Monthly Archives: September 2005

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Word Verification

Well, I’m sure you’ve all seen this by now, but I turned on “word verification” in my comments section.  That means that you will be shown a graphic of a word that only humans can read (so far — I’m sure some resourceful hackers are working on this) and you’ll have to type it in for verification in order to post a comment.
 
I had to do it.  I was getting a lot of spam comments, which is really annoying.  My original plan was to send the spammers to Singapore and have them caned mercilessly.  But, there were certain logistical and legal problems with that, so I turned on word verification.  Thanks for your understanding. 

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Peoria-to-Chicago environmentally-protected habitat

According to the Journal Star today, the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission identified “six Peoria-area environmental corridors and recommendations on how to preserve them.”  One of them is the “Peoria to Chillicothe bluffs:  steep, wooded, overlooking the Illinois River and habitat for numerous native plants and animals including the bobcat.”  Plans for preservation include:
requiring storm water management, natural landscaping and floodplain and topsoil protection. For the most sensitive sections, protection includes encouragement for landowners to use conservation easements and preservation of open spaces. Local governments could incorporate these requirements into zoning and other regulations.
The first thing I thought of when I read this is — it’s another setback for the long-suffering Peoria-to-Chicago highway project.  Proponents of a direct Peoria-to-Chicago expressway were disappointed when congressman LaHood supported simply widening Route 29 to a four-lane highway.  Now, that corridor could be in jeopardy if environmental preservation of the bluffs is legislated.  At best, it will add substantially to the cost of widening the road; at worst (for proponents, anyway), it will eliminate that corridor from any widening at all.
 
It should be noted that the Peoria-to-Chicago highway project is part of former mayor Ransburg’s “Vision 2020” plan (remember that?).  Ransburg said* that he would continue working on this plan even though he wasn’t mayor anymore, so I wonder what he thinks of this environmental report.  On second thought, who cares?  🙂
 
*Reminder:  you can’t believe anything Ransburg says.

Kellar Branch

Predictions for Kellar Branch dispute

 

Pioneer Industrial Railway (PIRY), the City of Peoria, and Central Illinois Railway (CIRY) have come to an agreement — which I believe is the proverbial “calm before the storm.”  A letter dated September 8, 2005, from Pioneer’s general counsel to the Surface Transportation Board states:
Pioneer Industrial Railway Co. (“PIRY”) received Central Illinois Railroad Company’s Reply to Petition to Reopen for Immediate Modification or Clarification, today. PIRY is willing to accept the assurances of CIRY that “the Municipalities will not remove that segment until CIRY’s authority over that segment has been discontinued in an effective Board decision,” and the “CIRY has informed the Municipalities that CIRY will initiate proceedings for discontinuance of its rail service over that segment.” Based upon those representations, PIRY respectfully requests that its Petition be held in abeyance, pending the State Court proceedings referenced therein (LaSalle County Illinois Circuit Court No. 05-L-146) and CIRY’s anticipated abandonment filing.
Basically, PIRY had asked the STB to clarify that the Kellar Branch was not to be torn out until (a) CIRY had filed for and been approved to abandon the line, and (b) Pioneer’s court case against the city was decided in favor of the city.  The city responded that it had no intention of tearing out the tracks at least until CIRY received STB permission to abandon the line.  That seemed to satisfy Pioneer for the time being.
Most likely scenario, in my opinion:  CIRY will apply for abandonment under an “individual exemption,” telling the STB that no shipper in Pioneer Park will be affected because they will continue to receive service over the new UP spur from the west.  Furthermore, no complaint is likely to be filed by Carver Lumber; they have maintained neutrality throughout these proceedings. 
However, PIRY will most likely contest the abandonment and try to force a sale of the Kellar Branch line.  According to the STB, “To encourage continued service, Congress and the STB have adopted procedures that make it possible to force the sale or subsidy of lines slated for abandonment.”  If PIRY takes this course and prevails, the city would have to sell the rail line to Pioneer under terms imposed by the STB.
Whether or not Pioneer succeeds, the Park District’s plan to convert the Kellar Branch to a trail will be further delayed.  One wonders why they don’t just choose an alternative corridor and be done with it.  Wouldn’t it be just as easy to get a grant to run the trail east along Detweiller Drive, through Detweiller Park, then south along the riverfront to hook up with the Pimiteoui Trail?  They could undoubtedly get it done much quicker than through the Kellar Branch corridor.  Is their primary goal to connect the trail or win the fight with Pioneer? 
There’s no doubt that selling the branch to Pioneer would be most advantageous for the city.  The city would be free from the liability for the tracks and have a nice influx of cash (Pioneer has offered $565,000 for the line not too long ago).  That money could be used to help pay for the failed water buyout costs, or any number of underfunded city programs.  Plus, instead of being so adversarial to Pioneer, it could work with them to bring new light industry to Growth Cell Two.  Now that would be a “win-win.”  More business for Pioneer to serve, and more good-paying jobs for Peorians. 
I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating:  trails don’t bring new residents to Peoria; good jobs and good schools bring new residents to Peoria.  Parks projects are important, but who’s going to be around to enjoy them if we don’t improve the jobs and school situation here?

