Daily Archives: February 18, 2009

Peoria Public Schools

Cahill not converted to digital

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In addition to saying goodbye to analog television on February 17, Peoria Public Schools Board of Education said goodbye to Controller/Treasurer Guy Cahill. Cahill won’t be making the transition to digital at the school district. 1470 WMBD radio reports:

The District 150 school board Monday, without comment, voted unanimously to give the Comptroller/Treasurer his 60 days notice. Cahill, who was making a base salary of $125,000 a year, has been placed on administrative leave the next 60 days – then his contract will be terminated. Cahill’s contract allows the district to terminate Cahill’s employment with 60 days notice and payment of six months salary. Cahill had been with District 150 since 2005. The board has selected Business Manager Carla Eman as temporary Comptroller while interviews for an interim Comptroller are conducted.

I had been hearing rumors that Cahill quit instead of being fired, but I don’t believe he would get the 60 days notice or paid administrative leave if he had quit. All appearances are that he was shown the door. And since there was no comment from the school board when taking that action, it doesn’t look like we’re going to know why… unless Cahill wants to tell us.

Regular commenter “Without Malice” wins the prize for correctly predicting Carla Eman would be the temporary Treasurer while the search is on for an interim replacement. Congratulations!

Television

Goodbye, analog

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I admit it, I stayed up until midnight last night to watch all the analog TV signals go off the air. WTVP had a short countdown just before midnight that said, “after 37 years” on their analog frequency, they were shutting down “in just a few moments,” but that programming would continue on 47.1, 47.2, and 47.3. Once the countdown hit 0, the signal was gone. Nothing but snow.

When I went to WMBD (31), they were already off the air. WYZZ (43) and WEEK (25) ceased regular programming, but kept their transmitter on to broadcast a public service announcement loop on how to make the conversion to digital television. WHOI (19) did not go off the air yet, opting to keep their analog signal on until the extended cutoff date in June.

There’s no question that the quality of picture and audio is far superior on digital television. The only thing I will miss is the ability to pull in weak signals of television stations from other cities. For instance, I could get an analog signal from channel 8 in the Quad Cities and channels 12 and 17 from Urbana and Decatur, respectively. They were a little snowy, but could still be watched. I cannot get the digital signals from these stations. Not a big deal; just a little something I’ll miss. When I was a little kid, I remember getting a snowy picture of channel 55 out of Springfield, and once — just once, on a freak night — channel 44 out of Chicago.

Farewell, analog. Welcome, digital. I’m looking forward to seeing the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series in beautiful high-definition glory!

2009 Campaign, Village of Peoria Heights

Welcome Mayor Allen to the blogosphere

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Village of Peoria Heights Mayor Mark Allen has started his own blog, The Peoria Heights Response. It’s appears to be primarily a campaign website, as he is running for reelection this year. But he’s also sharing other interesting information about the Heights.

One issue that may be of interest to Peoria residents is the recycling program the Heights has recently implemented. Peoria’s current garbage disposal contract with Waste Management expires this year. This is the time to negotiate a new contract, possibly with a different company, that will make recycling as easy here as it is in the Heights.

2009 Campaign

Mayor, Treasurer candidates face public questions

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Monday night at Prince of Peace Missionary Baptist Church, candidates for Mayor of Peoria and City Treasurer gathered to answer questions from the public. Running for mayor are Jim Ardis (incumbent) and General Parker. Several residents — mostly from Peoria’s older neighborhoods — asked questions of the candidates.

A resident of the South Side of Peoria wanted to know what the candidates were going to do about the deterioration of the South Side. She said she was tired of litter, poor schools, gangs, and the way she felt the South Side is generally neglected by the City. Mayor Ardis said that the majority of police and fire resources are focused on that area now, but that more resources can be shifted there “as needs dictate.” General Parker said he advocates going to a system of neighborhood police officers and would require police officers to live in the City. He said the problem with enforcement is that there’s a mutual “us vs. them” mentality between the police and residents of the South Side. By having neighborhood beat officers, officers become part of the neighborhood community and trust can be built between the officers and residents.

