Last chance for senior pics for Illio: Immortalize your life as an Illini
Betting on the Bowl
UI alumni gather for Winter War
Check out Daniel Miller-McLemore’s ideas for Illini-related prop bets SPORTS, 1B
Friday February 1, 2013
More online: Check out a video to learn more about these gamers at www.DailyIllini.com
The Daily Illini
High: 19˚ Low: 5˚
www.DailyIllini.com
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
Vol. 142 Issue 92
|
FREE
Turnout for mayoral vote expected to be low Incumbent Prussing, Stratton vie to be Democratic nominee for Urbana mayor BY CORINNE RUFF STAFF WRITER
Voter registration ended Tuesday for the Feb. 26 Democratic primary in Urbana. About 145,000 voters are registered countywide, about 21,000 of whom are registered in Urbana, according to Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten. While the November elections rallied nearly 80,000 voters to the polls, Hulten said that based on prior local primaries, he expects 4,000 to 5,000 to vote in the April 9 election. “There is very little awareness about the primary,” Hulten said. “That’s why there is such a low voter turnout for these elections.” Among smaller elections, Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing will vie for the Democratic seat against Les Stratton. The two will face Republican candidate Rex Bradfield in April.
Hulten said he usually sees surges in registration before high profile races such as the presidency, but local government doesn’t generate as much interest. Since the November elections, Hulten said fewer than 500 residents have registered countywide. The county clerk’s office is collecting absentee ballots, but Hulten said he has only received around 30 ballots so far. Although the he posts informational material about how and where to vote on their website, Hulten said the county clerk’s office doesn’t have the funds to advertise voting in the community. In an effort to increase local voting, Carletta Donaldson, deputy registrar, has volunteered her time for the last six years to register voters anywhere from the grocery store to the barbershop.
See ELECTION, Page 3A
Primary campaign focus: Economic and Construction Development “Infrastructure is very important to me. I believe good roads are something people have already paid for, so that’s something we should be providing. If we attract more businesses, we expand the tax base and lighten the load on everyone. Economic development is very important to Urbana in our situation at this time.”
On the Boneyard Project:
STRATTON
“The money coming from tax increment finance
Primary campaign focus: Public safety “Public safety is the No. 1 responsibility of any government. ... One of the big projects is in the Lierman neighborhood. There were some luxury apartments that gradually fell into the hands of poor managers and were a source of crime. ... We are going to tear down the apartments.
On the Boneyard Project: “The cities that have done this have found it to be not only something beautiful but a powerful incentive
PRUSSING
going into the Boneyard Project, $5 million, is not going to enhance the business district in downtown. I would curtail spending. ... There are businesses downtown that could expand given the right opportunity using the TIF money.”
On the Urbana Landmark Hotel: “The project was designed to make $200,000 for city in extra tax money, most of that coming from hotel tax and food and beverage tax. But with no restaurant open, there is no food and beverage tax being collected. ... With no conference center we are not attracting any businesses.
for development. People like to be in a beautiful setting. This is something we think is going to be very good for Urbana.”
On the Urbana Landmark Hotel: The Urbana Landmark Hotel has been designated historic building by Urbana and we have found an investor who is willing to put $2 million into it, so we are working with him. ... The alternative was to let it deteriorate and have a gaping hole in Lincoln Square, so we would have to spend over half a million dollars to have to tear it down.
Spring into volunteer work
Champaign aspires to be bicycle friendly BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
Despite infrastructure challenges, the city of Champaign is applying to be designated as a “bicycle friendly community” by the American Bicyclists in Illinois. Rob Kowalski, assistant planning director for Champaign, said the application will be submitted mid-February. The city of Urbana received its “bicycle friendly community” designation in 2011. Kowalski said he believes the city is ready for the title even though challenges, such as bridge crossings over interstates, can make it dangerous for bicyclists. “We’ve been striping bike lanes, producing maps, and just the fact that we’re a University town laid out well for bicy-
See BIKES, Page 3A
League of American Bicyclists “Bicycle Friendly Community” requirements:
»
More inside: Visit Page 3A for more information
on the service fair and how you can get involved this semester on campus and in C-U.
1. Engineering — the physical infrastructure and hardware in place to support cycling 2. Education — programs that ensure the safety, comfort and convenience of cyclists and their fellow road users 3. Encouragement — incentives, promotions and opportunities that inspire and enable people to ride 4. Enforcement — equitable laws and programs that ensure motorists and cyclists are held accountable 5. Evaluation — processes that demonstrate a commitment to measuring results and planning for the future
BRIAN YU THE DAILY ILLINI
Elliott Bortner, special events coordinator for the Champaign Park District, and Kim Lareau, marketing coordinator, give a brochure to an interested volunteer at the Spring Volunteer Fair at the Illini Union. Hosted by the Illini Union Office of Volunteer Programs, the fair was held Thursday to help local organizations recruit volunteers.
SOURCE: LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS
Research Park hosts mobile app development conference BY JACQUI OGRODNIK STAFF WRITER
The University Research Park hosted its second annual mobile application development conference on Thursday at the iHotel and Conference Center. The event was a networking and learning opportunity for those who design and those who use mobile applications. The event focused on mobile development in the technical, entrepreneurial, and design and user experience fields in Champaign-Urbana. “This mobile wave is getting more popular, so more and more companies want to have a mobile presence in addition to their Web presence,” said Ling Wong, mobile development consultant for Research Park. More than 40 speakers representing several different companies came together to share their ideas about developing mobile apps. Alan Craig, associate director of Human-
INSIDE
Police
2A
|
Computer Interaction, represented the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and demonstrated uses of an application that dealt with alternative reality. The application took an image captured by a smartphone, iPad and other electronic devices and brought it to “life,” making the image sensitive to sights, sounds and touch. When holding a phone up to an image printed on a piece of paper, the image became three-dimensional on the phone. Craig also showed a paper with a human anatomy printed on it. When holding his phone to the image, the anatomy became three-dimensional on the phone, allowing the user to view the picture from different angles. The user also had the ability to add or remove the skin, muscles, skeleton and organs. “We’re working with the anatomy and physiology group on campus
Horoscopes
2A
|
Opinions
4A
Local businesses, residents disrupted by power outage DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
Around 1,265 Champaign residents and businesses were without power early Thursday. The majority of Champaign residents and businesses were without power from 5:31 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. The outage was a result of a broken cable that left 33 customers without power beginning at 3:50 a.m. In order to repair the cable, more customers had to be taken offline, said Leigh Morris, spokesman for Ameren Illinois. “There was no way they could make the repair without a short but larger outage ... It’s not always necessary, but that’s what they had to do in this case. There was no other alternative,” Morris said. No Urbana residences or businesses were affected by the outage.
EMILY OGDEN THE DAILY ILLINI
Dan O’Neil, one of the many speakers at Mobile Development Day, delivers a presentation called “The Importance of Mobile in Urban Flow.” The event was held at the Illinois Conference Center in Champaign on Thursday. for their introductory class to see about deploying something like this to them,” Craig said. The conference ended with a TechMix hosted by Research Park. Companies including 004 Technologies
|
Letter
4A
|
Crossword
USA, IMO, mpressInteractive and NCSA demonstrated the various uses of their applications at the reception.
Jacqui can be reached at ogrodni2@dailyillini.com.
5A
|
Comics
5A
|
Sports
1B
|
Classifieds
4B
|
Sudoku
4B