Alley vacation up for vote

The city council’s Public Works Committee this week will consider vacating part of the north/south alley north of Williams Street and east of North Vermilion Street for a drive-through tobacco shop.

The new shop would be located in the little strip mall on the northeast corner of Williams and Vermilion streets, at 501 N. Vermilion St., according to Mayor Scott Eisenhauer.

Shicia Wang of Urbana is paying the city $1,307 for the alley vacation.

In other business, the committee will consider:

-- Approving about $88,000 in additional sewer work by Atlas Excavating of West Lafayette, Ind., in the areas of Oak, Franklin and Walnut streets and Vermilion Street from Voorhees to Roselawn.

The city requested additional work: to extend portions of the improvement north after finding conflicts with existing utilities, to repair and replace collapsed storm sewers and to pay for work on a time and material basis in areas where telephone duct banks could not be relocated or taken out of service.

The total contract: $779,866.

-- Approving an additional $15,000 in Danville Stadium roof work by Craftmasters Roofing of Decatur. Additional work was needed for installation of new sheeting on the front overhang of the roof, which was found once overhang was exposed to view.

The funds come from the city’s Parks and Public Property maintenance of buildings’ funds.

-- Approving a contract for a poured concrete floor for the parks storage and maintenance facility at the Voorhees Street Public Works Operations Center. City officials were to open bids today. Funds come from the city’s capital budget for buildings.

-- Authorizing Eisenhauer to enter into an engineering agreement, not to exceed $54,500, to perform a traffic-use study at various schools: Danville High School, North Ridge Middle School, Edison Elementary and East Park Elementary.

The Danville Area Transportation Study has budgeted and given approval for the city to enter into an agreement to assess and make traffic pattern recommendations that will tie into future Jackson Street improvements.

The city’s 20 percent funding for the project comes from the Midtown Tax Increment Financing District.

Eisenhauer said the city has three engineering proposals to consider.

-- Prohibiting parking on both sides of Griffin Street between Main and Voorhees streets. The city plans to stripe newly paved Griffin with two 10-foot travel lanes and two 5-foot shoulders to move traffic away from the curb line to increase pavement life and to allow for easier passage of fire safety equipment and buses.

Children Living In Apartments With Nonsmoking Adults Still Exposed

The majority of children living in apartments are exposed to secondhand smoke, even when they don't live with smokers. This study from the University of Rochester Medical Center is the first to examine whether housing type is a potential contributor to children's exposure to cigarette smoke. The abstract was presented May 1st at the Pediatric Academic Society Meeting in Vancouver, Canada.

Among children who lived in an apartment, 84 percent had been exposed to tobacco smoke, according to the level of a biomarker (cotinine) in their blood that indicates exposure to nicotine found in tobacco, and this included more than 9 of 10 African-American and white children. Even among children who lived in detached houses, 70 percent showed evidence of exposure.

"We are starting to understand the role that seepage through walls and through shared ventilation may impact tobacco smoke exposure in apartments," said Karen Wilson, M.D., MPH, author of the study and an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Golisano Children's Hospital. "We see that children are being exposed in ways we are not picking up, and it's important, for their health, that we figure out where this exposure is taking place, and work to eliminate it. Multi-unit housing is one potential source, but a very important one."


Previous studies have shown that children with cotinine levels indicating tobacco smoke exposure have higher rates of respiratory diseases, decreased cognitive abilities and decreased antioxidant levels.

The study analyzed data from almost 6,000 children between 6- and 18-years-old in a national database (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2006) to see if there was any relationship between their smoke exposure and their housing type. Apartment living was associated with a 45 percent increase in cotinine levels for African American children and a 207 percent increase for white children. About 18 percent of U.S. children live in apartments, and many of these children are living in subsidized housing communities where smoking is more prevalent.

Wilson said many parents are trying to limit their children's tobacco smoke exposure by not allowing smoking in their apartments, but they say they can smell tobacco smoke coming from other apartments or from common areas. Last summer, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released a memo recommending that their housing developments enact smoke-free policies. A smoking ban within multi-unit, subsidized housing could further reduce the tobacco smoke exposure for children and reduce smoking rates among residents.

This study was funded by the AAP Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence, through a grant from the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute.