Dee, those courts and judges could have been spread to other communities. The old Elks building downtown could have been restored to make court rooms very easily.
Granite City gets the drug rehab places that Edwardsville doesn't want. We get a small little closet where the ROE holds GED classes.
More importantly though is the fact that the county has paid for (through grants and other methods) streetscape and sidewalk improvements around the court house. They built nice parking areas and parks.
The county is a cesspool of one hand washes the other and Dunstand holds the soap in his slimy hands.
You are 100% correct as well about the areas along 111 that Edwardsville gobbled up. Those areas are contiguous with Pontoon Beach and Mitchell and should have been part of those communities. Unfortunately, leadership in those communities either didn't care or were asleep at the wheel. I wish the Pontoon mayor had been around in those days because I doubt it would have happened with him at the helm.
Your other comments about Granite City people yelling at the top of their lungs at 3 a.m. are probably accurate as well. Why people can't exhibit a little class is beyond me. I guess they were raised by wolf packs.