Tom's #Mailbag, Dec. 25, 2020 | Tom's Mailbag | news-gazette.com

It will be cloudy and sunny in the morning, and it will turn cloudy this afternoon. 42F high. Wind the SSW at 10 to 15 mph.

Partially cloudy. As low as 30F. The speed is 10 to 15 mph.

The State Farm Center roof is supported by 614 miles of quarter-inch steel wire wrapped around the bottom of its iconic dome. Anthony Zillis/The Press Release

Columnist

Tom Kacich is a columnist for the "Press Release" and author of "Tom's Pouch." His column appeared on Sunday. His email is tkacich@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@tkacich).

Merry Christmas from the mailbag staff, this week will answer questions about the Christmas tree decorated along the highway in Torono, the shelter in Busy Woods in Urbana, and the vacant nursing home in Champaign There will be a "spidercam" to observe the growth of plants in the future and the issue of 10 acres of land at the University of Illinois (University of Illinois) farm.

In addition, there are more about illegal parking in Campustown, the origin of the five points, the highly valued IDOT bicycle route map, the dark dome of the Foellinger Auditorium, and suggestions that Illinois basketball should return to the Kenny Coliseum or Hove Hall .

Rena Anderson, the administrative secretary of Torono Village, answers to you: "For this question, I have to contact the big North Pole in person. Santa will only tell me that they are his happy Christmas helpers. They want to stay. They like to spread the cheers of Christmas to everyone in the past; to light up their days and light up their hearts.

"I did have a brief conversation with these helpers, and they wanted to convey that they wish you all a Merry Christmas!"

Anderson said this is not the first year of putting decorations on the trees on the roadside.

She said: "They said that they have been decorating in the past few years to bring Christmas joy to everyone in the past." "This is a tradition they hope to continue for many years."

I also wish you a Merry Christmas. According to Illinois's Tier 3 mitigation measures (all areas of the state are below Tier 3 since November 20), fitness centers and gymnasiums are allowed to operate, but only at 25% capacity, without Indoor courses and wear a mask.

About a week ago, Governor JB Pritzker admitted that after the holiday, some restrictions could be lifted in areas where the number of people in Area 6 (Eastern Central Illinois) has increased.

He said: "There is no doubt that this is our intention, because we have spent these holidays and started to focus on the fact that there will be no holidays after the New Year in order to reduce the strata in our various regions."

"In the many years of working in (Urbana Park District), we have many people building wooden fortresses, shelters for the homeless, sloping pergolas and other temporary structures in many parks and natural areas," Executive Officer Tim Bartlett said the park district director. "These construction works are also reported to our staff. We usually report the report to our structure demolition to restore the park and natural landscape."

He said that the park area has hosted programs in the past, and these programs have added temporary structures to the programs.

He said: "At the end of the planning period, it is always cleared and the area is restored to keep it as a natural area."

The four steel towers are part of a rigged camera system used for on-site scale phenotyping and will be used by the University’s Achieving Photosynthesis Efficiency (RIPE) team,” said Steve Brightweiser of UI Facilities and Services Said. Approximately 150 feet high, it will support the "spidercam" transmission system used for hyperspectral imaging cameras (similar to the skycam/Madden-view used in the TV broadcast of football matches).

"The setup will provide various methods to measure the attributes of plants growing on the 10 acres of land on the east side of South Race Road. The project is expected to be basically completed next year. Future research will be carried out at Carl R. Woese Institute of Genomic Biology. For more information about RIPE, this international research project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Food and Agricultural Research Foundation, and the Office of Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth and Development of the United Kingdom

. "

Breitwieser said that in general, the Foellinger Auditorium dome lights will be lit when an event occurs in the facility or a celebration within the campus (such as school opening or returning to school).

He said: "There is no timetable for turning on the lights." "Due to the COVID-19 guidelines, there has been no activity at this facility this year, which may be the reason why LED lamps are not used frequently."

Given the recent $170 million renovation of the State Farm Center, why do players, coaches and staff want to play in 130 or 95 years old, changing rooms and other poorly equipped buildings?

