speaker 2: news and entertainment you need to start your day. And
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  Speaker 2: today we're moving into our our talk line segment and
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  Speaker 2: we're joined by Sterling's mayor, Diana Memrdon.
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  Speaker 1: How are you, Diana? Pretty good? How are you very well?
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  Speaker 1: Very well?
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  Speaker 2: We got some warmer weatherheaded this week, so I'm happy
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  Speaker 2: about it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'm a winter so I'm okay with with the cold.
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  Speaker 3: But I know a lot of other people maybe not so.
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  Speaker 1: Much cool weather.
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  Speaker 2: Okay that we start dipping into the negatives and that's
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  Speaker 2: where you got me. Yeah, but you've got a lot
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  Speaker 2: to talk about Sterling on your plate today.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, so I guess you know where to start. I
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  Speaker 4: guess first, our city clerk would would not be happy
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  Speaker 4: with me if I did not take the opportunity to
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  Speaker 4: let everybody know that we are doing again Christmas Light
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  Speaker 4: competition in the cities and city limits to decorate your
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  Speaker 4: house or business. We're letting businesses be involved with this
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  Speaker 4: along with residents and entries. Are from believes the fifteenth
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  Speaker 4: through the fifth of December, and we're going to have
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  Speaker 4: judging and bragging rights and you know, contest winners and
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  Speaker 4: things like that. We will have a map that will
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  Speaker 4: have all of the entries. We just kind of want
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  Speaker 4: to spread some of that holiday chere and some of
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  Speaker 4: that light during the holiday season. I am along with
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  Speaker 4: me in a winter. I'm also very very much a
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  Speaker 4: Christmas person. Christmas is my jam, that is my holiday.
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  Speaker 4: So we already have we already have our Christmas stuff up. However,
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  Speaker 4: my husband he changes the code to our Alexa every year,
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  Speaker 4: so I don't get to know the code for the
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  Speaker 4: up or Christmas lights until after Thanksgiving. They're already up,
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  Speaker 4: but I don't get to I don't get to turn
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  Speaker 4: them on yet.
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  Speaker 2: Christmas is definitely to your jam. Are we gonna see
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  Speaker 2: you on any rooftops.
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  Speaker 1: Again this year?
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  Speaker 3: Well probably not. The roof is fixed over at.
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  Speaker 4: National so there was a reason why I wasn't.
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  Speaker 3: On that roof because we needed to get it fixed.
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  Speaker 4: It is fixed now, but we will have the sights
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  Speaker 4: and sounds on Friday. I believe that's is that December
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  Speaker 4: sixth or fifth. That Friday we will have sights and sounds,
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  Speaker 4: and we'll have a whole bunch of fun events vendors.
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  Speaker 4: We'll also have a trolley ride. In the past we've
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  Speaker 4: had horse drawn carriages, but that has been a little
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  Speaker 4: difficult to get people on and off, and so we
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  Speaker 4: are actually gonna have a trolley ride throughout town.
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  Speaker 3: They'll have different stops, so that'll be fun.
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  Speaker 4: And we'll like the Christmas Tree, so I'll be there
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  Speaker 4: very very much stressed up with Santa and Missus Clause
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  Speaker 4: spreading a lot of fun will have. I think the
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  Speaker 4: city Council will have cider like what we normally do
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  Speaker 4: over at the movie theater downtown, along with a whole
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  Speaker 4: bunch of other people down there, so.
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  Speaker 1: We'll be looking forward to that. I know.
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  Speaker 2: Part of my favorite part of childhood is going around.
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  Speaker 2: My mom would drive us around just to see everybody's
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  Speaker 2: houses that were lit up, so encouraging.
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  Speaker 1: These kind of things.
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  Speaker 2: These, you know, the events we didn't even I don't
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  Speaker 2: think we even had half those events.
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  Speaker 1: It feels back when I was a.
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  Speaker 2: Kid, and so those are always some of my favorite
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  Speaker 2: things to look forward to, so I know everybody else
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  Speaker 2: will be looking forward to those as well.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I know that there are a few people that
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  Speaker 4: have been asking about like the holiday parade.
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  Speaker 3: I know some communities have still had that.
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  Speaker 4: As well before my time, but I think from what
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  Speaker 4: I've heard that because of whether the parade had been
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  Speaker 4: canceled a few times and I'm not sure which group
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  Speaker 4: was running the parade. The City's always willing to work
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  Speaker 4: with any organization that wants to put on a parade,
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  Speaker 4: but since we have to do some of the logistics
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  Speaker 4: of road closures and safety and security, we're not the
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  Speaker 4: ones that put the parade on because there is a
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  Speaker 4: lot that goes into organizing and getting everybody to come
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  Speaker 4: and be on a parade, But then there's also the
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  Speaker 4: behind the scenes of making sure that everybody's safe while
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  Speaker 4: at the parade, and so we can't do both. And
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  Speaker 4: so but you know, if any if any group is
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  Speaker 4: interested or willing to you know, I mean shoot out
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  Speaker 4: if I would be doing Christmas stuff up in September,
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  Speaker 4: but you know my husband.