 

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I’m an Uplander

We’ve moved into the Uplands — that neighborhood bounded by Main, University, and Parkside Drive.  The house we moved into was built in 1904 and has four bedrooms, so all three kids get their own room.  It’s nice having room to spread out after trying to fit everyone into an 840-square-foot, two-bedroom house (it was a great starter home).
 
We moved in a week ago, and things are still chaos around here.  We’re still living out of boxes for the most part.  But I have to say this is the friendliest neighborhood I’ve ever lived in.  I’ve not only met my neighbors on either side of my house, but also neighbors across the alley behind my house.  They’re all very nice and have made us feel very welcome.  I moved in just in time to enjoy the neighborhood picnic, too, which was last night.  It was a beautiful night for a picnic.  I got to meet even more neighbors, plus Mayor Ardis and my new council representative Barbara Van Auken.  It was nice to meet them in person.
 
I really like the history here.  The neighborhood was established in 1902 by O. L. Woodward and S. L. Briggs of Toledo, Ohio.  Incidentally, that was the same year that my great grandfather attended the New York Trade School to learn the plumbing trade.  His name was Fred Siefert, Jr., and while the name has faded into obscurity, there was a time when Fred Siefert & Son Plumbing, Heating, and Sewer Contracting was one of the biggest plumbing outfits in town.  Among the buildings they worked on were Peoria High School and Commerce Bank (downtown).  The plumbing shop is gone now — it is now the parking lot across from the old YMCA building on Glendale.
 
But I digress.  To buy a lot here in 1902 cost you $1,085.  And the first house cost about $8,000 to build.  Hard to imagine, isn’t it?  In contrast, I learned that my two-and-a-half-stall garage that was built just a few years ago cost $17,000 to build.  The Uplands Residential Association was established in 1903 and was the first such association in Peoria.  It’s nice to live in a neighborhood where the residents look out for each other and take an active role in city issues that affect neighborhoods.
 
I think I’m going to like it here.

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Peoria, AZ, uses old school building as museum

You knew there was a Peoria in Arizona, right?  And you knew that it was named after our fair city because this was their home town, right?  Well, also on the History page for their Chamber of Commerce, I discovered this:
To accommodate the expanding community, Central School was built in 1906 and used continuously for the next 70 years. Today it is home to the Peoria Museum where tantalizing tidbits from the past await you.
Isn’t that interesting?  They had an old school built around the turn of the century, and instead of tearing down the building, they repurposed it as their city’s history museum!  Now, that would be novel to put the history museum in an historical building, wouldn’t it?
 
You might think I’m going to suggest Peoria convert one of the schools District 150 is closing into a museum.  You would be wrong.  I can’t see that working here, simply because of the location of the schools that District 150 wants to close.  But let me ask you this:  We have a big, historic building downtown right on the river in the central business district that currently has no tenants, save one.  You know which one I’m talking about?  That’s right — the old Rock Island Depot, also known as The River Station.  Wouldn’t it be cool to use that building to house the Peoria history museum?  It seems like it would be perfect for that use; it has everything going for it:  location, availability, already owned by the city, age, beauty, historical significance, space . . . .  What’s not to like?

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Calvin & Hobbes

I am so happy that Calvin & Hobbes is back in the newspaper.  It is my favorite comic strip of all time.  Bill Watterson is a genius.  I’d rather read a thousand reruns of this strip than one new “Brevity” panel. 
 