This is what Kent Brown, the deputy director of sports in the Illinois Department of Media Relations, said: "There was no discussion about the relocation of the game from the State Farm Center. We think this building is the best of its kind, and is The team and employees provide top-level convenience games.

"In addition, SFC has the ability to handle all the TV and streaming requirements for the men's and women's games this season, so fans watching at home can get the best experience. We are very grateful for the history and tradition represented by Huff and Kenney Gyms., both There are no basketball games like State Farm Center."

Yes, thank you for this question, which gave me a chance to steal myself. Starting from the pouch on November 23, 2018:

"Fifty years ago, in the fall of 1968, the condemnation process was underway to reorganize the crazy route at the intersection of Urbana University Avenue and Cunningham Avenue (also known as "Five Points").

"The fifth point of the crossroads, as you can see in the aerial photos provided by the Champaign County Historical Archives of the Urbana Free Library in 1958, is a small piece of Cunningham Avenue (Polite Road) from The intersection extends southwest to Broadway Avenue.

"In fact, the original sidewalk still exists on private property.

“Photos in the historical archives show various features of urban urban areas that no longer exist: the grain elevator on the east side of Broadway, the University of Champaign-Urbana and the first McDonald’s in the northeast corner of Cunningham, And on the west side of Cunningham, north of Five o’clock (now Arby's), the old heating plant in Urbana and the chimney on Water Street (now the Civic Center), the old Broadway and Elm City Hall, and the houses and businesses before Lincoln Square Mall."

Kensil Garnett, an engineer in District 3 of the Illinois Department of Transportation, will release the following good news at the end of this year:

"Bicycle Service Level (BLOS)-(color-coded road safety) map is still on the website (by county,

.

"You can also order a copy of the printed bike map on the same map

They also include BLOS. "

with

University of Illinois Police spokesperson Pat Wade said: "This field has been plagued by drivers and police for many years. This semester, this is a bigger problem because there have been many car thefts in the U.S. in this area.

"When drivers enter a shop or restaurant to grab something, they keep driving and unlocking in the driveway. This is something you can't do because it makes the vehicle an easy target for thieves."

Wade said that college police write tickets for more serious crimes, such as people ignoring repeated warnings or leaving their vehicles in places that completely block traffic.

"In addition to these, our police officers spent a lot of time parking people in the center lane to drive them away. This is a good example of our one-hour real-time ride with Sergeant Michel Schroeder. You can find the video on the University of Illinois Police Facebook page a few weeks ago.

"When we notice that the situation has become very bad, we occasionally engage in law enforcement campaigns, but this can even reduce the problem and cannot completely eliminate it. Of course this is not the only traffic challenge in the Campustown area. Traffic conflicts can cause serious injuries. This is UIPD. Reasons to spend a lot of time on traffic education and law enforcement.

"Our best advice is to avoid the campus completely if you can. I know that University Avenue and Windsor Road will allow me to cross the city faster without causing traffic troubles."

Chris Coster of the Champagne Department of Public Works said the three trees are not within the city’s property. The property at 1900 Center Drive in Champaign is owned by Diya Capital Investments of Wylie, Texas.

Altitude Health Services project manager Erik Moscovitch (Erik Moscovitch) said the property has been sold in accordance with the contract. The company operated the Champaign Rehabilitation Center in S. Mattis Ave. 1915 in Champaign.

He said: "I don't know what the future owner has planned."

He said: "People there have the right to choose where to go. We give everyone the right to choose. Some people decide to go to a more suitable place, which means if they have more mental problems." "I believe that at 45 Of the residents, about 30 decided to go to the University Rehabilitation Center (the old Champaign County Nursing Home, also owned by Altitude in Evanston), and a large portion of the employees there also went."

Here are some suggestions from the former press release carrier Dave Rudins (Dave Rudins) concerning what customers can do with rubber bands and plastic bags last week:

The property is under the jurisdiction of Champaign County, so we asked the District Administrator John Hall to submit it.

These buildings are indeed empty, but they seem to be well taken care of. The lawn is under maintenance. Hall said: "The cracked rail fence has partially fallen down, but the house still looks good. It is not illegal to be unoccupied, especially while maintaining the house.