Daily Archives: April 20, 2008

Food, Television

King Corn

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King Corn Taste TestAnyone else watched the independent film King Corn on PBS lately? It’s been shown several times as part of their Independent Lens series. Whenever I see it, it makes me want to eat better… healthier. The problem is, how do you do that in Peoria?

One obvious thing is to get fresh foods from farmers markets such as the ones at Metro Centre and down on the riverfront. But where does one get, for example, grass-fed beef around here? And is it even possible to avoid high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) if you want to? Sure, you can give up soda, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the products that contain HFCS.

Any suggestions? Or any stories on how you’ve tried to eat healthier and either been successful or given up?

Uncategorized

Quotes of the Day (or “The more things change, the more they stay the same”)

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[Our aldermen] seem to look upon taxation as the great business of life, and the ability to squeeze the greatest amount of taxes out of a given amount of property as the highest evidence of political ability.

The besetting sin of American society is a mania for office. Men will abandon a business worth two thousand dollars a year for an office worth one thousand, and they are ready to ruin the public interests, for the honor of ruling the public. They array the poor against the rich, and assume the honor of leading the former, because they are most numerous. This class of men are constantly endeavoring to get into some small office, as a steppingstone to a higher one; and they educate those who have nothing to believe that the way to get the property of the rich is to break them down by taxation; and, to get the votes of such, they promise to assess a new tax, or increase the old ones.

–Charles Ballance, The History of Peoria, Illinois, 1870
Kellar Branch

More correspondence between the Heights and Pioneer

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Here’s an e-mail that Heights Mayor Allen sent to Mike Carr (CEO of Pioneer Industrial Railway), regarding Pioneer’s contention that Peoria Heights should remove Central Illinois Railroad as a carrier on the Kellar Branch:

Dear Mike:

Regarding your demands that we take immediate steps to “kick” CIRY off of the line:

1. We are addressing the issues of which firm is running a car through the Village of Peoria Heights. That is all we can address. At this time, CIRY is not running a car or engine through Peoria Heights. Therefore, we do not feel that they are using the Kellar Branch line through the Village, thus we will not address the STB decision of allowing them to use the line.

2. If, for any reason, CIRY uses the line as it goes through Peoria Heights, we will address the issue then.

3. The City of Peoria has a different interpretation of what the lease entails with Pioneer. In the end, any interpretation of the lease will have to end up in Illinois courts for a final ruling. However, at this time, we feel the lease is valid, and that Pioneer has not owned up to its end of the lease.

4. Your reference to “minor wash outs” being the only problems Pioneer has ignored on the Kellar Branch is far too small in scope. The rail ties, cut weeds and brush, everything that is blocking, or has destroyed the drainage tiles will have to be removed, as well. Every broken drainage tile will have to be replaced. In other words, everything that has been caused by the rail through the last several years, that has impeded or destroyed the proper drainage will have to be fixed. Your “minor wash outs” repairs will not suffice. We will walk the area again after June 3, and if every drainage problem has not been corrected, we will proceed with having a resolution drawn up to remove Pioneer from the rail line.

If you have any questions, please call me at [redacted].

Thanks- Mark Allen

In response, Mike Carr had this to say:

Do what you want Mark, but understand we WILL use the line until the STB tells us not to. We have a lot car storage business inquiries so we will make certain the track in the Heights can handle the potential influx of storage cars.

Regards,
Mike Carr

And the saga continues….

City Council, City of Peoria

Council preview 4/22/08

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Here are some agenda items of interest:

  • The City is going to try to get a state grant to help pay the lion’s share of road improvement work for Phase I of the Sheridan Triangle project. “The funding request for this $975,000 project would be $748,800 ITEP [Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program] funding, with the city’s local match being $226,200.”
  • Also being funded through ITEP: removal and replanting of trees in the downtown business district. I don’t quite understand this one. The background states, “In honor of Earth Day 2007, Governor Blagojevich announced the new Replanting the Prairie State Initiative to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state.” But I fail to see how replacing presumably mature trees with new twig trees is going to accomplish that goal — in fact, it seems like it would do just the opposite. Why would you replace trees? Why not plant additional trees where they don’t already exist? Unless, of course, we’re talking about palm trees that need to be replanted every year.
  • Bill Joseph is going to build an 8,066-square-foot “retail and restaurant building” in Bed Bath & Beyond’s parking lot (south side of W. Glen Ave., just east of N. University St.). That’s good, because we all know what a dearth of available retail and restaurant sites there are in Peoria.
  • JJ Ryans is moving out of the Metro Centre and into the old Silver Bullet (7719 N. University), so a liquor license has been requested. This isn’t particularly notable except for this statement in the council communication: “One of the three Commissioners who voted to approve [Arndt, Jackson, McCabe] should have abstained due to interest in nearby property.” That’s rather provocative. Was any action taken to educate or reprimand this unnamed Commissioner? Or is conflict-of-interest voting not a big deal?
  • Of course, the more volatile liquor license request is the one for Elliott’s (7807 N. University). The Liquor Commission voted 4-0 with one abstention (Jackson) to deny the request. You may recall that Elliott’s is a strip joint. The city has been trying to throw one roadblock after another in front of this place since it was first proposed in 2003. First it said it couldn’t issue an adult use license because it was five feet too close to a residential area. So the owners split the building in two and got their adult-use license. Then the city passed an ordinance prohibiting strip clubs from getting a liquor license (except for Big Al’s, which was grandfathered in). That didn’t stop Elliott’s from opening, though. Evidently nudity is enough to make a profit even without liquor. Then this past November, down around the St. Louis area, an ordinance just like Peoria’s was struck down by a federal court, prompting the council to repeal its ordinance. So now Elliott’s is back asking for a liquor license again. If the council denies it, they’ll have a lawsuit on their hands — one they’ll likely lose, in which case Elliott’s will get a bunch of taxpayer money in damages. The council should save the taxpayers’ money and give up on this one, then focus instead on a way of stopping — or at least containing within a certain geographic area — future nudie bars so this doesn’t happen again.
  • T. Y. Lin has been chosen as the engineering firm to look at the economic and physical feasibility of building a trail next to the Kellar Branch rail line. Now the council needs to give the green light to let a contract be negotiated, the cost of which will presumably be shared by the City of Peoria, Village of Peoria Heights, and possibly the Peoria Park District. Pioneer Industrial Railway has said they will not help pay for the study, opting to use their funds instead to pay for an inevitable legal battle with Peoria Heights, which is trying to kick Pioneer off the line.
  • Getting back to North University, the council will be making a decision on whether to allow a teen dance hall to open up in the same area. The proposed dance club at 7620 N. University, to be called Adrenaline, has to be more than 500 feet from a residential area according to Peoria’s current ordinance. The request is to change that ordinance — to lower the buffer to 200 feet. This request was first brought up two weeks ago and looked like it would surely go down to defeat. Councilman Montelongo asked for a deferral, and it comes back Tuesday with just one change — it would allow the Council “to impose additional conditions,” including “limiting the hours of operation” among other measures. The city staff and police chief are still against it, so I predict it will be defeated after all.