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  Speaker 3: Not so much.
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  Speaker 2: Well, there you have it, folks, holiday parade an option
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  Speaker 2: if you want to step up to the plate and
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  Speaker 2: be the Christmas leader.
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  Speaker 1: There you go. What else do we got going on
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  Speaker 1: over in Stirling, Diana.
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  Speaker 4: So this week actually it's kind of kind of a
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  Speaker 4: combination of uh, you know, Dixon and the stock ally
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  Speaker 4: and really the whole state. The Illinois main Street Conference
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  Speaker 4: is is having their conference here in Dixon, and there's
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  Speaker 4: you know, main street organizations throughout the state, and so
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  Speaker 4: Dixon is very fortunate to have the conference here this year.
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  Speaker 4: I think last year was in Batavia, and so it's
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  Speaker 4: really nice to be able to showcase your downtown. And
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  Speaker 4: soon once I have a hotel, I hope to be
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  Speaker 4: able to you know, host as well.
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  Speaker 3: But I still got a little bit of work to do.
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  Speaker 4: But Dixon's having their main Street Conference here this this week,
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  Speaker 4: and we'll be here with our main Street and we
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  Speaker 4: will be among other main street organizations receiving some.
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  Speaker 3: Of the Lieutenant Governor awards.
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  Speaker 4: And our specifically for our forty and under group and
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  Speaker 4: our team out to clean up groups. So that was
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  Speaker 4: really nice to be able to be recognized by the
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  Speaker 4: Lieutenant Governor for the work that our main Street has
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  Speaker 4: been doing in Sterling.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, And you had wanted to talk also, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you got several things on your plate. We've got the rivers,
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  Speaker 2: that designation road projects, Where do you want to.
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  Speaker 1: Start with that?
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  Speaker 3: So road projects this year has been super fun.
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  Speaker 4: We normally don't have as many roads that we've.
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  Speaker 3: Done this year in a normal year.
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  Speaker 4: This year is technically two years worth of roads being
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  Speaker 4: done in one year.
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  Speaker 3: So when people tell.
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  Speaker 4: Me to get roads done, I maybe take a little
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  Speaker 4: too much to hurt. But we had I believe, I
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  Speaker 4: believe it was twenty two roads that we did this year,
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  Speaker 4: and that was just just around eight million dollars worth
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  Speaker 4: of roads. For the most part, most of them are
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  Speaker 4: either done or wrapping up to be done. Light Street
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  Speaker 4: that's just right downtown that is now finally finished.
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  Speaker 3: And so that was that was fun.
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  Speaker 4: We kind of dug it into that and then found
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  Speaker 4: found a sewer that we didn't know existed, uh, and
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  Speaker 4: so that kind of took that project and increased it
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  Speaker 4: six figures. So, you know, sometimes you don't know what
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  Speaker 4: you're gonna find when you open up a road. And
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  Speaker 4: then East Second Street, I'm not even gonna say it
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  Speaker 4: because people keep, you know, saying things, and I you know,
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  Speaker 4: I lived, I live on a dead end down there,
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  Speaker 4: and so I have had the joys and pains and
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  Speaker 4: sufferings that have come with this project. But we've been
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  Speaker 4: told some decent news, but I'm not going to jinx
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  Speaker 4: it because everything that can go wrong with a project,
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  Speaker 4: I feel like as a resident has gone wrong.
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  Speaker 3: There has been.
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  Speaker 4: A lot, and so we have you know, I will
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  Speaker 4: give my my neighbors credit that they have been amazing,
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  Speaker 4: you know, amazing neighbors given what we've been.
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  Speaker 3: Going through with this project. I mean, it's it's ten.
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  Speaker 1: Blocks worth of front the project.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's I mean, it's gonna be really nice when
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  Speaker 4: it's done. It's gonna beautiful, and it's going to be
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  Speaker 4: a really great path to connect the downtown and the
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  Speaker 4: new Riverfront Park, uh to the walking path over by
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  Speaker 4: the Dylan home that will take you across the across.
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  Speaker 3: The dam, and then our our.
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  Speaker 4: Multipurpose path goes all the way out currently to Walmart,
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  Speaker 4: and then we're working to get to socccalley Community College,
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  Speaker 4: and I know Dixon is also working their way out
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  Speaker 4: or out to or out to the college. And so
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  Speaker 4: at some point for anybody that likes to bike or
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  Speaker 4: walk very far, you will be able to.
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  Speaker 2: That is not my cup of tea, no, but these
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  Speaker 2: things have to be done.