Bill Ordaz, a near north side resident, expressed frustration with the City’s code enforcement department. He cited specific instances when he had called to report serious code violations, only to be told that the offender was given a verbal warning or that his complaint was invalid. Mayor Ardis said that he believed over 90% of code enforcement is complaint-driven, so the officers don’t have the time to be proactive. Nevertheless, he said that the council members are working with the Director of Inspections to get as much production out of the code enforcement officers as possible. He suggested citizens talk to their neighbors directly to ask them to take care of violations. General Parker said he agreed that the code enforcement officers were good workers, but that it sounded like someone “dropped the ball somewhere” and he would do an efficiency check of the code enforcement department if elected.

Karrie Alms, another near north side resident, complained that storm brush had still not been picked up on her street. When she called the Public Works dispatch at 484-8867, she was told that the city’s policy was to start brush pickup in the north and work their way south. Mayor Ardis said that wasn’t true — that pickup actually went by garbage pickup route, not north to south. General Parker said it would make more sense for pickup to start at the river and work out from there, since the older neighborhoods have larger trees and thus more debris after major storms.

Diane Vespa, a North Peoria resident, asked if there was any point at which the city could step into the public school issue. General Parker made some general statements about the importance of the school system being strong in order to be able to get people to move into the city, but gave no specific recommendations as to what the city could do. Mayor Ardis said that the City had extended a hand to the school district more than any other council in the last 20 years. He cited the establishment of the Glen Oak Neighborhood Improvement Zone, the Peoria Promise program, and the educational liaison to District 150. He also said they had the opportunity to have education reform expert Paul Vallas come to Peoria, but that the offer was rejected by District 150.

Next came questions for the candidates for Treasurer. The current Treasurer, Reginald Willis, is retiring, so there is no incumbent in that race. The candidates for Treasurer are Patrick Nichting and Gary Shadid.

Gary Shadid started by giving his experience and qualifications: Bachelors in accounting from Arizona State University, CPA, work for various accounting firms including KPMG, the establishment of his own practice (Martin & Shadid). He said his motivation for seeking this office is that he’s (1) qualified, (2) experienced, and (3) loves and cares for this city.

Patrick Nichting then gave his qualifications: City Council member for 12 years, endorsed by two previous treasurers, trustworthy (i.e., he will deliver what he says he will deliver), and 26 years experience owning and operating his own business (Panco).

Both candidates said they would quit their full-time jobs if elected to the office of City Treasurer.

City of Peoria

City should be compensated for encroachments

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In any city, the land is divided into public and private space. Private space is land owned and maintained by individuals and corporations, and public space is land that is owned and maintained by public bodies (cities, counties, park boards, etc.). Streets and sidewalks, as well as the space above and below them, are examples of public space. Whenever private individuals or corporations encroach on public space, some sort of compensation is naturally due to the public body on whose land they encroach.

Thus, for decades there has been an ordinance on the books that requires the private owners of pedestrian bridges and underground vaults that encroach on public spaces to get a permit. In order to get a permit, they have to pay an annual fee and assume liability for any damage to the streets, alleys, and sidewalks as a result of their encroachment.

But according to a recent Journal Star article, the City of Peoria hasn’t collected any fees for these encroachments for decades. Upon discovering this oversight, you might think that the City — which is hurting for money — would jump on the chance to restore this income stream, modest though it may be.

But no. Instead, they’re thinking about just getting rid of it.

[Public Works Director David] Barber also said he’s unsure if it’s even worth the city’s trouble to assess the fee.

“We don’t have an inventory on these things since they go back so many years,” Barber said. “We would need access to the properties, we need to measure them and, frankly, we don’t have the time to do all of that.”

First of all, the city deserves to be compensated for private encroachment on public space. This is standard practice for all types of encroachment — for instance, the permit fees that street vendors have to pay to sell food from pushcarts on the courthouse square. The city doesn’t seem to have any trouble measuring how much space these vendors are taking up, charging them fees, etc.

Secondly, there’s a liability issue here that every city with skyways and underground vaults recognizes. These encroachments need to be inventoried and insured at the private owners’ expense for the safety of the city and its citizens.

Thirdly, it’s not unreasonable to recover the city’s costs for administering this permit process through a reasonable fee assessed to the businesses. The city needs to do the responsible thing and update their ordinance to raise the fees to 2009 dollars, and finally start enforcing this ordinance that has been neglected far too long.