News in Brief Fixed-route bus service may be dropped in Belvidere By Bob Balgemann Reporter BELVIDERE - The Rockford Mass Transit District started fixed-route bus service in the city of Belvidere in 2011, as a pilot program to determine if the need was there. Funding for the service was to end in 2014, but the program was extended into 2015 with a potential end-date of June. But as of now, no decision has been made about the fate of the service. There are 10 round-trips each day, between 7:20 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. starting from the transfer station on the east side of Rockford. Stops include the Keen Age Center, Swedish American Medical Center, Belvidere City Hall and Kmart. So far the service has not been an expense for the city or Boone County. But the local cost to keep those buses rolling could be $150,000-$200,000 a year. Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain said the city did not have money to help subsidize the service. County board Chairman Bob Walberg said support for the program would fall on the city, not the county. Lisa Brown, marketing director for the transit district, said Dec. 19 that the program grant expired in June. Then it will be to us to find the money to keep it going, she said. No decision had been made as to whether service would continue past June. While the ridership was increasing, no current figures were available. In the past, there have been more than 1,000 riders a month. Brown said plans are to meet with city and county officials after the first of the year. Transportation has been identified as one of the gaps in the county by the homeless project task force. The transit districts fixed-route bus service makes the same stops each day and does not travel outside the city of Belvidere. The Boone County Council on Aging provides on-demand bus service outside Belvidere, but its vehicle is smaller than those in the transit districts fleet and some restrictions apply. FEWER HOMELESS STUDENTS BELVIDERE - The number of homeless students in Boone County school districts 100 and 200 has decreased. According to information distributed at the Dec. 19 meeting of the countys homeless project task force. There are 28 homeless students enrolled in Belvidere schools with 15 in North Boone schools. That compares with 41 and 17, respectively, on Dec. 15, 2013. But regionally, the number has increased. Rockford School District 205, serving a city of 150,000 people, had 1,652 homeless students on Dec. 15, 2014, up from 1,490 one year ago. In the region, including Harlem, Hononegah, Pecatonica and Winnebago schools, there were 119 homeless students, up from 113 in 2013. While the number increase in Harlem School District `122 from 88 to 110, it decreased in the other three communities by a total of 16. Overall, there were 1,830 homeless students on Dec. 15, 2014, up from 1,682 the year before. The next point in time count of homeless families in Boone and Winnebago counties will be Jan. 26. Two counts are conducted over 24-hour periods each year, one in the winter and one in the summer. Federal assistance funding is tied to how many people identified as homeless are in particular areas.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:59:00 +0000
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