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  Speaker 1: It'll definitely be worthwhile when it's done.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I'm at least of the kind of
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  Speaker 2: mind that when it comes to construction, just like when
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  Speaker 2: I take my car into the shop, it's rarely ever
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  Speaker 2: that that things will go exactly to plan. There's usually
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  Speaker 2: some kind of a hiccup, delay, or in you know,
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  Speaker 2: in auto mechanics, there's always like a secondary problem that
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  Speaker 2: goes on. So I just tell people be patient. It's
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  Speaker 2: these things are necessary, but it'll be worth it. I
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  Speaker 2: actually grew up on the second Street nine oh six,
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  Speaker 2: right across Kitty Corner from Dylan, so I think it'll
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  Speaker 2: be really terrific all this, you know, not just the
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  Speaker 2: reconstruction of the street, but the connecting of those paths.
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  Speaker 2: It's going to be really nice down man, and I
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  Speaker 2: think folks will appreciate it when it's done.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm hoping to get myself in a here. Since
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  Speaker 4: December is pretty pretty close now, I'm hoping to be able.
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  Speaker 3: To get it before the end of the year.
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  Speaker 4: Ordinances through to make Sterling a ten minute city, which
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  Speaker 4: is essentially making it so that the residents of Sterling
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  Speaker 4: are within a ten minute walk to a parker trail
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  Speaker 4: and the national average, or the goal is to be
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  Speaker 4: at least fifty five percent of your residents or within
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  Speaker 4: a ten minute walk to a parker a trail. And
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  Speaker 4: you know, because of our parks or park district does
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  Speaker 4: an amazing job and our partnership with them. Currently and
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  Speaker 4: we still have to add to the map. Currently we're
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  Speaker 4: about ninety two percent. And so, you know, having that
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  Speaker 4: designation allows us for grants, It allows us to kind of,
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  Speaker 4: I guess, toot our own horn to kind of show
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  Speaker 4: how like the walkability of our community. And also it
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  Speaker 4: allows us to kind of showcase compared to other communities.
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  Speaker 3: You know, some of the communities that a lot of people.
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  Speaker 4: Think is kind of being really affluent and things like
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  Speaker 4: that don't even come close to even breaking eighty percent.
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  Speaker 4: And so I'm like, well, they can, they can have
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  Speaker 4: their target, but do they have access to the rivers,
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  Speaker 4: do they have you know, the natural resources that we have.
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  Speaker 3: Those things you can't build.
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  Speaker 4: And so also, nobody's building neighborhood parks anymore. They might
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  Speaker 4: have a playground in a subdivision, or they might have
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  Speaker 4: an athletic center, but they don't have those neighbor neighborhood parks.
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  Speaker 3: They're just really not being built.
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  Speaker 4: And so those are the things that you know, I
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  Speaker 4: think we're really proud of.
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  Speaker 2: So speaking of another point of pride that many communities
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  Speaker 2: don't have, and I wanted you to be able to
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  Speaker 2: touch on real quickly at a little bit of time.
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  Speaker 1: Is that a special designation for Stirling?
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  Speaker 4: Yes, so our River's Edge designation has been a lot
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  Speaker 4: of hard work.
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  Speaker 3: We just sent the application off to the state.
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  Speaker 4: So in about three to six months we should have
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  Speaker 4: everything certified. Uh, and that allows us there's a total
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  Speaker 4: of twelve communities that have the designation, but not all
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  Speaker 4: twelve have certified their zone throughout the state. So those
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  Speaker 4: that have certified their zone will be able to offer developers,
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  Speaker 4: small businesses different text incentives to be able to.
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  Speaker 3: Develop their property, commercial.
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  Speaker 4: Properties or to you know, and our zone is every
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  Speaker 4: place that we could get in the zone is in
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  Speaker 4: the zone. We you know, everybody says all we care
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  Speaker 4: about is the lawrence in the national building and that
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  Speaker 4: was not at all the case. We wanted to make
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  Speaker 4: sure everybody that can take opportunity of this is able
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  Speaker 4: to and we just that was just through.
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  Speaker 3: The veto session. We got it.
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  Speaker 4: We got the designation in May through the budget and
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  Speaker 4: then through this Veto session here in October. We were
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  Speaker 4: able to work with the other communities and got it
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  Speaker 4: extended because there was an expiration date and so we
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  Speaker 4: got that extended along with our riverfront tiff was going,
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  Speaker 4: which is down down by the you know, the riverfront
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  Speaker 4: by Lawrence National, that was set to expire in twenty
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  Speaker 4: twenty six, and so we needed to extend that also
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  Speaker 4: and we were able to get that through Vito session
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  Speaker 4: as well.
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's a lot happening down at Sterling, you know,
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  Speaker 2: very very important news, and I apologize we're a bit
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  Speaker 2: out of time, but you know there's more on that
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  Speaker 2: river's edge designation online and Shawlocal dot com.
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  Speaker 1: I did write several stories on that.
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  Speaker 2: If you haven't read that, shame on you go online
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  Speaker 2: read all about it. Diana, I want to thank you
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  Speaker 2: so much for being on the show. It's been great
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  Speaker 2: having you here.
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  Speaker 1: And it won't be the last time. Thank you so much.
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  Speaker 1: Up next, we