The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

"I am encouraging everyone that can to participate in this parade," said McCoy earlier this week. "Closing of PCC would have a devastating effect on Pontiac and many, if not all, of the other communities in the county.

"We all have PCC officers or other employees living in our communities. The closing and possible moving of these people away from here would have a devastating effect on everyone," added McCoy. "In this county, Pontiac has the largest concentration so the biggest impact would be felt here."

McCoy said he is still putting together an economic study that would adequately determine the full impact of the prison's closing on Pontiac.
http://www.pontiacdailyleader.com/articles/2008/06/04/news/news1.txt
"Many people don't realize that there are employees from Joliet, Coal City, Chicago, Peoria, Pekin, Springfield, Lincoln and Morton, to name a few towns, (at) PCC," said McCoy. "These are not the employees that we count as full-time citizens of our towns who travel here on a daily basis. These, however, are people that purchase gasoline, food and restaurant meals in our town.

"I find myself likening the closure of PCC to a tornado coming into town and causing heavy destruction. This possible closure could have an enormous effect because we could lose heavily trained employees," he added. "Many of these people are skilled in electrical, plumbing and other skills that require advanced training as well as the correctional officers and this means they would have to move out of town to find employment.

"I plan on extending invitations to Gov. Blagojevich many times throughout the next few months. I want him to come to Pontiac and see first-hand what could be destroyed by his action," said McCoy.

Kevin McNamara, Dwight village administrator, also plans to participate in the parade.

"The impact from a possible PCC closing is felt all over the place in this county. People seem to think because we have Dwight Correctional Center here we have only those employees living here," said McNamara. "We also have a lot of PCC employees here. I think business people all over the county will begin to feel a loss from even threats of a closing at PCC.

"I see employees of PCC feeling as though they will have to be very careful before they make any large purchases of non-essential items," McNamara added. " They don't know how long they will have jobs or if they will be eligible for transfers. I don't see these employees rushing out to buy new vehicles or houses in this time of limbo."

Besides the economy, McNamara pointed to a concern over the education in his community and the area.

"This could impact state aid to schools in Dwight and Pontiac and elsewhere in the county," said McNamara. "Another impact in this county is the spousal employment of many PCC employees. The spouses, in many cases, have also held jobs for a long time and could also have problems transferring."

Saunemin Mayor Mike Stoecklin has been active in trying to develop the economy in his community and of the county with the Greater Livingston County Economic Development Council. He sees the closure as a major problem for the county, and in particular, his community.

"I have done some research and there are 11 PCC officers with Saunemin zip codes," Stoecklin said. "This means there are at least 11 families in this particular area that will be (affected) if PCC closes.

"Two of the families are my neighbors," added Stoecklin. " There are (a) half dozen or more kids from these various families who attend Saunemin Grade School, some at Pontiac Township High School and some are preschoolers."

Stoecklin said that there are six or seven PCC employees within the Saunemin village limits.

"This would represent 5 percent of our housing market in Saunemin," he said. "Losing folks and families are never good for any community let alone a small community like ours."

Chenoa Mayor Walt Hetman said there are a lot of correctional officers living in Chenoa, as well. In a community looking at developing land annexed within the city limits in the past 18 months, PCC's closing would have a huge impact.

"Our officers having to move would put a lot of houses on the market at a time in the economy when that is not so good," said Hetman. "What some people also fail to realize is that, in our small towns, we also have correctional officers who serve communities as part-time firemen and police officers. This is the case in Chenoa, so it would be a double-whammie for us.

"We can often take for granted how much large employers' employees help our communities. This would certainly be the case involving our gas stations and grocery store," Hetman said.

"We in Chenoa, myself, the city council and everyone that wants to join us (fight the closure) plan on doing everything we can to keep Pontiac Correctional Center open," said Hetman.

Fairbury Mayor Robert Walter, who is an elementary school principal in Watseka, commented this morning on the impact Fairbury will experience.

"We in Fairbury certainly want PCC to remain open. We have many residents of our community who are employed by PCC," said Walter. "A closing would have a very negative impact on our community. Many officers at PCC, from all around the area, shop at Dave's Supermarket and other businesses in our town. It could also hurt our schools."