Daily Archives: May 8, 2008

Peoria Public Schools

New Math

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Hmm, let’s see. $1.14 million for four Edison schools. We’re closing one, so the total number of Edison schools is dropping by 25%. If we take $1.14 million and divide by four (or multiply by .25), we get $285,000.

But according to the Journal Star today, the school district negotiated only “about a $200,000 savings.” That’s about 17.5% of the total contract.

Well, let’s look at percentage of pupils. The 2007 enrollments, according to the Illinois Interactive Report Card, were:

Loucks 374
Rolling Acres 312
Franklin 386
Northmoor 462
TOTAL 1534

So, 374 divided by 1534 is: 24.3%. But the contract was only reduced 17.5%.

Sounds like a great deal… for “New York-based Edison Schools,” that is. I suppose the administration will say that there are certain fixed administrative costs, so one can’t just cut the contract by 25%.

Or maybe they’ll try to tell us that 17.5% savings is just as good as 25%. After all, they’ve already told us that an 11.5% reduction in the school day provides exactly the same amount of teacher contact time, with music and art thrown in.

It’s the new math.

Heart of Peoria Plan, Streets

Roundabout

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A little over a week ago, the Journal Star reported that a roundabout is being considered for the intersection of Sheridan, Loucks, and Gift in the “Sheridan Triangle” form district. This was surprising to me. I have nothing against roundabouts, but they’re not the only option or even the best option for every intersection.

You may remember that there was a public meeting back on March 5 to discuss options for improvement of the public space in this form district. Keith Covington was there along with other engineering and street design experts with experience in creating new urban streetscapes.

Everyone I talked to that night — to a person — said that a roundabout was not the best solution to this particular intersection, although they all affirmed they liked roundabouts. The problems here, it was explained to me, were several.

First of all, there wasn’t enough space. Because it’s an intersection of three streets, there’s a minimum radius that’s required to accommodate all the “legs” that would be coming off the roundabout, and that space simply isn’t available at that intersection, I was told.

Secondly, they were concerned with creating dead space in the middle of the roundabout. Going along with that big required radius would be a lot of space in the middle of which pedestrians would get no practical use.

Thirdly, no roundabout was suggested at the charrette for this area. If you look at the drawings that were produced by the neighbors and business owners during the charrette process, the vision then was to have Loucks intersect with Gift before the intersection with Sheridan on the east side (just like Loucks intersects with Forrest Hill before the University intersection), and have Gift intersect with Loucks before the Sheridan intersection on the west side. This would create a four-way intersection at Sheridan instead of a six-way, and a pocket park could even be put in on the southeast corner, which would be usable by pedestrians.

Suffice it to say, there was a compelling case made that night for no roundabout. But now, suddenly, a roundabout is a serious contender for this intersection. It would be interesting to discover how decisions are being made, but the district councilperson is keeping attendance at these meetings under tight control.

For more information on roundabouts in the United States, see the excellent resources at the Transportation Research Board’s site. Hat tip to Beth Akeson on providing the TRB info.