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Blagojevich said, it will take some reallocation of resources.
"As to the rest of the projects, we're refocusing and shifting the money," he said. "We're taking job training money and
making sure it gets to the end user, taking it away from the intermediary."
Blagojevich announced a total of $12 million in grants that are being made available directly to Southwestern Illinois
businesses to help train and retrain their workers.
One of the things about the Metro East that distinguishes it from other parts of Illinois is that this is an area of great
growth, the governor said.
When questioned as to how the state could afford to promise hundreds of millions of new funding commitments when Illinois
continues to face a $5 billion deficit, Blagojevich said a long-term view is necessary.
"Let me caution everyone," he said during a press conference directly following his Dec. 17 address at Lewis and Clark
Community College. "In this budget year, and the next year and the next, Illinois is looking at structural deficits that are
inherent in all states' budgets, due to lagging and decreasing Medicaid reimbursements. When this fiscal year shakes out, I
don't anticipate there will be a deficit, but we need to be realistic about it over a several-year period."
Some $23 million in new state funding to begin building the Jerseyville Bypass for U.S. 67 topped the governor's
transportation allocation announcements. The 6.1-mile segment will further continuous expressway passage from Interstate 270
to Jerseyville. Jersey County Economic Development executive director Brent Thompson thanked his transportation committee for
its efforts in heightening the project's importance.
Another $22.5 million in improvements at the intersection of Interstates 55/70 in Troy (at Illinois Route 162) is also part
of the governor's new package. $13.5 million in state monies to add a center turn lane to Governor's Parkway, a popular
thoroughfare between I-55 and Illinois Route 157 in Edwardsville, was also promised during Blagojevich's local address last
month.
"It was a banner day for Edwardsville," said Mayor Gary Niebur. "I've been very confident that the governor recognizes the
importance of this region to the state of Illinois. Clearly, State Sen. Bill Haine and State Rep. Jay Hoffman played a major
role in this."
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Southwestern Illinois College got the news that $7.7 million of the new economic stimulus dollars for the region will go
toward construction of a 40,000-square-foot classroom addition at the college's main campus in Belleville.
"We're very pleased about that," said Elmer H. Kirchoff, PhD, college president. "This is part of our temporary building
replacement funding. Our facilities are so over-booked that we weren't able to offer approximately 50 classes due to a surge
in enrollment and a lack of space. It's a good type of problem for a college to have. As we all know, this funding is just
step number one in the process…we're in the pipeline now, and we'll do all we can to get it through the Capital Development
Board."
Lewis and Clark Community College's Edwardsville campus, housed in the newly restored N.O. Nelson Complex, also got word of
additional state funding - $2.8 million to begin the renovation and expansion of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
science laboratory building. The state funding is also aimed toward construction of the campus' biotech and commercial
research incubator. Niebur credited Lewis and Clark Community College president Dale Chapman, PhD, for the work he did to make
N.O. Nelson a success.
Village of Hartford Mayor Bill Moore is pleased that tourism was included in the governor's five-pronged stimulus package.
The village is receiving an additional $280,000 to help in completion of the Lewis & Clark Memorial Tower at Camp River
DuBois near Hartford.
"This is an excellent move on the governor's part," the mayor said. "The money will benefit the whole River Bend area.
We're hopeful that with this assistance, we may be able to see the tower completed by May."
In addition to promoting tourism and heritage, the other major parts of Blagojevich's plan include: supporting and
modernizing local businesses; expanding regional infrastructure; investing in education, job training and technology; and
increasing the use of coal and renewable energy.
editor/publisher: Kerry Smith
email: ksmith@ibjonline.com
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