OTTAWA – Former Mayor Bob Eschbach appeared before Ottawa’s City Council on Tuesday night to present the idea of restoring and rebuilding an old lock near the PADS Homeless Shelter. Eschbach says the lock that was part of the lateral canal between the Illinois River and the Illinois and Michigan Canal, is one of the oldest engineering structures in the city, and the only lock on the I & M Canal that you can enter into.
Eschbach along with the Ottawa Canal Association presented a model of what the area could look like if it were developed. He says both the lateral canal as a recreational area and the homeless shelter can coexist. Mayor Dan Aussem says he’s all for supporting the potential project and would prefer if the proposed entryway into the canal weren’t as deep to prevent people from falling down into the canal.
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