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Tri-State Development Task ForcesAgriculture
2007 Task Force Reports Transportation Click to download: TDS Highway Priorities to Google Earth
2003 to April 2007 Change in TDS HighwayPriorities Regional_Highway_Priority_Map_2007 Tabulation_of_Regional_Highway_Priorities_April_2007 Grassley Appoints Iowan to Commission Studying the Highway Trust Fund.pdf
A resolution of support for approval of a capital bill WHEREAS, the Tri-State Development Summit speaks with one voice on behalf of 14 counties in West-Central Illinois, 13 counties in Northeast Missouri and 8 counties in Southeast Iowa;
WHEREAS, the Tri-State Summit has identified the Ill. 336, U.S. 34 and U.S.67 corridors as top transportation infrastructure priorities;
WHEREAS, completing these corridors will greatly enhance economic growth and quality of life throughout the Summit region and all of Illinois;
WHEREAS, capital needs have expanded greatly and costs have escalated sharply during the last five years, when Illinois has not had a capital improvement plan in place, and will continue to rise;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Tri-State Development Summit and the residents of the Summit region call on the Governor and General Assembly to approve a major capital plan this year and that this plan includes:
1) Funding to complete the Macomb bypass, connecting Ill. 336 west of Macomb with U.S.67 north of Macomb and completing what could be considered an Illinois route for the Chicago-Kansas City Expressway. The Ill. 336 corridor from Quincy to Macomb will be complete in 2008, but the Chicago-Kansas-City Expressway will not be complete until the bypass at Macomb is built. The bypass connects Ill. 336 west of Macomb with U.S.67 north of Macomb and with the interstate system of Northern and Northeast Illinois. Full funding to build the bypass is essential.
2) Specified funding for continuing work to extend Ill. 336 as a four-lane corridor from Macomb east to Peoria. This will complete the four-lane Ill. 336 corridor from Quincy to Peoria and connect the transportation hubs at those three communities. Phase One is nearing completion and a preliminary preferred alignment has been chosen. A new capital bill must provide funds to move this project forward.
3) Funds to begin rebuilding U.S. 34 as a four-lane highway from east of Gulfport to Monmouth. The 22 miles connecting these two communities is the last unfunded portion of the 210-mile Trans-Iowa/Illinois Freight Corridor that connects the transportation hubs of Des Moines and Peoria. This highly traveled, dangerous two-lane road must be upgraded.
4) Funds to continue work on completing the U.S. 67 corridor from Rock Island to Alton. This corridor will provide a vital north-south route through Western Illinois, connecting all parts of the region with transportation gateways to Iowa, Missouri and Central Illinois. The corridor is complete only from Rock Island south to Macomb, and funding must be provided to continue this vital project.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be directed to the governor, leaders of the General Assembly and Senators and Representatives from West-Central Illinois.
Presented: November 6, 2007.
By: Thomas A. Oakley
For: The Tri State Development Summit
Agriculture Tri-State Locally Grown Conference to be held in Quincy
Do you ever stop to think about where your food comes from? Do you know the farmer who grew it? Or how it was raised? These are questions that will be discussed at the Tri-State Locally Grown Conference on November 29, 2007 from 9 am to 4 pm at John Wood Community College. The conference is designed for farmers, consumers, educators and others interested in building and supporting a sustainable local food system.
The opening speaker for the conference is Rich Pirog, Associate Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. Pirog has been Program Leader for the Center's Marketing and Food Systems Initiative since 2001 and he directs the Value Chain Partnerships for a Sustainable Agriculture (VCPSA) project, a multi-organizational effort that provides technical assistance to farmer-led food, fiber, and energy businesses. Pirog's work on food miles, ecolabels, and place-based foods has been publicized in magazines and media outlets across the globe and is often cited in college courses that focus on food systems and sustainable agriculture.
Alisa Smith & J.B. MacKinnon are theco-authors of Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally and founders of the 100 Mile Diet. The Vancouver couplewill present and be available to sign books during lunch. Smithis a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Outside, Utne Reader, and many other publications. McKinnonis the author of the acclaimed Dead Man in Paradise, which won the 2006 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Nonfiction. He is the winner of three national magazine awards as a freelance writer, and is a former senior editor at Adbusters.
Twelve additional breakout sessions will be available throughout the day on a variety of topics targeted toward farmers, consumers and professionals who work in the food system. Speakers from all three States and Universities will present these informative sessions. A lunch consisting of local food will be served and displays highlighting marketing tools, food system work and other interesting topics will be available. Registration is $25 per person in advance. To find out more visit: www.extension.uiuc.edu/adams or call Carrie Edgar at 217-223-8380 or cedgar@uiuc.edu.
The Tri-State Locally Grown Conference is sponsored by: The Leopold Center, Iowa State University Extension, University of Missouri Extension, University of Illinois Extension, the Lumpkin Family Foundation, IL Department of Agriculture, John Wood Community College, Two Rivers RC&D, Pathfinders RC&D and IL Sustainable Ag Research and Education.
Workforce Development
TriStateOnLine Link: www.TriStateOnline.org
Entrepreneurship
Political and Community Leaders of the Tri-State Region hear Deborah Markley speak on October 16, 2007 about the importance of entrepreneurs for local and rural economies.
Deborah Markley is Managing Director and Director of Research for the Center. She was a founding co-director of the RUPRI Rural Policy Research Institute in 2001. Deb provides strategic oversight and management of the Center, and is responsible for building and strengthening the Center’s collaborative partnerships. In addition, she guides the Center’s research agenda - practice-driven research and evaluation of model entrepreneurship development systems and initiatives in rural places. Deb brings over 20 years of experience in field-based research in rural economic development. Deb is also coordinating the Center’s new Research Team – a group of researchers who are actively engaged in designing and implementing a research agenda that will advance our understanding of the impacts of entrepreneurship development in rural America.
Deb spoke to leaders within the 35 counties of the Tri State of Mind on the importance of entrepreneurship. She addressed how creating an entrepreneurial environment can be the foundation for your economic development activities. In addition she talked about understanding your entrepreneurial talent; specifically who are the entrepreneurs in your community, different types of entrepreneurs, what help do they need and how to find them.
This work is supported in partby the USDA Rural Development under grant number USDA 2007-NTN1-4." USDA Rural Development, Rural Community Development Initiative Grant with the support of University of Illinois Extension in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. |
