Hoopeston mayor Jeff Wise says that like all Vermilion County communities, they are looking to get rid of unwanted dilapidated properties; as he explained to Laura Williams on 1490 WDAN’s Community Connection program.
AUDIO: Nobody wants to live next door to a house that is falling to pieces. We have one of our aldermen, Kellie Ferrell; she’s done an absolutely fantastic job spearheading the “Let’s get rid of these properties.”
But on the other hand, Mayor Wise reminds everyone that this cannot happen overnight. You have to go through the court system; which can be a bit crowded, considering the catch-up that’s still happening from when the world was on hold during the pandemic.
AUDIO: Just because a building is completely falling down doesn’t give us the right to go up and bulldoze it that day. You want them down right now, and (we’re) trying to tell them that “We’re doing our best, it’s going to take some time. We will get to it as quickly as we can, because of the court system.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Wise says with the movement seemingly all over the country going away from malls and back to downtown stores, Hoopeston fully intends to be part of it. But he also says to do that a contiguous chunk of old downtown buildings needs to be torn down. Some residents want them saved, but the mayor says, that’s not really feasible.
AUDIO: A lot of people want to see these old buildings saved. Once again, telling people “no” is difficult. But, when it costs a million dollars to refurbish a place, compared to $100,000 to tear it down and build new, that’s the right decision to make.
Mayor Wise says a big factor is going to be the rest of Hoopeston’s $600,000 in APRA Covid relief funds. He says about $300,000 has already been used to catch up on some projects delayed by the pandemic, such as key repairs and purchases on village vehicles. But the other half could very well be for key infrastructure to support new business development coming to Hoopeston. What will they be? The mayor says, as much as he hates it, he needs to keep things quiet for now to keep investors happy. But he says trust him, that infrastructure work will be needed.
AUDIO: We’re holding the ARPA money because we might have to use that for building up some infrastructure. So,we’re going to have to put in water, sewer, and an additional road in Hoopeston.
Mayor Wise says Hoopeston may not be able to return to the old days of two major canning facilities in town; but there’s plenty of potential to move forward. He cited one of his favorites things as the Linzer products facility taking over the old Schumacher Electric building.
To hear Laura Williams’ entire interview with Mayor Jeff Wise; go to https://vermilioncountyfirst.com/the-community-connection/
