East St. Louis mayor Alvin Parks is on a mission to bring one of the stops on the new Amtrak high speed train route, from Chicago to St. Louis, to his city, even collecting 10,000 signatures on a petition headed for the desk of Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider.
It’s a good dream, but the nightmare which threatens to derail his Amtrak ambitions for ESL is the specter of crime and the city’s ranking as “the most dangerous city in America.” It’s an unfortunate distinction, bolstered by crime statistics reported by the Neighborhood Scout website, which reports that those in ESL have a 1 in 20 chance of being a victim of a violent crime.
That’s not good for ESL’s prospects, nor is the recent publicity surrounding ESL’s illegal ticketing of motorists by red light cameras and, most recently, the ticketing of motorists speeding through highway construction areas on Interstate 64 (which borders ESL).
To make matters worse, St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly has asked ESL to stop issuing tickets and instructed those who have received tickets to not pay them because the citations are invalid, as they do not conform to the standards for citations as required by the Illinois Supreme Court.
More specifically, the current tickets are classified as “non-moving violations” (which is absurd), and do not provide the driver with due process (of going to court), which the ticket company cannot provide.
As a result, dozens of motorists who received tickets exceeding $200 a pop are angrily complaining and may have grounds for a lawsuit.
Mayor Parks disagrees and contends that the tickets are, in fact, valid.
Meanwhile, ESL has stopped ticketing motorists, but that does not eliminate the bad publicity for the city on top of the already staggering crime statistics and designation as “the most dangerous city.”
Even ESL native, journalist and MSNBC contributor Goldie Taylor is working on a feature-length documentary on ESL’s dubious reputation titled “The Other Side of Grace,” to be funded via kickstarter.com.
So when a city like ESL has a horrendous reputation for crime and bad public relations driven by a perceived “money grab” through the issuing of bogus traffic citations, how can one have the audacity to believe that the state, let alone outsiders, will feel comfortable with the idea of a high-speed Amtrak stop in good old East Boogie?
Believe me, I get it. Mayor Parks has few if any accomplishments that he can boast about after two terms as mayor of ESL. So let’s generate revenue through traffic light and highway cameras. Let’s try to bring a few jobs to the city by demanding an Amtrak station.
If nothing else, it keeps Parks in the news and creates the appearance of proactive advocacy for his citizens.
However, even Alvin Parks understands (when he’s not politicking or looking into a TV camera) that no one wants to build anything in a city replete with high crime, a less-than-welcoming reputation and the appearance of desperation.
As a native East St. Louisian, a taxpayer and one who loves ESL with every fiber of my being, no one wants to see the resurrection of East Boogie more than James Ingram.
But I’m a realist, and I understand why it’s an uphill (if not nearly an impossible) battle to convince those non-ESL entities to take a chance on a city which is in such dire condition. I don’t like it, but I do understand and, I suspect, so does Mayor Parks.
Email: jtingram_1960@yahoo.com; Twitter@JamesTIngram.
