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Neighborhood Enhancement Saved from Wrecking Ball
The City of Galesburg's Neighborhood Enhancement Division is getting a reprieve, after residents and the mayor spoke passionately this week about the division and how well they say it's working.

The Galesburg City Council never voted on a motion made Monday to eliminate the Neighborhood Enhancement Division, and cut the equivalent of five-and-a-half full-time jobs associated with the division, after residents told aldermen at length about how they feel the division is working, especially since being taken over by the Galesburg Police Department a few years ago.

The motion was originally made by 6th Ward Alderman Wayne Allen.

"After hearing this and thinking that, maybe we will get some improvements, maybe we won't," he said. "I'd just like to withdraw my motion right now. But keeping in mind, if we don't see the improvements, it will be back."

Mayor Sal Garza says he felt so serious about keeping Neighborhood Enhancement in tact, that he wanted to stop the measure's passage dead in its tracks if it came to that.

"I actually sat down with the legal council to research and fully understand the latitude of the veto power as the mayor."

Garza says it was determined he didn't have that authority.

But he does say there are still concerns about how the division is operated, and those will be addressed in the coming months.
12 07 11 by Newsroom
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