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NewsTuesday, August 28, 2007 4:10 PM CDT
Youth Impact ending its Scoop Dreams
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BLOOMINGTON — Scoop Dreams, an ice cream shop used for job training for at-risk teenagers, will be torn down in the next few weeks.

The board for Youth Impact, which operated the job development program out of the building at 702 S. Morris Ave., decided the program was too costly to continue, said Geoff Fruin, a Youth Impact board member.

Scoop Dreams did not open this summer.

“The board simply felt the Scoop Dreams project was not getting the bang for the same buck,” Fruin said. “It was an opportunity to divert resources to other programs.”

Although the program is ending, Youth Impact will continue operating, Fruin added.

As part of its agreement with the city, Youth Impact gave the land back to the city of Bloomington, which has originally helped the organization buy the property in 1997.

The city will use $7,800 in federal Community Development Block Grant money to tear down the building.

In looking for alternative uses for the land, city officials saw zoning codes and building repairs made it too costly to reuse the building, said Connie Griffin, division manager for code enforcement for the city’s planning and zoning department.

Currently zoned for commercial use, the land will go back to residential use to conform with other property in that neighborhood, Griffin said.

And even as a residential property, the size of the corner lot and requirements about how far a house must be from the streets makes building a home nearly impossible, she added.

The land will be divided and adjacent landowners will take over ownership and pay taxes on the property, Griffin said.

Meanwhile, an alternative program to replace Scoop Dreams is under consideration, Fruin said.

The city of Bloomington and the town of Normal each are contributing $60,000 a year to fund Youth Impact.

Fruin said that when the decision to close Scoop Dreams was made, the board reduced its annual request for funding from the city and the town. Previously, each community had been giving the program $90,000 a year.

“The mission and goals of Youth Impact remain and we will still target working with the at-risk youth,” Fruin said.

Take a look
Scoop Dreams are over. The City of Bloomington will tear down the building at the corner of Oakland and Morris Ave. (Pantagraph/LORI ANN COOK) August, 27, 2007)
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Reader comments on this story - 10 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Big Deal wrote on Aug 28, 2007 4:35 PM:

" This place has been a joke from the begining. First of all if the people were so serious about their endeavor why was has this place been closed all summer? If you don't open up for business you can not complain about not having any, despite what the downtown Bloomington merchants say. Second of all this place has not met the criteria for what it was supposed to be doing for three summers now. If someone is serious about doing things for kids GREAT, but don't try and blow a smokescreen to the general public like the owners of this place did and the be suprised when you don't succeed. "

To: We need wrote on Aug 28, 2007 11:30 AM:

" And as long as it doesn't cater to Heartland Athletics, US Cellular Coliseum, or give discounts to State Farm employees. "

We need wrote on Aug 28, 2007 9:16 AM:

" A Chedders, Sonic, Spaghetti Factory, Pizzeria Uno, Red Robin, White Castle (actually, that would be awesome), Sonoma Cucina, Cheesecake Factory, IKEA, Bucca DiBepo (awesome as well), Margaritaville, Rax Roast Beef, Little Ceasar's, Bombay Bicycle Club, In-N-Out, Big Boy Bob's, Texas Roadhouse, Bubba Gump's, Dave & Buster's, Fuddrucker's, Melting Pot, Sizzler, Rainforest Cafe, Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, P.F. Chang's, and a Whattaburger. And only if these chains are mom and pop joints that allow smoking, hand guns, helmetless riders, seatbeltless drivers, and serve hot wings. "

History wrote on Aug 28, 2007 8:54 AM:

" It's too bad that we have no sense of history in B/N. This building housed a gas station on one of the old Route 66 routes through Bloomington-Normal. Too bad........................ "

Just wondering wrote on Aug 28, 2007 8:32 AM:

" When will Bloomington-Normal be getting a Sonic? "

RE: and now..... wrote on Aug 28, 2007 7:19 AM:

" The building is to small (property) for a S, butonic nice of you to start the whinning for everybody though. "

HELP! wrote on Aug 28, 2007 6:52 AM:

" We neef to help our youth. Find something new and don't line the city's pockets! Why didn't it work? "

Again wrote on Aug 28, 2007 6:13 AM:

" Lots of fanfare when this was opened........lots of money thrown at it. Was it a waste? Never heard if it was helpful to anyone. "

Why not~~ wrote on Aug 28, 2007 4:53 AM:

" sell the whole works and let someone else put a business in it? Save the demolition money for something worthwhile. Ah, spend, and blow, that's the American way. "

and now... wrote on Aug 28, 2007 12:31 AM:

" Let the comments begin about "*WHINE* WE NEED A SONIC!!!* "

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