One of my favorite Calvin & Hobbes strips is the one where Calvin is throwing snowballs at Susie — missing her every time.  She turns and yells, “Ha ha!  You’re such a bad shot, Calvin.  If it weren’t for gravity, you couldn’t hit the ground!”  Just then — POW — a snowball hits her dead on.  Calvin exults, “I DID IT!  I DID IT!  Just when it really counted, I did it!”  Next panel, he’s taking his boots off after returning home and announces, “Bad news, Mom.  I sold my soul to the devil today.”  His mother responds, “Oh?  So recently?”  Ha ha ha!  I love that one. 
 
I wish Watterson would start drawing Calvin again . . . . 

Kellar Branch

Official runaway train report incredible

 

The Journal Star reported on the runaway train today, a full five days after the incident occurred:
Runaway locomotive injures rail worker

PEORIA — An employee of Central Illinois Railway suffered minor injuries Saturday after he jumped from a shuttle locomotive that was out of control shortly before it crashed into three train cars, police said.

Thomas Stower, 64, of Peoria suffered abrasions but declined medical treatment, police said.

Allen Brown, the field operations manager for the railroad, told police the accident happened about 7:40 p.m. as he, Stower and two other employees were trying to move two rail cars loaded with lumber from near Caroline Street to Carver Lumber, 8700 N. University St.

The employees were using a shuttle locomotive that has less power than a regular locomotive because the regular locomotive was on a section of track that couldn’t be reached.  They got as far as Vine Street and decided the track wasn’t passable because of weeds growing across the tracks. 

They decided to back the locomotive down the track, and three of the employees went to train crossings to make sure no cars were crossing the tracks as the train was in reverse, police said.

Stower remained on the shuttle locomotive, but it started going too fast and the wheels locked up.  He put on the emergency brake, but the train remained out of control.  Stower jumped off the moving train after it crossed Adams Street, and it continued south, hitting three train cars that were parked on the tracks.

The accident didn’t damage the cars or the lumber but caused about $5,000 damage to the rail bed, police said. 

This is basically a recap of the police report that was filed on the incident with no independent investigative reporting.  There are several questionable items. 
First, an eye-witness only saw two crew members on the train going up the line, not four.  So that’s a bit fishy. 
Second, the police report says that rail workers checked the line first with a Ford Bronco equipped to run on rails and deemed the track safe.  (This was not reported by the Journal Star.)  So why did they only notice the treacherous weeds when they took the train up the line?  Did the weeds grow over the tracks suddenly?  And since when do a few weeds render a track impassable?  This is a spurious excuse.
Third, the “regular locomotive” that couldn’t be reached is the one that’s on the western spur that apparently isn’t yet connected to the Kellar Branch.  I thought this was supposed to be completed by now since Pioneer moved it’s cars and vacated the line.  I wonder what the holdup is.
Fourth, this bit of fiction:  “three of the employees went to train crossings to make sure no cars were crossing the tracks as the train was in reverse.”  The crossings have signals, so if the train is going at a reasonable speed, there is no need for workers to go to the train crossings to warn cars of oncoming train traffic — unless the train is out of control.  But when the train went out of control it started barrelling along at 30 miles per hour!  Between Vine Street and Caroline, there are seven grade crossings.  Are we to believe that three workers ran ahead of a runaway train going 30 mph and kept automobiles off of seven crossings?  Sign them up for the Olympics!
Fifth, regarding the wheels locking up and the emergency brake not working:  railroad cars are equipped with air brakes which are powered by the locomotive.  The experts I’ve consulted all say that if the air brakes were properly connected and tested, this train would have been able to stop.  It sounds the air brakes were not hooked up, or not hooked up properly, and they were trying to stop two loaded train cars using only the brakes of the trackmobile (“shuttle locomotive”).  Thus, the trackmoblile was dragged down the line with the cars — across seven grade crossings where they could have hit and even killed people driving through Peoria.
Now, just imagine for a moment that Pioneer did something boneheaded like this and caused a major public safety problem.  Do you think it would have been swept under the rug by the city and underreported in the Journal Star?  Nah.  More likely, it would have been on the front page of the Sunday paper and a vitriolic editorial would have appeared by Tuesday, complete with quotes from the director of public works decrying the railroad’s safety violations.

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