Special to the American
The “North Star” Heritage Corridor Economic Development Authority, Inc. recently kicked off its historic Phase III “Economic Stimulus Plan” during a Strategic Inter-governmental Collaboration Information Workshop.
The North Star Heritage Corridor Economic Development Authority consists of the Illinois towns of Eagle Park Acres, the Historic Village of Brooklyn and the City of Venice.
The $340 million Phase – II “North Star” Corridor Strategic Public Infrastructure Capital Improvements Program will be funded by local investment firms with some matching funds from the State of Illinois. The plan consists of five re-investment zones: Commercial-Industrial, Commercial-Residential, Conservation, Cultural and Physical, Research and Technology, and Homeland Security.
The plan is divided into two major categories. The first strategy is for public infrastructure that will focus on improving road, street, sewer and lighting systems, and the second will concentrate on four reinvestment zones, concentrating on commercial, residential, research and technology and conservation.
Key components of the plan will incorporate the North Star Agra-Business Research and Technology Park and the North Star Community Hospital and Research Center, the North Star Community College Campus; the Eagle Park Acres Amphitheatre Convention – Hotel Complex; the Venice Sports Pavilion and Convention Center Plaza; the Brooklyn Monte Carlo on the Riverfront Marina Park and Hotel Complex; North Star Housing Initiatives including single family homes, apartments, townhouses, condos and the North Star Corridor Retail Malls.
Darnell Thompson is a Stanford University-trained political scientist and strategic planner, and head of the Thompson Foundation. Thompson said the primary objective of the project is to create a “new economy,” replacing the old “company town” style that has created this existing chronic state of economic stagflation and unemployment in the North Star Corridor. Thompson credited “the courageous leadership” of the “North Star” corridor Mayor’s-Township Offices and their Council and Board of Trustees members for making this “historic operation” possible.
Thompson said, “We shall advance by one of our core cultural principles: economic self-determination with dignity.”
Thompson said their short range plan is to complete the infrastructure initiatives by 2012. He said, “Our long-term plan is to create 100 years of prosperity.”
The Thompson Foundation can be contacted at (618) 875-7011.