A Story about a town that should the jewel of Southern Illinois…
…not a town past dying
I am posting this as one way to increase the visibility to the plight of Cairo, IL. If you are from Southern Illinois or Northern Kentucky, you know what has happened in Cairo. Any other place in the country and this would be national news. Yet for some reason, Cairo, which sits ideally on the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers is a town way past dying.
I see towns all over this country rehabilitated through creative financing. They issue bonds and create TIF districts in areas that are thriving to create business opportunities, but Cairo rots into the rivers. This is a national disgrace, but the real shame is in Springfield and Chicago. If anyone every needs to see a definition of “blight”, go to Cairo.
If I may be so bold to suggest a course of action to raise awareness on this issue. Follow the links to: http://betweentworivers.net. “Like” their page on Facebook and spread the link to anyone, especially your local and regional elected officials. As long as Cairo is allowed to rot, Illinois will rot. Unfortunately the rot that is entrenched in Cairo, won’t just jump to Chicago or Springfield, it will spread slowly up through Southern Illinois, infecting this wonderful area.
John “Wudman” Wood
Editor
ThisIsFun.Com