We understand that Steger faces many challenges and you cannot solve one problem without addressing others. Steger needs to improve its infrastructure, but do to do so, it needs revenue to pay for such improvements. Steger gets its revenues from businesses and its residents. Existing businesses will not grow and new businesses will not come if we do not keep existing families and attract new ones that will support our local businesses. Families tend to choose to live in municipalities that have a strong local economy, a strong housing market, and updated infrastructure. In other words, it is all inter-related. We understand that inter-relationship. We know we cannot focus on just one problem. The only way to tackle our issues is to work on all of them at the same time. United for Action has proven it can and will do so and United for Action promises to continue to work on all of our issues. A vote for United for Action is a vote to continue addressing all of our needs.
We understand that one of the keys for Steger is a strong local economy. It serves as the source of resources we need to provide the services you expect. United for Action understands how to use the economic incentives it has put in place in order to make an impact. Despite being adversely impacted by Covid-19 and the State's forced closure of our local businesses, United for Action was able to provide support to keep our businesses a float. In fact, two of our businesses were so attractive, they were sold to other parties who are now investing in our community. United for Action was also able to get new business to come to Steger. And we are working on plans with other businesses to either locate in Steger or for some other businesses, to grow in Steger. That means more jobs and more revenues to our community. United for Action has proven it can achieve results and United for Action will continue to implement its plan to redevelop the Kmart building and parking lot. A vote for United for Action is a vote to strengthen our local economy.
We understand that a strong housing market is one of the keys to our success. A strong market increases the value of our homes and it also helps attract families that raise our local economy. We have implemented various programs to support our housing market and it has worked. Our abandoned houses are dwindling. The number of days a house stays on the market continues to grow less. The asking price for houses are usually met. We have demolished homes that cannot be repaired and we have worked on rehabs of homes that can be repaired. Our focus is to get our foreclosed and abandoned homes into the hands of people who want to own a home and live in Steger. Our focus is also to continue to raise housing prices. We have proven we can achieve these goals. A vote for United for Action is a vote to continue to improve our housing market.
We have developed plans for a revitalized downtown area and we are implementing this plan. It takes time to accomplish, especially in the time of pandemics. But we have not stopped working. As a result of our efforts, there was a $4.5 million investment on Steger Road and Union Avenue during our administration. Scrementi's opened the Brown Onion Pub and it added a patio for outdoor eating at its original restaurant. Citgo is beginning work on its building after getting ComEd to agree to relocate an electric line. We will be redoing the sidewalks and lighting along Steger Road and Chicago Road which will make our downtown pedestrian friendly. We have proven that we can achieve a revitalization and we will continue to implement our plan. A vote for United for Action is a vote for a revitalized downtown.
"100 year rains" no longer occur only every 100 years. The climate is changing and Steger is experiencing tremendous rain falls. Our drainage system is old and it can not handle these current weather events. To address this need, our engineers did two detailed and extensive plans to get water out of our community faster. We are using these plans to get grant money and will start our drainage improvements in the Spring. We will continue implementing this plan and updating it to make sure we deal with our flooding issues. A vote for United for Action is a vote for improving our drainage system to stop flooding in our community.
Steger has approximately 32.3 miles of roads, which equates to approximately 170,016 feet of roadway. It costs roughly $65 per foot to repave it. That means it will cost us around $11,051,000 to repave all of our roads. That is extremely costly, but we continue to address our road maintenance in pieces. Unfortunately, under Governor Rauner, the State of Illinois did not assist with funds for road maintenance or improvement. This changed under Governor Pritzker. We have received money to help with our roads (see Grants).
We also realize that water is the main reason our roads fall into disrepair. The storm in 2019 was historic for Steger. But even our "normal" rains and snow continue to dump more and more water on our community. Without addressing our drainage issues, we are just throwing money into roads that need to be repaired again in a couple of years. That is not wise spending.
So, as we said above, we are implementing drainage plans beginning this Spring to get our rain water out of our community faster and to prevent flooding of homes. This will also improve the life of our roads when they are repaved. If we do not do both, we are not using our money wisely. We will also continue to improve our sidewalks as we repair the roads and drainage. We already installed many handicapped accessible corners so those sidewalks can be used by everyone. Steger has never taken such a comprehensive approach to roads, sidewalks and drainage. A vote for United for Action is a vote for improved roads and sidewalks.
We realize that money is not infinite and that we have to be careful with how we spend our resources. We know how to prioritize and we have proven our ability to do this. We have united together to make tough decisions based on common business sense, not politics. We have spent your tax dollars wisely. We have been able to keep Steger in the black even though the pandemic has greatly reduced our revenues. When times are tough, especially during a pandemic, you need leaders who can make the responsible decisions to keep your vital services and to provide you with a safe and vibrant community. A vote for United for Action is a vote for responsible leaders who will continue to direct Steger through these tough times.
We are accountable to each of you and we have a responsibility to make sure the Village has policies that improve our ability to serve our residents. We have made such improvements by implementing employee reviews to make sure we identify and correct any issues and support our valuable employees. We adopted job descriptions to make sure our expectations for job performance and duties are clearly understood. We adopted new work policies to address certain issues like proper hiring procedures. We have more improvements to make, however, and we will continue to make these improvements. A vote for United for Action is a vote for continued accountability.
Crime prevention and safety are very important to us. We have improved our police station to make it state of the art. We have implemented a Crime Free Housing Program. We have adopted the Affirmation of Shared Principle published by the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. We are going through a formal search process for our next Police Chief to make sure we have the best fit for our community. We also acquired the property next to our Fire Station Headquarters and have installed fire training trailers. All of our firefighters are certified as well and because of our hard work, the ISO rating for Steger was decreased which is great news for all of us when it comes to home insurance. We are not done, however, and will continue to focus on more improvements and we will make sure we keep up with the ever changing changes affecting our First Responders. A vote for United for Action is a vote for a reduction in crime and better emergency services.
We realize that we are not the most diverse board. Ernie Lopez and Lenny Skrezyna are both Hispanic. The rest of the Board is Caucasian. We are all males. Despite that lack of diversity among our Board, we are very committed to diversity and inclusion. Steger's Village Administration is very diverse. We are committed to keeping our administration representative of our community. That is why we strive for such diversity within our administration.
We can not change that we are male. We can not change our race. We know though the importance of having diversity and we know that we are leading Steger in the right direction. We know we are better than our opponents and will have a bigger influence on diversity within our local government to make sure all have a voice. A vote for United for Action is a for vote for diversity and inclusion for all.
Many politicians make promises. We have a proven track record of not only keeping our promises, but making decisions that are in line with our platform. We would be honored to serve you as your Village President, Village Clerk, and Village Trustees. Please get out to vote for Kenneth A. Peterson, Jr. for Village President, Joseph M. Zagone Jr. for Village Clerk and Ryan Buxton, Ernesto (Ernie) Lopez, Jr., and Leonard "Lenny" Skrezyna for Village Trustees on April 6, 2021 so that we can continue to make Steger a place to live, work, and raise a family.